The tent flaps parted as Kalia emerged, brushing dark hair out of her face. The poor woman blinked, her eyes adjusting to the light. “What happened?”
“It’s here.”
“The man-bat?”
Desa nodded grimly. “It’s been watching us,” she said, striding toward the trees with her hand aloft to hold back the gloom. “I suspect that it wanted us to know it’s been watching us.”
“Why would it want that?”
“Because this particular hunter likes to play with its food,” Desa growled. “It knows that we will be entering its domain. So, it wants to taunt us.”
“Well,” Kalia grumbled. “So much for sleep.”
By mid-morning, they found the pathway through the forest in the same place it had been the day before. The sky above was still gray and dreary, shutting out the warmth of the sun. A perfect day to enter the
