Phoenix Chosen #3 (The Phoenix Guardians #3)

22. Kalistratos

22

KALISTRATOS

“ A iros,” I say. “Get over here.”

It’s morning, and I’ve been watching the activity on the road outside Aelonos from a lookout perch hidden amongst brown and gray boulders above the cave.

He climbs up the rocks and settles onto a knee beside me.

“Look.” I point down to the road, just beyond the bustling entrance gate. “Beside the statue of Hermios. The feline with the red short bow and quiver of arrows on their back.”

“Ah. Didn’t I rescue you from them in Athenos?” He’s never going to let me forget that.

“They’re here for us,” I say.

“The question is, are they alone? Did they not have a partner? A swordsman?”

I shake my head. “They did. But what I’m more worried about is whether Praxis is here.”

Tyler pokes his head out of the cave’s entrance below us. “Hey, what’re you guys doing up there?”

He and Jackson both climb up to join us.

“We have company,” I say.

“Where?”

“There. Where the road intersects with the passage into Aelonos. Do you see the Aylourosi archer with the red short bow?”

“…No,” Tyler says.

Jackson pushes in to take a look. “Let me see. Where? And remind me again, what in God’s name is an aloe-ropsy?”

“Aylourosi,” Tyler says. “They’re the feline, tiger, lion people.”

Jackson squints his eyes. “What? You’re talking about all the way out there? That’s gotta be over half a click away.”

“We have keen eyes,” Airos says.

“Yeah, freakin’ hawk eyes,” Jackson mutters. “Damn. Wait, hold on. I’ve got something in my bag.”

He disappears into the cave, returns with a small black rod, and holds it up to his eyes. It gleams in the sunlight like a droplet of water.

“Cat archer with a red bow,” he says. “Wow. Yeah, I see them.”

“Let me look,” says Tyler, taking the seeing rod from Jackson. “Fuck. That’s the hunter that was with Praxis, right?”

“The very same,” I say.

“Then they found our trail,” Tyler says nervously.

“Perhaps they’ve lost it,” Airos says. “If they had our trail, I doubt we’d be spying on them out in the open like this.”

“Unless they’re trying to create a diversion,” Jackson says.

We all look at him.

“I think we need to get out of here immediately,” says Tyler.

“I agree,” Airos says.

We descend the rocks into the hideout. We’ve already packed what salvageable supplies are left into two knapsacks for Airos and me to carry. Jackson has his bag, and Tyler is carrying Eggy.

“There’s a creek that runs within the forest to the south of here,” Airos says. “We’ll cut across the land, staying away from the roads, and make for the water. That’s where we’ll disguise our scent.”

I nod. “Good plan. I had the same idea.”

“How are we gonna do that?” Tyler asks.

I wrap my arm around Tyler’s shoulder. “You aren’t going to like this very much. Remember how we first met?”

He groans. “Dammit. And here I was thinking I was gonna get to stay clean for a while.”