Verena's Whistle: Varangian Descendants Book I by K. Panikian (essential reading txt) 📗

one bes that stood out – he was very tall, with long horns, wearing armor, and he had a sword. He organized the rest and they followed him out of the clearing in that direction,” Theo pointed north.

“My Sight was very vivid again. I don’t know if it’s because of the remnants of the portal, like there is extra magic lingering here? Or because of what I’m trying to see – beings full of magic? But I felt their residual emotions. The leader, he is very, very angry to be here, and not wherever he was before.”

“Okay,” I paused to think, “I don’t think we should try and track them tonight. They’re likely to see better in the dark than us and if we use the flashlights, they could be standing right next to us and we wouldn’t see them until it was too late.”

“On the other hand,” Theo said, “we can’t track them in the daylight from this clearing because it will be full of people, like that nice police man that told us to go away yesterday.”

“Yes, very true,” I answered. “Except we probably couldn’t track them from the clearing anyway. It snowed since the 15th, remember?” I asked. “But we know there are hoofprints on our snowshoe trail. And we know there are todorats. I think we should come back in the morning and try and track the horse trail.”

“Yes,” Theo agreed. “That’s the plan.”

IN the morning, we ate a quick breakfast and then headed back up the mountain. This time, I remembered the crossbows. We took one snow machine and left it on the side of the ski trail and quickly found the hoofprints heading north. They looked several days old at this point, their snowy edges crumbling and softened by the wind.

I read the tracks and said to Theo, “It looks like it was a group of three. They were walking south, hit the ski trail, and turned around. See here, where they walked back over their initial prints?” Theo nodded.

We followed the jumbled trail for what felt like several miles. It was a sunny day and we saw lots of forest animals, including another small herd of elk.

My legs were aching by the time we paused. Walking in  the borrowed snowshoes was not easy; they were heavy and awkward. We stopped as the trees thinned and we became more exposed. I crouched behind a large pine tree and peered ahead. The thinning trees were on the edge of a glade that ended in a large outcropping of rocks. The equine prints we’d been following became part of a larger mass of churned up snow along the edge of the rocks.

“What do you think?” Theo breathed in my ear.

“I think it’s a cave,” I breathed back.

Theo pulled a pair of binoculars out of his backpack and looked for a long moment before he passed them to me. I looked and couldn’t see anything moving.

“Do you sense anything?” I asked Theo.

He bobbed his head. “Yes, this is where they are. I can sense their churning emotions and some superficial thoughts, like in the crater. Most of them are cold and hungry. They don’t like hiding in the cave. The leader though, is confused and also still very angry.”

Theo closed his eyes and quieted his breathing. “He’s seen the people at the crater. He doesn’t know what’s going on but he knows he’s not where he’s supposed to be. He’s decided they should hide for now. He’s sending out small scouting parties to collect information and find food, but he knows he can’t keep the rest of the besy hiding for much longer. His control over them is tenuous. It was easier when…” Theo stopped. “I don’t know when it was easier. The thoughts are too detailed.”

I was impressed. “You really got all of that?” I asked.

“I told you. I’m feeling supercharged.”

“That’s really incredible, Theo.” I looked at the cave again with the binoculars. “If they’re sending out scouting parties, they’re going to see our tracks and they’re going to know people found the cave.”

“We need to hide our tracks, but in a way that doesn’t look like we’ve just wiped them out,” Theo agreed. “Ideas?”

I thought for a long moment. “I have one idea. Let’s see if I’m feeling supercharged too. Follow me.”

We backtracked a little to the part of the trail where we’d seen the elk earlier. I looked in their direction and whistled. I made my tone curious and welcoming. It took several tries but eventually three of the elk approached. I felt their inquisitiveness and their fear. I caught hold of the gold sparks trembling in their chests and soothed the fear. I started walking back to the cave; the elk followed. I kept whistling a gentle, continuous sound. The elk stepped through our trail, churning the snow.

We walked back to the edge of the glade, staying out of sight of the cave, and I turned again. The elk continued to follow me all the way back to the ski trail where the snow machine waited. I whistled one more time, sending thanks and warmth, and they wandered back in the direction of their herd. I felt the gold glow of their spirits leave my control and it made me sad. I shook off that feeling.

I looked down at the trail we’d just made and was satisfied that the snowshoe tracks were obscured by elk prints and kicked up snow. I turned with a smile to Theo and he hugged me warmly.

“Talk about incredible magic, Very,” he said, “that was incredible.”

Chapter 12

Back at the house, Theo and I made some sandwiches and tried to plan how to deal with the bukavac that night. The trick would be waiting for it to climb out of the water, then letting it get far enough from the hole that it couldn’t scuttle back and jump in when we engaged it, but also not letting it get close enough to the parking lot where someone