Chapter 51
Smitty set a relentless, fast pace: head down, shield up, sword ready, he was like an armed juggernaut crashing along the path. And close behind, her legs in step, feet nearly overlapping his, Tavia ran, her scimitar scything through the air as her arms pumped. Last of all, a pace behind, Spiker, flowing over the ground, running well within himself, his eyes flicking from right to left, up and down, seeking danger.
He had, he knew, laid six markers between the Core and the bridge. A part of his mind counted them as they flashed past, milestones to safety.
The third marker, a splash of insane red on a massive tree root that caused the path to swerve first right, then left, was left behind. Before them was a small bend concealing what lay ahead.
Spiker’s sixth sense, the one t
