over the edge.
Beneath him were the scout-now with his hair bound up in a tail and wearing clothing identical to the kind Darkwind had worn-and a pair of handsome dyheli stags. One carried a light pack, the other did not even have a cloth on its back. Beside them was Cymry, looking up at him with merry blue eyes, as if she was amused by his startlement.
'I'm ready,,' he replied to all of them. 'I'm pretty much packed.
Look out, I'm going to toss the stuff down.' Wintermoon and the rest backed up a little, giving him room for the drop. He dropped the saddle and the pack containing his clothing and nonbreakables over the edge of the balcony; he brought the rest down the staircase, slung over his back.
By the time he reached the ground, Wintermoon had already saddled Cymry for him, and was waiting for the rest of the gear. 'You should try the Shin'a'in saddles,' the Tayledras scout observed, as Skif pushed aside an enormous leaf that overhung the trail to join them. I think you both would find them more comfortable.'
'Maybe,' Skif replied, dropping his pack on the ground, and holding up the hackamore for Cymry so that she could slip her nose into it. 'But the Shin'a'in don't have to contend with anything other than the plains.
We've got a lot of different terrain to cross, a lot of jobs to do, and sometimes we have to be able to sleep in the saddle or strap ourselves on because of wounds.' He faltered for a moment, as an ugly memory intruded; he resolutely ignored it, and continued. 'I'll try their saddles some time, but we've put a lot of time and work into that design, and I'm not sure there's any way to improve it.' Cymry nodded, which apparently surprised Wintermoon. Skif was going to ask where his birds were, when one of them dropped down out of the tree to land on the laden dyheli's pack, and the other followed to land on the unladen one's horns. The stags were both evidently used to this; the second dyheli held his head steady until the owl hopped from the horns to Wintermoon's shoulder. 'Mobile tree branches,' the Tayledras grinned.
'So I see. I told Elspeth that I was going out to hunt for Need,' Skif told the scout, 'I told her that I didn't think we could afford to have a major power like that out loose and not know where it was or what it was doing. She agreed, but I don't think she believed that was the only reason.'
'I doubt you could fool your friend on matters of the heart,' Wintermoon replied. 'At least, not for long. Except, perhaps, for her own; I have noted that few people are good judges of their own hearts.' Skif flushed, and decided not to answer that statement. 'Have you got any ideas about where we should start looking?' he asked instead.
'I mean, I know you haven't had much chance to think about this since last night, but-'
'Actually, I have,' Wintermoon interrupted, surprisingly. 'I spent some time last night reviewing what I would do if I were in her place.
So I know where she might be, I think-or rather, I know where we need not look. Here-' He pulled out a map from a pouch at his belt and spread it on the ground. Skif pulled the last buckle on Cymry's packs tight and crouched down on his heels beside the scout. Cymry craned her neck around to look over his shoulder.
'-here, is the Vale.' Wintermoon pointed at an oval valley on the rim of the crater-wall that marked the rim of the Dhorisha Plains. 'Nyara will not have run to the west, neither south nor north; to the west and south were her father's lands. To the west and north, that is untamed, unhealed, tainted land) full of creatures that are as bad or worse than anything that her father commanded.'
'And she knows this?' Skif asked.
Wintermoon snorted. 'She cannot have avoided knowing. No matter how closely he kept her mewed, if she had any contact with the world outside his walls, she would have known. We had intended to bracket the area between this Vale and the new one-well, that is of no matter now. She will not have gone west unless she is an utter fool. Nor will she have gone south.'
'Because that's the Dhorisha Plains,' Skif said, absently, studying the map.
'Yes. So, that leaves east and north. She may have gone east-she can go east-but here-' he indicated a shaded area on the map. 'This pattern means that the lands here are healed. If she goes there, she will encounter farms and settlements. If she goes further, she must meet towns, villages, and people who are unused to seeing creatures that are not wholly human. She will surely encounter trade-roads, traders, caravans.
No, I do not think she would go very far to the east.'
'And if she went due north?' Skif asked.
'Ah-again, she will encounter a border, this time the territory guarded by another Clan. They may not be as kindly disposed toward her as we. Certainly, since they will not know her, they will regard her with suspicion and even hostility.' Wintermoon sat back on his heels. ' SO you see, she must be within this area.' His forefinger described a rough oblong on the map. 'Those are the lands we once claimed, but we have let run wild, as we pulled back our borders. That is where I think we shall find her.' Skif nodded, and considered the map. 'None of it is very far from where the scouts patrol,' he observed. 'In fact, we could go out there and start our search, and come back to the Vale every few days to see how matters are progressing here-and whether or not we're going to be needed after all.'
'My thought exactly,' the scout said, picking up the map and folding it. He stood up, stowing the folded parchment in his pouch again. 'In this way we fulfill our own wishes and our duty to the Clan as well.' He gave Skif an odd sideways grin that Skif returned.
'Why do I have the feeling that you're as good at that as I am?' he asked slyly. 'Getting your own way by threading through rules and obligations, I mean.'
'What, I?' Wintermoon replied, widening his eyes innocently. Then he laughed. 'Come, we are birds of the same flock, you and I. We know each other. Yes?' He turned and mounted the second stag bareback, saving Skiff from having to answer that question.
Skif took his time mounting, settling himself into the saddle with a sigh. Not that he didn't enjoy partnering with Cymry, but it had been a long journey and he'd been glad it looked as if they were staying in one place for a while. Well, it had looked that way, until he'd realized that Nyara was gone and wasn't coming back. Now they were on the trail again...'oh, you won't be in the saddle as much as you think,' Cymry told him affectionately. 'Don't forget, Wintermoon is going to have to look over the ground out there very closely for clues. Actually, if I were you, I'd let him teach me about tracking in the wild; I think you could learn a lot from him.
I know I'll be paying attention.' Skif was a little surprised at her matter-of-fact acceptance of this excursion.
