Lingering on a bough of the forest’s most ancient pine, he stretches and allows his claws to cut deep into the bark. It is a game he likes to play with his wooden counterpart: too old, two of the few left … too soon, will be two of the forgotten.
Resting for a moment longer, he lifts his muzzle to the breeze. The fragrances of sap coming from the pine’s fresh wounds is strongest, but there is something faint, and disturbing, coming from the East. Humans, and horses. The combination itself is not unusual, except for this particular group of humans’ smell of death, of emptiness. The leader, in particular, smells of the waters found in the bottom of poisoned caverns … metallic, and putrid. He knows this scent, without sight, Takers. He must return to Dorian, before it’s too late.
Somewhere further along in Chapter One:
In order to keep the watcher’s secret, Dorian sets himself up alone in a stable, so that Witness can be unleashed. When the first man comes in to investigate, Dorian allows him a glimpse as he runs across the rafters. As others join the first man in the enclosed environment, the men, five on foot and three mounted, close the stable doors with a morose laugh, believing that they have cornered defenseless innocents, ready for slaughter.
Ambient light turns dim, as the doors close, and Witness’s eyes adapt. Its pupils stretch to fill its eyes, turning the dark room into a slaughterhouse full of light. Striping down, it is able to make his skin blend with the environment. With its body covered in swirls of darkness, set against wooden textures, it proves that Guardian is not the only one with the ability to become invisible. Claws grow where fingernails should be, and down its chin spittle drips from where fierce fangs should not.
Closing its eyes, and smelling the air, Witness catches the scent of the horses’ fear; they know that the men have trapped them inside with a predator of unimaginable ability.
” Elyse Draper -“Overtaken”
Author Elyse Draper 