When they left the airship this time, they found themselves in hill country. The Fangs still formed a deep wall in front of them, but now they were confronted with rolling terrain riven by deep gullies that looked to have once been riverbeds. This day, like the previous, was misty and clouded over, the sun and sky completely hidden, the air thick with brume. She kept the members of the company close together as they entered the Fangs, with the Druids interspersed throughout the line of march. She led the way with Farshaun and the Speakman and had Seersha and Crace Coram provide a rearguard.

Everyone was told to keep close watch.

Redden and Railing, once again placed in the middle, gave each other a knowing glance. The wishsong, while versatile, wasn’t much good at detecting danger, and their experience with this sort of thing was pretty limited.

“Hope she’s not counting on us,” Redden murmured to his brother, who simply nodded in reply.

This day’s trek through the Fangs was very similar to that of the day before, but more draining physically. Going up and down hills as they wound through the maze of stone formations required more effort, and even though they could see no sources of moisture, the air was oddly thick. The farther in they went, the heavier it got. No one was saying much, and when they did it was whispered and short. Even Redden and Railing, normally comfortable with sharing their thoughts and making wry comments, remained silent, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other.

Twice in the next four hours Khyber allowed the company to take short rests. Each time she spoke to the Speakman through Farshaun, reassuring herself that everything was all right and nothing unusual was in evidence. The Speakman indicated through nods and gestures to Farshaun that this was so.

Nevertheless, she was uneasy. She had discovered about two hours into the Fangs that her compass had quit working. She believed they could find their way out if they needed to even without the Speakman’s help, but she could not be certain in which direction they were going. There were few markers in this wilderness by which to track their forward progress and none to make their way back save those they made themselves. The perpetually haze-clouded sky would not let her read clearly the position of the sun during the day or the stars at night. Everything looked exactly the same. Even after hours of walking she couldn’t be certain which was forward and which was back. She couldn’t even be certain they weren’t going in a circle.