Free The Hollow: At The Edge by Andrew Day

mood.”
    “Animals,” Caellix
spat.
    Snow didn’t reply. He
just said, “You should get a move on while you have the light. Go
on. Off you trot.”
    Caellix nodded. She
rejoined the others where they were gathered around a campfire.
    “Hounds, we’ve got
ourselves a job. Brant, Holly, Dogbreath, you’re with me. Fresh
Meat, get your magical shit together. We’re off the leash in five
minutes.”
    “Yes, Sergeant.”
    “I’ll go season myself
accordingly,” replied Serrel.
    Five minutes later, the
five of them along with Caellix’s dogs stood side by side at the
edge of the forest, staring into the shadowy trees.
    “You sure this is where
they went?” Caellix asked Dogbreath.
    “Sure. They made a
trail even the Fresh Meat could follow.”
    “Did you happen to see
who it was?”
    “That sergeant from the
infantry. You know, the pretty one with the hair.”
    “Beaumont,” said Holly.
“He’s useless.”
    They stood silently for
a moment, then Caellix smiled grimly. “Oh, well. If you lot wanted
a boring life, you shouldn’t have joined the Legion. Dogbreath,
take point. Keep us on Beaumont’s trail. Holly, watch the rear.
Fresh Meat, stick close, at least two paces behind me at all times,
and try not to let everyone in the Faelands know we’re coming this
time.”
    “Yes, Sergeant.”
    “Let’s see what’s in
there.”
    One by one they slipped
into the darkening forest, and disappeared from sight.
     
    Caellix was right. At
first glance the Faelands did not seem altogether that different
from the lands of the Empire, but that was because Serrel had not
been looking close enough. He began to notice little things at
first, odd flowers and insects, like the strange purple orchids
that slowly turned to regard their passage, and the butterflies
with bizarre patterns on their wings that looked like perfect
recreations of human eyes.
    The trees nearest the
coastline were all of the same species that were found in the
Empire, their seeds having been carried across the sea through
various means. But the further the group travelled into the forest
they came across more and more species native to the Faelands.
Trees with purple veins in their leaves, or long wooden tendrils
that reached down into the earth. Trees that were latched on to
other trees with thick, vicious spikes that slowly drained the life
from their host over centuries.
    During a pause, whilst
Caellix and Dogbreath attempted to reacquire their targets’ trail,
Serrel spotted a large caterpillar on a low branch. It was brown,
with dark green streaks along its sides, and it was chewing on a
fat hairy spider.
    Brant showed him an
ant’s nest he nearly stepped on. The ants themselves were tiny and
red, with thorny spikes on their backs. When they were disturbed,
they swarmed from their nest and began to clump together,
intertwining their legs to form a thick red mass that, to the
Serrel’s surprise began to take on the form of a snarling wolf’s
head.
    “Now that’s just
weird,” said Brant, grinning happily.
    It got weirder. Not
long after they started off again, Caellix held up a hand and
called them silently to a halt. She squatted on the ground, staring
at something intently.
    “Look at that,” she
breathed.
    The others gathered
around. There was a print in the soft earth, weathered somewhat,
but still visible. Serrel was no expert of prints, but these
weren’t made by anything he expected to see in the forests back
home. It had a long pad, like that of a wolf, but very elongated,
and only two huge claw prints. The whole thing was the width of
Dogbreath’s head, and with the beard and the shagging mane of hair,
Dogbreath had a big head.
    “What made that?” Holly
asked. “Some kind of bird?”
    “Birds have three
toes,” whispered Caellix. She found a second print, nearby. The
width of the creatures shoulders was impressive.
    Brant opened his
mouth.
    “If you say “land
clams”, I will hurt you,” Caellix warned.
    “Why