Chapter 69: Not A Request
Valeria hit the ground first. She landed in a crouch without a sound. Mela landed a moment later, stumbling on the uneven floor before she caught her balance. The massive branch crashed down beside them. Liesa was still attached to it, her tunic pinned to the wood by the arrow.
"Get me down!" She yelled.
From the other side of the clearing, they heard the human start moving toward them.
"Hurry," Mela said.
Valeria did not need to be told. She ran along the length of the fallen branch, her feet sure on the rough bark. She grabbed the arrow with both hands and yanked it free. The wood splintered. Liesa dropped the last few feet to the ground with a grunt.
"They’re coming," Mela said, her voice a low hiss. "Up. Now." She threw a thin rope up into a high branch of another tree and began to climb. Valeria did the same. Liesa scrambled after them, her movements clumsy from the fall. They disappeared into the canopy just as Nox and Serian arrived where they landed.
Nox looked at the broken branch on the ground, then up into the trees. "They were here," he said.
Serian stood beside him, her hand near the hilt of her sword. "I cannot sense them. It is as if they were never here at all." She touched her temple, her brow furrowed. "This has not happened before. My senses have never failed me so completely."
"It doesn’t matter," he said. He kicked a loose piece of wood. "They ran off. Let’s go. We’re wasting time." He turned and started walking away.
Serian watched him for a second, then looked back at the trees. "Yes," she said quietly. "We are." She followed him, but she kept looking back over her shoulder.
High above them, hidden by the leaves, the three sisters watched them go.