Chapter 50

In the same way she had put the pieces together in her mind when she found Erech on the night of the storm, Netya’s confusion began to clear. Fear sharpened her thoughts, and in an instant she guessed what must have happened.

Hawk’s plan had been an excellent one, but it had not accounted for anything unexpected. If the scouts had only observed the ravine from a distance, they could easily have missed mountain cat dens hidden among the rocks. Even if they had ventured closer, a few prowling wolves could easily have gone unnoticed without alerting the creatures who dwelt here.

A large drove of horses charging straight down the ravine, however, would have woken the spirits themselves.

As suddenly as they had appeared, the drove of horses was gone, leaving only a few terrified stragglers in its wake. Once the sound of hooves receded, the noises of fighting returned once again. The howls of wolves and the roars of cats echoed off the sides of the ravine, and as the dus