Rainbow Snippets: Smoke on the wind

_{^{Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation.}}

Moving on from Tracking Trouble I’ll be sharing snippets from In Pain and Blood. Still starring Tracker in parts. The rewrite is a little lighter on the romance side (that happens in the sequel), but it’s still Dylan’s bi-awakening.

This week’s snippet follows on from last week’s where Tracker was following the trail of a supposed spellster attack.

That had also been prior to encountering those fleeing from the source. He had hoped they had seen wrong, that fear and imagination exaggerated had their memories. But whilst farmers and merchants were more skittish than the average mercenary troupe when it came to the unexpected, they were seldom wrong about the damage a spellster wrought.
A breeze ruffled through the trees, it toyed with the leaves, grasses and his many earrings with equal ease. A slightly stronger puff cooled his brow, refreshing if not for the hint of wood smoke and charred flesh.
Frowning, he drew his horse to a halt. That aroma alone wasn’t a reason for concern. There were a number of reasons behind it. A travelling party’s campfire. A farmhouse’s hearth. A robbing gone wrong.
In this case, he knew the cause had to be magic.

Tracker will be back next week with more from In Pain and Blood. In the meantime, check out these other snippets.