Snow's Lament by S.E. Babin Read Free Book Online Page A

me and Robin trailed behind me, his bow notched, but pointed at the ground. There was no need to act threatening until we needed to, but the forest was too quiet for us to drop our guard.
    “Lass,” Robin said quietly from behind us, “something isn’t right.”
    Gooseflesh broke out across my skin. “I know,” I whispered. My spidey senses were tingling too, but I couldn’t put my finger on what was happening. The only sound was our boots crunching across the path and our breathing. There should have been birds chirping and the sounds of animals scurrying through the woods.
    Instead, there was nothing.
    As we approached the entrance to the village, shock stopped me in my tracks. The familiar smell of decay and blood reached my nose. We’d arrived too late.
    “Shit,” I muttered underneath my breath as I forced my feet to move again. I drew my Sig, nose pointed down, and motioned Belle closer to me. She wasn’t defenseless by any means, but her technomancy wasn’t as strong over here as it was on Earth—something I promised myself I’d delve deeper into when we weren’t about to get ourselves killed.
    On the surface, the village looked normal. Quaint, even. Small, wooden, round houses were scattered across the area. Some were obviously shops, their hand-painted signs swinging innocently in the gentle breeze. An errant wind chime offered a cheery musical note to the macabre sight I had a feeling we’d soon stumble onto.
    I stepped slowly, one foot in front of the other, my gaze scanning the area as fast as my eyes could, looking for anything out of place—or, heaven forbid, Naomi.
    Robin had his bow ready for battle, his steps quiet and measured. Belle walked beside me, her breathing ragged and a look of rapt fear on her face. I reached over with one hand and squeezed her arm.
    “Breathe,” I whispered. “With any luck, this place will be deserted.”
    I knew it wasn’t deserted. Blood has a memorable smell. The coppery tang filled my nose. By the smell, there was lots of blood, and by the look of it so far, any hope of finding anyone alive was dwindling by the second.
    I stood in front of one of the small houses with my gun drawn, at the ready. The door was cracked open slightly. I turned and nodded to Robin. He stepped in front of me, readied his bow, and slammed the door open with his boot. I crouched down and scanned the room.
    It was empty, aside from the two bodies lying on the floor.
    Belle let out a gasp. “My God,” she whispered.
    After making sure there was no one in the front room, I holstered my gun and motioned Robin in first. His bow remained at the ready.
    “I’ll check the rest of the house,” he offered, and left me before I could agree.
    I put one hand over my nose to tamp down the smell of blood and decay and stepped toward the two unfortunate souls. It was a man and a woman, most likely husband and wife. They lay on their backs, two identical holes in their chest. Their eyes were wide and sightless, their mouths open in a grimace of terror.
    I blew out a breath and leaned down to close their eyes. As I did, I noticed a glint of red. Leaning closer, the telltale scent of Naomi’s magic surrounded me. The odds of me finding Simeon alive were down to virtually nil now. I wasn’t sure if Max had been here, but I wouldn’t doubt it if he had done some of her dirty work.
    “Naomi?” Robin asked as he came back into the room.
    I sighed. “Yep. It’s not our day to catch a break, I guess.”
    He chuckled. “It’s never your day to catch a break, Snow.”
    “You can say that again,” I grumbled.
    I stood and glanced around the rest of the house. Nothing looked out of place that I could tell, considering I’d never been here before. There weren’t many signs of a struggle. That didn’t surprise me knowing how strong Naomi’s magic was and her terrifying persuasion skills. I glanced over to Robin.
    “Anything in the other rooms?”
    He shrugged. “Not that I could tell, lass.