Aidan's words hung in the silent clearing, heavier than the metallic scent of the Stonehide Boar's blood. Kaelen Vance froze instantly. The hand holding his dagger was frozen in mid-air, and all the satisfaction of a successful hunt vanished from his face. It was replaced by something more primal, an inherent vigilance honed through countless dangerous encounters.
"Get back!" Kaelen commanded, his voice low and urgent. "Into the thicket. Now!"
Without hesitation, he pulled the still-bewildered Aidan back from the carcass of their prey. They concealed themselves behind a giant thorn bush, its thick leaves forming an effective screen. The sudden change in Kaelen's demeanor frightened Aidan more than the presence of distant strangers. In the face of monsters, Kaelen was a confident hunter. But in the face of humans, he became a guarded phantom. That spoke volumes about the nature of this world.
"Tell me everything," Kaelen whispered, his eyes fixed on the empty space before them, as if he could see what Aidan was sensing. "How are they moving? Chaotically like a pack of beasts, or with order?"
Aidan closed his eyes, once again sinking into his network of sensation-pulses. The "pulses" of the group of strangers were a little clearer now. They weren't spreading out randomly. They were moving together, maintaining a steady distance, like a school of fish swimming in formation.
"Orderly," Aidan replied. "Very orderly. Like... soldiers. They're moving at the same speed, in the same direction."
Kaelen swore softly. "That's bad. Not lone wanderers. A patrol, or worse, a hunting party from some Clan." He looked at the massive corpse of the Stonehide Boar, then back at Aidan, calculation glinting in his eyes. "We have a big problem. This carcass is a treasure trove, enough food for us for weeks. But it's also a beacon of blood scent, attracting everything within miles, including them."
The dilemma was clear. To leave would be an incredible waste, a foolish act in a world where every meal had to be earned with one's life. But to stay would be to become a stationary target, waiting for the strangers to arrive.
"Are they armed?" Kaelen asked, his questions growing more specific.
Aidan tried to focus deeper. He couldn't "see" objects, but he could sense their nature. He could feel the warm, living pulses of the people, and interspersed with them were cold "spots." An empty, soulless feeling, like the sensation he got from the rock or the carapace spearhead.
"Yes," he affirmed. "I feel... coldness. Metal. Lots of metal. Attached to them."
"Just as I feared," Kaelen muttered. "Well-equipped. Well-disciplined. Not the kind of people we can face head-on." He made a decisive choice. "Here's the plan. I'll butcher the beast as fast as I can. Only the best and most portable parts: the two hind legs, the back loins. Your job, Aidan, is more important than ever. You are our eyes. Don't take your eyes off them, not for a second. Report every change: speed, direction, anything. If they get too close before I'm done, we leave everything and run."
A race against time began. Kaelen burst from their cover, his dagger moving with incredible speed. He was no longer a meticulous butcher, but a ruthlessly efficient meat-processing machine. The sound of a blade slicing through flesh and the sharp crack of bone echoed in the tense silence.
Aidan, meanwhile, sat motionless, his eyes closed, completely immersed in his role as a spiritual sentry. He was a living observation post, tracking the motes of consciousness moving in his mind.
"They've crossed the eastern stream," Aidan reported, his voice steady but tense. "Speed is the same."
Kaelen just nodded, his hands never stopping. Sweat began to bead on his forehead.
Ten minutes passed like an eternity. Kaelen had finished detaching one giant hind leg.
"They've stopped," Aidan said abruptly. "All of them have stopped."
"Why?" Kaelen asked, looking up, his hand still gripping the bloody dagger.
"I don't know. Their pulses... have changed. They are... sniffing. It's like... they've noticed something."
"Damn it," Kaelen hissed. "The wind changed. They've caught the scent of blood."
Just as Kaelen said, Aidan felt a change in the strangers' formation. They were no longer moving in a line, but had gathered together, then began heading straight for them at a faster pace.
"They're coming this way!" Aidan said, a hint of panic in his voice. "Much faster than before!"
"How long?"
"Maybe... fifteen minutes. Possibly less."
"Not enough time," Kaelen muttered, looking at the remaining meat. He made a difficult decision. "Alright, just this leg. Help me!"
Together, they dragged the heavy hind leg deep into the thicket. Then, Kaelen started doing something strange. He used rocks and large branches to cover the rest of the carcass, not to hide it, but to make it look as if it had been attacked and messily torn apart by another beast. He even used the Stonehide Boar's blood to draw a few cryptic symbols on a nearby tree.
"What's that?" Aidan asked.
"The mark of a Ground-Shaker," Kaelen explained briefly. "A false warning. It might make them hesitate a bit. Now help me hide this meat and cover our tracks."
They worked with a frantic urgency, using leaves and moss to cover the boar leg, then erasing their own footprints around the area. Finally, they scrambled up a high rock ledge, hiding behind a thick fern bush, a spot from which they could observe the entire clearing below without being detected.
They had just settled into position when the group of strangers appeared at the edge of the forest.
There were five of them.
They wore leather armor reinforced with metal plates on their shoulders, chests, and forearms. Though not perfectly uniform, their gear all had a practical, battle-worn look. Each person was armed: longswords, an axe, and one carried a large crossbow. They moved with confidence, their eyes constantly scanning their surroundings, a habit of those who live in hostile environments. On the metal pauldron of each person was the same engraved emblem: a three-headed wolf.
The one in the lead was likely their leader. A large man with a bushy beard, carrying a giant battle-axe on his back. He entered the clearing, eyeing the Stonehide Boar's corpse with a professional eye. He didn't rush, but circled the carcass, examining the wounds.
"The cut on the neck is clean," one of the group members said. "Doesn't look like a Ground-Shaker's bite."
The leader didn't reply. He bent down and picked something up from the ground. Aidan held his breath. It was the broken wooden shaft of his spear, the one they had forgotten in their haste.
The leader scrutinized the piece of wood, looking at how the spearhead had been tied on with sinew. His expression was thoughtful.
"Not a Ground-Shaker," he finally spoke, his voice deep and resonant. "Humans. And not ordinary ones. To pierce a Stonehide's skin with a crude spear... requires considerable strength or precision."
Aidan's heart sank. They'd been found out.
But the worst was yet to come. The leader began to circle further out. His eyes scanned the ground, reading the traces that Aidan and Kaelen had tried to erase. And then, he stopped.
He crouched down by a faint footprint that Kaelen had missed while hastily dragging the boar leg. A single footprint, almost invisible to a normal person, but clear as day to a master tracker.
The leader knelt on one knee, his gloved fingers lightly tracing the edge of the print. He was silent for a moment.
Then, slowly, he raised his head. His sharp eyes scanned the forest, and for one horrifying moment, they seemed to look directly at the fern bush where Aidan and Kaelen were hiding. A cold, confident smile spread across his lips.
"Found you."