The Northern Approach Read Online Free PDF Page A

wait until…
    A disembodied leg floated past Raeln in the stream. Seconds later, as he continued to stare at the water in horror, the flailing remains of a zombie that had been hacked apart floated by, trying to reach for him in passing.
    On’esquin seemed to have seen none of it, still staring off toward the pass. “The trees over there will make it difficult for anyone to find us by accident,” On’esquin continued, tapping his chin with the charcoal he had been writing with.
    “We’re too late,” Raeln said softly, but On’esquin was still talking to himself, saying something about the altitude. He traced the stream back toward the pass they were heading toward. “On’esquin…bodies.”
    Finally, On’esquin looked over at the stream as Raeln saw the bloodied remains of a wildling—a ferret, from what Raeln could see—float past, facedown in the water. Debris came past every few seconds, racing by and disappearing downstream.
    “We can’t go on…it’ll be dark soon,” groused On’esquin, looking around nervously. “If we lose these four, though…”
    “Follow me,” Raeln said, hopping to his feet. His legs begged him to stop, but he knew On’esquin would prattle on for hours if they did not continue. He needed action, not planning on eventualities that might have no bearing on reality.
    They made their way up the slowly rising hillside, with Raeln keeping the stream on his right. Several more times as they walked, he saw bodies or parts of bodies rush past, though he did his best not to look at them. It was a horrible sight and one he knew would tell them little about what they wanted to find out there. He doubted he could even be sure whether the bodies were all from the Turessian army or whether they had been locals to the area. Thus, it was better in his mind to ignore them completely until he had more to go on.
    Between heading toward the mountains and the time that passed, the sun soon disappeared behind the peaks completely, casting the woods into darkness. The change meant little to Raeln, as he could see nearly as well in the night as he could during the day, but he knew On’esquin would be at a disadvantage. On’esquin would not say anything about it, though.  He would simply slow down and wind up walking into something, as he had on previous nights. Raeln slowed his pace, letting the other man keep up.
    Soon they reached the spot where the stream came down off the mountains, nestled into the opening of the pass they were walking toward, creating a misty spray in all directions and a rumble that covered any possible sounds in the area. At the foot of it, Raeln first thought he saw stones that had fallen from higher up, but then motioned for On’esquin to stop when he made out more detail.
    Raeln advanced slowly, lowering himself closer to the ground as he went to minimize the chances of being seen. Whatever was at the base of the stream was not moving, but the water in the air made it difficult to see, even from twenty feet away. He slunk as best he could, trying to keep his feet from making sucking noises as he walked through the mud.
    Lying at the foot of the stream, Raeln found dozens of bodies, most having been mangled beyond recognition. There were plenty of fallen stones, but most of the shapes had been people, and they had died recently, judging by their lack of decay. The first few he passed were halflings, short human-looking people that had an almost childish appearance. Soon after those, he passed several bodies far more severely decomposed. From what he could make out, part of the cliff’s side had collapsed, crushing many of the people and closing off part of the path into the mountains. Dozens of the fallen stones lay atop wriggling corpses, their broken hands reaching out blindly to try and grab at whatever might be near.
    “A last stand,” On’esquin said softly, coming up beside Raeln. “They attempted to collapse the pass. A good plan, but it appears to have