The Soul Stealer. Alex Archer

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      Annja stepped carefully through the snow, knowing that even a shallow layer could prove slippery. She didn’t want to add a broken leg to her list of injuries.

      The ground sloped down away from the camp. Annja closed her eyes and visualized the sword. It hovered there in front of her, ready for use. But did she really want to bring it out right now?

      She opened her eyes. Which way to go?

      Her instincts told her to move to the left.

      She smiled, ignoring the pain for a brief moment. The decision had certainly come to her without hesitation. Maybe she was getting the hang of listening to her instincts a bit better.

      She seemed to be walking parallel to the side of the mountain. To her left, the land sloped up, back the way she’d come. To her right, it leveled off for some distance and then seemed to disappear into the darkness.

      The wind continued to howl all around her.

      Annja crept forward, convinced that she was close to wherever Gregor had ended up.

      A dull crack to her left made her pivot and squint into the darkness. She caught herself and then, instead of peering directly at the noise, she turned her head and tried to look out of the corner of her eyes, using the natural structure of her eyesight to enable her to see better.

      Nothing.

      She sighed. This was getting weird. She had the distinct impression that she was being watched and she didn’t like it one bit.

      Annja closed her eyes and visualized the sword again.

      Just as she was about to close her hands over it, a hand slid over her mouth and she felt herself being taken down from behind. Another hand kept her from hitting the ground hard. And then she felt brute force keeping her pinned, but without hurting her.

      A voice hissed in her ear. “Quiet.”

      Gregor.

      Annja relaxed some, trying to twist to see him and ask what was going on. Instead of releasing the pressure, Gregor pointed off to the right.

      Annja could see that the ground fell away, forming a steep cliff that dropped down into some sort of valley. At the bottom of it, perhaps a half a mile away, she could see a dim glow.

      “Do not speak. It will hear us,” Gregor whispered.

      From half a mile away? Annja frowned. She’d never heard of a person who could pick up a whisper from that distance.

      Gregor’s breath felt hot against Annja’s neck.

      She strained her eyes to see what he was so interested in. But any detail seemed to elude her. She could make out some kind of figure stooped over, huddling in front of something.

      A campfire?

      No. The light would have been yellow or orange. This light was a pale shade of blue-green.

      Gregor pulled her back away from the edge of the cliff. He released Annja, who rolled to face him. He held a finger to his lips. “Whisper only.”

      “Why did you sneak up on me?” she hissed.

      Gregor pointed. “You would have fallen over the edge if you’d kept going.”

      Annja looked again. He was right. A few more steps ahead of her there was a shallow depression that gave way to a deep gorge. A pocket of snow inside it would have caused her to slide right over the edge.

      “Thanks,” she said.

      He shrugged. “Your scream would have alerted that thing down there.”

      “Thing? Don’t you mean person?” she asked.

      Gregor looked at her. “Did you not see the color of it?”

      “I don’t know what I saw. It’s too dark and I can’t see that far.”

      Gregor nodded. “Perhaps we will find out when we reach Yakutsk later.”

      He stood and helped Annja to her feet. “We should return to camp. It will be light in a few hours.”

      “You haven’t slept yet,” Annja said.

      “No.”

      “Why not?”

      Gregor stopped and turned. “Because that thing back there was hunting earlier. And it was only by luck it did not stumble across us. Otherwise, we might not be having this talk.”

      “You’re kidding me, right?” Annja asked.

      Gregor leaned in close. “You should know one thing about me—I do not joke about life and death.”

      With that, Gregor turned and slid back into the night’s embrace.

       7

      Bob was tending the fire when they returned, an anxious look plastered across his face. He jumped up when he saw Annja and Gregor come out of the darkness.

      “Thank God! I was worried sick when I woke up and found you both gone.” He tossed another stick into the fire. “I thought perhaps my snoring had driven you away, Annja.”

      She smiled. “No harm done. Although it’s great to see your volume has increased since we last met.”

      Bob shrugged. “Can’t figure it out. It’s not like I’m carrying extra pounds or anything. And no matter how I sleep, I always carry on like that.”

      Gregor knelt in front of the fire. “I need to sleep,” he said.

      Bob looked at him. “You should have woken me sooner. I would have gladly taken your place.”

      Gregor looked up. “We might be dead if you had.”

      Bob’s face grew pale. “What?”

      Annja shrugged. “Gregor says there was something lurking in the darkness tonight. Something…that was hunting.”

      Bob looked at Gregor. “You’re kidding?”

      “No.”

      Bob glanced at Annja. “You saw it, too?”

      Annja shrugged. “I’m not sure what I saw. At least not yet. It was too far to see and too dark to get any detail.”

      “But you saw something,” Bob said.

      “Yes.”

      He leaned back on his haunches. “I think we should get out of here as soon as possible.”

      Gregor cleared his throat. “At dawn. We will ride on. I think Annja is suitably mended enough to ride with us to Yakutsk.” He crawled into the lean-to and within seconds, no more sound came from it.

      Bob СКАЧАТЬ