“I thought I had till dawn.”
“It is dawn.” The Guardian’s voice was cold, matter-of-fact. “Time moves differently here, knight. A single day can pass in a heartbeat, or a lifetime.
It matters not. The second test is upon us. Are you ready?”
“How will I know if I’ve passed?”
“There is no pass or fail.” That cold, informal tone never changed.
“There is only endure. Survive.”
Endure. Survive. I could do that. “All right, then,” I said, bracing myself. “I’m ready.”
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“Then let us begin.” Raising its staff, it tapped it once against the stone f loor. There was a f lash, and everything disappeared.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THE SECOND TRIAL
“Nice shot, little brother. Maybe next time, we can find something that puts up more of a fight. I was about to fall asleep in the saddle.” I ignored Rowan and approached the stag where it lay, still thrashing in the grass. A white arrow jutted behind its front legs, straight through its heart, and the beast’s mouth and nostrils were spattered with bloody foam. It rolled its eyes at me and tried to rise, but fell, kicking weakly, not quite realizing it was dead. I drew my hunting knife, and one quick slash to the throat ceased its struggles forever.
I sheathed the blade, gazing down at the twitching creature, somehow smaller in death than in life. “Too easy,” I muttered, curling a lip in disdain.
“These mortal beasts are no challenge at all. It’s no fun hunting something that dies so easily.”
Rowan snickered as I yanked my arrow free and walked back to my horse, leaving the pathetic creature to bleed out in the dirt. “You’re just not hunting the right quarry,” he said as I swung into the saddle.
“You keep chasing these animals, hoping they can survive more than an afternoon. If you want a challenge, maybe you need to change tactics.”
“Like what? Talk them to death? I’ll leave that up to you.” “Oh, har har.” Rowan rolled his eyes. “My little brother is around a few decades 259/387
and thinks he knows everything. Listen to someone who’s lived a few centuries. If you want a real challenge, you need to stop chasing these animals and pursue a quarry that can actually think.”
“You’re talking about humans,” I muttered as we rode through the forest, back toward the trod that had brought us here. “I’ve hunted them before.
They’re less of a challenge than shooting dead goats.”
“Oh, little brother.” Rowan shook his head at me. “You have such a one-track mind. There are other ways to ‘hunt’ humans, other then riding them down and putting an arrow in their skulls. They’re a much more interesting quarry alive then dead. You should try it sometime.”
“You mean how you hunt them?” I snorted. “That’s less hunting and more toying with your prey, like a cat.”
“Don’t be so smug, Ash.” Rowan smirked at me, a silent challenge.
“Pursuing a mortal’s heart, making her fall for you, slowly entangling her to the point where she would promise you anything, takes much more skil then simply sticking an arrow through someone’s chest. The human heart is the most difficult quarry of all.” His smirk grew wider, turning into a leer. “In fact, I’m not sure you could do it.”
“Who said I’d want to?” I ignored his baiting. “I’ve seen mortals ‘in love’ before. They’re blind and foolish, and their hearts are so fragile.
What would I do with such a thing if I had it?”
“Whatever you want, little brother. Whatever you want.” Rowan gave me that smug, superior grin that made me bristle. “But, I understand if you’re afraid. If you don’t think you can do it. I just thought that you’d want a more interesting hunt, but if it’s too challenging for you…”
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“All right.” I sighed. “You’ll give me no peace otherwise. Point me to a mortal and I’ll make it fall in love with me.” Rowan laughed. “My little brother is growing up.” He sneered, as we turned our mounts toward the edge of the forest.
Once we were close to our prey, it didn’t take us long to find a likely target. As we approached the crude wooden fence that separated the human’s glade from the rest of the forest, faint, off-key singing suddenly reached our ears, and we pulled our mounts to a halt.