The flight towards the Maple wasn't long a distance, but it passed between two rather large mountains which made it impossible to hear or make contact with Alistair or Gabriel back near the city. Not that Camilla was nervous or anything, this was her kingdom, but the thought crossed her mind that she was alone now with only Amaria. She watched the learner flying beside her out of the corner of her eye, and had to admit that Amaria was indeed strong for her age. Even more so then her sister, Mayella. But both learners were turning into fine warriors and would soon complete their training.
As they neared the Maple, Camilla instructed Amaria to watch for anything unusual as she had been there earlier in the day. They landed together in the clearing where Silv had first attacked Henry, not far from the Maple where Charlotte had collected the herbs from. The smell of blood was strong, but not fresh and Camilla noticed it even before she landed. In the forest, the sun cast long shadows from the trees, giving the impression that the tree were larger then they were, and moving. There was an uneasy silence cast across the forest for as far as they could hear, even the birds were still silent as Silv's attack had spooked even them.
As Amaria went to examine the bunch of herbs that Charlotte had dropped, Camilla inspected the blood patterns left behind from the first attack. She half closed her eyes in consentration to focus on the scents individually and concluded that Charlotte left first and during take off, Henry had been attacked from the ground behind him before he could gain enough altitude to be out of reach. A clever hunter... She thought. If anything, he would have been watching the sky for predators like this, not the ground. He probably didn't see it coming until it was too late.
The blood splatter led her to some large scuff marks in the ground, and the flattened bushes where Henry had fallen. He must have tried to throw off his attacker... A decent move, one taught to learners by their mentors during their training. But what she found next puzzled her, there wasn't enough blood here to be fatal, so where were they? She looked around, frowning as she scanned the dark trees around her. Henry had stood here and faced his attacker, clearly wounded and weakened, so why hadn't the attacker finished him off? Had Henry fought him off? Which led her back to the same question. Where were they now?