Chased By Fire (Book 1) Read online

  CONTENTS

  Copyright

  Chapter 1 - Tracks and Smoke

  Chapter 2 - Glimpse of the Aeta

  Chapter 3 - An Unlikely Threat

  Chapter 4 - Greeting Mother

  Chapter 5 - A Pig and a Rat

  Chapter 6 - Stories of the Past

  Chapter 7 - Stranger to the Forest

  Chapter 8 - Tainted Name

  Chapter 9 - Service and Roots

  Chapter 10 - Responsibility

  Chapter 11 - Shattered Wagons

  Chapter 12 - An Unusual Storm

  Chapter 13 - Return to Nor

  Chapter 14 - Footprints and a Friend

  Chapter 15 - A Lost Village

  Chapter 16 - A Plan

  Chapter 17 - Rescue

  Chapter 18 - An Impossible Request

  Chapter 19 - A Chance to Relax

  Chapter 20 - Another Shaper

  Chapter 21 - The Journey Explained

  Chapter 22 - The Lisincend Attack

  Chapter 23 - Place of Convergence

  Chapter 24 - A Lesser Elemental

  Chapter 25 - Twisted Fire

  Chapter 26 - At the Edge of the Lake

  Chapter 27 - Tracking a Shaping

  Chapter 28 - A Greater Elemental

  Chapter 29 - End to a Shaping

  Chapter 30 - Away from the Water

  Chapter 31 - Key to the Artifact

  Chapter 32 - Pillars of Protection

  Chapter 33 - Chased by Fire

  Chapter 34 - Epilogue

  Author

  Other books

  Chased by Fire

  By D.K. Holmberg

  Copyright © 2014 by D.K. Holmberg

  Published by ASH Publishing

  Cover art copyright © 2014 Rebecca Weaver

  Book design copyright © 2014 ASH Publishing

  Disclaimer: The book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

  ASH Publishing

  www.dkholmberg.com

  CHAPTER 1

  Tracks and Smoke

  In spite of the heat, the howl sent a shiver through Tan. The terrible sound echoed several times during the day, and each time he reacted the same. He checked his bow reflexively, feeling the reassuring weight of the smooth ash. Whatever was out there didn’t belong in his forest.

  “There it is again!” Bal cried. She started up the slope until Tan grabbed her, as if expecting to see the source of the sound.

  He still couldn’t believe he had found her wandering this high up in the mountains alone. “Not the first time I’ve heard it.” He wiped an arm across his forehead. Tracks piercing the dry earth traced up the slope, winding between massive oaks growing along the steep hillside. Farther up the oaks thinned, leaving the rock bare.

  “What do you think it is?”

  Tan shrugged. “Not sure. I don’t recognize the tracks.” Bal’s eyes widened and he shrugged again. “Not wolves, though. I’ve crossed their track a couple of times already.”

  “You’ve seen wolves?” She looked around, as if the huge mountain wolves were worse than whatever had made that horrible sound.

  He pulled her back down the slope, keeping his hand on her wrist. “What were you doing up here anyway?”

  Bal glanced over her shoulder before meeting his eyes. “I don’t want to say.”

  Tan snorted and shook his head, unable to suppress the smirk coming to his face. Typical response from Bal. “Bal?” he pressed.

  “I…” She bit her lip as she hesitated. “I followed someone,” she finished in a rush.

  Tan frowned. Who would Bal have followed into the forest?

  The harsh cry came again, keeping him from asking. He looked up, listening carefully, stretching out his awareness of the forest as his father had once taught him, listening to the sounds of the forest, smelling the air. Closer. Much closer than the last.

  The sound meant more than one of these creatures.

  “We should go,” he said.

  The hike back would take most of the day. Tan dreaded seeing his mother when he returned. Since his father’s passing, she was short tempered any time she couldn’t account for him. The death of his father was the biggest reason he remained in Nor rather than leaving and taking an apprenticeship.

  Bal bit her lip. “What do you think you were tracking?”

  “I’ve never seen anything like it,” he admitted. “Maybe Cobin will know.” Cobin had lived at the edge of the forest for longer than Tan had been alive, and if any in town would know, it would be Cobin.

  Bal shrugged. “You think my father will know if you don’t know?”

  “He will.”

  Tan started off, moving back down the slope. Sweat poured off him and he wished he had brought more than just the single flask of water with him. The upper streams were infrequent here, and with the stifling air, he went through what he brought.

  A sudden gust of comforting wind touched his arm, providing a brief cooling relief. Galen was normally a windy land and the heat over the last few weeks was worse for the uncharacteristically stagnant days.

  Bal trailed behind him, strangely silent. “What would you have done had I not found you?” Tan asked, glancing back as they made their way down the slope. No trail worked through this part of the forest and they were far from Nor. Bal could have wandered lost for days.

  “Followed my tracks back down.”

  Tan sensed the hesitation in her voice. “Who’d you follow?”

  She turned and didn’t meet his eyes. They moved much farther downslope before she finally answered. “I didn’t mean to follow him. Just sorta got away from me. I thought it strange he’d come up in the hills. Not like him. Too dirty for his type.”

  “Bal?” Tan already thought he knew who she meant.

  She looked up at him, defiance in her eyes. “I followed Lins.”

  Tan laughed and shook his head. “You know what he’ll do if he knew you followed him?”

  “No worse than he does to you. Besides, just because he’s Lord Alles’s son doesn’t mean he can do whatever he wants. If the king knew some of the things he does…”

  Tan swung around a stump and pointed so Bal didn’t trip. “The king don’t care much what happens in Nor. And Lins…well, Lins will eventually inherit his father’s house, so best we don’t anger him too much.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  Tan frowned. “About Lins?”

  She shook her head. “The king. Why wouldn’t he care? We’re right here next to Incendin. And Ethea likes our iron plenty.”

  Tan shook his head. Only time the king seemed to care was to summon them to service. Like his father. “Ever seen a shaper here? If Nor is so important, seems we’d be better protected.”

  Bal slipped on some loose dirt and Tan grabbed her wrist to keep her upright. “Wish we had a shaper. Wouldn’t be so blasted hot.”

  “It doesn’t work like that, Bal.”

  She jerked her arm away from him. “Like you know. You’ve seen exactly as many shapers as I’ve seen.”

  Tan laughed and let her get ahead of him. Besides, she was right. Maybe shapers could control the weather. The only help Nor got were sensers, and there weren’t many of them. Fewer since Tan’s father died.

  “Did you see what he was doing?” Tan asked. Bal had gotten too far in front of him and he didn’t want her to get lost again. Talking slowed her down a little.

  She turned and put one hand on her hip as she glared at him. Dirt someh
ow stained her brown shirt. “Who?”

  “Lins. Did you see what he was doing up there?”

  She shook her head. “Just saw flashes of him when he got too far ahead. Then I lost him.”

  “Didn’t matter. He got too far ahead of me and I lost him. Maybe if I would have—”

  Motion at the edge of his vision startled him. Tan should have sensed it, but his ability was weak. Nothing like his father. He waved a hand at Bal, motioning her to remain still. He crept forward, his awareness focused around him like his father had taught him while walking these hills. Doing so made him feel close to him again, however briefly. Long moments passed where he detected nothing.

  Then he saw tracks again.

  Tan hadn’t followed them down the slope, choosing an easier hike down than the one he took up the mountain, but the tracks appeared anyway. Marked by three toes and in a shape he didn’t recognize, there hadn’t been other signs of these creatures except for the painful cries. Until now.

  Thought the forest seemed strangely silent, Tan didn’t sense anything else in the woods. He had practically grown up wandering the forest and hills of Nor, but still a vague sense of unease settled into his chest.

  The odd footprint had initially just sparked his curiosity. The climb had begun as a diversion, a way of avoiding his chores for the day. Several sheep had gone missing and most were convinced the wolves took them. So far, Tan saw no sign of wolves in the valley. It had not taken him long to find other prints as he had made his way upslope. Eventually, even tracking became difficult, forcing him to use his weak sensing to find the next print.

  The creatures didn’t follow an easy climb. In some places they moved quickly up sheer rock. Other times he went dozens of paces before finding another print. When he had come across Bal, he took it as a sign to turn back.

  “What is it?” Bal whispered, edging up to him.

  He shook his head. “Not sure. Thought I saw something.”

  “What?”

  Tan stared at the ground as he crept forward, searching for the strange print he had been following. “Nothing, I guess.”

  Had his mind played tricks on him? He slid forward, eyes focused, ignoring Bal as she spoke to him. There had been something here—he was certain of it. He only had to find proof.

  Then he found the next print.

  Tan glanced behind him and then turned, looking upslope where they had come. Bal stared at him, a worried look to her face. Had the creature truly been this close to them? Tan turned, kneeling to look at the print, unable to tell how fresh it was.

  “There’s another print.” Bal gasped softly. “I think you should get back to Nor. Follow the tree line to the next stream. You can use it to make your way back to town.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to follow this a little further.”

  She shook her head. “Not without me.”

  “We don’t know what this is. I’ll have an easier time moving in the woods without…” He trailed off before finishing. Bal didn’t need him to insult her too. And she would take anything he said about her slowing him down as an insult.

  “Without what? Me pestering you?”

  Tan sighed. “I was going to say without worrying about you.”

  “Well I wouldn’t want you worrying about me, Tannen Minden!” She stomped off down the slope, making enough noise to scare away anything he might have been tracking. She glanced back at him once, her eyes flashing anger, before disappearing.

  He sighed, hating angering Bal, but it was for the best. He would worry about her and she would slow him, but it still pained him to upset her. He debated chasing her. Like her, he should return to Nor, but he still hadn’t figured out what made the tracks. It gnawed at him that he hadn’t.

  Tan moved slowly upslope, watching for more prints. After a dozen paces, he saw another. Now that he’d found them, he could clearly follow the tracks. The prints wound across the face of the slope, never moving completely upslope or down. No further howls echoed but the sounds of the forest still didn’t return. Gradually, the sun dipped below the tree line. With the fading light, he prepared to abandon his tracking.

  Then he found a second set of prints.

  They were as unusual as the first, though in a different way. Long, almost as if made by a man, but with a strange dimple near the heel on each. When the print led over a rocky stretch of ground, he realized the dimple came from the nail of a sharp claw that had left scratches along the stone.

  The uneasy sensation twisted his stomach and sweat slicked his palms. The original tracks mingled now with the new prints, as if they traveled together.

  Was he the hunter or the hunted?

  Tan looked around, the area unfamiliar. He focused on slowing his breathing, controlling his emotion and extending his senses into the forest as his father had long ago taught him. In his mind, he saw the path he had taken to get here and knew he could find his way back out. Nothing moved in the forest around him. Something to that feeling bothered him.

  Turning toward home, he felt an intrusion upon his senses like an itch at the back of his mind, a sense he’d learned to trust over the years. Tan froze. Any sudden movement might frighten the animal—either to run or to attack. He didn’t want to take any chances. As he moved, the sensation intensified. Tan scanned the forest for the source of his unease, but saw nothing.

  Then the strange cry suddenly rang out through the forest, nearer than before. Near enough that the sound hurt his ears.

  He ran. His steps were careful at first, but after another sharp braying sounded even closer, he tore through the forest. As he neared a rocky outcropping, he slowed and reached up to climb up for a better vantage. The terrible howl came again.

  It was close, this time near enough for him to see whatever made the sound. Tan hurried up the rock and scraped his knees in his haste. He swore softly, knowing better than to press his luck tracking so far from home armed with only his bow.

  The creature howled again, this time from behind him.

  How did it get behind him?

  That meant two of the creatures. Or more. Could this be a pack?

  The idea terrified him. What of Bal? She should be far down the slope by now, but he knew her well enough to know she might have turned back to check on him. He prayed her anger carried her all the way back to Nor.

  He couldn’t run. The steep slope and the treacherous footing made him an easy target. On the rock, he was too visible and could be easily surrounded if facing a pack.

  That left up.

  The nearest tree was his best option. The huge oak had no low hanging branches that would allow another creature an easy climb. Tan scrambled up the rough trunk, tearing his knees more in the process before settling into the crook of one of the large branches. He pulled his bow off his shoulder and nocked an arrow, setting it to the string without tension. Nothing moved below him.

  Tan listened, sensing the forest. He struggled against his racing heart, but sensed another presence among the trees, one he didn’t recognize. Another cry came, much closer.

  A low growl answered, almost below him.

  His arms prickled with a chill. They had his scent.

  A smoky haze appeared near the base of the tree. With it came a dry heat pressing up at him, like a fire burning. A fetid stench wafted up that he didn’t recognize. A flash of dark fur moved within the haze.

  He brought his bow up and aimed, loosing an arrow into the smoke. A snarling yelp told him he’d hit.

  Tan waited. Mabye he could scare the creature off. With enough arrows, maybe the creatures would decide he wasn’t worth it.

  The heat pressing up the tree increased. Already hot, the day became unbearable. Several distinct voices howled below him, joining in in a chorus. Definitely a pack.

  The smoke began to obscure the forest floor. Heat left his skin feeling raw. He crawled further up the tree, hoping to get away from the fire, but the heat followed him.

&nbs
p; Tan pushed down a rising panic as his father had taught. Steady his breathing. Use his senses. Listen, always listen. The answer would come.

  This time it didn’t.

  The next tree was too far to offer any hope of jumping. Upper branches wouldn’t support him if he crawled higher. And still the heat pressed toward him. What made the heat?

  Each breath became painful. The skin on his arms turned red. If he couldn’t get away, he would burn.

  He closed his eyes again, forcing himself to focus. A wave of anxious nausea rolled through him that he ignored. A quiet sound whistled in his ears, slowly intensifying like a howling wind. The steady gust of wind picked up speed as it blew through the tree, a gale like the area’s namesake. It blew faster, tearing through the trees.

  Tan clung to his branch.

  The heat blew away with it, disappearing like a candle snuffed out. Flashes of fur prowled around the base of the tree. For a moment, it seemed the heat fought the wind, then the animals howled painfully before streaking down the slope of the mountain and out of view.

  The wind continued, its familiar pressure a relief. He shivered uncontrollably.

  He climbed down carefully. Near the bottom of the tree, the ground looked darkened and scorched. The air smelled of char and sulfur. Even though the wind had finally returned, heat still clung to the air. Tan did not linger near the base of the tree, starting down the slope toward Nor. His heart didn’t slow until he was back in familiar land.

  He found Bal about halfway down the mountain face sitting atop a flat rock, staring upslope. Her jaw fixed in a stern expression and she leaned forward, trying to look fierce.

  “I thought you’d be back in Nor by now.” He tried to hide the relief in his voice.

  Bal frowned at him, jutting her jaw forward. “Maybe I won’t show you what I discovered, then.”

  Tan hesitated, uncertain he could stomach tracking anything else today. Whatever had happened, he felt lucky to survive. He needed to reach Nor and find Cobin. He’d lived here long enough he’d know what to do. Whatever creature Tan had found didn’t belong here.