Remembering as much as he could from his view above the trees, Galen pointed them in what he hoped was the right direction, and they set off, single-file with Iksthanis in the lead.
The gigantic man plowed through the dense boughs as if through grass, heedless of scratches and cuts. Behind him, Behn helped clear away what obstacles remained. Zenír came next, one hand looped through a strap on Behn's pack, and Galen guided him from behind. Sevhalim followed Galen, with Triss, Rea, and Obi bringing up the rear.
From above, the land had appeared to fall away at a gentle slope towards the edge of the pines; below it looked much different.
There were more small ravines to cross—not deep, but steep and slippery. After sliding down one side, they scrambled to scale the other, and what cost them dearly in effort and time often brought them only a stone's throw closer to their goal. Meanwhile, the woods echoed with eerie calls—high wailing howls and low clicking growls, and the flashes of white grew nearer and more frequent.
The barrowlings were closing in.
Already weary with fear and lack of sleep, everyone fell at least once, and everyone helped their comrades as best they could. Zenír needed the most assistance, being unable to see the hand and foot-holds the others reached for so easily.
Near the top of another narrow gully, he took hold of a protruding root which proved too thin, and broke in his hand. He fell, knocking Galen and Sevhalim down with him.
They landed in a heap at the bottom, but the drop was only about twice a man's height, and they were unharmed. Galen and Sev picked themselves up quickly, but Zenír remained where he was.
"Zen? Are you hurt?" Sev asked, bending over him where he sat.
Zenír shook his head. "I am not injured."
"Then get up. I know you are tired. We all are. But we must—"
"I'm slowing you down, Sev," Zenír said quietly. "You need to get the p'yrha to safety. I—"
"Oh, no you don't!" Iksthanis slid back down to the bottom, grabbed Zenír's arm and hauled him to his feet. "Don't you dare. You've paid enough, Zen. Don't make me pay, too."
Galen didn't know what they spoke of, but there seemed to be some private understanding between the pair. Zenír's face twisted with a mix of pain and grief, but he shook his head.
"I'm not after redemption, 'Thanis," he said softly, his gaze fixed somewhere over the other man's shoulder. "I'm being realistic."
"You want realistic? Okay."
Before the smaller man knew what was happening, Iksthanis had him on his back, arms looped around his neck and legs locked around his waist.
"Hold on," he said, and in a few quick movements, scaled the wall of the ravine again. "How's that for realistic?" he huffed, setting Zenír on his feet again. "You need help, you ask for it, Zen. None of this 'leave me behind' shit. Understand?"
Zenír nodded, eyes angled at the ground, and Iksthanis gave a snort of approval before turning and blazing on through the brush. The rest scaled the wall easily enough, and Behn took Zenír's hand and looped it through the straps of his pack once more.
"Come on," he said gently. "Let's go."
As Galen reached the top of the ravine's edge and witnessed this, he smiled. Behn was a good friend to all, he reflected, and they were lucky to have him at their sides. Meanwhile, it seemed there might be something stronger than friendship between Iksthanis and Zenír.
Before he had time to ponder what that might be, Iksthanis gave a shout of surprise.
-✵-
"A path? In the Pinedark?" Rea asked, voicing the question on everyone's mind.
What Iksthanis had stumbled upon, and what had given rise to his cry was, indeed, a path, and it appeared to lead in exactly the direction they meant to go.
"Do the barrowlings make paths?" Obi asked, studying the cleared ground and hard-packed earth with care. The path was three paces wide, and while winding, ran in an overall westerly direction through the pines.
"No," Sev said. "They do not, but we have little time to puzzle out who would and why. For the moment, let us take what the gods have placed in our way, and hope it is a blessing."
A shriek echoed through the pines, and they saw they had little other choice: many pale shapes now moved, just visible in the gloom.
"They're gathering for an attack," Rea said, nocking an arrow on her bowstring but not drawing it. Triss did the same.
"Let's move," Sev said. "No running, now. Fast movement might trigger them. Iksy, Obi—how are the torches?"
"Out cold," Iksthanis said.
"Mine's still lit," said Obi, "sort of." He blew on the remnants of smoldering fabric, making it glow a dull orange.
"Get me some flames," Sev ordered. "The more the better."
In moments, Obi's torch blazed, Iksy's was rekindled, and Behn, Sevhalim, and Galen each held a torch of their own.
All the while they had been moving, walking as quickly as they dared, following the path through the trees.
It did not lead in a straight line, but this was indeed a point in its favor, for it skirted the small ravines into which they would otherwise have run headlong, and kept to more level ground. The larger ravines had been bridged with the trunks of felled pines.
"These cuts are not more than two years old," Sev remarked, studying the end of a log. "The path was made recently."
"Interesting," Rea remarked. "Who would go to the trouble of building a path here? There's nothing in the Pinedark but pines and barrowlings."
"It's good hunting ground, or it was," Sev said. "For a barrowling hive to get this big, there must be a good supply of food, though I imagine they've depleted most of it by now."
"Explains why they're so interested in us, I guess," Iksthanis said. "We're far from easy targets, but if they're desperate they'll go after anything."
"They won't let us go easily, either," Rea said. "If we're as near the forest's edge as we hope, they'll make their move soon."
Even as she spoke, a pale from slipped from the gloom and crossed the path ahead of them, and Galen got his first good look at a barrowling.
It had a roughly human shape, but with strange, thin proportions. Its arms were as long as its legs, its skin was a wrinkled gray-white, and its fingers and toes were long and spidery. It walked on all fours with a curved spine, and when it turned its face towards them, Galen saw fan-like ears, a flattened nose, large eyes sunk in deep sockets, and a toothy mouth that stretched nearly to the hinges of the jaws. It reminded Galen of a large, hairless bat, lacking wings.
It stopped in the center of the trail and looked at them, tilted its head to the side, opened its jaws, and emitted the strange, low clicking sound they had grown accustomed to hearing lately. Hearing it from the source sent a shiver up Galen's spine, and a wash of horror through his mind. It wasn't quite language, but it was close enough.
"What is it doing?" he whispered, moving a little closer to Sev's side. He was glad he had a torch, but wished he had a weapon as well. If only he'd had the foresight to fashion himself a staff—the stem of a pine sapling would have served well—but there was no time now.
"Testing us, maybe," Sev murmured. "Trying to drive us from the path. We have the advantage here, with room to fight. If they get us in the thickets or a gully, we're done."
"What do we do?" Obi asked.
They had continued along the path towards the barrowling as they spoke, but the creature kept its distance, moving away from them at the same speed.
"I don't like this, Sev," said Rea. "It's like it's leading us along. Something's not right."
"Keep your calm," Sev said. "Everyone. We must stay together. If we run, we run as one. Understand?"
They continued as Sev said, nerves tingling and on high alert. On either side, pale shapes darted in and out of sight through the gloom, while ahead of them the lone barrowling remained on the path.
Something tickled Galen's face and he brushed sweat and grime from his brow and pine needles from his hair. A bit of pine bark bounced off his nose and he swiped his hand through his hair a second time. Then a pine needle hit his hand and he looked up.
It took him a moment to understand what he saw—why the branches overhead seemed to undulate; then he shouted and shoved Sev aside just as a barrowling dropped from above. Missing its target, it released a hissing shriek, which cut short as Triss put an arrow through its eye. It fell in a crumpled heap, dead before it hit the ground.
"They're above us!" Galen shouted, pointing. "They're in the trees!"
Even as he spoke, more barrowlings dropped from above. Rea shot one, while another landed on Behn, knocking him flat. Behn screamed in fright, and Sev kicked the creature in the side, sending it sprawling with a shrill cry. Galen rushed to help Behn, and another barrowling leaped from the shadows, hinged jaws wide. Galen saw a row of sharp teeth and fell back, lifting his hands in defense, but Obi stabbed it through the base of the skull from behind. Two more tackled him, and he screamed as one bit down on his hand. Sev dispatched one with his sword, and Triss took care of the other.
With more shrieks and clicks, the barrowlings retreated, their ambush foiled.
"Shit. That one was distracting while the rest moved into place!" Rea said.
"Obi, you okay?"
The bearded man nodded, grimacing as he wrapped his hand in a strip of cloth meant for a torch. "Fine."
Sev nodded. "Good. Because it's time to run."
"Stick together!" Iksthanis yelled as they broke into a sprint. The path was wide enough they could move as a group, and Sev kept Galen as close to the center as he could.
Clicks and growls filtered down from the boughs overhead and from the pines all around.
The chase was on.