Her clothing was a mix of earth tones and deep green, cut in an irregular pattern with woven grass and dried leaves sewn into its surface so that it blended easily inside the forest.Across her face were thick black markings, not wounds, but deliberate strokes forming a pattern that broke the shape of her features so they were hard to read from a distance. Her eyes were dark brown and unblinking.Shiva looked right and left. On the branches of the trees around them, at least four other figures stood in the same posture, each with a bow raised."What is an elf doing in my forest." The woman wasn't asking out of curiosity, more like someone who already knew the answer and wanted to confirm it for herself. "Aren't you playing a little too far from home?""That's none of your business." Shiva didn't move her head, only her eyes, shifting toward the open area below. "Release my friend."The woman looked down, scanning the open area briefly, th

Rynn didn't move from her position.She stood between the roots of a large tree, one hand still on her bow handle, her head tilted up toward the sky through the gaps in the canopy.The sound of wingbeats that had filled the air earlier began to fade, moving farther east, until all that remained was the night wind moving between the leaves.The soldiers around her waited the same way, no one speaking, no one moving without orders."Kyra." Rynn didn't turn, her eyes still on the sky. "Did it work?"A woman appeared from behind a tree trunk to the left, her hair black and thick, cut short and even below the ears, precise as a line drawn with a ruler. Kyra nodded once, brief and certain.Shiva watched the exchange from where she stood. "What worked?" she asked. "What were you waiting for just now?"Rynn turned toward her now. "We were hunting." She spoke in the same tone she used when giving orders, flat and direct. "Not to catch them. To track them.""Track them? To where?""Banshees don