Chapter 18

• CHAPTER 18: The Hunter become Hunted
• As Aria and her friends made their way further into the dark woodland, anxiety was high in the air. For days, they had been pursuing the outlaws, their trail a meandering course of devastation that sliced across the hitherto tranquil woods. At this point, the sunlight hardly made it through the thick canopy above, giving the forest floor a spooky, broken glow. The woodland seemed alive with invisible dangers, and every twig crack and leaf rustling jangled nerves.
• With her knuckles white, Aria clenched her fist around the hilt of her blade. Her keen senses, sensitive to even the smallest movement, surveyed their surroundings. The stifling stillness of their mission had taken the place of the calm banter among her comrades hours ago. The weight of their faith, which she worried she would not be able to maintain, was bearing down on her. She had not sought for the duty of leading them, and every step she took was tinged with self-doubt.