Bloodfire (Blood Destiny 1) - Helen Harper Page 0,3
despite the afternoon sunshine, and contained dense undergrowth that could be hiding all manner of things. Hopefully not actual spiders.
I forced my way through and sniffed the air. It was heavy and musty but felt natural. I ploughed ahead. Peering through the tangle of creepers and trees, it seemed as if there was something up ahead. Certainly not anything alive, or even undead, but there was something there that looked as if it didn’t belong. I squinted, trying to make out what it was, but couldn’t work it out from this distance. I guessed I’d just have to push through the maze of prickly gorse bushes to find out then. This would have been easier if I’d been wearing jeans instead of my running shorts.
I took a deep breath and gingerly stepped past the first clump, wincing slightly as the sharp thorns scored the skin on my thighs. I gritted my teeth and carried forward, hoping this was going to be worth it. By the time I reached the other side of the thigh high bushes, beads of blood were forming down the front of my legs although I’d gotten used to the mild irritation of the pain. Cursing John, wichtleins and the world in general under my breath, I looked up and realised that what I’d spotted was a length of black cloth. Odd. I checked around it, in case it was a trap of some sort, but it appeared to be merely hanging on its own from the branch of a gnarly oak tree. I tugged it a few times but it was fairly stubborn so I yanked harder, falling backwards into the gorse when it came free.
“Shit!” I swore loudly and even looked around to make sure that no-one had seen my fall. I wouldn’t have put it past some of the pack to have set this all up just to have a laugh at my expense. Grimacing in pain as the thorns pulled away from skin, I forced myself up and looked at my prize.
It was about three yards long with a skein of silver thread running through each side. It was unlikely that a Cornish local had left this behind, given its thorny location and heavy feel. I raised it to my nose and sniffed, before choking as the unmistakable stench of death hit my nostrils. Definitely not a local then. Unlikely to be a pack member playing a practical joke either – their sensitive sense of smell would have made it difficult to even get close to the material. Yet there was obviously something otherworldly about it.
I searched around again for any other signs of anything but came up short. There were no signs of a trail to be seen. I certainly wasn’t a tracker of John’s standards but I was fairly competent despite my lack of shifter super senses. However there was nothing; in fact it was as if the cloth had just dropped dramatically from the sky. The mystery deepens, I thought cryptically. Still, perhaps John might be able to shed more light on it. After all, for all I knew, wichtleins were just keen fashionistas along with casually dropping ominous rocky notes of doom for random passersby.
Looking up, I realised that the afternoon was beginning to turn into dusk, with the blue sky darkening over just a tinge. I glanced back at the gorse, the only way out, and sighed. Better get going, I figured. I didn’t think I’d be wearing any pretty skirts at any time in my near future after this. Well, to be fair, I didn’t actually own any skirts, or dresses, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t want the choice to wear them if I wanted to, without looking as if I’d travelled through a meat grinder at least.
It took me some time to get back through the thorny bushes and return to the clearing. I had another quick look around, just in case I’d missed something, but there was nothing there. Trying to avoid touching it with my bare skin, I put the black cloth over my shoulder, and headed westwards for the keep. The light-hearted feeling I’d had earlier that day during my run had completely dissipated. The potential Brethren visit notwithstanding, John was clearly taking this whole omen very seriously. I made a mental note to check the keep’s library later for any information about wichtleins. It was possible I could dig up something useful on the Othernet too.