Rori sighed as his eyes followed the path up the hill into the copse of trees at the summit.

  It was not the hill, the path or the trees that elicited the sigh. They were not the problem. Instead, the potential problem was the person who was supposed to be hiding amidst those trees meaning to do Rori harm. But as the old saying goes, forewarned is forearmed.

  Rori nudged the horse with his feet and started forward. He tried to look as much like an unaware victim as he could while surreptitiously scanning the trees looking for the possible attacker. He made it halfway up the slope before he pulled his horse to a stop.

  “Oh, come on!” he said, spotting his supposed ambusher hiding unsuccessfully behind a pair of rather thin aspen trees. “Gregor that is simply pathetic! I was going to let you ‘spring’ your ambush on me but be serious. A blind man couldn’t miss you ‘hiding’ there. And that’s an insult to both blind people and to the general meaning of the word ‘hide’.”

  Gregor leaned forward to blink at Rori from behind the trees. Even from this distance Rori could see how bloodshot his eyes were and as the wind shifted directions, he could smell him as well.

  “No!” Gregor half-mumbled, half shouted in a slurred voice. “You come up here and I’m goin’ to get you!”

  “You’re not though,” replied Rori patiently. “I doubt you could take me when you are sober and right now, I think Sara could best you.”

  Gregor blinked twice, clearly in thought, however strained it might be, and finally asked, “Who’s Sara?”

  “You’ve only been gone eight months or so, surely you remember Sara? She’s one of the five clan leaders. Probably the oldest person in the clan. Thin. Frail looking. Thus, my comment.”

  After more strained thought Gregor’s expression changed as somewhere in the cluttered, inebriated, recesses of his mind the fog momentarily cleared.

  “Oh, Sara. She’s not nice. Is she here?”

  “No, Gregor. It’s just me and you.”

  After another long pause spent leaning forward, half hidden and holding onto the trees for balance, Gregor spoke again.

  “You’re not comin’ up here, are you?”

  “No.”

  “But I have to kill you.”

  He said it in such a serious and ‘matter of fact’ manner that Rori nearly laughed aloud. Instead, he looked away from the hill and back down the road to calm himself and to hide his smile. When he’d managed to put on a straight face he turned back and replied, “Why?”

  “It’s your fault she left me.”

  “Do you honestly think that’s true?”

  “No,” Gregor eventually replied. “But if I kill you, maybe she will come back.”

  “And do you honestly think that’s true?” said Rori repeating the question.

  Gregor stared again for several moments before finally answering.

  “I don’t know. Doesn’t matter though. I couldn’t kill nobody. I’m a lover, not a fighter.”

  “You’re a drunk,” mumbled Rori under his breath.

  “That too,” replied Gregor clearly having no problem hearing despite the lack of volume and the copious amounts of alcohol he’d evidently consumed. “You gonna stop me from leaving?”

  “I won’t stop you, but where are you going to go?” Rori asked. “We’re miles from a village and you are in no shape to care for yourself. Come back to the wagons with me. Sleep it off and you can leave in the morning if you want.”

  “Aren’t you mad?”

  “Gregor,” Rori started, “Nika played us both for fools. If I blame you then I have to blame myself first. Come back to the wagons. Jaelle made some stew. I bear you no ill will.”

  “Truth,” said a voice from behind Rori at the bottom of the hill.

  Rori spun around to face the potential threat but then relaxed when his eyes confirmed what his ears had already told him. The man on the horse behind him had dark brown hair, a short beard and was dressed in a soft black leather shirt. He carried two short swords at his sides and though Rori could only see two dagger hilts sticking out from his belt, he knew there were many other hidden knives as well. He also knew that of the people on this hill with him, he had more to fear from Gregor than this newcomer.

  “Nolan!” Rori said with a grin moving his horse back down the hillside to his friend. “How did you get there without me hearing? I swear I was just looking that way not moments ago!”

  “We walked,” Nolan replied and then with a half-smile he added, “Quietly.”

  “Very funny,” said Rori grasping one of Nolan’s hands in greeting. “I would hug you like a brother, but that will have to wait until we are off these horses. Why are you here?”

  “Not happy to see me? Because I suppose I can go?” said Nolan in a half serious voice.

  “Please don’t. I honestly don’t care why you are here. I’m just surprised is all. I knew I had missed you lot, but I hadn’t realized quite how much until I saw you.”

  “Actually, I’m here for two reasons, one for Dade and one of my own.”

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  “Is Dade here too!?”

  “No, he’s in Lycea. Which is where he would like you to go, assuming you aren’t too busy leading your clan that is. That’s the first reason.”

  “And the second?”

  “Because you lied to me,” said Nolan.

  “When,” said Rori in a confused voice, “and what about?”

  “That’s not important,” said Nolan by way of an answer. “What is important is that at the time, I didn’t notice.”

  Sometime later they sat around the fire in the midst of the wagons. The sharp cold of winter had mostly given way to the brisk cool of spring, but it was still a long way from warm. Nolan and Rori both held mugs of warm cider as they chatted into the evening. The sun was just starting to dip below the horizon and the rest of Rori’s clan was scattered around the camp site. Some sitting nearby joining in the conversation, others completing their final chores of the evening.

  Gregor’s snores could be heard rattling from beneath one of the wagons where he lay passed out, the half empty mug in his hand, tipped over dribbling onto the ground beside him.

  “So, what’s up with him,” said Nolan between bites, pointing to Gregor with a gravy coated spoon.

  “Nika left him.”

  “Did she come back? I thought she left for good months ago,” said Nolan.

  “She did. Remember, she snuck off in the night with Gregor in tow as a patsy. Sadly, it turned out not to be true love, at least on her side. Gregor drank his way to enough courage to come try and take out his woes on me and to try to win her back at the same time. At least, that’s what I think his drunken ramblings meant. Anyway, he’s harmless.”

  “Seems like you knew he was going to be there.”

  “Yeah, he shared a campfire with a couple of wanderers about a week ago. After they parted company in the morning, one of them circled around him and got here first to give me a warning. A nice gesture, though in the end there wasn’t much to worry about.”

  “Did this informant want a job? Always lots of money to be made for good information gatherers.”

  “Ask him yourself. He decided to stay with the clan for a while. I’ll call him over if you want.”

  “Maybe next time. Right now, I’m just enjoying this wonderful meal. Thank you for the hospitality,” Nolan said to Jaelle who was also sitting by the fire.

  “It was my pleasure,” she replied. And though it was said with a smile, Rori noted that the smile didn’t exactly seem to make it all the way up into her eyes. It wasn’t that Jaelle didn’t like Nolan. Rori suspected her reservations had more to do with the fact that Nolan’s appearance likely meant he wanted Rori to leave with him. And as another of the clan leaders, Jaelle had strong opinions about that.

  Rori further suspected that Nolan would prefer to speak with him alone, but there would be time for that later if it was needed. Right now, it was only polite for him to socialize a bit with all of the clan leaders. As such Sara and Oman also sat nearby. Though the bobbing of Sara’s head meant she would likely be asleep before long. Logan, the fifth leader of the clan, was not in attendance as he and several other clan members had gone to try and trade some goods with a relatively nearby town. If things went quickly, they might return in two or three days, but Rori wouldn’t be surprised if it was closer to a week.

  “Should we talk business or keep prattling on in useless chit chat,” said Sara opening one eye. Revealing that perhaps the old Cunāe wasn’t quite as sleepy as she was pretending to be.

  “That’s up to Rori,” said Nolan. “I don’t actually have business with the clan, though it is good to see everyone. I just need some answers from Rori, and Dade would like his help in what amounts to a political molehill. If he wants to discuss all that now, that’s fine with me.”

  “I note that Dade isn’t here,” said Jaelle with a bit of stiffness in her voice.

  “No, he’s not,” replied Nolan.

  “So, clearing up this ‘political molehill’ would mean Rori heading off to where?”

  “Lycea and Willowsbrook,” answered Nolan.

  “Hmm,” said Jaelle instilling loads of meaning into the sound.

  “I assume that ‘hmm’ is meant to show disapproval,” said Nolan stating the obvious. “But honestly you shouldn’t be so put out.”

  “Really,” said Jaelle, one eyebrow arching dangerously. It was a look Rori knew meant Nolan had better tread carefully or he would find himself receiving a scathing tongue lashing from Jaelle, regardless of what their relative social positions and ages were.

  Jaelle continued, “As I count it, it would take most of a month to ride to Lycea from here and thus most of month back again. Never mind travel time to Willowsbrook. And I’m sure that during that time some quest on the far side of the continent would be discovered and the next time anyone in this clan would see its Seyster-bash’s face again would be sometime after the new year.”

  “I don’t know anything about quests to the other side of the continent, and I don’t argue with your estimate of travel times to Lycea by horse. But that’s rather moot, as we aren’t planning on riding there. In fact, whatever the outcome, I won’t even be staying the night. Sometime soon, Kedra will be showing up here and taking me directly back to Lycea, with or without Rori. Which will take only as long as it takes Kedra to say the right magic words and wiggle her fingers.

  “If Rori does come, Dade is holding a meeting tomorrow in Lycea and the inquest is in Willowsbrook two days later. Even if that runs long and then throwing in an extra day for good measure, Kedra can have Rori back here in five days. Which unless things have changed in the eight months since I was last here, I suspect won’t be too much of a burden.”

  “Five days is fine,” said Jaelle with enough firmness in her voice to convey to all present that Nolan was pushing the edge of exactly how much sass she was willing to take.

  “Of course, that is putting the cart before the horse,” said Nolan. “All of that presumes Rori wishes to go in the first place.”

  “If Dade needs me, then I will come,” answered Rori. “Why two meetings?”

  “The first is just to make sure everyone is on the same page, and we have all the facts before the second.”

  “Everyone, everyone?” asked Rori with some excitement evident in his voice.

  “Well, nearly everyone.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  “Wait for what?” said Kedra as she walked up to the group from between the wagons.  Kedra was wearing the same official-looking pale blue and white robes she typically wore. Her curly, long chestnut brown hair was likewise worn in her typical fashion cascading down her back. All of this combined with her features and the aura of authority she had gave her a look of both beauty and power. Of course, it also didn’t hurt that Rori knew she was a powerful spell caster as well.

  Despite all that, when he saw her Rori could not keep himself from leaping up to hug her.

  “I’ve missed you too, Rori.” Kedra said returning the embrace. “Now I don’t wish to be rude to the rest of your clan, but I’m actually on a tight schedule since it took Nolan twice as long to find you as he’d originally estimated. If you are coming back to Lycea with us, please gather whatever you’d like to take along so we can leave.”

  “I’m not sure that you necessarily needed to reveal the part about how long it took to find Rori,” said Nolan.

  “Of course not,” answered Kedra with a smile. “But I did anyway. Again Jaelle, sorry to appear and then immediately disappear again, but as I said, I’m on a tight schedule.”

  “No worries, dear,” said Jaelle. “It’s my understanding you will be bringing Rori back again in a few days?”

  “That’s up to Rori. Assuming that you are willing to take the stone out of this case when I contact you in a few days, we can manage that with no problem,” Kedra said holding up a small wooden box that Rori assumed had a teleport anchor in it.

  “Should we just plan on keeping the caravan here, for six days?” asked Oman.

  “We didn’t have any other destinations in mind,” replied Rori. “And besides we have to wait for Logan to return anyway. What do the rest of you think?”

  “Sounds fine to me,” said Sara again barely raising one eyelid. I’m tired of travelling anyway.”

  “Fine with me too,” said Oman.

  “Okay,” said Jaelle.

  “Right,” said Rori with unsuccessfully hidden excitement in his voice. Let me go get a few things. I’ll be right back.”