Finder's Bane - Kate Novak [45]
"City folk," Holly teased.
"Just get us to Dagger Falls, and we'll be in our element," Joel said.
Holly shook her head. "The Zhents have a puppet constable in Dagger Falls… Guthbert Golthammer," the paladin explained. "He's an idiot, but his second-in-command, a half-orc called Toren, knows his job. When you were unconscious, we passed through with the Xvim priest. We'll be recognized as escaped prisoners. And Jas would be sure to attract attention. With those wings, she'd be dragged in on suspicion of spying."
"So what do you recommend, O most wise native guide?" Joel asked.
"We skirt around the town," Holly suggested, picking up a piece of roasted rabbit. "This far north, the farmers will be too afraid of Zhent reprisals to give us much aid, but they won't turn us in. I can at least convince them to part with some waterskins and food. Jas can help us cross the River Tesh. Then we head for the foothills of the Desertsmouth Mountains. The Zhents don't patrol that far west. Then we head south until Joel finds his trail to the Lost Vale. After that, Jas and I continue on to Anathar's Dell."
"Sounds like a plan," Joel said.
Holly finished the remaining rabbit while Jas took to the air to scout out the lay of the land. When she returned, she reported they were still northeast of Dagger Falls. They needed to continue due west for several miles before they could cross the river out of sight of the town. They drank their fill from a stream before they began their trek in earnest.
The day was fair and warm, and the terrain was not difficult. About noon, Holly risked knocking on a farmhouse door. As she'd predicted, the farmer's wife looked frightened and didn't offer any hospitality, but she did send her away with two waterskins full of milk and a big loaf of bread-things she could claim had been stolen.
The three adventurers hurried away to put some distance between them and their benefactor. In the shade of some woods, they feasted on the handouts and rested about an hour. Then they headed southwest toward the river. They reached the water by nightfall and camped. Holly caught some fish for dinner.
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