Free This Battle Lord's Quest by Linda Mooney Page B

we’ll come across something worth bagging.”
    As the sun came up, the eyes disappeared, but the
woods continued to give them difficulty. The dense growth was thick and
overgrown, and the trees became larger and taller as they advanced. Every so
often, Atty would carve an arrow pointing back the way they’d come into a
trunk, to guide them on their return.
    By midday, they were tired, and had to resort to
using their rations and water bags. There was too much vegetation to try to
clear away in order to start a fire, and Atty didn’t want to waste any more
time than they had to, since the going was already slow.
    “We can have a fire and cook something when we stop
for the night.”
    “If we come across something big, how are we gonna
drag it through this mess?” Paxton commented during their rest.
    “We don’t,” she responded.
    Renken raised an eyebrow. “Are you thinking of a
carrying pole?”
    “Yeah, depending on what we get.”
    “How’s that?”
    She pointed to the two men. “Either you two would
hoist it and carry it between you. Or, if we’re lucky, and the catch is really
big, we could cut it into chunks first before tying it to a beam and carrying
it.”
    Paxton glanced up at the canopy of trees. “Smells like
we might get rain.”
    “It’s already raining. The trees are keeping most
of it from reaching us. Cold front must be on its way,” Atty noted.
    “A bad one?”
    She squinted at what sky they could see between the
branches. “I don’t think so. Might make the temperature drop a bit, but it’s
not the big one. Not yet.”
    Renken shook his water bag. “I don’t suppose those
Mutah senses of yours could find us a stream somewhere?”
    “I’ll keep my nose open,” she promised with a grin.
    They continued southward, pushing to cover enough
ground. Despite the awning of leaves, moisture soaked through their clothing
and matted their hair to their heads. Their boots quickly became covered in mud
and leaves. If there had been any wind blowing at their level, they easily
would have gotten chilled and perhaps sick.
    After several hours of moving, they came to a small
clearing where several sets of tracks crossed each other. Atty crouched down to
examine them.
    “One of them looks like bear,” Renken commented,
bending over her.
    “I agree,” she nodded, touching the outline. “It’s
still wet and soft around the edges. Bear must have passed this way not too
long ago.” She glanced to her left and pointed. “It was going in that
direction.”
    “What about the other tracks?” Paxton asked.
    “This one’s deer. This is either muskrat or
beaver.”
    “If it’s beaver, there could be a pond or stream
nearby,” Renken observed.
    “I thought that, too” she agreed. “Only problem
is...” She ran her fingertips over several indentations. “I can’t tell which direction
they’re going. Even if I could, question remains, were they heading to water?
Or away from it?”
    “What about this one here?” Paxton outlined what
appeared to be a very large but indistinguishable paw print. Atty squinted,
trying to discern its overall size. A shudder went through her. Surely it
wasn’t as huge as it appeared. Damn it, Pawpee! Why didn’t you teach me more
about tracking?
    She shrugged. “It’s hard to tell. There’s too much
overlapping. What do you think, Renken? You’re a tracker. What does it look
like to you?”
    The man threw up his hands in mock surrender. “Hey,
when I was hired to do so, I went after the worst of the worst. But they were
men, not animals, although I’ll admit, sometimes the line between the two got
blurry. No, Madam, you’re the expert here.”
    Getting to her feet, Atty closed her eyes and
sniffed the air while slowing turning a complete circle. “Damn. I can’t detect
a thing. Not even water. The rain’s messing with me.”
    “Keep heading east?” Paxton said.
    “Yeah. Might as well. I’d hate to start wandering
around, wasting time looking for