The river looked deceptively calm, its surface catching the light like silver. Beneath that shimmer, Kael knew, the current was strong enough to drag a man under in seconds.
He crouched at the bank, letting his hand rest just above the surface. The cold radiating from the water was sharp enough to sting.
"They'll cross here," Kael murmured.
Halric eyed the far shore. "And so will we?"
Kael shook his head. "Not yet. They'll expect us to run straight for the other side. That's when we circle."
Elara stepped closer, keeping her voice low so the boy wouldn't hear. "You're talking about doubling back into them."
"That's exactly what I'm talking about." Kael glanced toward the treeline behind them. The faint trail of smoke was gone now, swallowed by the forest. "They think they're pushing us. We'll let them keep thinking that — until they walk into the place we choose."
The circle closes, the abyss whispered, pleased. Blood will follow.
The plan was simple in outline, brutal in execution. Kael led them a mile upriver before finding a bend where the bank jutted out into the water. The ground here was firmer, the trees thick enough to hide movement until the last moment.
"This will do," he said.
Halric leaned on his hammer. "For what? There's no cover here."
Kael pointed to the slope behind them. "Exactly. If they come from that side, they'll be exposed. No way to charge without slipping."
Elara studied the terrain. "And if they come from the water?"
"Then we cut them down before they stand."
The abyss stirred. Or drag them under.
They spent the next hours preparing. Kael strung trip-lines from root to root, low enough to catch a shin but high enough to tangle. Halric drove stakes into the mud, their sharpened points angled toward the approach. Elara laid out the few arrow shafts they had left, fletching them with care.
By the time the sun began to dip, the trap was ready. Now came the harder part — drawing the hunters in.
Kael volunteered. "I'll go loud. Make sure they hear me."
Elara's jaw tightened. "You're not going alone."
"Yes, I am." His voice left no space for argument. "If I'm alone, I'm just one man fleeing. If you're with me, we look like a group worth chasing."
She didn't like it, but she didn't stop him.
The abyss hummed in his skull as he moved through the undergrowth, deliberately breaking branches, kicking at loose stones. Every step was a breadcrumb.
After twenty minutes, he caught sight of them — two shapes moving low through the trees, their armor dulled to keep from glinting in the sun. Hunters. Human.
Kael let them see him. Then he bolted.
The chase was fast and brutal. Branches whipped at his arms, roots clawed at his boots, but the hunters never fell far behind. They were good — better than he'd hoped.
When he reached the bend in the river, Kael slid into place. Elara's bowstring whispered. Halric hefted his hammer.
The first hunter burst from the trees — and hit a trip-line. He pitched forward, landing hard in the mud. Before he could rise, Halric's hammer came down.
The second hunter skidded to a halt, eyes flicking between Kael and the body of his companion. He chose retreat.
No, the abyss hissed.
Kael lunged, closing the distance in three strides. His blade punched through the man's back, the force carrying them both into the shallows.
The current grabbed the hunter instantly, dragging him off his feet. Kael held on just long enough to feel the fight leave the body before letting the river take it.
Silence returned, broken only by the hiss of water against the bank.
Halric straightened, breathing hard. "Two less."
Elara lowered her bow. "And the rest will know they're missing."
"That's the point," Kael said. He pulled the first hunter's body toward the bank, stripping it of weapons and anything useful. "Let them know we're not just running. Let them feel the circle closing."
The abyss's voice was soft now, almost intimate. You are learning.
Kael said nothing, but in the pit of his chest, the cold satisfaction was his own.
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