She zoomed back, hoping she hadn't delayed Electra. She was heartened by this discovery. She could lead Che to this cleft, and Godiva could loft him across, and the gobs would be stuck on the other side.

So would Nada.

She pondered that as she sped along. But then she realized that it should be no problem, because no goblin could keep up with this racing form. She could get clear. In fact, she might not need to; she could assume small snake form, and Che could hold her in his hand, and take her across with him.

Then she remembered the elf girl. The one who had tried to rescue Che before and gotten captured herself. What would happen to her?

Maybe there would be time to loft her across after Che was safe. Nada hoped so, because she wanted to know more about that elf.

But where would Electra be, at that point? She couldn't change form and slither away. So—she would have to remain on the other side of the cleft to help guide Che while Nada slithered around. That would have another advantage: if the gobliness turned out to be untrustworthy, someone would be there to protect Che.

Reassured, Nada zipped on to her rendezvous with Electra. Soon enough she made it, somewhat to this side of their point of separation. Electra had evidently completed her survey and come back to find Nada.

She slithered up and assumed girl form. "My end is the Gap," she said. "No crossing places. You found one?"

"Yes—just a little way up," Electra said breathlessly. "It gets very narrow, and the gobs have made a log bridge—a tree fallen across it. I looked beyond, but it's a good long hike before it peters out. So if we can take out that bridge—"

"Good enough! Let me look at it."

They went to it, and Nada studied the situation. It looked as if a person with a lever could wedge the log off the narrow place, so it would drop into the cleft. It would take the goblins a long time to get another log for the crossing. It looked very good. They might even be able to use the crossing themselves, then push off the log before the goblins reached it.

They resumed their progress toward the horde camp. Now the first signs of dawn were just beginning to think about starting to show.

They were going to be late. "They must be ahead of us," Nada said. "Maybe Idiot is whistling, and we can hear it."

They listened, and after a moment heard the conservative cadence of the bird in hand. They hurried toward that, hoping it wasn't a real bird.

It wasn't. Idiot was hiding against the trunk of a tree, and Godiva was nearby. "I was afraid you were—lost," the gobliness said, relieved.

"Or had run out on you?" Nada inquired.