Page 37 of Sun Warrior

“See what?” Nik began, but Antreas hushed him with a swift gesture and then motioned for them to come with him—silently.

It took all of Mari’s will to follow Nik and Antreas and Davis. The Lynx man led them to the lip of the gorge they’d been traveling parallel to, where they did as Antreas did and crouched silently behind a group of boulders and ferns. Antreas pointed down at the stream that flowed through the bottom of the gorge, but he needn’t have made anymotion at all, as the battle that was taking place beneath them was many things—disturbing, unbelievable, violent, and loud.Really loud.

Mari’s gaze followed the sounds of struggle. At first she wasn’t sure what she was seeing. A huge, painted man was locked in combat with an equally monstrous boar. The boar was snorting and squealing, and the man was making odd bellowing sounds that reminded Mari of a rutting stag. She cringed, thinking she was going to watch the man’s terrible death—gored by the angry beast. But she realized quickly that she’d misjudged what was going on.The man was defeating the boar—easily!

The battle didn’t last long and ended in victory for the man, who called a group of men from concealment, and then they began tying up the boar.

“Oh, Great Goddess, what are they doing to that poor beast?” Mari whispered.

“They’re Skin Stealers.” Nik lowered his voice, but Mari could still hear a world of contempt within it. “I don’t know what they’re doing. They should just be gutting it, cleaning it, and then taking it back to Port City, but you can never tell what those monsters will do.”

“Skin Stealers,” Antreas said softly. “I’ve heard of them. Never seen one, though. Great Stormshaker! Is he flaying that boar alive?”

“He is,” Davis said, crouching beside them. “We thought they only did that to humans, but when Thaddeus was captured by them a few weeks ago he said they flayed the flesh from his Terrier, Odysseus.”

“Isn’t that how he supposedly escaped them?” Nik said.

Davis nodded. “What Thaddeus said was Odysseus made so much noise when they started to cut the skin from him that he was able to slip away, unnoticed.”

“And Odysseus somehow, miraculously, escaped, too, alive and relatively unharmed.” Nik didn’t attempt to hide the sarcasm in his voice.

Antreas looked at Nik. “You don’t believe that’s what happened?”

“I don’t believe anything Thaddeus says. He has one agenda—whatever is best for Thaddeus. Look down there. That huge Skin Stealer and his men are having no trouble incapacitating a boar that mustweigh upward of three hundred pounds. Why would a frightened Terrier that weighs not much over twenty pounds be a problem for men like that to handle?”

“It doesn’t make sense,” Antreas agreed. “But neither does what they’re doing.”

“They believe they can absorb your essence if they flay your flesh from your living body, and then press it into their body,” Davis said. “None of it makes sense.”

“But that’s not what they’re doing,” Mari said, feeling nauseous but unable to look away from the grisly scene below them. The huge man who had been straddling the boar and stretching his head back suddenly leaned forward and slit the hog’s throat, ear to ear, so that scarlet showered in an arch around the dying beast. “That’s not a human—it’s a boar.”

“It’s strange,” Davis said.

“Maybe they flay the flesh of animals before they eat them,” Antreas said. “It could be part of their customs.”

“Look!” Mari said. “That big one is placing the boar’s flesh over the skin of the rest of those men.” She leaned forward, squinting to try to see better, Healer curiosity temporarily overriding her disgust. “I can’t tell for sure from here, but I think I can see open wounds on his men’s bodies—though I don’t see any on the Leader’s.” She grimaced in disgust. “Ugh, I take that back. I see what he’s doing now. He’s packing that boar’s bloody fleshintohis men’s open wounds, like the flesh is a poultice.” She shuddered. “It’s unbelievable.”

“And beyond disgusting,” Nik shivered and looked away.

“But why?” Mari spoke more to herself than aloud. “What would be the reason behind packing the flesh of a boar into a man’s wounds? It’s only flesh. He hasn’t even added healing herbs or ointments.”

“They don’t need a reason. They’re Skin Stealers, which means they are completely insane,” Davis said.

“Maybe,” Mari said. “But look at him. He’s being so careful. And he’s covering the wounds with strips of moss and using vines to tie the bandages in place. His actions mirror much of what I did to heal your blight wounds, Nik.”

“But you did it with salves and herbs,” Nik said. “Not the flesh of a line animal.”

“I did what I knew would work to heal your wounds. Maybe this Skin Stealer knows something about healing his people that we don’t,” Mari said.

“Or maybe he’s as crazy as Nik and Davis report,” Antreas said.

“Let’s move,” Nik said. “We don’t need to deal with Skin Stealers today.”

“Agreed,” Davis and Antreas said together.

“I’ll go back to point. I don’t think we’re far from the lowlands now,” Antreas said, and he and Bast disappeared silently into the forest.

Mari, Nik, and Davis crawled back from the edge of the gorge, and Mari didn’t argue when Nik put his arm around her waist so that he almost carried her with him. Mari gritted her teeth and forced herself to keep moving, keep walking—keep heading toward home.