Spirit Formed Read online

  The buck skidded to a halt and pivoted, coming around to face her again. Between the horns and hooves, it wouldn’t be an easy thing to kill with a sword. She didn’t really want it charging her again, but she didn’t have a lot of options. She should have grabbed a bow.

  A figure moved off to the side. Shasta let her eyes slide from the buck to the person for a fraction of a second. It was Cord. If she could keep the buck focused on her, he might be able to kill it. She took a step forward.

  The buck took three stiff-legged steps closer to her.

  An arrow hit the buck’s side. It should have been a kill shot, but instead, the arrow clung to the animal’s side for a moment before falling to the ground. The buck reared and turned toward the archer. Cord was reaching for another arrow but wouldn’t have time to make the shot. The buck landed, facing Cord squarely.

  She had to do something. Even for a normal deer, head-on wasn’t a good shot with a bow.

  Cord nocked the arrow, and the buck tensed.

  Shasta darted forward, slicing at its hindquarters as she went by. Instead of cutting cleanly, the sword seemed to stick in the hide. As the buck spun, Shasta retreated, keeping it between Cord and herself.

  Her heart pounded as the three of them watched one another. Cord lifted the bow and loosed the arrow. As it flew through the air, the deer turned its head toward him.

  A scream shattered her focus. She whirled around to face the direction the buck had come from. There were six other deer … and Wyrran and Mack were lying on the street. “Cord! I have to help the others.” She took off running, trusting him to handle the buck.

  Rather than heading directly for the other deer, she went back toward The Tree Sisters where a bow was hanging on the outside wall. As she ran, she dismissed her sword with another twist of her wrist.

  Shasta slowed just enough to snatch the bow and quiver off the hooks. As she turned back around, she slid the clip of the quiver over her belt. Armed with a more appropriate weapon for deer hunting, she resumed her run.

  Wyrran and Mack had been moved off the road, and other elves were doing their best to contain the six deer. From this distance, it was hard to be sure, but it didn’t look like any of the deer were injured, which wasn’t a good sign.

  She yanked an arrow out of the quiver and nocked it. Now she needed the elves and one deer to stay still long enough for her get off a clean shot.

  Gwen fell into step next to her, a bow in her own hands. “I’ll go right.”

  “I’ve got the left side,” Shasta said reflexively.

  The deer on her side charged forward. Areena scrambled out of the way, and the deer pivoted, kicking out with its hind legs. The animal paused, exposing its side. She lifted the bow, sighted the shot, and released the arrow as she ran.

  It hit the deer perfectly, right in line with the heart and lungs. Or at least, that was how it appeared for a fraction of a second. Then it bounced off and flopped to the ground.

  Shasta swore. Maybe she hadn’t fully drawn the bow, or running had distracted her. She pulled another arrow out of the quiver, nocked it, and skidded to a halt. The deer stood there, looking over its shoulder at her. She lifted the bow again—making sure to pull the string all the way back this time—and sighted the shot. She exhaled and released the arrow.

  She held her breath. The arrow impacted right next to where her first one had landed, lingering for a heartbeat before falling to the ground next to its brethren.

  Perhaps she’d messed up the first shot, but that second one should have been a sure thing. With the arrows doing this little damage, it was no wonder the elves were having a hard time.

  “That shouldn’t have happened,” Gwen said from next to her.

  “I know.” Shasta glanced over her shoulder. Cord was in the center of the street now, and the buck was still focused on him. That was probably as good as the situation would get for the time being.

  “I’ve used these bows for hunting.” Gwen frowned. “They take down the average deer just fine.”

  Shasta yanked the quiver off her belt and tossed both it and the bow to the sidewalk. Hopefully the weapon would be intact if she needed it later. “They aren’t working on these deer.” She twisted her wrist and summoned her sword.

  Gwen trotted over to the flora-covered sidewalk and set down her bow and quiver. Then she pulled a small piece of wood out of her pocket and dropped it. The ends stuck into the earth. A surge of elven energy flowed from Gwen to the wood. One second it was a tiny thing, no larger than the average pencil, and the next it was a five-foot-tall ironwood spear. It was the type of spear meant to go in a creature and stay there. Gwen yanked it out of the ground and trotted back over to Shasta.

  “Later you’re going to have to teach me how to grow weapons,” Shasta said. There’d been more than a few occasions when that skill would have come in handy.

  “Of course.” Gwen nodded.

  They shared a grin, and without a word charged the herd of deer. The deer Shasta had shot twice, without success, charged Nerrin. He dodged to the side, leaving a perfect opening. Shasta took his place, sword already in motion.

  The slash should have cut deep into the deer’s neck but only left a small slice as the blade traveled with the curve of the creature’s neck rather than through it. Half expecting that result, Shasta kept moving, not giving the deer a good target. The doe shifted her weight first to the right, and then to the left, as if not sure which of them it wanted to pursue. Then it took off, running down the street at Cord. Hopefully, he’d already dealt with the buck and was ready for this one.

  A deer crashed into her. Shasta stumbled to the side but kept her feet. Turning, she saw Gwen holding it off with the spear. Shasta maneuvered into position and thrust her sword into the deer’s side, a little behind the shoulder and between the ribs. The point of the sword slid in, and then she felt the same resistance as before. She leaned into the blade, but it was too late. The deer bolted sideways, tearing itself off the blade, and leaving a tiny hole in its side.

  Shasta surveyed the rest of the scene. Five deer milled about, alternately attacking or retreating. The elves trying to fend them off with a variety of weapons—at this point without a single bow among them. Shasta honed in on a deer darting toward Ashling. This time, instead of trying to slice at it, she swung her sword with her entire body weight behind it, almost like she was wielding an ax. The deer pivoted at the last moment, and the blow hit its shoulder instead of its neck. A thin red line opened up.

  The deer lunged to the side and circled back. She was going to have to be lucky, or much, much better to kill one of these creatures.

  It rushed her, front hooves slicing through the air. Shasta whacked them away with her blade, an impact that should have broken a leg. Instead, the deer took a few awkward steps and advanced again.

  This time, Shasta held her ground. The deer leaped forward, and Shasta pivoted, again aiming for the hamstrings. The strike still wasn’t enough to bring the deer down, but it did stumble the next time it tried to use its hind legs. For a moment, Shasta thought she’d at least hobbled it, but then it seemed to shake off the injury and ran for Gwen.

  “Look out!” Shasta shouted.

  Gwen spun around and had just enough time to drop the butt of her spear to the ground and line up the point with the deer’s chest. The spear began to disappear into the deer’s chest, and then the wood bowed and popped out of Gwen’s hands, leaving her defenseless. She tried to throw herself out of the way, but it wasn’t fast enough. The deer clipped her shoulder, sending her to the ground.

  Shasta rushed over. “Are you hurt?”

  “Just bruised.” Gwen slowly got to her feet and retrieved her spear.

  Another deer looked in their direction. Shasta lunged forward, nowhere close to actually striking the animal, but it was startled enough to back off.

  “I’ve killed a boar with this spear. It should have gone through that deer’s chest without a problem.” Gwen came to stand ne
xt to Shasta.

  “I know,” Shasta said quietly.

  The deer milled around, currently somewhat content to stay inside the circle of elves, but she knew that wouldn’t last. This morning the idea may have been to kill the deer, but right now that wasn’t realistic. Their weapons weren’t doing the damage they should, and everyone needed time to regroup.

  She stretched out a mix of her elven and magical abilities to the air around them. “Carry my words to all the elves: we drive them out of town.”

  The air ruffled the fine hairs on the back of her neck before zooming off.

  “Are you sure?” Gwen asked.

  “I don’t see a better choice right now.” Keeping an eye on the milling deer, Shasta started working her way around toward what she thought of as the back of the herd. Considering that two had already fled in Cord’s direction and had either gotten past him or been killed, that was the direction she wanted to move the remaining deer. With a little luck—which clearly hadn’t been with her so far today—she could get the deer running, and they’d take themselves right out of town.

  The big flaw in her plan, other than Cord standing in the deer’s path, was that she didn’t know how to scare a herd of combative deer. They were typically flight creatures, not prone to fighting, and what scared the average deer probably wouldn’t scare one of these.

  The elves must have gotten her message because they were slowly pulling back, opening up an escape route for the deer. That was great, but the deer weren’t moving.

  If it had been dark, she would’ve tried bright lights. They might have made the deer freeze for a moment, but then they’d probably just amble off. Her next thought was sound. Yet there had been several screams already and not one of them had scared the deer away.

  The four deer went still, heads up, ears perked. They stayed frozen like that for a count of five, and then one turned and stampeded down Main Street. The rest quickly followed. That would have been perfect, except there were two elves in the street and one of them was Cord.

  Chapter Two

  “Move!” Shasta bellowed as she took off after the deer. It didn’t matter how fast she ran, she would be too late.

  The deer were almost on top of Cord and Nissa. Cord lunged at Nissa, shoving her off the road and onto the sidewalk. Then it was too late for him to get out of the way. One of the deer was only steps away. Cord pivoted, and instead of being trampled, the deer brushed past them. He scrambled the distance to the sidewalk and crouched next to the fallen elf.

  By the time Shasta reached them, Cord was helping Nissa to her feet. Grateful neither of them was gravely injured, Shasta leaned against the wall of The Tree Sisters while she caught her breath.

  Gwen ran past Shasta. Ignoring Cord, she focused on the other elf. “Nissa, are you hurt? I thought you were still at the farm.”

  Nissa had the same blonde hair as her sister, but instead of Gwen’s confidence, she looked scared and somewhat uncertain. “I came in the back of the shop just as you and Shasta left. I waited for the fight to end. Everything got so quiet. I thought it would be fine. I was going to tend to the injured, but deer were still here, and I didn’t know what to do. I should have just gone back into the shop, but it was all happening so fast.”

  “So, you’re not hurt?” Gwen looked her sister over carefully.

  Nissa shook her head. “I’m fine, only because he rescued me.”

  Gwen turned to Cord. “I can’t thank you enough for saving her.”

  “It’s what I’m here for.” Cord bowed his head.

  Gwen elbowed her sister.

  Nissa jerked her head up. “You have my most sincere thanks. Um, what was your name?”

  Gwen rolled her eyes.

  Cord smiled ever so slightly and offered his hand. “Cord Greenwood.”

  “Nissa.” She delicately shook his hand. “Thank you, Cord. I’m afraid I’m rather useless in a fight and most indebted to you.”

  “Simply doing my job.” Cord glanced at Shasta.

  She pushed off the wall and took a position next to him. “Nissa, if you’re feeling up to it, could you help see to the wounded?”

  “I just need to retrieve my bag.” Nissa smiled at them and headed toward a basket in the middle of Main Street. Gwen followed her.

  Shasta turned to Cord. “I’m sorry about leaving you with the buck.”

  “It was what needed to be done.” He looked her over from head to toe. “How are you feeling?”

  “A little bruised, but otherwise fine. You?” She looked down the street where elves were starting to come out of the shops. Nissa trotted over to the first wounded.

  “Same.” He sighed. “I really thought I had the buck with that first shot.”

  “Me too.” Shasta pursed her lips. “They said the deer weren’t easy to kill, but this was more than that. Most of the weapons wouldn’t penetrate their hide at all.”

  “We were told they were difficult but not impossible to kill. There was no mention of arrows bouncing off them, or swords getting stuck.” Cord summoned his sword and glared at it. “I’ve had an easier time killing armored creatures than those deer.”

  Shasta found her attention drawn to a pool of blood in the road. “How badly did you end up hurting the buck?”

  “I managed a solid stab to the vitals. I think I hit a lung.” He followed her gaze. “Do you want to tr—”

  “I have injured elves, and I need an explanation,” Mayor Godric interrupted.

  “Of what exactly?” Shasta studied him calmly.

  Godric hesitated. “Why don’t I have eight dead deer?”

  “Either the creatures changed, or you gave us faulty information.” She kept her voice steady, hoping this could be a conversation, not a fight with their employer. “You told us the deer were hard to kill and had thicker than average hides. Cord and I attempted to use bows and were unable to get an arrow to penetrate their hides at all. In fact, even our swords didn’t function as they should have against these deer. Is that the same level of difficulty you experienced previously?”

  Godric shook his head. “The arrows worked before. Swords and knives worked too.”

  “Then the deer changed.” Cord raked a hand through his hair. “Let’s talk to a few of the other elves.” He walked away, not giving Godric a chance to protest.

  Shasta fell into step next to him.

  A moment later, Godric joined them. “I need a solution. Quercuston has always been a quiet place. If this problem isn’t solved soon, the town will suffer irreparable harm.”

  “We want more information, and then we’ll come up with a plan,” Shasta said. It wasn’t the complete truth—they already had a plan—but it would do for now. Besides, the more they knew about what was different between this round of attacks and the previous ones, the better prepared they would be when they set out to track down the wounded buck. Considering the number of injuries they’d inflicted, the buck shouldn’t have gotten far.

  Cord led them over to Nissa, who was tending to a long gash on Wyrran’s right arm. She poured a tincture over the wound, and Wyrran hissed. A few seconds later, he relaxed. Nissa nodded and quickly threaded the needle.

  Cord knelt beside the two of them. “Which one of them got you?”

  “The buck,” Wyrran grumbled. “He was the first one to charge the street, and I didn’t get out of the way fast enough.”

  Nissa slid the needle into the top of the wound and Wyrran didn’t so much as twitch.

  “How much of the fight did you see?” Godric asked.

  “Most of it. They aren’t the same as what attacked before. Those arrows didn’t do a thing,” Wyrran said flatly. “I’ve hunted these woods for years and never saw deer like that.”

  A burst of elven power radiated out of Nissa.

  Shasta focused on the wound, where the thread was lying on top of a now whole arm. For the amount of energy Nissa had expended, that was an impressive amount of healing.

  Wyrran sat up. He looked at his
hand and moved his arm about. “My thanks, Nissa. Excellent work as always.”

  Nissa smiled and bobbed her head. “Should be good as new.” She picked up her bag and headed across the street to Mack.

  Wyrran watched her for a moment before returning his attention to the three of them. “There’s something not right going on out there. The game has been scarce. I haven’t seen deer in weeks, and what comes charging through town isn’t natural.”

  “Do you think they were created, or did they stumble into a pocket of magic?” Shasta asked. The lack of game was an interesting point, one she and Cord had noticed, but thought was typical for this area. The problem was, she couldn’t figure out the significance. Deer were a prey animal too.

  Wyrran shrugged. “I’m no witch.”

  “When was the last time you were out hunting?” Shasta asked.

  “About a week before the first attack. After we had problems with the deer, I started staying close. A lot of the townsfolk are farmers and the like.” He tipped his head at the mayor. “Only a few of us are good with weapons.”

  “Thank you,” Cord said. “If you can think of anything else that might be useful, let us know.

  “That I can do.” Wyrran nodded. “Areena might know more. She was in the fight longer.”

  “We will speak with her,” Godric assured him.

  As they walked away, Shasta addressed Godric. “Is what Wyrran said true?”

  “Which part?”

  “That most of the village can’t defend themselves.” She forced herself to keep a blank face. That wasn’t information that had been provided when they were hired, and it should have been.

  Godric stopped and turned to face them, his face unreadable. “It is. Quercuston is a place for artisans who want a simple life. Unlike other settlements, we do not emphasize the more combative skills. We accept people for the skills they do have, which is usually specialized.”