Arven was frustrated. Sheema insisted that he needed to sit around for three days in order to heal properly. In fact, she threatened him with making it five days when he protested. “Don't spend a silver to save a copper,” she chided. “Push yourself now, and you'll only end up incapacitated for longer. Fixing things that have healed badly is harder than fixing the original wounds in the first place.”

  “Who knows what kind of trouble Rillik is going to get into while I'm sitting here?”

  “Trouble he brought on himself. I'm worried about him, but I'm worried about you too. The last thing I want is for him to be missing, you to be far from here searching, and you get yourself injured again and unable to get back here. What are Brallik and I supposed to do without you?”

  “I am going to have to go after Rillik if he doesn't come back on his own.”

  “I understand that, but don't risk making things worse. I'm doing the best I can.”

  “It's appreciated, Sheema. I'm just...worried about him.”

  “Here's hoping he returns with something he thinks is amazing, like two squirrels or a hopper, looking incredibly guilty for leaving without permission.”

  ° ? ? ? °

  Rillik didn't return that night. The next day, Arven kept hoping that the boy would show up, having either made a deliberate overnight trip, or just gotten caught out too late in the day to return by nightfall. By evening, that hope was dashed.

  Arven stared into the fire. Brallik was dragging branches into their camp and trying to improve their shelter, but he was quite bad at it. He also wouldn't listen to someone younger than him, so Arven and Sheema simply ignored the older elf's efforts. I suppose it's making a little bit more of a windbreak. Maybe.

  “I'm worried about Rillik,” Arven said yet again.

  “You still need another day of Healing, Arven.”

  “I know, I know. It's just...the only reason for him to be out longer than two days is if he was heading for the human settlement.”

  “Or he's simply trapped somewhere,” Brallik added unhelpfully. When they looked at him, he got defensive. “I mean, maybe he's evading a predator, or humans—but I repeat myself.” Neither of them laughed at his joke, and Brallik scowled. “Maybe he's being responsible and leading pursuers far away from us! That would make him take quite a while getting back here, even if he is perfectly fine.”

  Arven nodded. “You're right, Brallik. Maybe that's what's happening.”

  “But you don't think so,” Sheema said quietly.

  “No, I don't,” Arven confirmed. “I deliberately set us up far enough from the humans that I haven't seen a single one in all my time hunting around here. Rillik would have to have truly abominable luck to stumble across humans—unless he was trying to.”

  “Maybe he's running from that thing that injured you,” Brallik suggested.

  “I doubt he could get away from it. That thing was big, fast, and scary. Even with my bow, I wouldn't have liked my chances.”

  “Well, maybe he encountered smaller ones, and Rillik is simply treed, waiting for them to give up or for someone to rescue him. He could be fine.”

  “It's true, he could be,” Sheema agreed firmly. “Don't ask the moneylender to loan you trouble.”

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  ° ? ? ? °

  The third day was the hardest. Arven kept trying to do small tasks and Sheema yelled at him until he stopped. “Do you want to be stuck for days longer? Don't be a fool, Arven!” Arven had to grit his teeth and wait.

  Brallik actually brought home a squirrel that had gotten caught in one of Arven's snares. Sheema praised him a little too much for it, and the insincerity put the man in a foul mood. Still, he managed the cook pot well enough, and they were all grateful to have even a small portion of meat.

  ° ? ? ? °

  On the morning of the fourth day, Sheema gave Arven permission to walk around and do very light exertion. She even wanted him to leave his spear behind, but he pointed out that if he needed it, re-injured was better than dead.

  Honestly, Arven was tempted to leave it at camp. Sheema forbade him from throwing it. Using it as a walking stick would be directly counterproductive to his recovery. He strongly considered taking his chances with only a dagger, but in the end, the thought of that strange pack of gray animals motivated him to bring his spear, just in case. He slung it over his back before he headed out to check and reset the snares.

  He started searching for signs of Rillik heading south, but didn't pick up the trail right away. He also needed to patrol. If there were one of the smaller gray beasts around, Arven could either lead it away from their camp or try to kill it if it attacked him. Plus, who knew what else these woods held. Tom Farmer really should have warned us that there were such beasts around. But, I suppose to him they are simply normal animals.

  Frighteningly intelligent and malicious animals. Tom should have warned us.

  Once he had finally found the start of Rillik's trail, Arven went back and carefully reset the snares he had set, putting out a few extra as well. The hoppers were tasty, and Arven hoped to catch a few more of them. While he was away, even Brallik could check the snares.

  Because Arven was going after Rillik. The longer Rillik was gone, the more likely it was that the boy had gotten himself into serious trouble. Although, if the kid is lucky enough not to get captured or killed, it would still take him at least six days to get to the human town and back. Longer if he spent a day or two sneaking around and stealing food.

  That led to a happier thought. Maybe he will be slowed down on his return because he's loaded down with too much weight of food. The boy doesn't know his limits, and he's stubborn. He wants to prove himself. Spirits, maybe he didn't even go to the town—maybe he brought down a deer and refuses to give up on dragging it home. If that's the case the meat will have spoiled, though.

  I hope the boy is all right.

  ° ? ? ? °

  The next morning, Sheema declared Arven fit to travel, but he still was not to use his spear for another day. He packed very lightly, only taking two days' worth of food. He intended to forage as he traveled, and he didn't want to deplete their dwindling food supply any more than necessary.

  Arven walked slowly. He wasn't an idiot, and didn't want to re-injure himself. Now that he was actually making progress, he felt less desperate to do more. A few days of walking, let myself heal the rest of the way. I'll need to be in best form for sneaking around the human settlement.

  It wasn't hard to follow Rillik's trail. The boy had left stripped berry bushes in his wake in addition to less obvious marks. By evening, Arven was hunting for the spot Rillik had spent the night. He found a tree with a lot of disturbed earth beneath it. He didn't spend the night up in a tree, did he? That would be colder. Maybe he was avoiding predators.

  Arven spent the night against a tree trunk with a couple of natural windbreaks. In the morning, he set off on Rillik's trail again. The morning passed uneventfully, but in the afternoon, Arven got a bit of a scare.

  A very large predator was wandering through the area. It was definitely bigger than he was. He found claw marks well over head height on a couple of tree trunks, with big paw prints on the ground below. The prints did not match the creature that had broken his collarbone. He wasn't sure if the animal was marking its territory, but Arven spent the afternoon moving cautiously, watching out for the beast that made the tracks.

  The scare came when he found signs that Rillik had used a hollowed-out tree trunk for shelter the second night, and very fresh claw marks from the beast were all over it. Arven crouched and searched for signs carefully, sniffing. Animal musk. Piss, but not blood. No sign the boy was mauled or dragged off. The kid probably got scared out of a decade's growth, but he was mostly unharmed when he left here.

  Arven spent the night up in a tree, after checking that there were no claw marks nearby and especially none up high. One more day to the human town. I'll have to be ready for anything.

  five different locations in Great Oak Forest and I have to keep track of everything.)