Dema stopped when the birds stopped.
Iven noticed because he had been listening to Pevra describe a Caldrin stair built with a different height at every third step. The birds had been making a sharp, repetitive noise in the scrub above the road. Then there was only wind.
Dema lifted her hand.
The six travellers halted. Enn took the nearer pack animal’s lead. Sall stepped back beside the other one without being told twice. Hadr had his mouth open around a question and closed it when something moved above the cut.
It was the five hundred and sixth day, cold and bright. Their next staffed post lay beyond the dark stone turn. They had left the seventy-eighth-kilometre shelter after a full meal and a current ground report. No keeper had seen a rakeback on this stretch for weeks.
That was not the same as there being none.
The animal stood half hidden among the grey stems.
Its shoulders rose above a long, low body. Coarse dark hair grew backward from the ridge of its neck, hanging over the forelimbs like a torn mantle. Pale hooked teeth showed even with the jaw almost closed. One heavy paw rested on the upper stone, its curved claws searching for purchase.
