CHAPTER 161

CHAPTER 161
BACK TO BASE

Cold had not lifted. It seeped through fabric and fur to Joel's skin as they rode downhill among pines on narrow tracks. Frost clung to his eyelashes. Snow muted sound, but tension hummed like static among warriors behind.

They had seen enough.

He pulled up at a ridge, gazing down at a valley below where charred grass made a perfect circle in a vacant ritual site. Smoke continued to rise indistinctly from the earth. No body was anywhere to be seen.

It wasn't meant to kill us, grunted Lynk at his side. He stooped, scraping his hand through earth.

"No," I said, my voice uninflected. "It was meant to check us out. How fast we'd move. Who gives orders. Who holds back."

There came a scout from the trail to the north. The scout bent low, gasping in the cold air. "They did not indicate they would head east. They vanished."

Joel gritted his teeth. "Ghost tactics. Old

Lynk stood up. "If they'd wanted war at this juncture, they'd have pressed harder. That circle down there? That's a message. They're aware we're watching. But they're also saying,  we see you too. "

Joel didn't respond immediately. His eyes were still trained on the symbol in the snow, whirls and sharp angles burned into the earth. Symbols known by only the ancient Alphas. Lena had drawn them in a book he'd buried along with her.

"We're leaving," he finally said.

A murmur spread in a wave behind them. Warriors clenched. One of the younger Alphas, Marek, stepped up. "You want to  run ?"

He slowly spun around. "I want to win."

Marek clenched his jaw, yet he backed up. Lynk smiled slightly, yet his eyes were cold.

"We back up," he repeated. "No more forcing ahead until I say so. They can play a game if they want, but we have to know how first."

They disbanded. Lynk stayed back with Joel while the rest made a move to depart.

"Thinking you're thinking what I'm thinking?"

Joel exhaled suddenly. "They're not searching for us. Not us, specifically. They're after something else."

Someone else.

He didn't respond. He didn't need to.

They made their way back in silence, snow crunching beneath their boots. The sound was one of breaking bones.

They reached the north camp at dusk. Tents were dark and unoccupied under a pale sky illuminated by few lanterns and moonlight streaming through snow. Guards were dispatched by Joel, who went inside the central tent.

There was a crackle of fire inside. Maps were strewn across a tabletop, ink-marked and scribbled in scratch. He leaned over them, back rigid.

Lynk appeared behind him and dropped a sack by the fire. "We need new scouts. We need individuals with knowledge of the old magic. These sons-of-bitches know this land better than we do."

"And the bloodlines." His low voice. "They are murdering them."

Lynk's eyebrow rose. "You think Emerald. ?

Joel did not look up. "I know Emerald."

Lynk was silent for a while. Then, softly, "You have to tell her."

Joel got up. "No. Not yet. She's safer if she doesn't know."

"She's not dumb. If she realizes we're not saying a word to her."

They'll be after her like a trail of blood in water, and she'll run.

Lynk groaned. He slumped into a chair, pulling gloves from his battered hands. "So now what do we do? We can't just remain here idle and wait for them to move next."

His fingers moved quickly over the map. He tapped a spot near the western ridge.

We lure them. We give them a decoy. The one who knows them best carries the blood. Let them initiate.

A decoy?

A trap

Lynk's mouth spread slowly into a smile. "You're certainly your father's son."

Joel walked away. "That's not a compliment."

Outside, the wind howled. The fire snapped more fiercely, making shadow dance upon Joel's face.

We move quietly, he said. Let the packs think we are in full retreat. Let the rogues think they hold the high ground.

Lynk nodded. "And Emerald

There was a moment's silence. His eyes strayed across to the far corner of the map where a cabin was lightly sketched.

I have left guards. The butler gives me a nightly report.

"Still keeping up this facade with her, I guess?"

She's making a pretense of thinking.

Lynk stood up, shaking snow from his shoulders. "You two are terrible fibbers."

He smiled grimly. "That's why we're still alive."

There was a faraway howl at night. mournful, anguished.

Joel tensed. His eyes narrowed. "Was that a member of our group?"

Lynk made a stop outside the flap of the tent, gazing out into the evening. "Not ours, though. Close."

Joel grabbed for his coat. "Call the scouts. We depart at daybreak. No fires this evening. No songs. We listen."

Lynk nodded. "And if they attack again before daybreak?"

He spun around, eyes aglow in the dark. "We then made them listen to how we bite back."

The trees stood in empty, motionless silence at dawn. Joel and his men moved among them silently, each step deliberate. Frost had fallen upon the brush, and the sun was not yet above the eastern ridge.

They had established a decoy site. An abandoned cave near old border lands, smelling of stale blood odor and heavy with feeble warding spells. Enough to lure the rogues in without revealing anything substantial.

Hours passed.

Nothing.

And then a noise. not near, but above. A whisper carried by the wind.

A wolf howl. Answered with nothing.

They rustled, then. Joel gestured with one hand.

Motion. Silhouettes. A scant few. Four,

Too few

Lynk got down next to him, nostrils flaring. "They're testing it."

His lips formed a tight line. "Let them."

They never effectively got into the trap. merely cruised along its fringes. Close enough to smell it, to stake it out, then vanish. Like a mist.

They understood it was bait, she whispered.

"Yes." Nodded Joel. "They did not send a lot. It's not an attack. It's reconnaissance. They're probing. They want to know how far we'll respond."

A second scout came running up. "More prints west of the ridge. Scent trails lead to nothing.just like last time."

"Pull in the men. No more shadow games for this evening."

As the fighters retreated, Joel came to a halt, looking back at the woods. A creepy quiet had descended.

They wanted us to see them, he growled.

Lynk leaned to one side. "Why

"To remind us," said Joel darkly, "that we are not alone in laying traps."

They bedded down at dusk again, this time deeper in a rock outcropping. No fires. Hushed and quiet dispatches.

Lena spent her nights late at night poring over the map. They seemed to form a pattern where none existed, trails for nothing, clumps of symbols Lena dreaded.

"They're not advancing," he told Lynk finally. "They're circling us."

Like wolves.

Having fun being wolves like gods.

Lynk said nothing. He just gazed at the stars through the slit in the roof of the tent.

"We're not ready yet," said Joel.

Lynk took a deep breath. "We prepare. We fall back. We get wiser. We sharpen every blade, sharpen every mind."

He looked at the map once more, at the slight ink marking the cabin.

She won't remain safe for much longer, he whispered. Lynk leaned in. "So we settle this. Not next moon. Not tomorrow. Soon. On our terms." Joel nodded slowly. "We tempt them. One more time. And when we attack. we don't fail.”