Chased By Fire (Book 1) by D.K. Holmberg

The trailing thunder exploded around them, growing farther in the distance each time. Rain pelted down more urgently. Thankfully, the strange odors lingering on the air began to fade.
    Tan listnened to the fores. A few birds perched in the trees but otherwise it was silent. Wind whipped around him, tearing at his cloak. His horse danced beneath him.  
    An edge of frustration crawled through him. Had the rain not come, he could’ve tracked the hounds as he had before. And if he could track them, he could hunt them. Maybe chase them from Galen. But the rain would was away any tracks, especially as heavy as it fell.  
    Something caught his eye off the road. Several of the low tree branches had snapped free. Such breaks could have been random—the heavy winds of the storm could easily have caused that damage—but there seemed a pattern to it. Leaves and weeds covered the rest of the forest, leaving no other evidence anything else passed through here.  
    Tan jumped from his saddle to investigate, studying the broken branches while letting his eyes follow the disturbance, his focus wandering as he struggled to find meaning to what he saw.
    “Tan?” Cobin called.
    Tan ignored him. Another strangely twisted branch caught his attention. He followed it, picking his way forward. The bent undergrowth and random changes to the forest guided him farther from the road. Tan was not sure whatit was that he followed, but it pulled on him, demanding he follow.  
    He came to an area of the forest where the ground sloped quickly upward in a jagged rocky climb. There were no branches here, no undergrowth to follow, just the rocks. As he nearly turned back, he saw scratches on the stone. The scratches spaced evenly, regular.  
    Higher up, long prints with a dimple near the heel seemed burned into the stone. The ground was drier here, protected by a rocky overhang. The heavy rain had not washed out the markings. Tan studied them; they were the same tracks he had followed the other day.  
    What kind of creature could scratch the stone like that? Was this the Incendin shaper Roine mentioned?  
    “Tan?”  
    Cobin watched him strangely, relieved to have found him. Roine followed, flickering his eyes to look at everything around him.
    Tan pointed to the scratches in the rock.  
    Roine frowned and climbed from his saddle. He knelt next to one of the marks, following them the same way Tan had.
    “How did you find these?” he asked softly.
    “I followed marks left in the forest,” he said, though knew that wasn’t quite right. Subtle disturbances along the forest led him to the rocky incline.
    “You tracked this?”
    Tan shrugged. “Sensed it, probably. I’m not as good a senser as my father. Mostly a good tracker.”
    Cobin smiled at him.
    “Your mother said you had some skill. This is—”
    He didn’t finish. “You recognize this?” Cobin asked.
    Roine glanced at Cobin before nodding. “I haven’t seen these marks in years. Since before the barrier.” He looked down at the prints. “This wasn’t a simple Incendin shaper. Those are bad enough. Even the weakest shaper has skills our fire shapers don’t. But this…” He shook his head. “This is worse. Much worse.”  
    “What is this, Roine?” Cobin asked.  
      “I should have suspected when you told me of the Incendin hounds. But why would I? We haven’t seen them in so long?”
    “Roine?”
    Roine nodded. “To understand you need to understand Incendin. Hounds were bad enough. They are dark creatures with strange gifts that have never been well understood. When I say you’re lucky to have faced hounds and lived, know that I don’t exaggerate. Once they have your scent, they don’t lose it. They will track you until cornered, and then they slowly tear you apart. That is the nature of the hounds.”
    “Can they be killed?” Tan asked.
    Roine nodded. “Not easily. Shapers usually. A few skilled with the bow or just plain lucky.” He met Tan’s eyes.