Beneath the Canyons (Daughter of the Wildings #1) Read online

  Nothing.

  A sudden creaking sound came from the branches above them. He glanced sharply upwards. "Look!" Lainie gasped.

  A knapsack dangled from an upper branch of the Onetree, swinging gently even though the breeze had died away. Silas could have sworn the knapsack hadn't been there before. Had he just missed it, or was he dealing with another mage whose shields he was unable to detect, who was able to come and go unheard and unseen? He didn't like being caught unawares like this. "Wonder if it's Bissom's," he said, trying not to show how much the knapsack's appearance had unsettled him. For Lainie's sake, he had to at least appear calm no matter how he felt inside.

  "I'd lay money on it," Lainie said.

  Silas climbed the rough-barked tree to where the knapsack hung. He reached for it, then stopped. It was too convenient... Thoroughly and carefully, he probed for any magical traps that might have been set on the pack, and found none. Gingerly, in case he had missed anything, he unhooked the pack from the branch and climbed down. He wanted to go through it right, to see if he could find any more clues to what had happened to Bissom or information about how to contact Bissom's family. It was an unwritten rule among mage hunters that, if at all possible, no man's family would be left wondering why they never heard from him again. But Silas didn't want to spend one more moment out here in the open than he had to. Someone had put that knapsack in the tree, and that someone had to still be close by even though Silas couldn't find him. The contents of Bissom's knapsack could wait until he and Lainie had the safety of walls around them.

  He strapped the knapsack behind Abenar's saddle. Then, with a silent nod to each other -- neither of them seemed to want to speak out loud -- he and Lainie mounted up and rode on southwest along the endless, empty trail towards the slowly-sinking sun.

  Bad Hunting

  Daughter of the Wildings Book 2

  Now Available

  Books in the

  Daughter of the Wildings series

  Book 1: Beneath the Canyons

  Book 2: Bad Hunting

  Book 3: The Rancher’s Daughter

  Book 4: To the Gap

  Book 5: City of Mages

  Book 6: For the Wildings

  For more information on the Daughter of the Wildings series, visit http://www.kyrahalland.com/daughter-of-the-wildings.html

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  For complete catalog and availability,

  please visit http://www.kyrahalland.com/books.html

  Acknowledgements

  Many thanks to my wonderful test readers, for helping to make this a better book: Steph, Jill, Jeremy, Kellie, Elizabeth, and Amy.

  Also thanks to Mominur Rahman, for bringing Silas and Lainie to life on the cover.

  And, most of all, many many thanks to my husband for his patience and support.

  About the Author

  Kyra Halland has always loved fantasy. She has also always loved a good love story. Years ago, as a new stay-at-home mom, she decided to combine those two loves - like chocolate and peanut butter! - by writing the kinds of romantic fantasy novels she wanted to read.

  Complicated, honorable heroes; strong, smart, feminine heroines; magic, romance, and adventure; deep emotion mixed with a dash of offbeat humor - all of these make up Kyra Halland's worlds. She loves sharing those worlds with readers and hopes they will enjoy her stories and characters as much as she does.

  Kyra Halland lives in southern Arizona. She has a very patient husband, two less-patient cats, two young adult sons, a lovely daughter-in-law, and an adorable granddaughter. Besides writing, she enjoys scrapbooking and anime, and she wants to be a crazy cat lady when she grows up.

  Learn more about Kyra Halland’s books at

  http://www.kyrahalland.com