:It doesn’t matter. Not now. Just an idle speculation. I agree, we should get her into Valdemar if we can. I think it would make all the difference.: He felt Ratha’s reticence, and didn’t press. Whatever it was, if it was important enough, Ratha would tell him in his own time.

:You are clear, now,: the Companion concluded. :I will check ahead.:

Eldan double-checked the road through the eyes of every bird and beast he could touch, and confirmed Ratha’s statement. He opened his eyes again, and touched Kero on the elbow, carefully.

“We can go,” he said quietly. “We’ve both checked.”

“Good,” she replied, a hint of relief in her voice. “I was beginning to wonder if I was going to spend the night in this tree.”

She caught the branch she was sitting on and swung down to the one below. Eldan followed her, marveling at her agility, and her ability to move so well in the twilight gloom.

“Oh, I can think of worse places to spend the night than in a tree,” he replied lightly, as he lowered himself down onto the ground beside her.

“So can I, and I’ve probably been in most of them. Can we take to the road?” She dusted her hands off on her breeches, and unwound Hellsbane’s reins from the snag she’d tethered the mare to.

“So far. Ratha’s going on ahead. He says he’s found a goat-track we can use if more of those patrols show up.”

She turned a sober face toward him. “I hope he’s finding cover for us in case more of those—things—show up. I don’t want to meet one of them out in the open with nowhere to hide.”

“No more do I.” He shuddered at the thought of it, and marveled at her courage, who’d encountered the creatures—whatever they were—alone, without panicking.

She’s incredible, he thought for the hundredth time, as he followed directly in Hellsbane’s tracks. I have to get her back to Valdemar. I have to. She’ll never want to leave....

Fourteen

Fourteen

They’re thinking at each other again, Kero observed, trying not to cringe. With Eldan sitting and the Companion lying beneath a roof of living pine boughs, the Herald gazed deeply into Ratha’s eyes, both of them oblivious to everything around them. The ground was invisible under a litter of pine needles that must date back ten or twenty years. They’d left Kero on guard while the two of them conferred. If Kero hadn’t known the sky was clear, she’d have sworn there was a storm coming; it was that dark under this tree.