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They found the First Axe of Holgerstead asleep in the room he and Fyodor shared in the Trelleborg barracks. Wedigar came awake quickly, with a warrior's trained alertness. His eyes narrowed in puzzlement when they settled on the Rashemi's somber face and on the darkelven female at his side.

"What is this, lad? it is unseemly to bring a woman into the Trelleborg!" he admonished Fyodor.

"Women are not the issue here. More exotic females seem to be the order of the day," Liriel observed coldly as she pulled the shawl from her bag. "This belonged to your girlfriend. Look familiar to you?"

The warrior stared blankly at the length of fringed white silk, then up at Fyodor. "What is this about?" he demanded.

"Do you remember nothing about a golden-haired girl? Liriel thought she saw you walking with one along the shore," he urged.

"The shaman's daughter? What of it? You know i came to the village to court her."

"Not Dagmar, but a magical creature," Fyodor corrected him, "one who can charm a man so completely that he would gladly kill himself and, perhaps, others as well. Wedigar's eyes narrowed dangerously, but he kept his control. "Explain yourself," he said evenly.

"This morning, shortly after dawn, we returned from inthar along the shore cliff. Liriel saw a man and a maid walking along the water's edge~ Not long after, we were attacked by a giant hawk, nearly the size of a man. It was not a natural hawk," Fyodor said softly, "but a creature such as the ones you spoke of when you told me what form a hamfariggen fighter might take."

"You are a stranger to this land," the First Axe of Holgerstead said in a stiff voice, "and because you do not realize the insult in your words, i will not call challenge upon you."

Liriellet out a soft, exasperated hiss. "Fine. Don't. But you will explain this." Before either man could react, she lunged at the warrior and seized the neck of his nightshirt with both hands. With a quick, sharp movement she tore the garment open to the waist.

Across the warrior's chest, in a neat straight line, were four small, shallow puncture wounds. Below them was a large circle where the dark hair had been singed away and the skin raised in a large, red blister.

"Explain those," the drow suggested coldly.

For a moment Wedigar sat in silence. "i cannot," he admitted.

"Then permit me," Liriel said. "i threw four knives at the hawk who attacked us, as well as a small fireball. Lucky for the bird, its chest muscles were too deep for the blades to do much damage, and the feathers protected it from most of the effects of the fireball. Your wounds are smaller than i'd expected, but then the target has shrunk considerably. No offense intended," she added with a glance at his heavily muscled torso. "i also threw a bolo at the thing's leg, and Fyodor hit it repeatedly on the back and right side with his cudgel. There should be some fairly impressive bruises in those locations."

"There are," Wedigar muttered.

Liriel cast a disbelieving look at her friend. "You weren't exaggerating when you said these people are no good at lying," she said dryly. "This one won't even make an attempt!"

"i speak the truth," the warrior told her bitterly, "at least, what little of it i can remember! Yesterday morning i did go to the shore intending to meet the shaman's daughter when she came ashore after the mornings fishing. You know she labors with the fisherfolk. But i did not see the boats return. I believed only that i misunderstood what cove i should seek and thought no more of it. The morning passed quickly. Now that i think of it, a bit too quickly."

"You didn't notice the pain? The wounds?" she persisted. "i did," he said tersely. "Of them i could remember nothing."

"What about this afternoon? Where were you during the hunt?"

"i remained in the Trelleborg most of the afternoon. I can neither walk nor hold a sword without pain. How could i hunt?"

Fyodor cast a puzzled look at Liriel. "Then he could not have taken the form of the boar that attacked Aumark!"