Song of the Saurials - Kate Novak [77]
Alias scrunched up her forehead, considering the paladin's words. She hardly knew a thing about the spells gods granted their priests. Healing and removing curses was all she ever considered priests good for. That Zhara could escape a guarded tower had never occurred to her. "Breck is going to be furious when he finds out," she whispered.
He's already furious, Dragonbait signed.
"But not with us," Alias said.
If you don't tell him, Dragonbait signed, he won't know. And we need her.
"No, we don't," Alias growled. "You promised Akabar you'd look after her.
Suppose she gets hurt chasing after us in the wild. Have you considered that?"
Zhara isn't helpless, Dragonbait signed.
Alias sighed. "If you say so," she said, resigned. She turned back to her horse and remounted.
Just then Breck came back down along the trail, looking for them. "What's keeping you?" he demanded. "I've found the place where the beast crossed over"
"I had to pick a pebble out of my horse's shoe," Alias lied.
"Is the horse all right?" the ranger asked.
Alias nodded. "Let's go," she said, anxious that Breck should not spot the light in the ravine.
Breck turned his mount around. Suddenly he pulled the horse still. "What was that?" he asked.
"What was what?" Alias asked.
"Over there," Breck said, pointing. "A bright light, like a fireball." To Alias's relief, his point indicated, not the ravine where Zhara's light shone, but a spot on the southwest horizon.
Alias scanned the sky for several moments. "I don't see anything," she said.
"Wait awhile," Breck replied.
Alias fidgeted nervously. If they waited too long, Zhara would make her way across the ravine and stumble on them. Then there would really be an explosion from Breck. "Maybe it was just a shooting star," Alias suggested, "or the campfire of some other adventurer."
Breck shook his head. He sat patiently, watching the dark horizon for another three minutes. Alias signaled hastily to Dragonbait to keep an eye on the rear, then turned back to the ranger.
"There!" Breck said, pointing once again to the same spot.
"It looks like a fire," Alias said, surprised. "A big one."
"It's Grypht," Breck announced.
"How do you know?" Alias asked disbelievingly.
"It's him. I feel it. We'll follow that light."
"But the trail leads north. The light's in the opposite direction," Alias objected.
"Grypht has laid a false trail. If I'm wrong, we can come back to it later, but I know I'm not wrong."
As they spoke, a second burst of light lit the horizon just near the flames in the distance.
"Another fireball," Breck said.
Alias nodded. That's what it looked like to her, too. "You must have sharp eyes to have seen that first fireball," she said. "Or Tymora's luck."
Breck grinned, flattered. "Both," he replied. "Let's go," he said, turning his horse to the southwest and nudging it into a trot.
Alias turned her mount and followed. Dragonbait took a moment to drape a strip of blue cloth over a bush before loping after them.
They spotted no more fireballs bursting in the sky, and the bright fire died down, but there was a residual glow on the horizon that served them as a beacon.
They had traveled about four miles when they began to smell the smoke created by the fire. They slowed the horses to a walk. Small brush fires cut across their path. If not for the rain that had fallen in the area during the day, they wouldn't have been able to proceed farther. As it was, there were swollen streams and plenty of sodden foliage to keep the fire from spreading out of control. After crossing a particularly wide stream, Breck stopped his horse and dismounted.
"We'll leave the horses here. They'll be safe by the water," the ranger said, unbridling his mount. He clipped a lead rope onto its halter and tied the rope to a low tree branch. The horse immediately began grazing on the grass growing beneath it.
Alias slid down from her saddle and stretched her legs while Dragonbait took charge of her horse.
Breck nocked an arrow into his bow and began moving cautiously toward the fire.
Alias pulled