Warrior's Soul (Book 3 of The Warrior Chronicles)

Chapter 5

They were tracking her.

Leyla could hear their footsteps, had caught snippets of quickly hushed conversations since leaving the village hours ago. There were about a dozen of them; a mix of adults and children. They kept their distance so that they were always far enough away that she could not catch a glimpse of them. What were they up to?

Leyla had no idea why the villagers were following her, but she had to lose them. She needed space to wash the dried blood off her clothes; the scent of it was turning her stomach. Crouching low, she looked for animal prints and took note of the direction they were headed. Then raising her head, she stood still and waited. Soon a flock of birds appeared overhead, moving in the same direction as the animal tracks; that had to be the way to water.

Drawing on the last of her energy, Leyla moved at a pace she knew the group behind her couldn't match. Travelling on hard-packed soil and rocks, she avoided clumps of weed and grass. These precautions would not stop a decent tracker from following her, but it would slow them down.

It took a longer than expected to find the river. Leyla removed her scarf and tunic, dunking them both into the water. Streaks of red flowed from where she rubbed the material together. She squeezed the water out of the cleaned cloths and hung them on a nearby bush before kneeling once more.

Leyla's reflection stared back from calm waters while birds dove at the river for a drink.
Who are you? What will you do now? You are alone again. Why are you alone again? Washing her face briskly, she retied her hair and looked across the river. 

It looked deep. Dangerous. 

"The water can't hurt you. I'm here." Raphael's voice echoed in her head. Leyla pushed it away and took a shaky breath.  Tired from the fighting, she grabbed the drying clothes and went to look for a sturdy tree to climb.

***

The scent of roasting meat woke her.

Leyla blinked from her perch on a high branch and focused on the bonfire  down, near the river. So the villagers managed to follow her all the way here? It was good that she wiped her prints leading to the tree.

Stretching her sore muscles, Leyla reached up to see if the material hanging above her had dried. Feeling no moisture, she pulled the shirt over her head, then wrapped the scarf around her head once more. Her stomach growled with hunger at the continuing food smells, but she ignored it. She was trained to go without for days. She would collect food in the morning. Plus, lighting a fire at night would give her location away...didn't the villagers realise that?

What if Bone Eaters were tracking them?

Frowning, Leyla cast a glance towards her sword, then unhooked her belt from around the tree. She couldn't go back to sleep. If something did happen, she would have to move quickly.

A few hours went by and the sounds from around the bonfire ceased. Leyla jumped down from her hideout and approached slowly. An elderly couple, three women, one older boy and four young children; Leyla recognised one of the little ones as the girl who had stood beside her at the grave earlier. Unlike the other children who were curled up against the women, the girl was sleeping between the elderly couple. Had she lost her parents then? Was she an orphan now, like her? 

Leyla looked away from the sleeping group and out into the forest behind them. What was wrong with these adults? How could they leave themselves exposed this way after what they just experienced? Frowning once more, Leyla adjusted her sword belt and tightened the scarf around her face before moving silently to patrol.