En’nish tried to step around and head up the trail. Before Sgaile intercepted her, Brot'an'duive cut her off.

"You may follow," he said, "but do not forget that guardianship belongs to Sgailsheilleache. Do not interfere."

Urhkarasiferin, about to head onward, cast only a passing glance at the woman. But Sgaile had another concern. He reached out to stop Urhkarasiferin, touching the elder's shoulder.

"I left Leanalham alone," Sgaile said. "Please stay with her, and tell her I will return when able."

Urhkarasiferin gave only the slightest cock of his head to betray his surprise. He was the elder of the two of them, yet only involved at Sgaile's request. The elder anmaglahk nodded and headed back toward Crijheaiche.

Sgaile turned to catch up with Osha close behind him. He heard En’nish and the other two following. For the first few steps, it struck him as odd that Frethfare or even Most Aged Father would send another trio of the caste to follow him in tracking down one small human.

He pushed the thought away and ran on.

Chap loped beside Lily, growing tired and sensing the same in her. At times, thickened brush between the trees made passage difficult. Wynn clung to the deer's back with nothing to grasp but the animal's coat of long hair. She bent forward against its shoulders and neck, trying to hang on.

The ink-shaded elder slowed without warning, and all of the pack pulled up around him. They dispersed among the undergrowth, and a few dropped to the ground panting, pink tongues lolling out of their mouths.

A rest had been called, and Chap was no less grateful than the others. Lily lay down on the forest floor, but Chap trotted over to Wynn and barked once. She still clung to the deer as it shifted from hoof to hoof.

Wynn looked so small upon the animal's back, no larger than a child might appear upon a full-grown horse. Her hair was tangled and her oval face smeared by clumps of kicked-up earth. She had no cloak and shivered in her light elven clothing.

Chap barked again, and Wynn lifted her head. She slid her far leg over the deer's haunches and tried to slide off its back. She ended up dropping to her rump when her feet hit the ground. Chap whined and pressed his head against her shoulder.

She was too weary and stiff to even put a hand on his head. Instead she crawled on hands and knees behind him as he returned to where Lily lay panting.

The pack lay in groups of two and three to share warmth. Wynn settled next to Lily, and Chap stretched out before both of them. Wynn reached out slowly and stroked Lily's back. Lily raised her ears once but did not object.

"She is beautiful," Wynn finally said. "All your kindare beautiful."

Chap looked into her weary face. He hoped for her sake-and his-they would not travel much farther in this manner.

"I thought that all of them would be like you-born-Fay," Wynn added as she closed her eyes and lay back. "I did not know they would be so far removed-yet still like you."

He belly-crawled over to press his body against her.Winters here were far milder than beyond the mountains, yet the nights could be cool.

Chap found a strange moment of peace, considering what was at stake in this swift journey. With Wynn nestled between Lily and himself, it was good to lie on the earth of his birthplace. His eyes began to droop.

The first long baying rang through the night.

Several majay-hi stirred and got up as Chap opened his eyes. The sound rang out again, and he recognized it. The deer that had carried Wynn was still among the pack, yet this bellow came from farther off.

The deer lifted its head and issued an answering call. It turned and stalked toward the pack elder as Lily climbed to her feet. She joined them as the deer bent down to touch heads with the elder. Chap was too tired to try dipping into the exchange of memory. But when Lily returned to press her head to his, she whined in agitation. The flash of memory snapped Chap fully awake.

Gray-green-clad elves ran through the forest.

He could not see their faces clearly, for the image Lily gave him was not specific.Just anmaglahk running in a line with purpose.

Why would she show him this? The answer came quickly to him. The Anmaglahk were coming after them.

Wynn was still curled on the ground beside him. She had barely stirred at the deer's bellow. Chap ground his paws into the earth.

We are pursued.

Wynn thrashed over, grabbing her head. "Do not do that! Not unless I know it is coming!"

She sat up with a grimace and put a hand over her mouth. She looked at him as if he had poured a foul liquid in her mouth while she slept.

"What… what did you say?"

Chap repeated himself, and Wynn flinched slightly this time.

She looked back the way they had come."How far?"

He barked three times rather than send more words to assault her. He had no idea how close the Anmaglahk were.

He ran to the gray deer and barked once. Several of the majay-hi dashed on ahead, and if nothing else, Wynn knew they were on the move again. The deer stepped near a downed tree, and Wynn did not wait. She climbed onto its back and clutched its neck, and their race renewed. Chap took off beside Lily as the deer lunged ahead through the forest. The pace was now driven by urgency more than hope.

Chapter Eleven

Wynn clung to the deer's neck, gripping its coarse hair until her fingers ached. The majay-hiwere relentless, and the pack ran all night. Wynn did her best to endure, but her legs cramped from gripping the deer's too-wide body.

She hoped dawn was not far off and kept her eyes down as much as possible. Each time she looked up, something ahead seemed as if she had just seen it behind, or to the side, or as if she'd never seen it before. Everything appeared foreign and unfamiliar in the night.

The dark forest pressed confusion into Wynn's mind. Trees flashed by like shadows. The only constants were the deer beneath her and the pack around and ahead of her. She clung to the sight of them against being overwhelmed and lost.

Wynn had no idea what they would find at the journey's end. If she and Chap came upon some elven prison, how would they gain entrance? But if-when-they reached Nein'a, Chap would definitely need her. As far as Wynn knew, Leesil's mother was unaware of Chap's true nature. Wynn would be needed to speak with her. How else could Chap relate that Leesil was among the elves and intended to free her?

She tried to shift her aching legs, but they were spread too far across the deer's wide back. Her backside was growing numb.

The black-gray pack leader slowed and the others with him. The deer'sgait decreased to a steady clomp, and Chap circled back to walk below Wynn.

"Are we close?" she asked. "We must be close. It has been so long…"

When she looked ahead, the forest had thickened across their path. As the deer carried her closer, the pack spread out to the sides.

Birches of ever-peeling bark grew close together. Their branches intertwined one into the next beneath thousands of leaves. Through their tangling masses, elm and ash trees rose, exposing their tops above. Below, brambles and blackberry vines glistened with thorns and filled the spaces between the trees' trunks.

Everything was silent, without even a breeze or the vibrant creak of a cricket.

Wynn looked off to her left. The tangled woods stretched out into the darkness. When she turned the other way, the trees ahead appeared to have shifted to different positions among the strangling underbrush. When she turned left again, a clump of saw grass had sprouted through the thorny tendrils of a blackberry bush.

Had it been there, or had it appeared when she was not looking? The top of a cedar spread above the birches, dark andstill, and she did not remember seeing it before. Was the forest toying with her again?