The Northern Border. The Forest East of the Pass. Dawn.
They moved through the trees in silence.
Lira led, her bow in her hand, her eyes on the ground. The hunters had left tracks—faint, fading, but there. She had tracked creatures through forests, across mountains, over frozen ground. She would track these hunters to their lair.
Ben walked behind her, his sword drawn, his blessing alert. He could feel the hunters' presence—cold, hungry, wrong. They were close. Watching.
Tina followed, her staff crackling with contained lightning. Davin brought up the rear, his teleportation ready, his eyes scanning the shadows.
"The trail leads east," Lira whispered. "Toward the old quarry."
Ben nodded. "That's where we killed the first creatures. Where the strangers came through."
"The hunters have been there before."
"They're returning."
---
The old quarry was abandoned.
Stone walls rose on three sides, scarred by decades of mining. The ground was bare, littered with rubble and dead weeds. A small cave at the far end led into darkness.
Lira stopped at the edge.
"They're in there," she said.
Ben moved to stand beside her. "How many?"
"The tracks say three. Same as before."
Tina raised her staff. "I can flush them out."
"Not yet." Ben held up a hand. "We need to know what we're facing."
Davin stepped forward. "I can scout. Teleport inside, look around, come back."
Ben shook his head. "Too dangerous. They'll sense you."
"I'm fast."
"They're faster."
---
Lira notched an arrow. "Then we do it the old way."
She drew. Released.
The arrow flew into the cave—split into five, into ten, into twenty. They filled the entrance, the walls, the darkness.
The hunters screamed.
They came out fast—faster than anything that size should move. Their bodies were solid, their red eyes burning, their claws gleaming. The lead hunter lunged at Lira.
Ben was there.
His sword met its claws, sparks flying. His blessing surged, the world slowing. He could see the hunter's movements before they happened—the twitch of its arm, the flex of its claws, the opening of its jaw.
He drove it back.
Tina's lightning struck the second hunter, arcing across its chest, burning its skin. It staggered, hissed, kept coming.
Davin teleported behind the third hunter, his knife flashing. He caught it in the shoulder—not deep, but enough. It spun, clawed at him, but he was already gone.
Lira's arrows rained down.
---
The battle was brutal.
Ben fought the lead hunter, his blade finding its throat, its chest, its eyes. It was strong—stronger than before. It had fed. It had grown.
But Ben was stronger.
His blessing pushed him faster, harder, sharper. Every strike was precise. Every dodge was instinct. He had been fighting hunters for years. He knew their patterns, their weaknesses, their fears.
He drove his sword through the lead hunter's chest.
It screamed—a sound that echoed off the quarry walls, that made the others pause, that made Lira's blood run cold.
It fell.
---
Tina's lightning struck the second hunter again and again. Its skin blackened, cracked, smoked. It stumbled, fell, rose, stumbled again.
Davin appeared behind it. His knife found its spine.
It fell.
The third hunter tried to flee. Lira's arrow took it in the leg. It stumbled. Another arrow took it in the back. It fell.
Ben stood over the bodies, his chest heaving, his sword dripping with dark blood.
"They're dead," he said.
Lira lowered her bow. "Are there more?"
Ben closed his eyes. Reached out with his blessing.
"No," he said. "These were the only ones."
---
They gathered the hunters' remains.
Tina wanted to burn them. Ben wanted to study them. Lira wanted to leave them for the crows.
"We should take them to the mages," Ben said. "They might learn something."
Lira shook her head. "The mages are busy with the portal."
"Then we bury them."
They buried the hunters at the edge of the quarry.
---
William met them at the keep.
Ben reported the hunt—the quarry, the battle, the dead. William listened without interrupting.
"The hunters are dead," Ben finished.
William nodded slowly. "But the Vargr are still there."
"The Vargr were following the hunters. Without them—"
"They might retreat. Or they might attack." William looked at the pass. "We need to be ready for both."
---
Ken felt the hunters die.
He was sitting at the edge of the portal camp, his eyes closed, his mind reaching across the distance. The cold presence that had been watching the border was gone.
He opened his eyes.
"The hunters are dead," he said.
Mirena looked up. "How do you know?"
"I can feel it. The void is quieter."
Grog moved to stand beside him. "Then the border is secure?"
"For now."
Grog looked at the artifact. "Then we focus on the portal."