Baylee released the corpse and it collapsed to the ground. Evidently enough noise had been made to warn the ore's companion. The creature turned around in surprise and nocked an arrow to the short bow it held.
Hanging upside down from the tree branch, Baylee stared death in the eye. The shifting of the ore's shoulder told him when the arrow was about to be released. The ranger threw himself to the side. The arrow fletchings slipped along the side of his face, letting him know just how close it had been.
On his way to the ground, he flipped in midair and landed on his feet. The ore screamed out a warning to the others of its party. The sound of running feet started immediately toward Baylee.
Seeing the human still alive sent the ore into a panic. The creature drew back to the shelter of a nearby tree as it tried to nock a new arrow.
Baylee sprang forward, reaching for the ore. He seized the creature's head and slammed it into the tree hard enough to smash its skull. The ore let out a long breath, shivered, and died in the tangle of roots thrusting up from the ground.
The ranger gathered the short bow and the quiver of arrows. A quick count showed him fourteen arrows in the quiver. He took five of them out, fitting one to the string and taking four more up in his left fist, holding them with the bow, managing the handful with ease.
Though Golsway had been reluctant to allow Baylee to carry weapons, he had seen his apprentice trained in their usage.
Happily better armed, Baylee faded into the darkness of the forest It was time for the hunted to become the hunter.
'Detestable creature,' Jaeleen said aloud. Her words dripped spite and venom.
Roosting upside down high overhead in the tree the woman hid under, Xuxa regally chose to ignore the woman and sent her senses ranging far out, seeking Baylee. She touched the minds of two of the ores and retreated instantly by choice.
Ores had such narrow, closed minds filled with horrific dreams fueled by the smell of blood. Xuxa shuddered, re-closing her leathery wings about herself. She still could not sense Baylee, and she was beginning to feel somewhat anxious.
'I know you can hear me,' Jaeleen called out from below, 'and I know you're up there.'
Then do us both a favor, Xuxa flashed at the human woman, and shut up. She intentionally made her telepathic voice loud enough to hurt.
Jaeleen loosed an oath, summoning up a colorful, but wholly inaccurate family history for azmyth bats in general, and Xuxa in particular.
Xuxa ignored the outburst. Seated in the upper branches of the tree, she had a good field of view. Her night sight stripped away the dark shadows twisting across the land. One of the ores had closed the distance between itself and Jaeleen to sixteen paces. Feeling disgusted, Xuxa also noted that the human female still did not register the ore.
Baylee would never make such a mistake, the azmyth bat knew. She had trained the human ranger to be alert to everything going on around him, and she took pride in Baylee's skills, which were well beyond those of most humans.
The ore continued creeping up on Jaeleen.
Xuxa briefly considered sending a warning to the human female and letting her fend for herself, but decided not to. In the ensuing fight, Jaeleen might manage to get injured, and Xuxa didn't intend to listen to Baylee berate her for it. And there was a certain amount of territorial pride involved since Baylee had made the woman her charge.
Unfurling her wings, Xuxa let herself fall from the branch. She dropped like a stone, emitting her high- pitched squeak too high for either humans or ores to hear. The sound bounced back up at her from the forest sward, instantly letting her know how near she was to her quarry.
She broke her fall at the last possible moment. Her leather wings stretched out and caught the wind, straining her muscles and the tendons of the joints. She rode the breeze, arrowing at her target.
In the last moment of its life, the ore noticed the azmyth bat coming at it silently. The ore shifted defensively against the movement, raising its club.
Xuxa knew the ore probably hadn't even identified what she was at the time she struck. Not wanting to take a chance on the opportunity presented her, Xuxa screamed again. The sound waves bounced back at her, bringing the ore into clearest focus for her bat senses.
She twisted in the air violently, bringing her twin tails stabbing into flesh while her fangs sank deeply into the ore's throat, hi a flicker, she unleashed the lightning charge bottled up inside her.
Overcome by the onslaught, the ore tumbled to the ground, smoke rising from its twitching body, unable to even manage its own death throes.
Xuxa frantically beat against the wind to gain altitude quickly. She swooped around, circling the tree where she had left Jaeleen. Her keen eyes picked the woman out of the darkness.
Jaeleen leveled the hand crossbow. Her hard eyes projected anticipation.
Miss, Xuxa promised in a whispering voice in the woman's mind, and I won't.
Jaeleen snarled an oath and lifted the weapon clear. 'Have I ever told you how much I hate flying rodents?'
Xuxa flew to the top of the tree and took up her search for Baylee again. She remained aware of Jaeleen below. The woman scurried for Baylee's shovel and dropped into the hole the ranger had dug. The shovel's blade bit cleanly into the dark earth.
Xuxa shifted along the branch. She could neither sense nor see Baylee, though she was aware of the ores as they pursued something through the forest.
Then her attention was divided as the shovel Jaeleen wielded so vigorously broke through into hollow space. The azmyth bat peered down.
Jaeleen dropped to her hands and knees, tossing the shovel to one side. She dug frantically into the earth, enlarging the hole she'd made.
Xuxa felt anxious. Baylee had been so close to the prize he had sought. Now it appeared he was to lose not only that prize, but perhaps his life as well because of the treacherous woman below.
And even as she thought it, Xuxa knew that Baylee would probably never see it that way. She threw herself into the air.
3
Baylee ran along a thick-boled branch twenty feet above the forest floor. Moonlight splintered through the leaves and limbs in brief flashes.
'There!' an ore yelled in one of the few words the ranger recognized. Harsh clucking followed as other ores took up renewed pursuit.
A spear slashed through the trees, burying itself in a tree trunk in front of Baylee. He slapped it away with his free arm and kept moving.
Measuring his stride, Baylee hit the last bit of safe footing he guessed that he had on the rapidly thinning branch. He flexed his knees, riding out the spring of the limb as it bent, then threw himself forward. Graceful as he'd become over the years since his teaching in the Tangled Trees, he knew he only grasped a fraction of the woodland elves' skills in their chosen terrain.
The branch had little spring to give, so he didn't gain height, but it did allow him to leap toward the branch on the next tree he'd selected. His boots hit the rough bark and skidded. For a moment he thought he might slip and fall, then his feet found the friction point. He stood, swayed on bent legs, then turned to face his foes.
Four ores twenty paces away searched the trees for him. Their rheumy eyes glistened sickly in the dark.
Changing his stance to properly bring his target into view, Baylee drew the arrow he had ready on the string, braced into place by his finger. The shaft felt surprisingly true and straight for an orcish weapon. The grain of the wood slid along his skin, speaking volumes of skill of the arrow's making. The fletchings brushed feather
