It was about twenty feet from there to where the tracks split. That would be the first panicked flight before Godric realized he needed to fight back and sent Delilah toward town. “Agreed.” Shasta went to get a closer look.

  “It’d be nice if the deer’s tracks were as clear.”

  Shasta snorted.

  “What? It could happen,” Cord said with mock sincerity.

  “I won’t be holding my breath.” She walked into the woods, making a wide half-circle around the leaves as she searched for hoof prints. Unfortunately, it hadn’t rained in a few days and the ground was relatively hard. She found two places with gaps in the leaves, but there was nothing close enough to either spot to indicate a direction to look for additional tracks.

  “Find anything?” Cord called out.

  “Nothing useful. How about you?”

  A lengthy silence followed her question.

  She scanned the area, but he was nowhere in sight. “Cord?” She hadn’t heard anything more than the birds chirping and the insects droning.

  “I’m fine.” He stood up from behind a rhododendron. “I can’t tell if I found something.”

  Shasta huffed out a breath she’d been holding. “Don’t scare me like that.” She skipped over a mostly rotted deadfall on her way to him.

  “Sorry.” He looked down at the forest floor. “What do you think?”

  Her first thought was that it just looked like a bunch of leaves, but that wasn’t going to help them find the deer. She knelt down next to one spot where bare earth was peeking through the usual ground covering. There were two shallow scrapes scarring the earth. It wasn’t much, but with how dry it had been, the marks could be a deer track. She moved over to the other spot. There weren’t any marks on the ground, but the leaves were disturbed in a similar fashion, and it was the right distance away. She stood and surveyed the ground as she continued following the line the tracks made. After three feet of nothing, she started to doubt that she would find additional prints. Then she spotted a patch of bare dirt with an impression of a hoof print.

  She glanced back at Cord and grinned. “I found another print.”

  He hurried over. “It’d be great if we could backtrack them.” Staying on the opposite side of the tracks from her, he picked up the hunt.

  “These deer had to come from somewhere,” she muttered as she continued examining the ground. It wasn’t long before Cord found a print, and then she found another one. Examining the ground this closely was slow going, and she could still see the tree near where she’d spotted the first print.

  Cord paused to stretch before resuming the search. Shasta rubbed her neck as she walked, not sure that finding a few footprints was worth the discomfort.

  “Found something.” He was standing on a downed tree looking at the earth on the far side.

  “Coming.” She headed over, hoping it was enough of something that they didn’t have to keep searching for one hoof print after another.

  Before she even joined him on top of the log, she could see it. Under the low hanging branches of a pine was a deer-sized indention from one of them lying down for a while. Around it were overlapping tracks; as if the deer had spent some time just hanging out. It was the most deer-like behavior she’d seen from them so far.

  “They spent time here,” Cord said.

  Shasta nodded. “Not sure it helps us unless they come back.”

  “We could set up tree stands, keep an eye on the area.”

  “But for how long? And while we’re out here, the deer can attack again.” Shasta grimaced. The sooner they got rid of these deer, the sooner they could be done with this job. “We’d be better off trying to find some hair from them. If we’re lucky, it’ll be from one that’s still alive, and I can track them.”

  Cord hesitated. “If we walk all over, they’re sure to smell us.”

  While that was true, she didn’t have an overwhelming amount of confidence in the outcome if they just sat in the trees. Not after the two weeks they’d spent hunting these deer. “By that reasoning, we’ve already been walking around. How likely is it, really, that they’ll come back? There isn’t a water source or anything else that would bring them here.”

  The tree vibrated underfoot. Reacting purely on instinct, Shasta jumped off, spinning around in the air, and bringing her bow up to fire as she landed. One of the deer was racing toward them. Her vision narrowed until it was only her and the deer.

  Shasta drew back the arrow, but because the deer was coming directly at them, it wasn’t the right angle for a clean kill. Hoping to buy time, and a better shot if she was lucky, Shasta pulled up a thick strand of magic. “Mannaz.”

  The spell shot through the air and connected with the deer. She expected it to stumble or slow its pace, but it just kept running. It was closing the distance quickly, and she didn’t have much time. She double-checked her aim and then released the arrow.

  The deer darted to the side, and her arrow only opened up a shallow scratch across the shoulder. It continued charging them.

  Shasta drew and nocked another arrow as quickly as she could. The angle wasn’t much better this time, but she could see some of its shoulder, and that might be enough.

  When the deer’s leg moved forward, she released the arrow. As soon as it left the bow, she leaped to the side. Even if she got a solid hit, it probably wouldn’t bring the animal down in time. She got her back against a slender pine a fraction of a second before the deer careened past her.

  Her arrow was buried to the fletching in its side. From the position, she could tell it would kill the deer eventually, but it wouldn’t be as quick as she’d hoped. Keeping her eye on the animal, she fumbled for her quiver.

  Another arrow slammed into the deer’s side, passing clean through. It staggered a few steps and then fell. From the pool of blood rapidly spreading around it, Shasta knew it would be dead in moments.

  Cord was still standing on the downed tree, another arrow already in hand. Shasta started to thank him for the shot but stopped when a movement behind him caught her attention. Two more deer were racing toward him.

  “Behind you!” Shasta bellowed as she snatched an arrow out of the quiver and prepared to fire again.

  He glanced over his shoulder as he jumped off the log. Two steps later and he was safely out of danger, but rather than being focused on the deer behind them he was looking at something over her shoulder.

  Shasta didn’t have time to worry about it because one of the deer swerved, presenting its side to her. Trusting Cord could manage whatever else was going on, or at least buy her time, Shasta fired. The arrow went into the deer, but the injuries didn’t stop its frantic charge.

  The third one squared up for its assault, and she didn’t have an arrow ready. Shasta gathered a ball of magic and shaped it. “Mannaz.” She hurtled the spell at the deer.

  It hit the deer in the head. The animal swayed, and Shasta held her breath, hoping it would be enough to neutralize the creature. It stumbled, but got back to its feet and bolted into the woods.

  She swore. They would have to track it down, and more magic did not make a difference. As she was getting another arrow, she risked a glance over her shoulder. Two more deer were making their way over. One of them darted behind the holly bush, and Shasta forced her attention back to the problems in front of her. The deer she’d shot was staggering as it continued a headlong rush through the area. The other deer had turned and seemed to be circling back for another pass.

  “How many?” Cord yelled.

  From the sound of his voice, he was behind her, but it was unlikely she’d be able to see him. Without eyes on him, it was a lot more difficult to ensure she didn’t inadvertently shoot in his direction. “One injured, one circling. You?”

  “One, hiding behind a holly bush.”

  “That leaves two unaccounted for.” The staggering deer lurched toward her, and Shasta shoved herself away from the tree, leaves sliding out from under her feet she scrambled back. A rock caught her toe, and she went down hard on one knee. Pain shot up her leg, and she cursed. That was going to bruise.

  The deer stepped sideways, swaying as it followed her. She got to her feet, wincing as the knee protested taking weight. She limped a few steps toward another tree and put it between her and the meandering deer. She glanced around but didn’t see the other deer she was supposed to be dealing with.

  She nocked the arrow, getting it back into proper position as she frantically scanned the forest. Unfortunately, deer were remarkably well camouflaged and didn’t stand out against the browns and greens of the forest.

  Shasta adjusted her grip on the bow. The deer was here. She just had to find it. She scanned the woods in front of her again but still couldn’t see it. Hoping she wasn’t making a mistake, she pivoted enough to look behind her.

  Not even four feet away, the deer was staring directly at her. Shasta froze, not sure what to do. Yet again she was facing it head on, and that wasn’t a good shot for a bow. On the other hand, fighting them with the sword wasn’t particularly fun or effective.

  Ears perked, the deer took a step forward.

  Shasta tensed. With the tree to her back, she didn’t have a lot of room to maneuver. Maybe this time, elven abilities would succeed where brute force seemed to be a less than ideal option. She lowered her shields and got a better sense of her surroundings. All around them, squirrels and chipmunks were hiding in trees, two cardinals were nesting a short distance to the east, and all of them were alarmed by the commotion.

  She couldn’t feel the deer in front of her. As far as her elven senses were concerned, there wasn’t an animal there. It was an empty forest. Which was rather interesting information but didn’t help her out of her current predicament.

  The deer took another step, hindquarters gathering under it, preparing to leap.

  It was time to move. Shasta let the arrow fall to the ground as she dove to the side. She did an awkward front roll, going more over her shoulder than directly over her spine. She popped back to her feet, bow still in hand, and started running as she yanked an arrow out of the quiver.

  Shasta risked a glance over her shoulder. For the moment, the deer was standing still, ears pivoting back and forth, and she had a great view of its side. She brought the bow and arrow up and took aim as it jumped forward, clearing more than ten feet. It settled into a trot, keeping an eye on her as it moved. As soon as the foreleg closest to her swung forward, she released the arrow.

  It went clean through the deer and buried itself in a tree on the other side. Shasta held her breath, hoping the creature would lie down and die peacefully rather than causing any more trouble. Half a dozen uneven steps later, it lowered itself to the ground beside the fallen tree where they had been standing when all of this started.

  For the first time in several minutes, Shasta took a deep breath. That was two down and two of questionable status. She needed to verify that the deer were dead and find Cord.

  She glanced around but couldn’t see him. That simplified the decision-making process. Verify the kills first. She headed back to where she’d dropped the arrow. They had only packed one quiver each, partly because there was a limited supply of magic-infused arrows. Recovering one could be the difference between having a distance weapon in the next fight or having to resort to the sword. As she walked, her knee twinged less and less.

  A few steps later, she spotted the deer they had injured. It was lying down a fair distance away from where all the action had been. From here it looked dead, but she wasn’t willing to bet on that until she checked.

  A bright spot of red among the leaves snagged her attention. After a quick look to make sure she wasn’t in danger, she grabbed the arrow. Surprisingly, it was intact. Not even the fletching was damaged. She nocked it and headed for the deer that had been down the longest. When she got close, she saw that its eyes were unfocused, and its chest didn’t move. It was dead.

  As much as she wanted to go find Cord, she knew better than to leave an enemy behind without checking on it. She circled back to the second deer. It had the same unfocused look and wasn’t breathing. With the kills verified, there was only one problem: Where was Cord?

  Part of her wanted to call out to him, to see if she could find him that way, but the rest of her didn’t want to give away her current position or distract him if he was in the middle of a fight. Though all she could hear were the normal forest noises, so if he was fighting, it was a quiet fight.

  The silence finally got to her. “Cord?”

  She kept creeping between trees, looking in every direction as she went. He had to be here somewhere. Whatever had altered all those deer better not have taken him. “Cord?”

  “Here.”

  She pivoted to the right but still didn’t see him.

  A tree branch snapped, followed by a curse. “Over here!”

  Suppressing a smile, Shasta followed the sounds up a small rise. He was quite a ways away from where she’d been, and she couldn’t see him until the ground leveled out. He was plodding up the hill, shirt torn and dirt streaked across his face, bow in one hand, sword in the other. From the looks of him, it hadn’t been an easy fight. “Are you okay?”

  “I ended up with two of them after me. They’re dead.” He scrubbed a hand across his face. “I thought for a little while I was seeing three, but if there was another one, it’s gone now.”

  Shasta pivoted as she gave their surroundings a once-over. “I don’t see anything.”

  He shrugged. “If we’re lucky, I’m mistaken.” He swung his pack off his shoulder and sat on the ground next to it.

  After sliding the arrow back in the quiver, Shasta settled in next to him. She dug out her canteen and gulped down the water. “There’s two dead where we started out. One of them is right next to the log we were standing on.”

  Cord pulled open his pack and stared into it for a moment before looking at her. “What do you think about a late lunch in the woods?”

  The adrenaline from battle fading, her stomach quickly reminded her that it had been a long time since breakfast. “I’m in.”

  Under other circumstances, it would have been romantic, but they ended up sitting beside each other facing opposite directions so they could keep an eye on as much of the area as possible. Not wanting to miss any warning of an attack, they ate in silence. A romantic getaway it was not.

  Cord finished his food, tucked the cloth in his pack, and leaned back on his elbows. “What do you think prompted this attack? All the others have been in town.”

  Shasta finished drinking and set her canteen to the side. “Not a clue. The most useful thing we discovered so far was the sabotage. Though I still don’t have any idea why someone would want to target Quercuston. It’s tiny.”

  “But it’s unique. There aren’t many places where elves with very specific gifts gather. We’re better known for being generalists—plants, animals, some crafting. Most of our communities reflect that.”

  Shasta shook her head as she repacked her bag. “I would buy that if there was evidence of some outside person doing this and they were jealous or had been kicked out. I don’t understand someone from inside the town targeting their own special community, not without a reason that I’m just not seeing. Anyone who lives here is free to leave, and they chose this place. Why attack?”

  Cord got to his feet and settled his pack on his shoulders. “I don’t know.” He offered her a hand.

  Shasta let him pull her up, grateful to have an ally in this confusing case. “I’m afraid we’re going to find out too late.” She picked her bow up and tugged an arrow out of the quiver.

  “I hope not. I saw too much of that when I was a cop.” He fiddled with the quiver hanging from his belt.

  “When we get back, I’ll call Mom. Maybe she’s figured out some magic that can help us.” Shasta didn’t want her own memories of arriving too late, and since most of her cases had resulted in an overall positive outcome, that was an experience gap she didn’t know how to bridge. Probably because it wasn’t something that should be bridged.

  Cord’s face went blank. “Shasta,” he whispered. “Slowly turn around, don’t make any sudden movements. There’s another deer.”

  Her heart rate picked up. She pivoted, moving as slowly as she could. At first, all she could see of the deer was a shape out of the corner of her eye, but then she twisted around enough to get a good look. It was at least forty feet away, with very little obstructing the path between them, looking in their direction. Unfortunately, that was too long of a shot for her bow.

  She took her eyes off the deer long enough to glance at Cord. He had his bow in his hand, but he didn’t have an arrow ready. Even for him, it would be a long shot, and they’d risk having to track a frightened and injured deer as it ran. “We need to get closer.”

  Cord shook his head slightly. “If we move, we could startle it.”

  “I’m open to other suggestions.” While he was pondering that, she cracked open her shields. At first, she thought the deer was as invisible as the last one she’d tried to sense, but the longer she held open the connection, the more she could feel something in that vicinity.

  “We move slowly.”

  Shasta rolled her eyes. “And here I thought we’d start a foot race.”

  Cord ignored her snark. “On the count of three, we each take a small, slow step forward. One. Two. Three.”

  Keeping her shields lowered, Shasta carefully picked up a foot and eased her weight forward as she set it down. The deer didn’t move.

  “Again,” Cord said.

  She watched the deer as they took one step after another. Its ears swiveled, but it just watched them creep closer. Part of her wondered if it was some type of trap, though she didn’t see anything else in the woods. She hoped it would take a couple steps to the side so she could get a clear shot at its heart and lungs. The deer continued to face them squarely.

  When they were about twenty feet away, it tensed. Shasta and Cord froze. The deer’s ears swiveled to the back and then forward again before it turned and bolted into the woods.