"So you want to know what happened here, too?"
"I do."
"Can I ask why?"
"It will become evident."
"Are we back to playing games again?"
"Not at all, but I don't want my information to influence your findings. I'd rather have you tell me what you sense, and then I will tell you what I know."
"So I have to go first?"
"Or I could simply leave."
"Then we'd both lose."
The swallit grunted with renewed frustration. It dropped down to all fours, but again, did not charge the delver. It paced around in a circle shaking its head; the long, twisted vines of its coat rustled from the agitated movement.
"Why must you be so difficult?"
"Difficult? I'm just trying to find a solution. Sure, I could tell you everything I know, but then you might just run off and leave me with nothing."
"I don't expect you to trust me," the swallit allowed, "but you must know by now that I am more than simply curious about what happened here. I am no delver on a pointless exploration."
"I'm not on a pointless exploration, either. I knew these elves and something's very wrong here, and that's aside from your spell."
"And that's why I must know what you sense before I tell you anything. Untainted information is important. You must realize this."
"Maybe, but I just want some assurance you'll tell me everything."
At that, the swallit snorted even louder and turned to face the delver directly. Once again it looked like a hulking buffalo, and for the first time that day, it appeared almost eager to charge.
"You are trying my patience again," the swallit said through several heavy grunts. "Understand this, delver, just as you know I did not cause whatever happened here, I know far more than you, but in order to understand it, I must hear your discoveries. If for some reason I am wrong, I will be in your debt. If, however, I am right, you will owe me, for I will be able to point you in a direction you would not find on your own. The more I reveal to you, the greater your debt to me. That should be sufficient as an assurance. Now do not waste any more of my time and tell me what you sense."
Since the swallit made its position quite clear, the delver decided to reveal everything he was able to uncover from his inspections of the elf camp, but he was not quite finished with his assessment of the area.
"Your illusion spell, the one that hides your tracks, can you cancel it so I can be sure about everything I see? I also need you to cancel the spell that hides the scent trails. I need to follow them for a while. You want to know what I sense, well, I have to be sure about everything, and your illusions could be distorting something. I don't want to miss anything."
"Very well."
The swallit stood up again on its hind legs and reached outward with its front hooves. After grunting words that made no sense to the delver, a yellow pentagon formed around the body of the swallit. The five sided shape expanded outward, and as it did, sparks of golden energy flared both through the air and into the ground. It continued to spread and broke through the trees, passing harmlessly through trunks both thick and thin. Soon, the rim of yellow magic faded out of sight.
Just as the spell ended, a wave of enticements swept through the delver's senses. Ryson immediately smelled the natural aromas of the forest and the scent of the swallit before him. He heard all the sounds of the forest, both near and far. The forest became brighter, the shadows crisper. He looked to the ground and he saw the hoof prints of the swallit that had been previously hidden from him. The cover of illusion had been broken and he moved about with renewed interest in everything about him.
With the illusions dismissed, he refocused his attention on the signs offered by the elf camp. He darted about checking the trails of the elves and smelling the ground and the tree branches where the tracks simply ended. He looked closer at several imprints in the dirt, measured them against each other. He felt the ground as well as the tree limbs that served as the pathways for the missing elves, pressed his fingers against the bark and dirt.
Growing more and more curious over what he found, he began to almost dance around the camp with both enthusiasm and concern. At times, he was a blur of motion, barely pausing to review some track or trail, but in a heartbeat, he would stop all movement and drop to his knees to intently examine one small patch of ground.
He took several opportunities to pause and take deep breaths through his nose. As he gauged the scents, some times he closed his eyes and other times he peered about the forest floor. He said nothing after each breath, but he appeared uneasy with what he discovered, as if the different aspects he could detect would not come together as they should.
His investigation completed, Ryson returned to the swallit.
"Well?" the dark creature demanded.
"It's very strange," Ryson acknowledged as he considered what he had observed. "Every elf path just ends. There was no apparent struggle, no battle or any conflict. It looks as if the elves were just carrying out their daily routines, and then they were gone. And it's not like they even had a chance to react. There's no indication they came to an abrupt halt, or made a quick turn. There's no sign of a reaction at all. They were not physically attacked and nothing knocked them to the ground. One step they were here, and the next step they were gone. And it all seemed to happen at once, at the same time."
"How can you tell?"
"Mostly because there's no indication of a surprised reaction. If you saw me just disappear, wouldn't you react?"
"Probably."
"Well, there's no reaction evident in any of the tracks, even the trails of the guards in the trees. Like I said, no turns and no stops. Just walking along… and then nothing. If elves started disappearing one by one, at least a few of the trails would indicate some level of surprise. The ones that didn't go first would run over to where an elf vanished, wouldn't you think?"
"Perhaps," the swallit allowed, "but then again, they might have been too fearful."
"An elf guard wouldn't have been afraid. They would have investigated."
"Maybe they went first."
"Wouldn't the other elves still react? Maybe run, or just freeze? They wouldn't just act as if nothing happened… go about their business like nothing was wrong. The only explanation is that they all went at exactly the same time. That way, none of them would have had the chance to react."
"I see your point. So they all disappeared at once. What else?"
"There was no conflict. Not only are there no signs of a struggle, there aren't any tracks-other than yours and mine… and a few goblin scavengers-that don't belong here. No invading force came in to take them away. There's not a single sign of battle, or even commotion. There's nothing out of place. Well, almost nothing."
"Explain."
"At the center of the camp, in the clearing over there, there's some strange markings in the dirt. On its own, it's not that unusual. It's really just wind sweeping across the ground and swirling some dirt."
"Why does it bother you?"
"Because it's not consistent. It doesn't break across the camp naturally. Wind doesn't blow evenly-I know that-but I still can't understand the pattern. It's too localized and uneven. It's almost as if a hot breeze rushed over a part of the camp, but left the rest of the ground completely alone. I've never seen a wind pattern like that before, even in the desert."
The swallit nodded.
"I understand."
Ryson didn't, and he pressed for an explanation.
"Do you know what caused it?"
"I believe so, but continue with everything else you know first."
The delver glared unhappily at the swallit, but finished the explanation of his findings.
"That's most of it. They didn't move their camp. Even you can see that. It's not just the trails. It's the condition of everything around us. They wouldn't have just left their food and weapon stores like this… easily found and an open invitation for goblins."