True to the his word, the one-eyed innkeeper had, for a price of a few silver coins, arranged for a guide for them by the morning, a dark, rangy man, weathered by the elements, clad in soft hides that left his arms bare. He had a spear in one hand and a pack over the other shoulder. His dark hair hung free to his shoulders and his beard was thick and full. Pale scars showed against dark skin on his left arm, claw marks that had torn flesh at some time past.

He touched his free hand to his heart and inclined his head. “Honour to you, cruaith,” he addressed Aedmorn. “Well met it is to at last greet you.”

Aedmorn touched his heart as well. “I have not had the honour to meet you before, have I?”

“Nay, cruaith, but I have heard tell of you and your exploits. The Hunter, Blessed of the Green Goddess. How could a hunter such as I not have heard tell of you?”

“Those that I hunt are no common beasts,” Aedmorn told him. “Those that I track are done for a purpose not my own.”

“Be that as it may, you are an example to us all.”

“This is Ivkarha, of the Ra-Armal,” said Aedmorn, introducing Ivkarha.

The guide nodded in response. “I am Jemat. Come, we have a long walk ahead of us if we are to make the campsite by evening.”

“It is a goodly distance then?” Ivkarha asked as they set off, headed down the street of muddy Edhest, watched, as ever, by those already out in the light of dawn.

“It is not so much the distance as the terrain,” Jemat explained, striding along with a long legged gait. “The hills to the west, where lies the camp, are much broken and craggy, filled with gullies and washes, thick with foliage, all of which slows progress, even for those that know the way.”

“It is well that we have you to guide us then,” Aedmorn told him.

“I am sure that you could, with time, find your way,” Jemat responded. “You are, after all, cruaith.”

From the township, they followed the river downstream for a while, through open forest, one that bore evidence of woodsmen at work, with cleared patches and muddy trails leading off deeper into the forests. Here and there stood small houses, and around them small farms, evidence that not all who came to Edhest were woodsmen and hunters. The cleared lands and crops appeared new, a more recent development, signs of the spread of civilisation into a once wild corner of the land.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Coming upon one trail, Jemat left the track alongside the river they had been following and headed along it. The new trail, barely used, was a rough track that began a slow rise up into the hills around them, tall trees rising up around it. Beyond the hills were the swamps of the krithik, but the heat was no less there, away from it. It clung to the land, even early in the morning, while bright, raucous birds chattered from the trees and plagues of insects swarmed about.

The climb grew steeper the further they moved from the river, winding back and forwards as it made its way up steep sided slopes, where fields of stones had slid down, at some places having uprooted the giant trees that grew there, carving swathes out of the forests.

Soon they left behind the trails, at least not made by the animals of the forests, yet Jemat led them on without pause, following the barest of tracks through the undergrowth. True to his word, the land became a broken place of difficult going, forcing them into steep climbs, or weaving through galleys that cut through it, seeking out paths that were hard to see, unless one knew that they were there in the first place.

As the sun climbed ever onwards, and the heat grew heavier yet, their pace slowed, the thick, hot air sapping strength from them, as much as the terrain. They made frequent stops along the way, to drink and recover. Towards the middle of the day, they found a place to rest, nearby to a small stream that splashed and gurgled down from the hills, headed towards the river below them. There they refreshed themselves, with hard bread, cheese, dried meat and dried fruit, drinking from the stream to wash it down.

Ivkarha looked down over the way they had come, back towards the river. “Would not it have been more prudent to travel further downstream and then climb up into the hills?” she asked. “We appear to have moved along the hills as much as up them.”

“Can’t really do it that way,” Jenat remarked. “There are some gullies between us and the river in this region that are impassable. We had to work our way around them.”

“What do you know of this Asgyr we are going to find” Aedmorn asked of Jenat.

“He is a Thegurian, of the cold north. I do not think heat agrees with him; he is a difficult man at the best of times and most avoid him if they can, endure of they can’t. He is meant to lead a team of loggers; sometimes he even does. Oft times he, like now, heads off to hunt. He does so for sport, not necessity. It is the kill that interests him, no more.”

Aedmorn’s features darkened at the description. “We all need to eat; it is a part of nature after all. This, though, should not be. It is not a sport, but in part homage to the Green Goddess. To do so otherwise is a sacrilege.”

“I am not a devout man,” Jenat said quietly, “But on this I can agree. It is concern that prevents any acting upon it as one never knows how Asgyr may react.” He rose back to his feet from where he had been seated. “We must press on if we are to reach Asgyr before nightfall. Wandering such rough terrain after dark is not greatly advised.”