"Is that all you're taking with you to Princess Brianna's?"Tavis asked. "You're going to be there a long time."

"We're not going to the castle," answered Avner. He motioned for the others to fill their waterskins. "You don't think we'd abandon you just because you got in trouble, do you?"

Tavis smiled sadly. "Of course not," he replied. "But you can't come with me."

"Why not?" Avner demanded. He dropped his bundle on the ground and untied it. "We've got everything we need: wool blankets, warm clothes, daggers-"

"The Ice Spires are no place for children." Tavis said. "Brianna can take much better care of you in her castle than I can in the mountains,"

"No!" Avner yelled. "I'm not going with her. She's the one who's sending you away!"

"She thinks I'm a thief." Tavis's voice grew more stem. "And we both know why she believes that."

"So I'll tell her what really happened." Avner offered.

Tavis shook his head. "Someday, but she won't believe you now," he said. "She'd think you were trying to protect me."

"Then she's stupid." Avner sniffed.

"Why? Because she knows you'd lie for me?"

Avner looked at the ground. "I wouldn't be lying." he answered, dodging the question. "It's the truth."

"After what happened, we can't expect her to believe that," Tavis replied. "So go to the castle and do as the princess says. She cares for you as much as I do."

"But I don't care for her," Avner objected. "I like you."

"Then you'll do as Tavis says." said Livia. At fourteen, she was the second oldest of the orphans, and would soon blossom into a beautiful young woman. Already, she had riveting brown eyes and an alluring smile. Livia looked at the other children, then said, "Life's going to be hard enough on Tavis without us to watch over. If we really care for him, we'll go to Castle Hartwick."

Tavis nodded at Livia. "That's right. Knowing you're all safe will make my life much easier." He kneeled on the ground and opened his arms wide. "Now let's say good-bye."

As the children stepped forward to embrace Tavis, a loud whinny sounded in the street outside. The cadence of galloping hooves echoed through the gate, then Blizzard's speckled form streaked into the courtyard. A mantle of white lather covered the mare from her muzzle down to her breast, and her eyes were mad with fatigue. She rushed to within a few paces of Tavis and reared, neighing madly.

Tavis pushed the orphans away, then grabbed Basil's shoulder and positioned the verbeeg in front of the children. He moved toward the mare slowly, his palms turned toward the horse to show her he was carrying nothing dangerous.

"Where's Brianna?" he asked in a soft voice. "Let me come close to look at your saddle."

The mare lashed out with her front hooves, then dropped to her feet and ran to the gate. She stopped there and fixed a black eye on Tavis, snorting impatiently as she caught her breath.

"That horse seems quite mad," observed Basil.

"She's certainly upset," Tavis replied. He took his sword belt off his rucksack and strapped it around his waist, then picked up Bear Driller and slung a quiver of arrows over his shoulder. "Something must have happened to Brianna."

Tavis started toward the gate, but Avner caught him by the arm. "Think this through," the boy said. "Brianna's the one who's sending you away. It'd be unfortunate if something has befallen her, but do you really-"

"Avner, don't even say it," Tavis interrupted. He glared down at the youth. "How could you wish misfortune on someone who's done as much for you as Princess Brianna?"

Avner's cheeks flushed. "You're right. I'm sorry." He took a slim dagger out of his bundle. "I'll come along to help."

Tavis shook his head. "Stay here and look after the others," he said. "If Brianna didn't reach Castle Hartwick, there won't be anyone coming to look after you and the other children."

Avner scowled. "I'm no child."

"And we don't need anyone to watch after us," Livia added. "We were doing that long before you took us in."

Blizzard neighed again, then stamped her feet on the ground and trotted through the gate.

"I don't have lime to argue about this," Tavis snapped. Livia and the other children recoiled at his sharp tone, but Avner did not flinch. "Just do as I say one last time. You'll be rid of me soon enough."

The children dropped their gazes, and several of the younger ones wiped their eyes.

"Don't cry," Tavis pleaded. "There will be plenty of time for that after I find Brianna."

"Then you'll come back?" Avner asked, his spirits rising.

"At least to say good-bye."

With that, Tavis ran out the gate. When he turned toward Castle Hartwick, he saw Blizzard waiting at this edge of town. She whinnied, then set off down the road. Tavis followed at a trot, realizing the run ahead could be a long one.

Before he had gone very far, the firbolg heard a clumsy, flat-footed gait coming up from behind. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Basil lumbering up the road. The runecaster had left his sack of stolen books behind and carried only a small satchel over his shoulder. Tavis neither slowed his pace nor increased it, allowing the gaunt verbeeg to catch up in due time.

When Basil finally clumped up beside him, Tavis asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Avner… arranged… it," the verbeeg gasped. "He said I could have his books if I watched over you."

Tavis scowled, far from happy to hear the boy was using stolen goods to ensure his safety. Increasing his pace slightly, he said, "I hope you can keep up."

Somehow. Basil did. While Tavis trotted down the dusty road in near silence, the verbeeg pounded along at his side, gasping for breath and holding his ribs. Despite his obvious agony, never once did the runecaster ask the scout to slowdown. Soon, the firbolg found himself admiring his companion's will, and even began to consider that having a magic-user along might prove useful if Brianna were in serious trouble.

Pausing frequently to look back and make sure Tavis and Basil were still following, Blizzard led the pair onward for the better part of an hour. Though they crossed several streams and the mare's mouth was frothing with thirst, not once did she pause to drink. They passed dozens of granges, small farms with huts of rough hewn logs and pastures fenced by walls of stacked rock. Usually, neither the inhabitants nor their animals were visible, for the sight of a verbeeg, even one accompanied by Tavis Burdun, was enough to send most peasants info hiding.

The farms slowly gave way to long, rounded bluffs of brown granite and tangled heaths of low-growing spruce. Presently, they reached the base of Coggin's Rise, where the road entered a stand of aspen trees. Blizzard stopped and stared into the white forest with pricked ears and flaring nostrils.

Tavis heard nothing except a bevy of pine siskins whistling to each other. Although it was a normal enough sound for this time of afternoon, he nocked an arrow and advanced cautiously down the road, Basil an Blizzard following close behind. The scout came to a toppled aspen at the road's edge. The bole, snapped off about four feet above the ground, had been freshly broken, for the wood still smelled of sap and showed no signs of weathering. Next to the jagged trunk lay an area of compressed ground where a very large person, probably Morten, had fallen to the ground and rolled.

Tavis pointed the tip of his arrow at the fallen aspen. "Something dropped out of that tree and attacked Morten."

Basil cast a nervous glance at the other aspens still overhanging the trail. "What was it?"

Tavis studied the surrounding area for a moment then followed four of Morten's boot prints across the road. There, he found a mass of flies swarming over a large area of dark ground and several strange tracks that he had not seen since his days scouting for Runolf's patrol. The prints were deepest on the ball of the foot with talon marks in front of the five toes. The heel depression was hardly visible, while the arch had left no mark on the ground at all.