was following.
After it seemed as though we'd ridden for our full five days' allotment, at a point where the path ran alongside a wide stream, Robin said to Feordin, "Tell us about the land. What do you know of it?"
Feordin shrugged. "Nothing. I've never been west of the town."
Terrific. And here I'd thought he was our guide.
"Didn't you come this way with the dead guardsman's body?" Thea asked. "Where did you find it?"
"I didn't find it at all." Feordin was beginning to sound pricklish. "One of our people did, a forester, and he brought it to another forester stationed closer to the town, who brought it to me at Forester Headquarters. Apparently the first man found the body where the forest meets the desert."
Nocona pointed to the ground ahead of us. "You can see where the body was dragged along here, no more than six, seven hours ago."
Well, maybe
he
could.
From up ahead came a scream, loud and terrified, as if someone alarmingly close was getting murdered.
In the stunned moment while the rest of us sat there giving each other dumb ooh-what-do-you-think-that-was? looks, Thea Greenleaf reacted. She dug her heels into her horse's flanks and forced him into the underbrush, following the stream where it curved into the forest away from the path.
I tore off after her even before the others. Sure, I was eager to get personally involved in this adventure that everybody else seemed to be running for me, but mostly it was the computer-ingrained rivalry: I couldn't let a Greenmeadow elf show me up.
I leaned forward to avoid the whipping branches, flattening myself against n^y mount. My horse's hooves thudded loudly, echoed by the others who'd taken up the chase. Ahead the trees thinned. There was another scream, closer this time. Whatever was happening, it was happening in that clearing.
Thea broke through the trees several seconds before I did. In the time it took me to catch up, I saw her swing her bow around and pull an arrow from her quiver.
I reined in beside her. We were on a gently inclined bank. The stream widened here, from something you could almost jump across, to a wide pool with this big rock in the middle of it. A lot of splashing was going on near the rock, but for a second that was all I could tell.
"Something's got her!" Thea cried. She had her arrow readied, but whatever she'd seen was no longer visible.
Then somebody's head broke through the surface of the water. Judging by the long hair it was a woman, but the distance was so great and everything happened so quickly, I couldn't be sure. She disappeared back under the water, fast enough to make me agree with Thea that she had been pulled under. I could see one of the woman's hands, still scrabbling for a hold on the rock, but then this thing that looked like a vine snaked out of the water and started prying at her fingers.
Thea shot her arrow, which was a risk considering all the thrashing that was going on. Her aim was good, though: the end of the vine split off, and for a second the woman almost heaved herself up out of the water. But her body was covered with more of those vines, writhing and twisting and obviously intent on pulling her back in. She got out one more scream, which was cut off with a gurgling sound as she went under.
I could hear the clatter of the hooves of our companions' horses on the stony bank even as I urged my horse down and into the water. There was no way we could save that woman in time by shooting off the vines one by one.
My horse balked, and I could understand why: the water was frigid and scummy and stank of rotting vegetation. I forced him forward, my sword ready. The water churned, but the woman didn't resurface.
Though the water was no higher than the horse's knees, he'd go no farther. I jumped into the frigid pond, close enough to see the woman's face under the water, a tendril around her neck.
The water was up to my chest as I hacked at the vines—and they were vines, despite the fact that they seemed to have
After it seemed as though we'd ridden for our full five days' allotment, at a point where the path ran alongside a wide stream, Robin said to Feordin, "Tell us about the land. What do you know of it?"
Feordin shrugged. "Nothing. I've never been west of the town."
Terrific. And here I'd thought he was our guide.
"Didn't you come this way with the dead guardsman's body?" Thea asked. "Where did you find it?"
"I didn't find it at all." Feordin was beginning to sound pricklish. "One of our people did, a forester, and he brought it to another forester stationed closer to the town, who brought it to me at Forester Headquarters. Apparently the first man found the body where the forest meets the desert."
Nocona pointed to the ground ahead of us. "You can see where the body was dragged along here, no more than six, seven hours ago."
Well, maybe
he
could.
From up ahead came a scream, loud and terrified, as if someone alarmingly close was getting murdered.
In the stunned moment while the rest of us sat there giving each other dumb ooh-what-do-you-think-that-was? looks, Thea Greenleaf reacted. She dug her heels into her horse's flanks and forced him into the underbrush, following the stream where it curved into the forest away from the path.
I tore off after her even before the others. Sure, I was eager to get personally involved in this adventure that everybody else seemed to be running for me, but mostly it was the computer-ingrained rivalry: I couldn't let a Greenmeadow elf show me up.
I leaned forward to avoid the whipping branches, flattening myself against n^y mount. My horse's hooves thudded loudly, echoed by the others who'd taken up the chase. Ahead the trees thinned. There was another scream, closer this time. Whatever was happening, it was happening in that clearing.
Thea broke through the trees several seconds before I did. In the time it took me to catch up, I saw her swing her bow around and pull an arrow from her quiver.
I reined in beside her. We were on a gently inclined bank. The stream widened here, from something you could almost jump across, to a wide pool with this big rock in the middle of it. A lot of splashing was going on near the rock, but for a second that was all I could tell.
"Something's got her!" Thea cried. She had her arrow readied, but whatever she'd seen was no longer visible.
Then somebody's head broke through the surface of the water. Judging by the long hair it was a woman, but the distance was so great and everything happened so quickly, I couldn't be sure. She disappeared back under the water, fast enough to make me agree with Thea that she had been pulled under. I could see one of the woman's hands, still scrabbling for a hold on the rock, but then this thing that looked like a vine snaked out of the water and started prying at her fingers.
Thea shot her arrow, which was a risk considering all the thrashing that was going on. Her aim was good, though: the end of the vine split off, and for a second the woman almost heaved herself up out of the water. But her body was covered with more of those vines, writhing and twisting and obviously intent on pulling her back in. She got out one more scream, which was cut off with a gurgling sound as she went under.
I could hear the clatter of the hooves of our companions' horses on the stony bank even as I urged my horse down and into the water. There was no way we could save that woman in time by shooting off the vines one by one.
My horse balked, and I could understand why: the water was frigid and scummy and stank of rotting vegetation. I forced him forward, my sword ready. The water churned, but the woman didn't resurface.
Though the water was no higher than the horse's knees, he'd go no farther. I jumped into the frigid pond, close enough to see the woman's face under the water, a tendril around her neck.
The water was up to my chest as I hacked at the vines—and they were vines, despite the fact that they seemed to have
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