Who could it be? All I can see are their outlines, but from the size of them, they look to be grown men. And though I do not know who they are, I think I can guess. They are two of those men Yugi heard speaking at the store about burning Sally Guess’s cabin and killing my father and my sister and me. Udagehi’s father, perhaps, and one other. And I do not think I have to guess why they are following me. They mean to do me harm.

What shall I do now? If I leap up and try to run, that will alert those men that I am aware of them. They will start running, too. Maybe they have torches with them that they will then light. And because I’ll be running without light, I might just trip and fall again or run into something. Then they will surely catch me.

Never show danger that you are afraid of it. Those were Red Bird’s words. I speak them to myself in my mind as I stand up.

Never show danger that you are afraid of it.

Then, pretending to be unaware of the men following me, I rise to my feet and begin to walk.

As I walk, the wind changes. It’s no longer blowing in my face, but coming from behind me, from the direction of those men stalking me. It brings to me a faint scent that I recognize all too well, the same smell that was on my father’s breath in those days when I was a small child and he was almost always drunk. Alcohol! The men following me have been drinking. And that worries me even more, for a drunk man will do awful things that he would not do when sober.

I keep walking, hoping my pace is just quick enough to stay ahead of those following me. But what if they are not the only ones? What if other men are waiting ahead of me, waiting in ambush?

I look up at the sky. Is it brighter than it was before? Yes. That same wind at my back is also blowing high above me. It is moving the clouds away from the face of the moon. Now there’s only a thin layer like tattered lace across the sky. And now the moon is beginning to show and her light is being cast on the land, making the path before me clearly visible.

I risk a quick glance over my shoulder. And I am both glad that I did so and frightened at the same time. Those two men have come closer. They’re no more than a hundred feet behind me. I still can’t make out their faces, but I can see that both of them are carrying heavy clubs.

“Stop!” one of them shouts, his voice slurred from drinking.