Assassin of Curses: (The Coren Hart Chronicles Book 3) by Jessie Eaker (best novels in english TXT) 📕

trees was not too far away to the north and looked to be relatives of the one I stood in.

Directly ahead of me, at the limits of my vision, I could make out what was either clouds or mountains. I wasn’t sure which. In the other direction, the swamp spread before me with a few of the solitary trees scattered about. There looked to be a rather large lake in that direction and perhaps some open water.

As I was climbing down, I noticed a piece of cloth tied to a branch. It was a dull red now, but at one time had likely been much brighter. And it had been put there deliberately. I looked around. So there were people here too.

I plopped down beside Zofie, who sat calmly looking ahead with no expression. A flying insect buzzed around her, and I waved it away. There certainly was no shortage of those.

Cabrina huddled by herself a short distance away with her arms hugging her knees. She looked tired, but her expression was unreadable. I got the impression there was an internal conversation going on with the curse inside.

I leaned over toward her and pointed to Spraggel. He had curled up on his side and was already snoring. I swear that man could sleep through the end of the world.

Cabrina turned her gaze to where I pointed. “Why don’t you take a nap too,” I suggested. “I’ll watch.”

She nodded weakly and laid down.

We were all exhausted from sloshing through the water, not to mention having no sleep. While the sun may have been up, our bodies were still convinced it was a couple of hours after midnight. I couldn’t help but wonder how far we had traveled through the portal. It had been near midnight when we had started. Since dawn greeted us when we arrived, that meant we had moved quite the distance to the east. And the warm weather indicated we were in a much lower latitude. We were likely half a world away from home now.

I took the chance to check on Oddfrid. His condition was unchanged, and he had not regained consciousness. Fumiko thought he must have myst depletion, but she wasn’t sure. What she didn’t say was that he really needed a healer.

Fumiko sat beside me. “Where do you think we are?”

I shook my head. “Probably one of the southern lands, but I honestly have no idea.” I pointed to the tree behind me. “I also found evidence of people here. We’ll have to keep watch. We don’t know if they will help us or eat us.”

Fumiko gave a tired nod. “I doubt they’ll eat us. We don’t look very tempting right now.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

We sat for a moment in silence. Off in the distance, I heard a lonely bird cry out.

“Why do you think Oddfrid took us here?” she asked. “Do you think he had this destination in mind, or was this just some random location to get us out of there?”

I shook my head. “I have no idea, but I’m sure he had a reason.” I slapped at an insect on my neck.

Fumiko glanced over at Oddfrid and then to Cabrina. “I guess the bigger question is, how did Lilith know where we would come out?” She pulled up several blades of grass and began to braid them. “She’s known our location three times now. That’s too much of a coincidence. She’s got to be tracking us. Do you think Cabrina is giving our location away?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so. Or at least, not intentionally. No-name and Lilith seem to have different agendas.” I glanced over at the youth. Cabrina lay facing away from us, so I couldn’t see her face. “There’s definitely something about her that we don’t understand. But I don’t think she’s in league with Lilith.”

Fumiko’s fingers carefully braided the grass. She pulled more blades and began to weave them in. “Then, if it’s not her, who could it be?”

“Well, I don’t think it’s Oddfrid since he pulled us out of that trap. That leaves Zofie and Spraggel, but neither of them would do something like that.” I shrugged. “I don’t think we’re looking at the problem the right way.”

I glanced over at Zofie, sitting calmly by the water. She was sweating profusely, and her legs were caked with mud. I frowned. Just beyond her was a floating log. I didn’t remember that being there before. In fact, it was drifting toward shore just in front of her.

I got up and went to move her farther up the bank when suddenly, the bracelet burned hot. Before I had time to think, the log suddenly lunged forward with a large mouthful of ugly teeth. It was some kind of giant lizard, and it was aiming for Zofie.

I dove for her, putting myself between her and the creature. Its powerful jaws snapped shut, barely missing her legs. I frantically tried to shove her farther up the bank slipping in the process.

Unfortunately, the creature didn’t take the hint and drew itself farther up the bank and lunged again. I couldn’t get to my weapon, so I did the only thing I could think of and kicked it. With a quick flick of its head, its jaws snapped down on my boot, the thick leather sole keeping it from closing its mouth. It started to thrash, swinging its head wildly from side to side and dragging me toward the water.

Fumiko ran to join the fight and stabbed the big lizard with her knife. She hit it several times, but the creature kept on pulling me toward the water. Her attacks didn’t faze it, and none of them penetrated its thick hide. I frantically tried to get my foot free of the boot, but it wouldn’t come loose.

In desperation, Fumiko pulled her sword and stabbed