This Battle Lord's Quest by Linda Mooney

thing,”
she told him amid good-natured laughter.
    Fortune finished. “Rule three, if you spot danger,
cry out. Don’t try to take it on by yourself. And lastly, rule four, if someone
gets injured, the hunt is over, and we head straight back here. Any further
questions?” When no one spoke up a second time, he nodded. “All right. And in
case anyone has a problem, I’m in charge of this expedition, which makes my
decisions final.”
    That comment had several look to Atty, but she
waved in Fortune’s direction. “I defer to him. He has way more experience.”
    “But you’re the better hunter,” Paxton argued.
    “You’re right. She is,” Fortune agreed. “But in
this instance, I’ll be in command. Can you handle that?”
    Atty turned to watch her Second nod in reply. There
was an odd sense of relief on his face, and she made a note to ask him later
why.
    Fortune eyed the rest of the group. “Does anyone
else have a problem with me being in charge? Speak up now, because later on, if
we run across any trouble, I don’t want to worry about who’s watching my back.”
He glared directly at Renken, but the ex-mercenary only grinned and shook his
head. Finally satisfied, Fortune gave the hand signal to advance, and they
exited the compound. They walked as a group toward the thick wall of trees
bordering Alta Novis five hundred yards away. Once there, they reformed into
one horizontal line before entering the woods. Atty took one last look over her
shoulder at the fortress, and a strange thought entered her mind.
    What if this is the last time I see my home?
    A shudder ran through her, as if she’d jumped into
a tub of ice water. First there was the incident while saying goodbye to Yulen,
and now this.
    “You okay?” a voice whispered behind her.
    She nodded. “Yeah. Just felt a cold chill go
through me.”
    “My grandmama always said that’s somebody walking
over your grave,” Paxton murmured. When she shot him a dark look, he simply shrugged.
“Sorry.”
    Gritting her teeth, she hoped it wasn’t an omen of
things to come.
    Fortune kept them moving true east. As they
advanced through the forest, they observed the coming dawn. Fortunately, the
trees protected their eyes, and kept the sun’s rays from blinding them.
    They moved at a moderate pace, making as little
noise as possible. Every now and then Atty spotted ground squirrels and a
couple of rabbits, but held back going after them. They needed to find bigger
game. Animals that would produce two to three meals, or more.
    Around midday, they paused to sear the pair of
chipmunks Gerenth and Klodon had killed. Atty stuffed the carcasses with
mushrooms for added flavor. Once they were finished, they buried the remains
and watered down the ashes before resuming their trek.
    By nightfall, they had yet to see anything larger
than a muskrat. There had been game, but it had been small and scarce, and
sightings had been sporadic. “If this is what we have to look forward to this
winter, we’re going to starve,” Atty observed. The others agreed.
    They found a small clearing where they could make
camp before night fell. They made a meal out of a thirty pound mole that made
the mistake of sticking its snout out of its hole, and lost its head with one
swing of Renken’s sword.
    As they sat around the fire, it was Dergus who
noted what they all realized.
    “There’s no night sounds.”
    “You’re right. There’s absolutely nothing,” Gerenth
muttered. “Nothing’s moving out there. Or hunting. Or fighting, or mating, or
anything.”
    “Do you think, if we keep moving east, it’ll
continue to be this way?” Meesel threw out for anyone to answer.
    “You mean, devoid of game?” Klodon clarified.
    “Yeah.”
    “Who knows?” Fortune said. “That’s why we’re here.
We’ve been avoiding hunting in this direction for years because of old wives’
tales and superstitions. Even when we were back at Wallis, no one crossed the
river that runs along the