Reeve stared in thought at her father, who still stood yards away behind the perceived protection of the elm. “We’ve got to figure out a way to move faster,” she said quietly. She looked down at the honey badger, which stood between them, licking the back of one of its paws. “Dad, going to try something. Wait there.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Evie.”
“I know, that’s the problem. We’ve got to cover more ground faster.” She walked slowly but confidently around the honey badger and then followed the path the few yards that led her to her father and his barky shield. She swung her bow off her shoulder, over her head, and gestured to her back. “Hop on again.”
“I’m just so used to it being the other way around, it doesn’t seem right. And I can walk faster, Honey. I’ll keep up.”
“Not if I’m at full pace on the trail and you’re fighting through the underbrush. Just try this, OK? Worked out yesterday. May work now with the honey badger too.”
She turned her back to her father and dropped to a deep squat.
“One, two, and three,” Walter said.
Reeve felt her father land on her back, his arms wrapping around her neck like a halfling shawl. She stood, his weight barely a hindrance, and looked at the honey badger.
“We good?” She said. “He’s not on your path. I’ll be responsible for him, OK? We need to chase down the kobold and my mom.”
After a few seconds, the honey badger turned and began trotting along the path in the direction Reeve’s mother had traveled. Reeve followed, quickening her pace as the honey badger broke into a relaxed trot.
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“Good job, Evie,” her father whispered in her ear.
Reeve didn’t respond, her focus on scant signs her mother and the kobold had left, signs which were now intermixed with the honey badger’s paw marks.
The trail began to rise, but after ten minutes of gentle climb through mature trees, it disappeared onto the surface of a long, down-sloping granite face. Rivulets of water sprouted from cracks in the granite and ran down its surface, leaving the ground at the bottom muddy. There, the trail continued between large, widely spaced trees, and Reeve saw that there were massive, moss-covered boulders dotting the broad ravine into which they’d be descending.
“Hold tight, Dad. This may be slippery in spots.”
Her father squeezed her tighter in his disconcertingly strong arms, and she tensed her neck muscles to avoid being choked. The honey badger was already halfway down the granite face when Reeve began sidestepping down the steep surface, avoiding the wet patches where she could. She glanced up from her inspection of the surface to see the honey badger reach the trail and turn to watch them.
The hairs along the entire right side of Reeve’s body began to prickle.
“Oh, poo. Dad, listen, don’t be startled—“
“Aaaayyyeeeee!”
Reeve flinched at the shrill halfling squeal Walter emitted directly behind her right ear. She felt his arms suddenly loosen and then one of his hands gripped her still-ringing ear while his other hand was flung around her head, where it found and grasped her nose with a tiny grip of iron.
“Lion! Run!” Walter screamed, his feet scrabbling against her back as he tried to pull himself higher up her.
“Dad! It’s—“
Walter’s feet slipped and his weight—transferred painfully through her nose—wrenched Reeve’s head hard to the left. As she lost her balance, she felt one foot slip on the rock, and then her view was filled with alternating granite, leaves, and, occasionally, her pinwheeling father.
Reeve spread her limbs to stop her roll and found herself sliding, on her back, toward the trail, from which the honey badger continued to watch them.
“Don’t run into...“ Reeve shouted toward her father, but her warning faded as his uncontrolled spin accelerated straight into the honey badger, and both tumbled yards down the path, over a small drop, and out of sight.
Almost immediately, an explosive red mist erupted into the air, and a soft chime sounded.