“I don’t just smell him, I smell his blood and fear as well,” Zaram snarled

“He failed!”

The forest was bleeding secrets, and I was following one of them.

Heralds scent clung to the air surrounding my nose like rotten fish. sharp, iron-like, laced with fear and failure. It wasn’t difficult to trail. His blood had marked the earth. And each droplet dragged me closer to where he was, he laid there sprawled among the twisted roots of an old tree, his limbs trembling, his skin pale ...