Free Corrigan Magic (Corrigan: Blood Destiny Book 2) by Helen Harper Page A

dead body never brought happy, shiny feelings.  This one was no different.  I’d seen my fair share – and been responsible for my fair share too – but I could still feel oily nausea rising up in my stomach.  It didn’t even particularly help that the corpse was that of a less than friendly Otherworld race.  Let’s face it, the creature in front of me was once known as a ‘hound of hell’.
    Idris the giant, the mountain’s namesake, had once shared this land with Gwyn ap Nudd, a warrior of legendary abilities.  Both were long since gone, becoming little more than hazy stories whose truths were lost in the mists of time.  It was difficult to wipe out all traces of them, however.  Gwyn ap Nudd himself may have been long since laid to rest but the descendants of his dog pack, Cwn Annwn, remained.  They were smarter than the average dog and knew enough to stay well out of the path of humans.  In fact, it had been a long time since I’d heard of even any Otherworlder having contact with them.  There had been no doubt that they still existed though.  The evidence was in front of my eyes.
    I knelt down, running my hands through the dog’s shaggy coat.  Even dead, it was a monstrous size.  It was difficult to tell, to be honest, how long it had been here.  The weather was cold enough that its body could have been preserved like this for some time.  Its eyeballs were gone, long since pecked by some scavenging bird probably thrilled at such an easy snack.  What was more concerning was the fact that the rest of the body remained untouched.  There was no sign of trauma and it didn’t look particularly old, as far as I could tell.  I gently parted the fur along the beast’s lower haunches and checked its skin.  A telltale red remained there.  I closed my eyes briefly.  I was betting that any samples I took would also indicate liver damage and kidney failure. 
    Taking care not to disturb the remains too much, I made the necessary scrapings, pocketing the results.  I wanted to lay the corpse to rest properly but the ground was too hard to dig and any fire would draw too much attention.  I left it for now, venturing further up.
    The next body I came to was another Cwn Annwn.  Again, it appeared to have succumbed to the same disease that had afflicted the Somerset Pack.  This body, however, looked somewhat more decomposed than the first.  I was about to examine it when another one caught my eye.  Then another and another.  The whole mountainside was littered with corpses.
    With a heavy heart, I continued upwards, keeping going until it appeared that there were no more to be seen.  The very last one was lying at the mouth of a small cave.  Not only was there little left beyond a cluster of bones, I also noticed something else far worse.  Right in front of it were three other little skeletons.  Little because they had been nothing more than puppies.  From what I knew of the Cwn Annwn, they followed the natural cycle of the year, giving birth in late spring.  From the size of the bodies and the state of them, this little family had died first.  With each successive illness, the dogs had moved further and further down the mountain, instinct telling them to get as far away as possible.  Whatever they’d done and wherever they’d gone, it hadn’t been enough.
    If any were still alive, they’d be staying well clear of me.  My scent would immediately suggest I was a dangerous predator.  It was imperative I discover whether any of the dogs had survived.  With no phone signal, I had little choice but to use Staines as a go-between.  He wouldn’t be happy.
    It’s me.
    He answered almost immediately .  Who else would it be?
    I didn’t bother responding to his dry sarcasm.  I need you to contact the Arch-Mage.  Get him to scan Cadair Idris for signs of life.  Anything bigger than a sheep.
    What aren’t you telling me, my Lord?
    Just do it.
    The wizard refused our last request, he pointed out