Of Truth and Beasts

“We will take shifts,” Ore-Locks said.

His sudden willingness to work together only irritated Chane. The dwarf was nothing if not single-minded.

“Shade, up,” Wynn said, tossing her pack into the walled box and climbing onto the platform. “Chane, we can put your packs and our supplies here in the box.”

With one final, accusing glance at Chane, Shade jumped aboard after Wynn. Chane began passing blankets and water to Wynn. Every action, every movement, felt wrong, and as Shade blamed him, he could not help but blame Ore-Locks.

Wynn had both a route and means of transport beneath the range.

Nothing would make her turn back now.

* * *

Sau’ilahk had come to depend more and more on the elves who followed Wynn. No one in their group was able to sense his presence, yet they had their own method of tracking that had proven more than adequate so far.

Although he longed to feed on them, he had come to view their presence as necessary. They served him unwittingly, and he never needed to risk exposure. In the foothills with all the outcrops, trees, and brush, it was never difficult for him to hide close to them and listen without being detected. But his confidence in their abilities fell apart as they dismounted their horses and stood beside Wynn’s empty, abandoned wagon.

Chuillyon picked up an empty harness, his face filling with confusion.

“You saw nothing?” he asked Hannâschi.

“No.” She shook her head, equally troubled. “When I arrived, they were gone. Their horses were still here, set loose. All their belongings but the chest and tents are missing, and I could find no sign of the journeyor or her companions.”

Sau’ilahk longed to kill them all right now. How could they let Wynn slip away?

Tall Shâodh approached the slope, his dirty cloak swinging over the top of his boots.

“It is clear they entered the mountains,” he said, and turned about. “Will we do the same?”

His tone was almost challenging.

“Of course,” Chuillyon answered. “Can you sense for their life shadows again?”

Sau’ilahk had become familiar with the abilities of these elves. He was not surprised when Shâodh turned to face the slope and closed his eyes, chanting softly under his breath. He stood there for long moments, and then raised one slender hand.

“There,” he said quietly, pointing upslope and to the right.

It seemed Shâodh could sense the lingering tendrils of life and was capable of separating people from wildlife. At least he was doing something.

Sau’ilahk remained hidden behind an outcrop near the bottom of the pass as he watched all three elves begin to climb. It felt too long before he heard Hannâschi’s voice echo down the slope.

“Look, Domin! A path.”

He longed to blink up beside them, but there was little cover where they stood. Soon they started off again, snaking and curving up the mountain until he lost sight of them.

Sau’ilahk allowed himself to fall slightly dormant, to dematerialize and blink up the mountain. At first, he could not see them, but he heard voices again. He drifted ever so cautiously around the sharp slant of a sheer cliff face.

The last of the three elves was disappearing into the brush at the base of the cliff wall.

When they did not come out, anxiety began to trickle through Sau’ilahk. Rather than blink into the unknown, he drifted nearer, slowly following where he had seen the elves vanish. Within moments, he found himself looking out of a tunnel into a vast cavern with dead crystals lining the upper walls.

The elves were crossing the cavern, looking about in wonder. A large, open archway filled a good section of the far wall. The three were debating something, but Sau’ilahk had missed the first part.

“We cannot leave the horses saddled down there,” Hannâschi said. “And we need what is left of our supplies.”

“Go quickly,” Chuillyon answered. “We cannot let the journeyor get too far ahead.”

“I will go,” Shâodh said.

Before the slender elf came straight toward Sau’ilahk, he blinked out, focusing on the archway at the vast cavern’s far side. He was not at all surprised when he rematerialized and hurried onward to find a tram platform.

His anxiety changed to hope. Wynn had found an ancient tram station on this side of the range, but did it lead to the seatt? He dared not believe it yet. He had been disappointed too many times.

Drifting past the tram, he spotted an old metal pump cart out on the tracks, and he stilled his mind to listen. Far ahead, he could hear the rhythmic creak of heavy wheels in the tunnel’s stone grooves for tracks. Wynn was already well ahead, leaving the elves behind.

Sau’ilahk glanced back, hearing Chuillyon’s muffled voice in the tunnel leading to the tram station. He no longer needed these elves, and Shâodh was outside. Could he risk attacking the girl and the old elf to replenish himself before going after Wynn?