by Kate Novak
Jas took first watch and woke Joel after midnight. Other than a raccoon family raiding their camp for the discarded fish heads left from their meal, Joel's watch was quiet. Holly, on the last watch, woke the other two before the birds began to twitter. "There's something out there," the paladin said. "Something is howling. It's been getting closer."
Joel and Jas listened for a while. The howl came from the northeast. "Just a wolf," Joel suggested.
Holly shook her head. "Wolves travel in packs. When one howls, the others answer. This is something traveling alone."
"A werewolf?" Jas asked.
Joel held up his finger and listened to the howl again. Holly was wrong. There was an answer, a much more disturbing noise. The bard could just barely hear it.
There's a horn. A hunting horn," the bard told them. "Coming from behind us."
"What could anyone be hunting at this hour?" Jas asked.
"Us," Holly whispered.
"Don't they have better things to do with their time?" the winged woman groaned.
"We need to throw their hound off the scent," Joel said.
"So we cross the river," Jas said.
"Not just yet," Holly answered. "We need to lay a false trail."
They gathered up their weaponry and the waterskins and proceeded west down the river path. With only a tiny sliver of light from the setting moon to show the way, it was slow going. They splashed through two creeks that emptied into the river. At the third creek, Jas picked up Holly and flew across the river.
While Joel waited for the winged woman to return, he planned the magic he might need for the day and prayed to Finder to grant him the spells. The howling grew so close that the bard became edgy and impatient. The birds had begun chirping, and the sky was beginning to lighten. Joel was just considering trying to swim the river when Jas finally returned.
"What kept you?" he demanded.
"Holly insisted I land far past the riverbank so they won't be able to pick up our scent by following the water's edge," Jas explained. "Let's go."
Joel wrapped his arms around Jas's neck as Holly had. It felt awkward to have a strange woman wrapping her arms about his chest. Jas didn't seem to be bothered by it. Joel was reminded of Walinda wrapping her cloak around him to hide from the beholder, but while the priestess had smelled of roses, Jas smelled of leather and sweat. Then they took off, and Joel could think only of returning to earth. Without wings of his own, Joel was terrified by the sensation of nothing beneath his feet.
Jas landed in a meadow beyond an untended apple orchard. Holly was digging in the dirt with a sword around a scraggly plant with white flowers.
"Are we going to hide in a tunnel?" Jas teased.
Holly held up a small red potato. Joel and Jas joined the paladin on their knees. When they'd amassed several handfuls of the vegetable, they continued on their trek, following a deer trail.
Shortly after dawn, duly warned by Holly to stay out of range of any spellcasting, Jas took to the sky to check out their pursuers. The paladin and the bard kept moving.
By the time the sun had climbed over the Dagger Hills, coloring the Desertsmouth Mountains a brilliant red, Jas returned.
"Well, there's good news and bad news," the winged woman reported. "There's about a dozen of them on horseback. Didn't spot any griffons, though. I'm pretty sure one of the riders is a priest and one's a mage. They seemed to have figured out we crossed the river. They've turned back downstream."
Holly nodded. "The river is way too deep and fast for horses to swim. The only ford is below Dagger Falls."
"What's the bad news?" Joel asked.
"The hound we heard. It's like nothing I've ever seen," Jas said. "It walks on its hind legs like a man, and it's as hairy as a werewolf and as black as soot. It's also huge… bigger than a man. The river didn't scare it. It jumped right in and started swimming across. The current carried it quite a ways downstream, but it came out on the opposite bank. That's when I turned around and came back."
"We better keep moving," Joel said.
They made for the mountains, and the peaks seemed to grow reassuringly closer. They hadn't heard the Zhent beast's howl since they'd crossed the river, but the creature was on all their minds. Joel kept estimating in his head how long it would take for something to sniff them out, but the farther they traveled, the less worried he became.
Holly traveled with the crossbow loaded, keeping an eye out for game. For lunch, they had two more rabbits with their potatoes. Since their fire couldn't be the only one in the dale, they didn't worry too much about anyone spotting the smoke. They rested for an hour in the shade of a line of trees bordering a stream. Joel had nearly dozed off when he thought he heard a voice say, "Listen."
The bard jerked awake. A howl reached his ear. He called out to Jas and Holly. The howl came again. Without any discussion, the three gathered their meager belongings and moved on.
In the late afternoon, they nearly stumbled upon a skunk chomping on the rancid corpse of a deer. Holly and Jas pulled back, but Joel stood watching the creature for a moment, then began singing softly.
"What is he doing?" Jas whispered to Holly, gesturing at the young priest.
Holly shrugged and didn't reply, afraid that any noise might alarm the animal. She wondered if perhaps Joel, a city boy, might not know what it was he faced.
Joel finished his song. The skunk looked up at him expectantly. Joel began another song. Then he addressed the skunk in its own animal tongue.
When Jedidiah had taught the bard to charm and speak to animals, they had practiced on a cat. "You should charm the animal first before speaking with it," Jedidiah had explained, "because charming it gets the animal's attention. Especially cats. They're notoriously bad listeners." With a skunk, Joel figured, charm was essential, since it kept the animal calm. The conversation with the skunk was similar to the one Joel had with the cat. Simple. Very simple.
"This is my food," the skunk said.
"It's your food," Joel agreed.
"Do you want some?" the skunk asked. It was, after all, enchanted by the bard.
"No thank you," Joel replied. "I'm just passing through."
"Too bad. There's plenty of food here."
"Unless some bad creature comes and takes it away," Joel agreed.
"What bad creature?" the skunk asked. "Some big, hairy howling thing following me and my mates," Joel explained. "Maybe after we pass, you should spray our trail. That will keep him away. Then he won't steal your food."
"Good idea," the skunk said.
"I'm leaving now, with my mates. There is no need to be alarmed when we pass," Joel said.
'"Bye," the skunk said, and returned to chewing on the deer carcass.
Joel motioned for Jas and Holly to keep behind him as he passed the skunk. Both women crept past, holding their breath, keeping Joel between them and the skunk.
"Don't forget to spray our trail," Joel called.
"I won't," the skunk answered.
When they'd put several hundred yards between them and the skunk, Jas burst out, "What were you doing?"
"You spoke with it, didn't you?" Holly guessed. Joel nodded. "You can never have too many friends in low places," he replied with a grin.
"Why did you speak to it?" Jas demanded. "It's a skunk, for gods' sake."
"I had to warn it about the big, hairy howling thing," Joel explained. "It's going to spray the trail behind us."
Holly laughed aloud. Even Jas grinned.
The creature howled again, and their smiles faded. The adventurers continued on. They turned and twisted down several different animal paths and trudged along some streambeds, yet the howling didn't seem to fade in the distance. After another hour of hiking with tired feet and the sound of the beast behind them, their nerves were beginning to fray.
"Shut up already," Jas growled back down the trail, as if the beast might hear her.
"I wonder why it hasn't caught up with us yet," Joel muttered.
"If it's really some sort of hunting hound," Holly said, "it knows better. It's job is to harry us until its master gets here."
"But the riders had to detour to cross the river," Joel remembered. "So it's deliberately hanging back."
Time to go on the offensive," Jas declared.
"I think so," Holly agreed.
Jas did a quick air foray to locate the beast. She returned in a very short while.
"It's rolling in the grass about a mile back, as if it were trying to rub something off," the winged woman reported. "I think your little black and white friend got it but good."
"But not enough to put it off our scent," Holly noted. "How interesting."
Quickly they planned their attack. Jas flew off with Holly, and Joel hurried back down the trail at a loping gait toward the beast. When he'd reached the hedgerow bordering the field where Jas had said he'd find the beast, he stopped and ducked down.
Taking a deep breath, he began to sing Cassana's lament from the opera Wizards in Love. He sang the sorceress's part in falsetto, then shifted to the tenor range to sing the part of the whiny lich Zrie Prakis. As the bard went into the song's finale, he knew the beast had taken the bait. He could smell the creature's approach. Jas had guessed correctly. The skunk had gotten him.
The smell made breathing difficult, but Joel kept singing, as if he were oblivious to the beast creeping up on him. The bard fervently hoped Jas's timing would not be off.
Something on the other side of the hedgerow growled.
Joel sprang to his feet and spun around with his sword raised.
A great black beast sprang over the hedgerow, lunging for the bard's throat. In that moment, Jas, still holding Holly, dropped on the creature, delivering it a resounding kick in the head with plenty of weight behind it. The beast shook its head as if stunned, but it didn't fall. The winged woman and the paladin separated the moment they came to the ground. Holly rolled to her feet in an instant and launched a crossbow bolt into the beast's chest.
The creature turned to face the paladin. Holly gasped. Jas slashed at the beast's arm and managed to draw blood. Joel finished intoning his spell song and pointed at the creature. The hedgerow behind the beast grew and began to snake outward. In five heartbeats, it had entangled the beast's feet, legs, waist, and finally its hairy chest and arms. It was an exceptionally thick hedgerow, and the beast's furious struggles were in vain.
"Bear?" Holly whispered.
"No, it's not a bear," Jas said. "It looks almost human, except for that snout… a really hairy human. It's got fingers but no tail. Maybe it's some sort of half-ogre."
Joel drew closer, despite the stench of skunk that covered the creature. "Bear!" the bard gasped, just barely able to recognize the huge man's features, despite the distortion of his face into a wolflike snout.
"Why is it wearing a steel eye patch?" Jas asked.
"Because it was once a man with one eye," Holly said. "It is you, isn't it, Bear?" the paladin asked.
The creature snarled at the paladin. Then, in a gravelly voice, it's mouth twisting horribly, it replied, "You will… die, paladin. This is all your… f-fault, bitch." The words came out slowly and not very clearly, as if Bear was having trouble pronouncing them.
"What?" Holly asked, confused by the accusation. "How did you get this way, Bear?"
"I offered you and the… priest of Finder… to Iyachtu Xvim. If you are not both sacri-f-f-sacrificed with the new moon, my life is… forfeit," the beast-man said. "The priest I serve gave me the power to track you down so that I might live."
"Can they change you back?" Holly asked.
"Who cares?" Jas asked. "Just slay him and let's get going."
"The spell that transformed me took away the light of my humanity… f-forever," Bear growled. "I am all darkness now. Pure. F-F-Favored of Iyachtu Xvim."
"You see now why I avoid gods," Jas muttered to Joel.
Bear's one good eye gleamed with madness. "You will all… die in pain and humiliation. I can taste your souls and… feel your power wherever your f-feet have touched the earth," the enchanted man boasted. "I might have lost your trail when you flew across the river… but for the power of the fourth one. I can sense the fourth one… from miles away."
"The fourth one?" Jas asked. "Who's he talking about?"
Holly's eyes scanned the meadow carefully.
"Do you mean Walinda of Bane?" Joel asked, wondering if the priestess were following them to exact some sort of revenge.
Bear gave a braying laugh. "No. The fourth one who travels beside you… is more powerful than any godless priestess. The fourth one's power… is far greater even than our high priest, the Ruinlord. When I bring the fourth one to sacrifice… my god will elevate me above even the Ruinlord."
Jas shifted nervously. "He's crazy. There is no fourth one," she declared. "Is there?"
Bear writhed in the enchanted hedgerow, struggling to free himself. When he found he could not, he gave an ear-piercing howl.
"Stop that!" Jas ordered, leveling the point of her sword at Bear's throat.
From far off came the sound of a hunting horn.
Bear howled again, louder and longer.
"Shut up!" Jas shouted.
Bear's howls became frantic.
Jas shoved her sword into the beast-man's neck and sliced his windpipe. The howling stopped. Bear's shoulders slumped forward. Only the hedgerow held him up.
Joel looked at Jas, horrified at how quickly she had taken the beast-man's life.
"You didn't have to do that!" Holly objected, whirling angrily on the winged woman.
"Don't be a fool," Jas snapped. "His only reason for being was to bring us to our death. Now we can all sleep at night."
The hunting horn sounded again.
"Come on, Holly," Joel said softly, laying his hand on the paladin's back. "We have to get going."
"Damned right," Jas said. She strode off back down the path they'd come.
Joel and Holly followed behind her.
"Joel, suppose Bear wasn't crazy? Suppose there is a fourth one? Who could it be?" the girl asked.
"Holly, I haven't a clue," the bard admitted. "Let's keep moving."
By nightfall, they'd reached the foothills of the Desertsmouth Mountains. They were considering where they should make camp for the night when they spotted something glowing softly somewhere to the south. The light was an unnatural violet color.
"It's Giant's Craw," Holly said excitedly.
"Is that good or bad?" Jas asked.
"It's a rock," the paladin explained, "with faerie fire cast on it. It marks the entrance to a valley. Giants used to live there, waylaying caravans, until Lord Randal drove them out. It's supposed to be a lovely valley, teeming with game."
"Sounds like a good place to find breakfast," Joel said.
They made their way deeper into the foothills until they'd reached the magical stone. It was a great hexagonal pillar of ebony basalt, as tall as a giant, polished to a smooth finish.
Holly put her back against the west side of the rock and slid down to the ground with a blissful smile. "This is where I'm sleeping," she said.
Jas eyed the stone warily. She settled down a few yards away.
Joel took first watch. He sat with his back against the east side of the stone and watched the waning moon rise in the east. It was like a dying ember, and Selune's Tears, the tiny lights that trailed after it, were like sparks. Tomorrow, or perhaps the next night, would mark the new moon, when the Xvimists would have sacrificed Holly, Jas, and him. He wondered if Bear's death would be enough to placate the bloodthirsty god of the priest of Xvim and his Zhent followers, and if they would abandon the hunt now. Joel doubted it, but with their hound dead, the Xvimists and Zhents could be outwitted. At least Joel hoped so.
The bard's thoughts returned uneasily to Bear's claim that he sensed a fourth person traveling with them. Joel puzzled over who it could be. Someone with power. Absolutely no one came to mind. Joel shook his head. Perha
ps Jas was right. Bear had been maddened by his transformation and sensed someone who wasn't there.
After turning the watch over to Jas, Joel slept soundly. Holly woke him in the morning by pressing a raspberry to his lips. She and Jas had found a berry patch. The berries were big, sweet, juicy, and full of flavor. In no time at all, the three of them were covered with briar scratches, their fingers and lips stained purple.
"That's what the stone marker means," Holly joked "Purple berries here."
"It must mark something," Joel said. "It's not like any other rock near here, and its magic is permanent. We could go exploring," he suggested.
"It's not on our agenda," Jas said tersely. "You're supposed to be making a pilgrimage to the Lost Vale, aren't you?"
"We have to hunt anyway," Joel pointed out. "It might as well be here."
"I suppose a tiny side trip couldn't hurt," Jas said with a sigh.
They looked down into the valley. Even by the light of day, it had an eerie look to it. Deposits of loose shale covered much of the mountain slopes on either side. Scrub pines grew out of the shale, but many of them were naked of needles and covered with morning glory vines. Where the shale didn't cover the slopes, wildflowers bloomed, carpeting the hills with gold.
They made their way downward, walking among the flowers, sliding on the shale. Birds chirped everywhere, and Holly spotted deer droppings. Jas took to the air to scout for game. Joel followed the paladin as she crept along the valley floor, alert for every sound. A mile into the valley, she shot two large pheasants and scavenged their nest for the eggs. She began to teach Joel how to pluck feathers. Soon the bard was covered with them and Holly was laughing at him.
Somewhere off in the distance, something howled. Quickly a horn answered.
"Beshaba's filthy luck!" Joel cursed. An icy hand seemed to grip his heart.
"Where's Jas?" Holly asked with alarm.
Joel looked up at the sky. The winged woman was making her way toward them at top speed. She landed just in front of them, her face pale with anger. "Did you hear that?" she demanded.
Joel nodded.
"They're at the stone," the winged woman reported. "You're trapped in this valley."
"What's at the other end of the valley?" Joel asked.