Chapter 8: Hunted

8

Watching the two of them walking down the hill towards the sparse woods that gradually thickened across from the valley floor, laying in wait, a well concealed hunter considers the best way to approach Bealz and Monique, knowing that they would be caught completely off guard.

The boy's mother is a formidable warrior, possibly even Shujua'a-vri Nwamke, the female aspect of a Warrior Spirit. She had lit up the sky, so of course their arrival had been observed. The power she wielded in ripping open a portal, while sheathed in flame, was apparent and impressive.

Soon after they arrived, though, when Monique had slid back into the weak, disheveled looking thing now shuffling through the lilies, that power had winked out. Snuffed like a candle flame. She was vulnerable.

As the two slipped in between the tall, thin trees, the silent hunter, known, feared and celebrated throughout the Incata, falls in behind them, taking note and avoiding the other set of eyes that tracked them from within the deeper density of the woods.

Up ahead, Bealz and Monie crash on through the trees, loudly announcing their approach, oblivious to the trap they were strolling right into.