The dog barked at Pitt. It walked to the edge of the property. It waited for him to get the message and follow. He straightened his coat and stepped in the dog's shadow. It started jogging into the darkness.

Pitt wondered what was going on. He kept up with the animal with a minimum expenditure of effort. Everything he had killed had left him some of its speed along with its strength.

The dog led him into the forest around his homestead. He knew parts of it from his walking around. None of his neighbors lived in the direction the dog was taking him. What had it been doing out here?

The dog barked at something in the dark as it came to a stop. It barked some more. He paused and waited for the trees to come into focus.

“Spot?,” said a voice in the dark. “Spot? Is that you?”

Pitt listened, judging the direction of the voice. He didn't see anyone. Where was it coming from?

“Can you hear me?,” he called out. It was better to be direct than walking softly.

“Who's there?,” asked the voice.

“Will Pitt,” said Pitt. “Your dog came to my farm, and got me to follow it back out here.”

“Good Spot,” said the voice. “Good dog.”

“It's the middle of the night,” said Pitt. “Can you keep talking so I can find you?”

“I'm down in a hole,” said the voice. “I was walking and fell in. I don't know how long I have been down here. I can't climb out.”

“All right,” said Pitt. “Just keep talking. I can get you out as soon as I know where you are.”

“Do you live around here?,” asked the voice. It sounded more like a girl as he hunted for the hole she had fallen down.

“I have a farm a little ways up the hill,” said Pitt. “Your dog went there and started guarding the property until I came home.”

“He's a herder,” said the girl. “I found him when he was a puppy, and he has helped around our place while he grew up.”

“What's your name?,” asked Pitt.

“Annabelle Smolls,” said the girl. “I live at the Barnstows toward town.”

“The fancy place with the white paint job?,” said Pitt.

“Yes,” said Annabelle. “Do you think they know I'm stuck up here?”

“I don't know,” said Pitt. “I made my way home in the dark. It was just luck that I ran into your dog. All right. I think I found your hole.”

Pitt stood at the edge of what looked like a well hole. The bricks that would go around the hole to support the house of the bucket reel were gone. Grass grew over what was left in the ground.

“Can you look up, Annabelle?,” Pitt asked. He knelt to get a closer look at things.

“All I can see are stars,” said the girl. She took a moment to study things. “I think I see a shadow standing at the edge of the hole.”

“All right,” said Pitt. “I need to light some kind of torch. I am not going far now that I know where you are. Just hold on.”

“What do you plan to do?,” asked Annabelle.

“I'm going to put up some torches to give me a better look at things,” said Pitt. “Then I am going to look at the sides of the shaft and hope most of the bricks are in place. The rest will be just climbing down so I can bring you back up here on my back.”

“On your back?,” asked Annabelle.

“I won't be able to climb if I am holding you in my arms,” said Pitt. “Once I can see what I am doing, I can do the rest that much faster.”

“Do you really think you can lift me out of here?,” asked Annabelle.

“Yes,” said Pitt. “I'm not a healer, so I will have to carry you into town so a cleric can look at you, maybe use his grant to heal any injuries you might have taken in your fall.”

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“I don't feel like I have been hurt,” said Annabelle.

“You should be looked over once I got you out of that hole,” said Pitt. “If I think I can't move you far, I will take you to my farm and go into town as fast as I can on my own.”

And Pitt could be as fast as a horse if he wanted to be.

His years in the Brotherhood had given him that much, along with his strength.

He found a limb on the ground. He wrapped some of the grass around one end. He stuck the other into the ground as firmly as possible. He snapped his fingers to produce a spark to set the makeshift torch alight.

“I can see the light,” said Annabelle.

“Give me a second,” said Pitt. “I'm coming down.”

“How will you get back up?,” said Annabelle.

“I'll use my good looks,” said Pitt. He took off his coat and dropped it on the grass. “Try to stay on one side so I don't fall on you if I lose my grip.”

“I'm as far as I can be near the edge away from the torchlight,” said Annabelle.

“All right,” said Pitt.

He grabbed the edges of the shaft, and braced his feet against the sides. He used the brace to slide down the brick walls until he dropped into a small pool of water at the bottom. He made out a figure in a dress pushed back against the wall.

“Annabelle?,” he said. He hoped he was actually helping someone, and not freeing some evil spirit from its prison.

“You came down,” said the girl. “How do we get back up? I don't see a rope.”

“I need you to hug me,” said Pitt. He held out his arms. “I will get us out of here if you can hold on.”

“All right,” she said. “Can you really get us out of here?”

“Yes,” said Pitt. “Come on. Spot is waiting at the top for you.”

She hugged him gently. He lifted her in the crook of his arm. He didn't like how frail she seemed. She could die at any time from the way she felt. He looked up at the opening far above them.

“Close your eyes,” said Pitt. “I'm going to move fast. I don't want you to be scared. Just close your eyes and think about heading home with Spot.”

Pitt bent his knees. He nodded as he judged the angle he needed. He hoped he hadn't misjudged the distance. He would feel stupid if he didn't succeed after saying he would.

He jumped upwards in the center of the well. He kicked out to bounce from one side to another. He reached the top and grabbed the edge with one hand. He hung there for a second, glad that had worked out better than he had thought it would.

“I'm going to put you down,” said Pitt. “I want you to stay where I put you until I can pull myself out of the well. Then I will take you to the local temple to get help.”

“I'm ready,” said Annabelle. “Please don't drop me.”

He pulled up with his one hand. When he was balanced on his arm, he placed the girl as far away from the edge as he could. He swung over the edge as the dog circled the well and started licking his girl on her face.

“All right,” said Pitt. He brushed himself off as he looked out in the dark. “I'm going to carry you down to town. We're going to be going as fast as I can cover the distance. Spot will have to keep up, or go back to my farm to wait.”

“Are you really that fast?,” asked Annabelle. She hugged her dog on her lap.

“I'm as fast as Sparky, the messenger of Pantalus,” said Pitt. “Now, I'm going to carry you down. A cleric should look after you, and I know an inn that can feed you in the daytime. The owner should be glad to help out after I agreed to move a rock for him and his wife.”

“I'm ready,” said Annabelle. She ruffled Spot's fur between his floppy ears. “Can you go to Mister Pitt's farm, Spot? Can you go there and wait for me to come back?”

The dog barked in disagreement. He placed his paw on her arm.

“I'll carry you both,” said Pitt. He sighed. “After I turn you over to the clerics, stay off the mountain in the dark.”

“We were here in the daytime,” said Annabelle. “I wonder if Ma and Da missed us. They get busy sometimes.”

“I'll talk to them in the morning,” said Pitt. He picked the pair of them up in his arms. He took a bearing on where he thought town should be. He would be cutting a straight line. “I hope you appreciate this.”

Spot licked his face.

“No licking,” said the disgruntled highlander.

Pitt exploded across the field with his burdens under his arms. Every step flung him forward in a flying divot of dirt and grass. Soon enough trees and brush tried to block his path. He swerved around them, or hurdled the shorter hedges.

“We're going so fast,” said Annabelle. She closed her eyes against the wind.

Spot howled on his side.

“Quiet, the both of you,” said Pitt. He hurdled a ditch and landed on the road. He turned toward the lights of town in the distance.

He reached the point where he had buried the rock. He still planned to deny anything to do with moving it to Moebs. He reached the main road and slowed down. He veered into a side street and headed to the part of town where three temples stood in a triangle. He reached Farn's temple and knocked on the door.

“What's going on?,” said a querulous voice above the gate.

“I need a cleric to check this girl,” called Pitt. “I pulled her out of a hole in the ground upland. Can you open the gate?”

“Hold on,” said the voice. “I will get Brother Mosien.”

“Can you hurry?,” asked Pitt.

“Hold your water,” said the watchman.

Pitt looked at the other two temples. They were to Pantalus and Sar. If something happened to harm the town, everyone was supposed to retreat to the three temples and their walls. The hope was to fend off any invading monsters with a irregular circle.

The gate opened and two clerics in gray tunics stood there. One of them held a torch to illuminate their visitors.

“Bring her in, Pitt,” said Brother Mosien. His hawkish face was turned down in a frown.