And they were all still with him, seven in total, either because they were far too terrified to find their homes by themselves after what they’d experienced, or smart enough to know that traveling together was safer.

He wished to escort them all safely home.

But with the Beast unleashed, Tedrey not only had no coin, they had no horses. He further had no weapon in case they ran into trouble (and with the way things were in all realms these days, Zees or highwaymen could be the least of their worries).

And last, he just simply did not have the luxury of taking the time such an endeavor would require.

He had to get to Notting Thicket. He had to get to Birchlire Castle. He had to find some way to gain an audience with King True and share the dire news.

He worried naught could be done.

This was, of course, the Beast.

But they must try, and he did not have the power to do it himself.

First, however, he had to find someone who would see to the women. Their families had to be worried to distraction. If he could find one soul he sensed he could trust who would take charge of them, he had no doubt they would be safe at their own hearths in little time.

With the Beast risen, he just had even less than “little” time to give.

In that moment, in a stable that Tedrey had noted on the way to the Ritual Ground (so he’d led the women there in the rain after they’d fled, and at least it had provided shelter, if not warmth, and they’d spent the night there), Moira had hold of a long stick.

She was using it to draw a rough map of eastern Wodell in the dirt.

“We are here,” she pointed with her stick. She then moved it what Tedrey considered a disheartening distance away and dug a little hole in the dirt, finishing, “Notting Thicket is there.”

“Yes, Moira, but as I shared with you, I need you to guide me to someone you can trust who will take in these women and see to it they are safely home. I have to do that first, before I head to the Thicket. But it must be done quickly. So please, tell me if you know of someone who is close that you would trust with this task. Or, perchance, there is a temple nearby where there is a priest or priestess who would take on this duty?”

“I live in the Lesser Thicket, Tedrey,” she replied. “Northeast of here. It’s at least fifteen, perhaps twenty miles beyond where we started. I do not know this place at all.”

That was not stellar news.

Further, her home was at least two days’ walk, if they could manage a good pace and do so for hours and hours without even a morsel of food amongst them.