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brush.
    Although not ideal, the ground they followed up through the areas of runoff was at least open enough to make traveling relatively easy. Out in the wilds of the Dark Lands there were rarely any true paths used by people, and even more rarely roads. Since Kahlan had been forced to travel through much more difficult terrain in the past, she appreciated that Hunter was taking them along the easiest route available.
    As he crossed the running water, Hunter bounded from rock to rock with the effortless grace of a cat. In a number of places he could have easily loped off through the small openings in the thorny brush, but he instead kept to areas the rest of them could travel. Still, in places it was not so easy for the five women to find good footing on the slippery rocks in order to cross the rushing stream. Sometimes they all held hands to keep their balance in a kind of human necklace across swirling water.
    From time to time they heard calls from back in the thick growth to the sides and up ahead in the hills. Some of those raucous calls Kahlan recognized as the cries of ravens. All five women looked off toward other, more unnerving sounds whenever an unseen animal screeched or growled.
    Hunter rarely bothered to look, and even then it appeared to be out of curiosity, not fear. He usually sat and licked his fur with his rough tongue as he waited patiently for them to catch up. Kahlan supposed that the forest was his natural habitat and he was at home with all the sounds and calls off in the woods, even if the rest of them were not.
    She supposed that the powerful creature could dart through the brush to escape danger if he had to. On the other hand, he himself was a predator, with intimidating claws and teeth and the muscle to back them up. She had never seen him hunt or fight, but she knew by his calm confidence that he had to be a formidable fighter like his mother and quite the fierce protector.
    When it became dark enough to make it difficult to see and even more difficult to navigate across the rocky landscape, Nicci used her gift to ignite a small flame, letting it float away from her upturned palm to follow after Hunter. It wasn’t overly bright, but lit their way well enough for them to find their footing. Hunter glanced up, watching the floating flame briefly, and then, judging it not to be a danger, continued on his way.
    As they climbed higher, the litter of broken rock lower down began to give way to more substantial rocky outcroppings. Sometimes the bulges of rock erupting through the mosses, grasses, and brush looked like they were being held captive in nets of gnarled roots. Hunter would stop from time to time, sitting on his haunches atop a rock or fat root, watching the women struggling to keep up with him. They were all out of breath from the effort of the climb. As soon as they caught up, Hunter would be off again, as if trying to hurry them along and not wanting to waste any time. As winded as they were, none of the five women voiced a complaint or asked to stop for a rest.
    The higher the terrain took them, the closer the dark woods grew in to the sides, until they sometimes had to make their way through a near tunnel of vegetation as they followed the tumbling stream ever upward while it poured over rocks and burbled down steep slabs of stone streaked in green and brown slime.
    When Hunter was far out ahead of them, visible only in snatches, a man abruptly stumbled out of the trees to their left, jolting them all out of their private thoughts.
    He wore tattered pants and no shirt. His bony ribs were covered with a sheen of blood that also soaked his trousers.
    He was initially as surprised at seeing them as they were at seeing him stagger out of the trees. Even though he was obviously grievously injured and disoriented, when he saw them his eyes swiftly filled with hate and bloodlust. By his demeanor as well as the strings of bones and teeth holding his tuft of hair upright at the top of his