Artemis looked up, and immediately her stomach churned. In the distance, the forest expanded out into a clearing at the base of a cliff, vague shapes of houses already visible. But it was what was immediately in front of the squad that grabbed their attention. A pegasus had been strung up between trees on either side, limply dangling several yards above the path from ropes bound around her front hooves. Her eyes had been gouged out and her head hung above what remained of her chest; disgustingly, it’d been hacked open — the edges ragged and still damp with blood — and all the organs had been removed, leaving only a hollow cavity behind. Her wings were uneven and rough, most of the feathers having been forcibly ripped out.