Movement flickered among the distant mountain shadows of the early evening, grazing the edge of Esmi’s vision. Driven by the monotony of guard duty in the Luminarium’s courtyard, her introspective daydreaming vanished as the source of the movement came more fully into view. A set of bulky, humped charcoal shoulders ambled toward the abbey through the high grasses, its head lowered in concentration, picking its way closer.

  Instinctively, her hand reached for the bell cord, and several clanging peals followed, rudely rippling across the previously peaceful landscape. The creature’s head snapped up at the first toll; two red burning coals stared her down from across the meadow. Its face was both canine and goblinoid, and it made a point of showing her a mouth full of fangs when its lips quivered in a low guttural growl. Esmi shuddered but didn’t give in to her flight response. Instead, her form coiled as she adjusted her stance, raising her staff protectively across her body with both hands.

  The Barghest was the first to yield the long stare, returning its nose to the grass and resuming its course toward the abbey. The sound of padded footfalls told Esmi the others were gathering at her back, but she didn’t turn, focusing instead on the approaching beast.

  “Thinking you’d fight that with your staff, were you? Foolish girl!” Glamos’ abrasive tone boomed behind her. “While I admire courage, you need to recognize when it's merely hubris in disguise—now stand down!”

  Esmi reluctantly relaxed her pose, turning to find the entire Luminarium complement assembled in the courtyard.

  Sifu Haft shouldered his way to the front of the crowd, pointing toward the advancing threat. “This is why repairing the Beacon has to be our top priority!”

  The draconian wizard looked back in annoyance. “Absolutely no one has argued that point, old man. I’m sure they’re working as quickly as they can!” He turned back toward the Barghest, now less than one hundred yards out and closing.

  “Can’t you zap it or something?” Haft prodded him.

  Glamos made a shooing motion with his clawed, chubby hand. “Zap it? Yes, I intend to zap it, but it’s still too far away.” He shot a quick look at Esmi, “Foolish girl, can I borrow that for a minute, please?” He pointed one claw at the symbol of Kord pinned to her robes. Without a word, the initiate undid the brooch, careful to reclasp the pin before dropping it into his hand. The wizard moved toward the back of the group, calling over his shoulder, his fingers already surrounded by white energy. “Now, if this doesn’t work, I need you all to buy me enough time to try something else.”

  “How will we know if it didn’t work?” Usha piped up from the far side of the courtyard.

  Glamos turned on her with an angry look that dissolved as he took in the faces of the inexperienced acolytes staring back at him, wide-eyed. “If he’s still here after I cast, then it didn’t work.”

  The Barghest stopped fifty yards from the abbey gate, lifting its nose into the air, head bobbing as it drank deeply from the surrounding air.

  “What’s it doing?” Jin hissed, his voice trembling.

  “Tracking them,” Haft confirmed as he watched the creature’s head turn sharply to its right.

  With one last burning look at the crowd gathered behind the abbey gate, the Barghest turned abruptly toward the new scent and bounded out of sight toward the Shand.

  A collective exhale spread among the group, combined with the sound of staff butts hitting stone as they watched it disappear.

  Haft turned to the draconian. “What, in all the realms, was that?”

  Glamos slowly shook his head. “I have no idea…but it isn’t good. It’s able to track them even on horseback.” The wizard returned the brooch to Esmi, his other hand already fishing into his pocket in search of the copper wire needed to cast a Sending spell.

  Glynfir’s mind pinged with the message from Glamos. The group had not yet finished their meal.

  Be careful. Big, black, dog-like beast, glowing red eyes, ran past here, tracking you. It picked up your trail even on horseback. We’re fine.

  His head came up, shooting a concerned look around the table even as he mentally responded.

  Thanks. How long ago? Some kind of demon, you think?

  “I just heard from Glamos,” he announced to the table. “Apparently, the Red Queen has sent some kind of big demon dog to track us down.”

  A murmur rose from the group amidst the clank of cutlery on the table’s surface before Iskvold spoke up. “Are they okay?”

  Segwyn interjected before the wizard could answer. “How long ago?”

  Glynfir nodded to the drow before turning to the ranger. “I asked that. He’ll have to cast the spell again, so it may take a minute to get a reply.”

  “Another good reason to get out of town,” Bird offered.

  Segwyn nodded. “If it could follow our trail even after we mounted up, that’s a problem, especially if it’s a demon. They don’t need sleep. It will just keep coming.”

  Whydah glanced toward the door, then back to the ranger. “How quickly could it catch up?”

  Segwyn shook his head. “No way to know precisely, but it still has to follow our trail from the abbey to here, so it can’t flat-out run the entire way…” His eyes drifted up and to the left as he calculated momentarily. “I figure it’s about a fourteen-hour ride at a good pace, so assuming it can’t fly, without rest, it could arrive by early afternoon tomorrow.”

  The wizard’s mind pinged again, delivering another message from the draconian.

  It just left. Never seen anything like it before, definitely looked otherworldly.

  “Glamos said it just left. He couldn’t confirm it was a demon, but said it looked ‘otherworldly’,” he relayed to the group.

  “Well, we can’t travel without rest,” Iskvold turned to Segwyn. “So, if your math is right, it will catch us the day after tomorrow, even if we ride hard for Irdri non-stop. We can’t outrun it.”

  The ranger’s lips stretched into a thin line, his brows raised in her direction, offering the faintest of nods.

  “Maybe we can throw it off,” Lunish suggested.

  “How?” Tsuta challenged.

  “Remember the spell I used when we were stalking the Sklir up the hillside, the one that made us quiet?”

  “Of course!” Segwyn slapped the table while the others nodded at the druid. “It’s worth a shot.”

  “It wasn’t relevant under those circumstances, but that spell also hides our trail,” she explained to the others. “So, if I cast it on us before we leave town, it would give us an hour’s head start with no trail to follow and may prevent it from following us.”

  Tsuta’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Why did you use the word ‘may’, Braids?”

  Before she could answer, Segwyn interjected, his hand raised in caution. “It depends on how it tracks. It could be using magic, which would still probably work. Since we don’t know what it is…” his palm turned upward in a half-shrug.

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  “Anyone have a better idea?” Iskvold challenged the group. After several silent seconds, she pressed down on the table’s surface, pushing herself into a standing position. “Then it sounds like this is the best plan we’ve got. Let’s go! Every minute we sit here, the closer it gets,” she announced, louder than necessary.

  Spurred by her action, they all rose. Bird turned to Tsuta. “Where are the horses?”

  The bald monk tipped his head toward the far side of the pub. “At the stable next door.”

  The tabby nodded before turning to the group. “Why don’t you all go gear up? Whydah and I will pay the man and meet you there.” As the others headed for the door, the cat began wading through the crowd toward the bar, with the suspicious halfling in his wake.

  Whydah looked down at the serpentine owl in her hand. “You stole this from Segwyn’s parents? I knew something was up when you volunteered to pay!”

  “Keep your voice down,” Bird hissed before accepting four coppers in change from the bartender with a nod of thanks. “I’m not proud of it, and I’m going to give it back. I thought it was just a trinket that wouldn’t be missed.”

  Whydah clucked her tongue at him. “And, you want me to do what?”

  “I’m going to make a point of returning it and apologizing in front of everyone. I need you to suggest casting Identify on it after I do that.”

  The halfling scrutinized the stone carving, turning the owl over in her hand. “You think it’s magic?”

  “I know it is.” His voice purred barely above a whisper. “The woman told me so when I went to sell it.”

  The judgement dripped from her face as she silently held his gaze.

  “That’s what made me decide not to go through with it,” his voice was tinged with an edge of justification. “I could have just taken the fifteen hundred and sent it to my mom and been done with that whole thing.” Reading her silent look of continuing disapproval, he pressed on, eyes flitting between her stony gaze and the surrounding patrons. “But I didn’t, did I? No, I realized I couldn’t do that to him! Now, please, just help me give it back and show him what it can do without having to admit I tried to sell it?” His furry brows arched in anticipation.

  A long moment stretched between them before Whydah shook her head with a mighty eye roll. “Singing Bird!” The tabby winced at her use of his full name. “I swear to Gond!” She pointed her finger at him. “I’ll help you this time, but I’m not comfortable with this. I draw the line at getting dragged into your nefarious plots when it involves our friends, okay?”

  The cat’s shoulders relaxed as a grin bristled his whiskers. He crouched down to embrace her in a hug. “Thank you, Whydah! I won’t do it again, I promise!”

  When she returned the hug, a familiar tingle rose in her chest.

  She pushed it down as they separated, pressing the carved owl into his paw. “See that you don’t! Now let’s get to the stable, the others are waiting.”

  Tsuta slid his hand along the flank of his horse, tightening the buckle on his pack. The crunch of gravel over his shoulder drew his attention as Bird and Whydah emerged from the shadows surrounding the stable. “All good?”

  Bird nodded, clasping him on the shoulder as they headed toward the stable hand holding the reins of their mounts. “So, what’s the plan?”

  The gear already distributed and loaded, Lunish, Glynfir, and Iskvold stood nearby.

  “Thanks, Gern.” Segwyn dropped a silver into the man’s hand before he passed the reins to the tabby, then silently retreated with his lantern, back into the stable, shadow quickly filling the courtyard void. The group silently watched him withdraw until he was comfortably out of earshot.

  “We thought we’d ride a couple hours out of town, pretty hard, before settling down off the road for the night in the hut.” Segwyn looked from Bird to Whydah for confirmation.

  Whydah nodded. “That works. I can conjure the hut whenever we want.”

  “My cloaking spell will only last an hour,” Lunish reminded them. “Since I can’t cast in horse form, I’ll have to stop when it’s about to drop, shift back to recast it, then wildshape back into a horse before we can keep going.”

  “It’s not perfect,” Segwyn admitted. “There will be one spot on the road, about an hour out of town, where the creature could pick up our scent momentarily. So, it would know we were headed in the direction of Irdri.”

  Bird glanced at the druid. “But you’re going to cast it before we leave here, right?” Lunish nodded. “So, it won’t know which direction we went out of town.”

  “Exactly,” Segwyn confirmed.

  Glynfir circled his hand in the direction of the fort. “We figure our scent is all over this place. We could gain a lot of time while it skulks around trying to hunt us down.”

  “Maybe…” Whydah’s tone was hesitant. “My dad’s hounds could tell the difference between a fresh track and an older one. I can’t believe that a demon hound couldn’t, at least, do the same.”

  “If it’s using magic, all bets are off,” Segwyn agreed. “But it’s the best we can do.”

  “I’ll stop again and pull us off the road before the spell drops the second time,” Lunish confirmed. “That way, there won’t be any trace of where we left the trail. Just remember to stay close to me.”

  “I suggest you ride in the middle,” Segwyn offered. “I’ll take the lead with Tsuta.” He looked at Bird and Whydah. “And you two bring up the rear.”

  The halfling opened her mouth to object before Tsuta cut her off in anticipation. “I’ll light up the tip of my staff, so you have some light to follow, Tiny.”

  Iskvold ground the butt of her staff in the gravel. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

  The group gathered into a tight circle around the druid. With a nod of confirmation, she pulled the sprig of spruce from her pocket, holding it between two ash-blackened fingers. Whispering the words of the incantation, she tapped her fingertips together, and an arcane dusting of green spread out in all directions from her body. Ears popped around the circle. The green arcane energy flashed again as Lunish transformed into a warhorse, complete with twin red braids, and they mounted up. A globe of light winked to life at the tip of the monk’s staff before the group galloped west toward the Stonebreach, Shardhelm, and Irdri.

  Inky darkness immediately pressed in from all sides as they fled Chagrothlond. The bobbing light at the head of the column provided Whydah’s only visual anchor, accompanied by the dull repetitive thud of five sets of hooves against the dirt road. She knew Shardhelm rose immediately to her right, looming over the Stonebreach gap between the Glimmerstones and the Aether mountains to the south, but her eyes registered nothing more than a wall of black beyond the side of the trail.

  This was more difficult for her than the others recognized, being unable to see in the dark. With Bird on her left, she squinted in concentration at the sorrel mare directly ahead. On its back, Iskvold’s white, shoulder-length hair bounced playfully in the shadows with each footfall, and she could barely make out Glynfir seated directly behind her, clinging to the drow for dear life.

  Her mount was another problem. Though suited to her smaller form, the quarter horse Bird acquired for her in Preeble labored to keep pace with the larger steeds, and within fifteen minutes, her thighs began to burn from the constant adjustments needed to maintain her balance on its back at this speed. The halfling gritted her teeth when her feet began to cramp from constantly stretching her toes, desperate for as much length as possible against the horse’s flank.

  Refusing to voice her doubts back at the stable for fear of looking like a princess in need of special treatment, Whydah gutted it out for more than thirty minutes until her horse landed awkwardly in an unseen wagon rut. Without warning, the creature lurched to the right, and she went airborne, clear of its back into the night air. Taken by surprise, the halfling was unprepared when the ground came up quickly, letting out a deep groan as the impact forced the air from her lungs. Her vision swam with sparkles, the taste of earth filled her mouth as she sputtered, struggling for oxygen. Her ears popped as she rolled onto her hands and knees, the drum of the still-moving group suddenly muffled, more distant.

  She heard Bird give a sharp whistle, pain lancing through her ribs and back as she wiped the dirt from her face. The sound of movement stopped altogether before she felt his fur on her arm. “Are you okay? What happened?”

  She pushed him off, anger rising in her cheeks as she stood, still gasping for fresh air. “What happened is, I can’t see!” she barked at him between breaths, causing the tabby to lean back in surprise. “And I can’t ride this fast on a quarter horse!” Her ears popped again as the others returned to circle their position on the ground, Tsuta holding two sets of reins, Segwyn emerging from the darkness on foot, leading her horse.

  The ranger clucked his tongue. She couldn’t make out the grimace of disappointment on his face. “That’s my fault. I should have known better.” He handed the reins to Bird and crouched down beside her. “Hold still for a minute.” With a few words, a pink crackle of energy sprang to life around his fingertips. “Where are you hurt?”

  Her hand moved instinctively to her back. “Here.” She winced as she made contact with her ribs.

  The ranger nodded before placing both hands on either side of her spine, and the healing warmth surged through her, forcing a groaning chuckle from her lips.

  Segwyn shot her a look, eyebrows raised. “Better?”

  Whydah nodded before letting out a deep breath. “Thank you.”

  Bird was on his knees, examining the front legs of her mount. “Luckily, I don’t think your horse is injured.”

  Her cheeks warmed as she looked his way, shaking her head slightly before turning back to the others, her gaze landing on Lunish. “I’m sorry, I think I broke the range of your spell. I felt my ears pop just after I hit the ground.” The war horse pawed once in acknowledgement.

  “Not much we can do about that now,” Tsuta remarked, his finger idly tracing a white splotch on his otherwise brown horse’s shoulder. “There will be another breadcrumb of a trail a bit closer to Chagrothlond than we wanted. Hopefully, our pursuer won’t find it.”

  Bird put one hand on Whydah’s shoulder. “If you couldn’t ride like this, why didn’t you say something back at the stable, or at least after we hit the road. We could have slowed down.”

  “I didn’t want to be the weak link, whose limitations got in the way of a good plan,” she muttered, brushing his hand away. “And you should have known.”

  Reading the tension in Whydah’s voice and Bird’s look of confusion, Segwyn deflected the conversation. “We should keep moving. We’ll have to stop in about fifteen minutes for Lunish to redo the spell, but I’ll keep the pace slower to avoid another tumble. Just shout if it’s still too fast, okay?”

  Whydah nodded, while Bird turned to the ranger. “I feel like she thinks this was my fault, and I don’t understand why.”

  Iskvold squeezed her lips together to hide her rising smirk. You really are clueless, aren’t you, kitty!

  The Glimmerstone Enigma and The Siremirian Conundrum?

  Join my substack for: