Page 43 of Thexan

Loaded.

I secured it.

Only then did I lower his body fully to the ground, positioning him to reduce visual exposure along the approach path.

Behind me, Brynn exhaled once.

“That was one,” she said.

“Yes.”

“Do they know?”

“Not yet.”

I rose, already recalculating the field.

“They will.”

Brynn moved as I did, shifting across the ridge to intercept the secondary line of approach. I tracked her position, not to correct it, but to account for it.

She was not following.

She was adapting.

The second hunter deliberately altered his course moments later.

He had detected disruption—not the cause, but the absence where there should have been presence.

“They’ve noticed,” Brynn said.

“Yes.”

“They’re adjusting.”

“Yes.”

I shifted position, aligning with the new approach vector. The recovered weapon altered the engagement, not enough to remove risk, but enough to expand options.

“They expect movement,” I said. “We give them direction.”

“Misdirection,” she said.

“Yes.”

I stepped back from the ridge edge and displaced a controlled amount of loose stone, allowing the sound to carry along an alternate path.

The second hunter responded immediately, redirecting toward the false signal.

“That’ll pull him,” Brynn said.

“Yes.”

“And the third?”

“He will hold the position until confirmation.”

“Meaning we split them.”