Chapter 23: A ritual in the woods - 2
Without another word, Darian moved past her, following the invisible trail with the skill of a master tracker. His boots crunched through the snow as he traced the source of the smell, leading them away from the main path and into a small clearing that had been hidden from view by a thick stand of evergreens.
What they found there would shock them to the core.
The clearing was perhaps thirty feet across, its floor carpeted with snow that had once been pristine white but was now stained deep red in precise, deliberate patterns.
At its centre lay the remains of what had once been a magnificent bison—one of the great beasts that roamed the plains beyond the forest’s edge.
But this was no natural death, no simple predation by wolves or other creatures of the wild.
The beast’s head had been severed with surgical precision and now hung suspended from the lowest branch of a massive oak tree, its dead eyes staring sightlessly at the sky.
The remainder of the carcass had been arranged with meticulous care, its body parts forming a perfect semicircle around the base of the tree.
The sight was horrific enough, but what made both warriors’ blood run cold was the placement of the creature’s limbs.
Each leg had been driven into the snow like stakes, positioned so that they pointed inward toward the centre of the semicircle.
The arrangement was unmistakable—a ritual circle, a focus for power both ancient and abhorrent.