Chapter 375: Tracks Between Stones

Chapter 375: Tracks Between Stones

Okonkwo looked at the capture carrier, then at Lucian, then at Jin.

"Exam?"

"Exam," Jin confirmed.

The driver nodded and helped secure the carrier in the cab.

They left on the Hollowmere road shortly after the common start. Two dressed rock-hen carcasses were packed for bait, and the box trap travelled in the trailer beside Glitch.

Lucian checked their equipment list while Jin confirmed the return arrangement with Okonkwo. The driver would wait for their first report before deciding whether to remain nearby or collect them later.

It was ordinary transport business. Jin still felt better once it was settled.

They reached the rocky benches with the morning sun falling across the slope.

From the road, the shale looked like a broad grey staircase. On foot, it became a maze of ledges, sloping slabs, and gaps half hidden by loose stones. A fan of scree cut through the middle. Scrub thickened along the lower edge, while shallow overhangs shaded the rock above.

Glitch climbed carefully beside them, testing his footing before committing his weight.

Flicker rode on Jin’s shoulder. Kite circled high and well to one side.

Their first useful sign was on a flat stone near one of the reported sightings. Lucian crouched beside it, studying the droppings without touching them.

"Marking," he said. "Something uses this ledge regularly."

Jin found claw scuffs near a crack below it. Further along, another entrance showed similar wear.

The reports had given them somewhere to begin. Now there was evidence worth following.

Glitch raised his head.

Jin paused as the drake’s attention sharpened through the bond. Something light was moving over stone farther upslope. The sensation came and went, muddled by the broken slabs and interrupted contact.

Then Flicker stiffened on his shoulder.

Jin followed her gaze.

A long grey animal lay stretched across a sunlit ledge. Darker bands broke up its outline so thoroughly that he had mistaken its back for a seam in the shale.

He checked the appraisal.

[Shaleveil Marten]

[Combat Rank: 2 — 1-Star]

He touched Lucian’s arm and pointed.

They studied the ledge before moving. There was an open descent to the right, a narrow shelf to the left, and a dark line beneath the slab on which the marten rested.

Jin saw the line. He judged it too shallow to matter.

That was the first mistake.

Lucian approached from the left with the net held low. Glitch climbed towards the ledge below, blocking the obvious descent.

The marten lifted its head.

It flowed over the edge of the slab and vanished into the dark line.

Jin stared.

You cannot possibly have fitted through that.

Flicker chirped sharply. The animal had already emerged from another opening higher up the slope.

It paused there, tail curved behind it, and looked down at them.

Lucian lowered the net.

"Right," he said. "Those count as exits too."

They changed positions and tried to guide it away from the cracks.

For a brief stretch, it worked.

The marten crossed the scree fan, exposed against the loose stones. Flicker leaned forward so eagerly that Jin felt her claws tighten through his shoulder pad.

He sent her to cut across its route.

She launched, beat twice, and used Gale Dash.

For an instant she closed the gap. Then the marten changed direction beneath a jutting slab. Flicker passed the opening before she could turn, braked hard, and landed in a scatter of shale.

She stood with her wings half open, staring into the crack.

Jin felt the hot flare of her frustration.

"Back here," he called.

She jabbed her beak towards the opening.

"Flicker."

She returned reluctantly and settled on his shoulder, making angry little sounds beside his ear.

Jin checked her feet and wings before letting her settle.

"You nearly had the angle," he murmured.

That appeared to make her more annoyed.

Glitch came close next.

He picked up movement beneath a long slab and followed it along the accessible edge. When the marten emerged, the drake was waiting below the opening.

The animal turned uphill without stopping and slipped between two rocks.

Glitch lowered his head towards the gap. One foreclaw scraped beneath the edge of the smaller slab.

"No," Jin said. "You’ll drop the rest on it."

The drake looked back at him, then settled his weight with a heavy sigh.

Lucian watched the movement with a faint smile.

"He used to need much more telling."

"He still argues."

"He listens first now."

Jin glanced at Glitch. That was true often enough to feel good.

Lucian made the closest attempt of the morning.

He had worked along a firm ledge while the marten’s attention was on Glitch. When it broke cover, he was already cutting towards its uphill route.

A brief Stormstep carried him across the last exposed stretch. The net opened, and Jin thought he had it.

The marten dropped beneath the ledge instead.

Lucian stopped before following it onto loose stone.

Jin had understood what his partner intended. He could have pointed out the angle and explained why it might work. Actually placing his feet and making the turn at that speed was another matter.

He rubbed a dusty hand against his trousers.

Could practise that without the marten, at least.

By late morning they had stopped treating each appearance as another chance to rush it.

Lucian watched the empty ledge where it had disappeared.

"We keep approaching it with an escape within reach."

"It keeps choosing places with one," Jin replied.

He opened the map he had been sketching on the back of their checklist. Every marked gap had a small arrow beside it.

Lucian crouched next to him.

"This one twice," he said.

"Three times. Once when Kite came lower."

"And it keeps going back to that sunny shelf."

They followed the likely route without pushing the marten again. Beneath a shallow overhang, one well-used opening led onto a narrow strip of level rock. It offered a better place for the box trap than the exposed scree.

They set the trap with its entrance facing the run and secured it against rocking. Small stones blocked the easiest routes around its sides. Jin placed part of a hen beyond the treadle, far enough inside that the animal would have to cross the trigger to reach it.

Lucian tested the door, reset it, and checked the anchor.

The net went back into its carry bag. They placed it with the carrier on a flat shelf off to the side, where it would be close when they needed to transfer the captive. The remaining bait stayed sealed in Jin’s pack.

Then they withdrew to an observation point behind an overhang.

Kite moved farther out. Glitch settled behind a low ledge, and Flicker sat on Jin’s knee.

Lucian drank, passed the flask, and lowered himself until he could see beneath the rock.

They waited.

Flicker stopped muttering first.

Jin followed her fixed gaze towards the scree.

The marten had emerged again.

It climbed onto a slab near the trap, raised its narrow head, and tested the air.

Jin kept his hands still.

The animal approached the box, one cautious step at a time.