"Night birds," he said, but he kept the sword up, his gaze sliding from side to side.
There are no birds here.
Another shriek, this one clearly human, sounding as if it came from the direction they'd left.
Ashyn started running back. Faiban swung into the lead. When they neared the clearing where they'd left the bodies, Faiban lifted his hand for her to stay back. She waited a moment and then crept close enough to see him standing in the clearing, looking around with his sword lowered and his lantern raised.
The bodies were still there. The old man lay on the blanket the villagers used for transporting them. The woman's corpse seemed to have been lifted and dropped, crumpled now, one arm askew.
"Why did they leave them?" Ashyn asked.
"I don't . . ." Faiban adjusted his grip on the sword and pointed it at the woman's body. "I think they realized two would be too heavy to drag back. They must have gone to get help."
"Why not take the old man and return for the woman?"
"It's too dark," he said. "They'd never find the way back if they weren't quick about it."
That wasn't true. They'd marked the site, and the hacked path wouldn't grow in by morning.
A twig cracked to the east. When they turned, the forest had gone silent. Eerily silent. Travelers always marveled at the silence of the Wastes, but if you'd lived out there long enough, you could hear the sounds of life--beetles and lizards and snakes and birds. In the forest, there was none of that. Even the wind had died, leaving a silence so complete she could hear Faiban's breathing.
"We need to head for camp, my lady."
Faiban started along the path. As Ashyn turned to follow, her hand brushed something wet and warm and she fell back with a yelp. She looked over to see a dark shape on a low tree limb. She lifted her lantern. It was a piece of meat, almost like a ball, but . . .
She realized what she was looking at and covered her mouth to keep from crying out again.
"It's a heart," she whispered.
"What?"
She pointed. "A heart."
Faiban raised his lantern for a better look, then let out an oath. It was indeed a heart, impaled on a branch.
"How could--?" He took a deep breath and stepped back. "It came from the woman's corpse." He looked at it, lying just below the tree. "Yes, that's why they dropped her. They were lifting her to the blanket and she was impaled by the branch. Her heart popped out."
Ashyn's dagger training had included lessons in anatomy, using a pig, and she was quite certain that a heart impaled on a branch would not "pop" out.
"Yes, that's what happened," Faiban continued before she could speak. "It popped out, and it startled them. That explains the cries we heard. The forest was already making them anxious. This was all it took for them to flee."
"But it's warm."
"What?"
Ashyn pointed at the organ. "I brushed the heart, and it was warm."
"You were mistaken, my lady."
"No, feel it." She steeled herself and reached out. "It's--"
Faiban snatched her hand. "Do not touch it again. It could be infected."
"But it is warm. And wet. If the heart came from that corpse, it wouldn't be--"
"Enough." He swallowed and softened his tone. "I'm sorry, my lady, but it's late and it's dark and we must return--"
Another twig cracked. Faiban went rigid. Then came the distinct sound of a murmuring voice, and some of the fear left his face.