had asked Melor to show him the way of such a weapon, Melor had demonstrated:
' 'Tis known as one of the great weapons,' said Melor, flourishing the spear. 'Thou canst stab with it-hai!-or use its blade as a cutting weapon-uwah!-nigh as well as a sword, though I must admit it has a long helve for such. Too, thou canst wield it in place of a quarterstaff-an e da!-or as a lance ahorse-cha! Lastly, thou canst cast it at a foe'-Melor hurled the weapon and spitted a shock of hay-'yet I would not advise flinging any weapon away except if no other choice presents itself.'
'Huah,' exclaimed Beau, 'here all along I thought a spear was for throwing and little else.'
'Nay, my friend'-Melor drew the spear from the hay and brushed stray stems from the blade-'that is the last of its uses.'
Together Melor and Beau ranged far and wide across the glades and among the trees, and down in the fens as well. And Beau soon had his medicks well stocked, for Melor was an excellent herbalist and guide.
Tipperton, on the other hand, when he wasn't fletching, spent candlemarks at the target field, honing his already superb skill into one even the Elves admired.
And in the evenings he attended meetings held just for the scouts-poring over maps and listening to detailed descriptions of nearly every inch of the terrain 'tween here and there.
As days eked past, Tip's woe turned inward, and his eyes held an anguish deep… yet there, too, burned a simmering fire of rage. During the days he managed to set aside his heartache and devote his attention to preparing for war. Yet at night, at night, and alone in his bed, did grief in the darkness come sit at his side and fill the world entire.
At last, a fortnight and a day after the four had come to Bircehyll, Tip and Beau, Phais and Loric, along with the Elven host, they all set forth in a long cavalcade, astride horses-but for two ponies-with pack animals and spare mounts drawn behind.
They were heading for a rendezvous point some hundred miles away as the raven flies-longer by the route they would take-and ten days from now the Baeron were scheduled to come. As to the place they would meet, it was a clearing along the Landover Road, a principal east-west tradeway, anchored at one end at the high point of Crestan Pass in the Grimwalls and threading eastward through Darda Erynian and Riamon and Garia and Aralan and onward to lands far beyond.
And so, north they rode up through the heart of Darda Erynian, the cavalcade moving slowly among the thickset trees.
'I say,' murmured Beau as they fared 'round the perimeter of an open glade, 'did you notice, Tip, no shadows flickering out along our flanks?'
'Shadows?'
'Yar. When we first rode through these woods to Caer Lindor and then on to Bircehyll, it seemed that just beyond the corners of my vision there were flickers of movement, but each time I tried to see what was what, all I saw were shadows.'
'Hmm. Perhaps that's all it was: shadows… shifting shadows.'
Beau shook his head. 'Me, I think it was Hidden Ones dogging our passage.'
'And they're not doing it now?'
'Nar. They're all gone down south to deal with the Horde.'
At this reminder Tip's eyes brimmed, and he and Beau rode onward another league or so in silence. But then out of the clear blue Beau added, 'That, or they don't think we need watching, what with a whole Elven army at our beck.'
'What are you saying, Beau: that the Hidden Ones were protecting us before?'
'Wull, from what Phais and Loric and Ruar have said, perhaps they are a bit more friendly than I thought.' Beau threw up a quick hand of denial. 'Oh, not that I think they're to be taken lightly-oh, no, I still believe they're as dangerous as can be-but with Phais and Loric along and showing no concern over the fact that we were in Black- wood, mayhap th- Oh, my goodness, I just remembered.'
'What?'
'My dream. The one where Phais was talking to a shadow as a red fox stood by. Perhaps it wasn't a dream after all.'
Tip rode onward, considering, yet ere he came to any conclusions, word was passed back chain that Ruar would have the remaining scouts up front to receive their assignments, and all thoughts of Hidden Ones flew from the buccan's mind as he spurred his pony forward.
Tipperton was paired with a scout named Vail, and together they rode out on the left flank, the buccan following the Dylvana, for she knew how to avoid the dwelling places of the Hidden Ones.
'We would not want to disturb them,' said Vail, smiling, a sparkle in her dark blue eyes.
At four foot six, Vail was the tiniest Elf Tipperton had yet seen, though she towered over him by just short of a full four hands, fourteen inches in all. She was dressed in varying shades of green, including the dark leather band that held her black hair back from her face. Her feet were shod in soft boots, their leather also dyed a deep green. Like Tip, her weapon of choice was a bow, though a long-knife was girted at her waist.
Together, Tip on his gelded brown pony, Vail on a black and white palfrey mare, they roamed the woodlands out of sight of the main host.
Now and again Vail would stop and lean over to look at tracks, at times dismounting. In these places Tipperton would dismount as well, and together they would examine the spoor.
'Hast thou hunted a bit?' asked Vail as they examined a rather large track pressed into the soft earth.
'Coneys mostly,' said Tip, 'and marmots, though now and again I'd try for a pheasant or two.'
Vail nodded, then pointed at the print. 'This is a bear's track, likely black and likely a female if full grown, for were it younger, 'twould not be placed so firmly. Too, 'tis fresh-within this day-the edges mark it so. And see the spacing of this print from the next and the one after? It was walking cautiously. Mayhap a boar bear was nearby. And see this turned-up leaf…?'
And thus did Tipperton's education in tracking begin, and in the next days Vail took every opportunity to instruct him, including the tracking of the scouts preceding them on the fore left flank of the host.
In early morn some seven days after leaving Bircehyll, the cavalcade reached the clearing along the south side of Landover Road, a field commonly used as an overnight respite by merchant caravans passing through Darda Erynian. Yet even though the merchants used this ground, they did not stay overlong, for crowding 'round was Black-wood, a place of dire repute. Elsewhere along this route caravans camped on the road itself until they were free of this sinister place.
Yet when the Elven host arrived, a hundred or so wains were drawn up in the mead. And standing by were the wagoners: huge men and great strapping women, Baeron all, most of the males nearly seven feet tall, the females a hand or so shorter.
'Lor', but look at those monsters,' said Beau.
'Monsters?' asked Melon Beau pointed. 'Have you ever seen any so big?'
Off to one side and confined in simple rope pens were the large, powerful draft horses used to pull the wains, the dark brown animals fully eighteen hands high, each having white, feathered hair on its fetlocks.
Melor laughed. 'Ah, Beau, at first I thought you meant the Baeron.'
Beau grinned and said, 'Well, they're mighty big, too.' Then added, 'I say, let's go see what's in the wagons.' And leading the Elf, the buccan headed off into the rows of wains of the caravan, hence did not see Tipperton and Vail as they came into the clearing and dismounted.
After signaling for Dylvana pickets to take up ward, and seeing to the encampment of his host, Ruar sought out the Baeron leader and was directed to a redheaded woman named Bwen, who simply towered over the Coron. Together they called a small council of Baeron and Dylvana.
And Tipperton watched from a distance as the group conferred. After a while and much discussion, Ruar turned and spoke to Eilor, leader of the Dylvana scouts. And Eilor rose to his feet and stepped from the circle, his eye seeking and finding. In all he called four outriders together: Tipperton, Vail, Elon, and Lyra.
'Many of the Baeron are battling foe in the Grimwall, yet sundry of the clans will join us to break the siege at Mineholt North. There are yet three days ere the Baeron are due, time enough with remounts to ride the length of
