Lucas looked over his shoulder, then glanced back at Sienna.

“That wolf is following us.”

“We know.”

“Well, should we do something?”

“Leave her alone.”

“But she’s stalking us.”

“Ha!  If that was the case, we wouldn’t have seen her.”

Later, as night had fallen, and the darkness of the forest palpably pressed in more severely, Caitlyn took a couple pieces of their dried meat, and threw them away into the night.

With the aid of his headband, Lucas saw the small wolf gobble them up.  “What did you do that for?”

“It’s a spirit wolf,” she said.  “We treat her right.”

“What’s a spirit wolf?”

“The darkness corrupts.  It’s in the animals, like that doe that was stumbling around yesterday.  But she’s,” she nodded back in the direction of the wolf, “healthy and vibrant.  There’s something special about her.  We show respect to one that’s blessed.”

“Oh.”

They saw a battle that night.  Although with the tri-cleorps’ stumbling and crunching, they nearly did not even need the headbands.

As Caitlyn came back through the trees, she held up six black-fletched arrows – copies of the one Gritcomb had showed them.

She also presented a few new ears on her string.

“The archer has been busy, but has not stuck around to take the spoils.”

“Might we look around to see if they would like to introduce themselves?” Sienna asked.

“Let them do what they want,” Fawnlum answered.  “Stick those arrows in the ground next to the fire.  We’re moving on.”

Pushing deeper, they found many signs of the tri-cleorps’ passage.  They caught sight of more shrooms that served as doors; but also trails that showed the monsters did not go far off their beaten path. Rather, they maintained a route within a certain distance, around whichever shrooms they emerged from.

The humans maintained a quiet but steady track.

“It’s not right,” Sienna muttered.  “This evil watches us.”

“Endure it,” Fawnlum told her.