Fawnlum led the way across the Serod stream.  She had not dallied in town.  Despite everyone’s muted misgivings, she led her troupe back into the Windsaeve, bearing Lucas’ new wares.  The view was in black and white and shades of gray.  But it was working just as Lucas said it would:  the thin silver headbands he had enchanted were letting them see in the dark.

Fawnlum heard Dreighton complement Lucas on the things yet again.

“This magic is an important tool for my people.  It helps us fight deepway creatures that come crawling out at night.”

“Why do we need the torches if we can see now?” Sienna asked, holding up the burning piece of pine-pitch.

Lucas answered before Fawnlum could speak.  “Because the tri-cleorps aren’t stupid,” he huffed, as they were jogging at a brisk pace.  “If we start acting like we can see in the dark, they’ll know something’s up.”

“Well, if this magic is so great, why does it go away if the sunlight hits it?”

“And why doesn’t it last more than a day?” Dreighton asked.

“I never said it was perfect!”

Sye-nitch calmly sat inside his shroom.  His new pack was in place.  The division commander, Tolga, could not live with the shame of leaving any portion of the tribe’s territory unattended.  So he recruited some sots out of the Wander-packs, and put them in Bloggo’s area.

Now having shown his new pack – including the leader – where to come, he waited silently.  Lo and behold, a torch passed by his shroom-pocket door.

Once again, he carefully exited his shroom.  He followed in a flanking pattern, keeping a safe distance, but he recognized the big female in the lead.

The nasty fools were back.

He did not recognize the other large male, or the skinny youth.

The young man got his attention.  He carried a sword, but his look and garb were different than the others.  He did not have a fighter’s body.  And he was not acting as a bearer.  What was he here for?

Well, it did not matter.  The she-warrior had more mates with her now.

If his new pack leader Kruegid saw them, he would want to take them.  But this lot was too strong to capture.  He would not trust the muscle-headed Kruegid to try it, not without the losing the whole pack like Bloggo had done.

He stayed quiet, and let them pass by.

“Oi, Lucas.  You said you have a ring that can shoot fire, yes?  Can you burn this forest down?” Sienna asked, as she scowled at the infestation.

“Melbourne said the shrooms don’t burn.”

“I meant the trees,” she said, studying the bits of slime and sagging leaves that should have been healthy and vibrant.  “We’ve never seen a wood cursed like this.  Better to destroy it than let it suffer this taint.”

Lucas looked around at their surroundings.

“Well?!”

“It wouldn’t work.”

“Blast.”

“Don’t worry,” Fawnlum said from in front.

“Your manner’s awfully calm,” Lucas told her.  “I personally don’t like being here.”

“If you’re referring to the dark spirit lurking over your shoulder, none of us like that,” she said, still speaking calmly.  “We’re here to kill the ones responsible.”

“You’re stronger for your experience on the boat,” Dreighton said, patting his shoulder.  “Let our strength lend you strength.”

After a moment, Lucas asked Fawnlum, “You’ll make them pay, so whoever it is, they’ll know the nature of their crime?”

“Nature,” Fawnlum said.  “That which creates, strengthens, and heals.  We’ve honored it all our lives.  They’ll know Nature’s justice when we find them.”

She looked back over her shoulder at him.  “Life will be avenged.”

Then she faced forward and led them on.

After a few more hours of travel, Fawnlum showed Halrick and Lucas the site of their first battle.  Lucas bent and looked at the badge that hung around the neck of one of the bodies: a small oval disc made of bone, with two small fangs of some animal set in an ‘x’.

“That’s not all,” she told them, as she showed them the tracks, which were still visible despite being a ten-day old, and told of the flight of one individual.

“The bugger ran,” Halrick said with disgust.

“They do that,” Lucas told him.  “I just wonder,” he added, “are they watching us now?”

He turned to Fawnlum.  “Maybe we should make the camp out of sight of the shrooms that have the tracks around them.”

She put her hand on the surface of the shroom before them.

“Want to tell them all about our strategy?” he asked.  “I’m sure they can see from inside that thing.  I just wonder if they can hear us.  They speak the common tongue.”

With a pat on the shroom, she turned and started walking away.  “Good to know.”

They explored a little further east and south, and chose a secluded spot to settle.

For all Fawnlum’s daring to camp in the forest, they saw no tri-cleorps that night, although they could hear the slight noises and disturbing echoes from deeper in the wood.

On impulse, Fawnlum turned more south the next morning.

“Living dangerously, are we?” Sienna called with a smile.

“Let’s just follow the tracks,” Fawnlum replied.  “Let’s see how many we can find.”

She made camp early that day farther from the Gonall stream.  Lucas re-cast the headbands’ magic within the darkness of a canvas tent, while they again prepared their camp with fires and snares.

That night, Sienna took the first watch, and sleep was fitful at best.

Fawnlum sat up on her bedroll, and slowly rubbed her palms over her eyes.

She noticed Caitlyn and Lucas looking at her, even though they were supposed to be asleep, too.

The dark aura bothered them, with too little comfort to sleep.  Then Fawnlum looked at all her awake comrades, hearing the faint but persistent noises – – awful, hostile, and close.

The grunts and calls resonated from deeper within the blackness  – –  sounds that had to be tri-cleorps.

Fawnlum took a torch, and signaled Sienna to lie down.

Trying to act ignorant, she walked around the camp, carrying the torch, and dumbly staring all around.  The grey vision of the headband showed her the bulky shapes passing in and out of view, between the little gaps and spaces further in among the trees and shrooms.

But it was only to the south of their position.  There was no such activity to the north.

Then, as she passed by one spot, for an instant in her peripheral vision, she saw through gaps in the foliage, where two tri-cleorps were looking at each other.  One had his hand on the other with his weapon drawn.  With a clenched jaw, she kept looking away, and walked on.