Legends of the Riftwar Read Online Free

was obviously winded after the long chase.
    Dennis pulled a flask out from under his tunic and handed it over. After nodding his thanks, the elf drank then handed the flask back.
    â€˜Not sure,’ Tinuva replied. ‘Their commander might have sent a runner back before the fight even started. There were too many tracks on the trail to tell. If I had more time to follow the way they came, I would know for certain, but you stressed getting back here quickly.’
    Dennis cursed silently.
    â€˜Then we must assume someone did get out,’ Gregory announced.
    â€˜I always assume that,’ Dennis said coolly.
    Gregory did not reply.
    â€˜I sense something else here as well,’ the elf said.
    â€˜The Dark Brothers?’ Gregory asked and the elf nodded.
    â€˜Did you see signs?’ Dennis interjected.
    The elf reached into a pouch dangling from his belt and drew out the broken shaft of an arrow. ‘It’s their make–Clan Raven. Not more than a league from here. I came across tracks as I was returning here after finding the two Tsurani. There was blood on the snow. Someone killed a stag, quartered it and then headed back north. Four of them, early this morning, an hour after the snow started to fall today.’
    â€˜Only four?’ Dennis asked.
    The elf shook his head. ‘No, there are more. What I found was just a hunting party foraging for food. The forest whispers of them.They’re out here: something is stirring.’ The elf nodded towards the mountains to the north, barely visible in a gathering darkness, to the north.
    â€˜How many?’
    Tinuva closed his eyes for a moment, as if to aid his thinking. ‘Hard to tell,’ he whispered. ‘We eledhel have history with the moredhel.’
    Gregory gave a quick shake of his head to Dennis, warning him not to ask anything more.
    â€˜They are as difficult to track as we are, unless they are close by or out in large numbers.’ He looked northward again. ‘Up there, distant, but in large numbers, I would judge.’
    â€˜Why?’ asked Father Corwin, who was standing at the edge of the group.
    Several of the men turned to look at the priest. Suddenly embarrassed, Father Corwin lowered his eyes.
    No one answered. Finally the elf stirred.
    â€˜Holy one,’ Tinuva said, softly. ‘Something is beginning to stir amongst those you call the Brotherhood of the Dark Path. This war with the Tsurani diverts us away from the threat of the dark ones to the north. Perhaps they see an advantage to be gained from humans slaughtering each other. Perhaps they seek to return south to the Green Heart and the Grey Towers–it isn’t hard to imagine they’ve worn out their welcome with the clans of the Northlands after nine winters.’
    Gregory said, ‘Are they moving south?’
    Tinuva shrugged. ‘The hunters whose signs I saw may have been foraging ahead of a larger company, or on the flank. It’s difficult to know if they’re heading south or in this direction.’
    â€˜All the more reason for us to get the hell out of here now,’ Dennis interjected sharply. ‘We’ve been behind the lines too damn long as it is; the men deserve to spend the rest of the winter in Tyr-Sog getting drunk and spending their pay on whores.’
    He looked back at the burial party. They were nearly finished; a couple of men were dragging out deadfall and branches to throw over the grave. Several of the men were already returning to the ranks, hooking the short-handled shovels onto their backpacks. A trained eye could easily pick out the burial site today but if it continued tosnow, by tomorrow the grave and the nearby Tsurani dead would have disappeared. By springtime, when the snows melted and grass fed by the richness beneath sprang up, it would have disappeared back into the forest.
    â€˜Alwin, move the men out.’
    â€˜Sir, you said you wanted to speak to the boy first,’ Alwin