A ripple of discomfort passed through the company. The half-dragonlings known as the rathum were consistently notorious among their various breeds for their ruthlessness and thirst for blood. Most likely, whatever variety of rathum made the Viradian Forest their home, Baelisk and his companions were in peril.

"The rathum killed my first wife, many years ago when I was still a sekuna. We were usually able to drive them away when they came to our city. But one day they broke through... burnt our buildings and savaged our women. By the time we drove them out the homes along their path were ruined. Many lives were lost." He winced and closed his eyes, the images of carnage still like an open wound on his heart. He could see his wife sprawled on the floor, her clothes torn from her savagely and her neck raw from being choked to death. The Westlander opened his mouth to say more, but no words came. After a silence he said, "The rathum are fierce. But so are the sekuna who follow us. We must choose to face one if we are to escape the other."

"We are well past the Brink of the Known." Sespheria spoke up after a sobering silence, her voice clenched. "Traveling off road to avoid them might be a bad idea."

-----

Baelisk sighed to himself. "I think I'd prefer to avoid those Desert Hawks for as long as manageable. I propose we stick to the path and face the rathum if we must."

"I agree." Sespheria said with a nod.

"Well we're inclined ta follow along wif whatever th' loverly Eastlandish lassie decides." Gaddling said with a grin at Sespheria. Sespheria smirked back.

"I would kill them both if I had to," H'akim muttered under his breath.

Shanju shrugged. "Well I suppose the majority rules, anyway."

"Then we continue." Baelisk said firmly, feeling some pride in their final decision but a little embarrassment that they hadn't come to it sooner. What they needed was a leader... someone to rally them and make decisions. Although, even after 14 years of being the Captain of the Guard for Hymn to Dammon Cathedral, he had his doubts that he could take charge on this long, strange, and seemingly endless journey. He turned and led the way down the path, lingering over the thought.

That evening they came to a river that snaked its way through the trees. It was spanned by an old, unsturdy looking bridge.

"Well," Baelisk said, "I suppose this is as good of a place as any to set up camp."

"It seems a bit... oh, I don't know," Shanju looked around disapprovingly, "out in the open, don't you think?"

Baelisk shrugged. "We can set up camp a little ways off the path. Not too far," he added quickly, cutting off Sespheria before she could argue, "just enough to stay out of sight under the trees."

Sespheria wanted to argue that it was still risky, but said nothing as the others agreed.

Camp was set up quickly, just inside the line of trees that seperated the forest from the path. The river was welcome and gave them all a chance to drink and bathe. There weren't any animals worth hunting, so for their meal they settled again on deermeat and Cassinian bread.

They sat around the fire. It was dark, but the forest was thinner here, and the trees allowed small shafts of moonlight to trickle down through their grey canopy. Shanju picked at his lute, strumming quick pieces of song to test it as he tuned it. Baelisk was attempting to sharpen his sword on a riverstone. Gaddling was staring at the fire, playing with his toes. Sespheria was was deep in thought, staring into the fire and yet looking at something else entirely. Suddenly, her head shot up as if she had been jerked awake. "Where is H'akim?"