Without mantic vision, Wynn had to keep one of them in sight, or she would succumb to the forest tangling up her sense of direction. But her throat was already ragged and dry. She stumbled to a halt, bending over, trying to catch her breath.
"Chap!" she panted. "Chap, wait!"
He circled back, fidgeting anxiously.
"Ican… cannot keep this pace," she panted.
The white female let out a howl that startled even Chap. The cry faded, and she drew a breath to offer another one. The pair of steel-grays returned immediately, and the leader and the others appeared shortly after.
Wynn watched the dark old male stroll toward them with head low and lips quivering beneath a threatening glare. Chap might have convinced the white female, but the pack leader barely tolerated her. Beyond him, a young silver male made a great show of mimicking the elder's displeasure.
Chap spun toward the white dog, and they touched heads. She loped off to the elder and did the same. He jerked away and snapped viciously at her, but she curled her own lips in response and would not retreat. Chap trotted up behind her, leaving Wynn nervously alone.
A lanky silver male with a light blaze down his chest raised his head and snorted at her.
Chap remained still as the white female slid her head along his and paused. An instant later, she began to howl again.
It came out like a moaning bellow that carried through the trees. The dark elder snarled.
Chap circled back to Wynn, his glower all too familiar. Like the time she confessed to overhearing him when communing with his kin. He cocked his head, studying her with parental displeasure.
"I am not the one who snuck off first," she grumbled at him.
Chap let out a rolling exhale, like a growl without voice. He twisted paws into the ground as if securing his footing.
Wynn's stomach lurched.
The chattering crackle of a leaf-wing filled her head. This time the strange way it shaped was clearer than the last.
You… ride… keep up…
Wynn went slack-faced, even with nausea twisting her stomach. She only caught those few words, but she held her breath and blinked.
The leaf-wing vanished from her thoughts, and Chap lowered his muzzle, almost mournfully.
Perhaps neither of them truly believed she had heard him the first time. Now it was certain. It might have been a wonderful new thing if not for making her sick every time… if not that it was onemore wild symptom of what she had foolishly done to herself in Droevinka.
Chap lifted his muzzle toward the white female, and the flutter of a leaf-wing rose again in Wynn's head.
…Lily…
Wynn remembered the first time she saw the white female as the pack surrounded them upon entering the forest. She had said the dog's color looked like a water lily.
…yes…
Wynn held a hand out to Chap's companion, and the white majay-hi remained poised and still. She carefully touched the female between her ears, and the dog lifted its nose into her palm.
"Lily," Wynn repeated.
Lily spun about, staring through the trees with raised ears.
A large silver form stalked through the underbrush and walked slowly through the pack. The dogs dispersed out of its path, but the dark leader still rumbled. Wynn felt the tall deer's thudding hooves beneath her own feet, and the vibration grew as it approached.
Chap's multitongued words rose in her head: You will ride.
Wynn had to tilt her head back to look up at the deer's muzzle. Its large head was crowned by two tineless antlers longer than Chap's body. The crystalline eyes above her were so large they made her cower.
"Oh no."She backed away. "No-no-no!"
The deer swung toward Lily, stretched one foreleg and bent the other, and lowered itself until the two touched heads. Then the animal folded its legs and lowered its white belly to the ground.
"You cannot be serious!" Wynn exclaimed. "What about a horse… or pony… anything else?"
Chap growled and huffed twice for "no." This time, it was not his voice in her head that made Wynn queasy.
"All right," she said uncertainly."All right."
Chapter Ten
How long has she been gone?" Brot'an asked in Belaskian.
Leesil didn't care to answer. He didn't want Brot'an's pretended help. He didn't want the tall elf anywhere in sight- especially not trailing after them through Crijheaiche as they hurried in search of Wynn.
"We don't know," Magiere finally answered. "Not long… we hope."
Leesil could tell she was still spiteful that their weapons hadn't been returned.
Urhkar was already out in the forest, trying to find any trail left by the sage. Sgaile said majay-hi packs preferred to range the forest's depths in their leisure, so he was leading their search inland, away from the river. They all were in agreement that Wynn was likely far beyond the settlement's bounds. A human spotted wandering the community would have caused a disturbance.
They rounded a wide oak with a gnarled trunk, and Sgaile pulled up short. He held up his hand for everyone to stop.
A female elf, tall and impossibly thin, stood on the oak's far side before its curtained doorway. By what little light spilled out around the curtain, Leesil saw her filmy eyes as she raised one thin brow in calm puzzlement. She was elderly, dressed in a long maroon robe beneath a matching cloak. Pure white hair hung around her sunken cheeks as she leaned heavily upon a staff of rippled wood.
The old woman squinted at Leesil, studying him with silent interest.
Sgaile gave her a bow and turned away to move on.
"Who was that?" Leesil asked.
"Tosan'leag of the Avan'nыnsheach… theAshRiver clan, known for their scholarly pursuits.They make fine paper and ink, such as my grandfather gave your companion." Sgaile hesitated, and then added, "Clan elders have been arriving for days. Word of your presence has spread. Humans have never been given passage in our land before. We must find your companion before they hear she is missing."
"And before En’nish does," Magiere said under her breath.
Or before Wynn stumbled alone into a pack of majay-hi.Leesil only hoped Chap and the sage ran into each other first.
As they walked, Leesil saw more wide-bellied and gnarled oaks than in the few other parts of the settlement he'd seen. At night it wasn't easy to get a good look at Crijheaiche, but they'd been walking for a while and still hadn't reached its inland end. They passed many of the tree homes, but none of the canvas or otherwise handmade structures.
After a while, the domiciles thinned, and the forest ahead thickened beyond a clearing. When they stepped into the break in the trees, Leesil stood on the edge of a wide and shallow depression covered in low-trimmed grass.
The surrounding oaks weren't homes, as they had no openings, though their trunks were large enough for such. Their lowest branches were half the diameter of the trunks. They reached out level to either side and appeared grown together, forming living bridges from one tree to the next and encircling the depression. Leesil couldn't guess the purpose of this place, and Sgaile pushed on around the encompassing oaks.
A shadow moved upon one bridge-branch nearest the open forest. Sgaile slowed, and Leesil moved up beside him.
Sgaile stood in silence and watched the silhouette with narrowed eyes. The shadow dropped to the ground as two more stepped out into view. The trio approached.
All three were dressed as Anmaglahk, but the one leading was shorter and slighter than the others.
Brot'an spoke in clear Belaskian. "Return to quarters. We have no need of your assistance."