find some way to get it away from her. I don't know why I bothered. Now that she's sacrificed most of her village's population, there's no point in her returning there. She could be anywhere by now.'
The winged woman rode with the rest of the party until they stopped for the night.
They set up camp in the foothills on a bluff from which they could survey Daggerdale for miles to the north, south, and west. Jas left the horses to graze in a meadow below the bluff while Joel and Jedidiah collected firewood and Holly finished cleaning the pheasants she'd shot that morning. They had just finished their meal of pheasant, berries, and hard black bread from the Zhentilars' saddlebags when a howling rose from the dale to their north.
'Nine hells!' Jas cursed with fury. 'We forgot to make sure he was dead this time,' she growled at Joel.
'Well, we could hardly dig him out from beneath the rubble just to burn him,' Joel argued.
'We don't know it's Bear,' Holly said.
'It's him,' Jas said. 'I'd know that howl anywhere.'
'Bear. That's the man the Xvimists transformed into a creature to track you, right?' Jedidiah asked.
'He said he could feel our power wherever our feet touched the earth,' Holly explained.
'He also said he would have lost us but for the power of the fourth one traveling with us,' Jas added. She glowered angrily at Jedidiah. 'That was you, wasn't it? You've been following us.'
Joel looked questioningly at the old priest.
Jedidiah looked up sheepishly at the young bard. 'It's true. I have been following you since you escaped from the Temple in the Sky,' he admitted. 'Finder asked me to look after you in case you needed any help.'
'Instead of helping us, you've been acting as a beacon,' Jas complained.
'I'm sorry,' Jedidiah apologized. 'I had no idea.'
Joel's mind was racing with questions. Why was Finder so protective of him, to the point of troubling the older priest with his safety? Didn't Finder or Jedidiah trust his ability to reach the Lost Vale? Had the pilgrimage to the Lost Vale been a test? Was that why Jedidiah hadn't revealed himself until they'd been pinned in the valley?
'I suppose,' Jedidiah said, 'it would be best if I left you and led this creature away.'
'No!' Joel said suddenly. 'You can't risk going off in this wilderness alone.'
'In case you hadn't noticed,' Jas countered, 'he got here alone. According to Bear, he's got a lot of power. He can take care of himself.'
'No,' Holly said. 'If it is Bear, he may easily have found reinforcements. There are plenty of Zhentilar units patrolling the countryside, some commanded by priests of Xvim. It's folly to travel with that sort offeree tracking you without someone to watch your back, no matter how powerful you are. We should stick together. And if you try to sneak off,' she added, waving a finger in Jedidiah's face, 'we'll have to come after you. So don't even think about it.'
Jedidiah smiled sheepishly at the paladin's reprimand. He looked at Joel.
'She's right,' the younger bard agreed. He gave Jas a warning glare not to contradict him.
'Well,' Jedidiah said, stretching and yawning, 'if we're going to be outrunning this dark stalker and Zhent patrols, we'd better get some rest. I'll take that rock over there for a pillow if no one else has claimed it.'
Exhausted from flying, Jas begged off from the first watch. Joel and Holly sat together on the bluff, watching the new moon rise.
'Somewhere around here,' Holly said, 'maybe on this very bluff, Lord Randal's great-great-great- grandfather and his entourage died trying to destroy a tribe of vampires that plagued his people. They killed every last vampire, only to be torn apart by wolves.'
'Are there any happy tales in Daggerdale's history?' Joel asked teasingly.
'One day soon there will be,' Holly said, but Joel could not get her to say more.
Firestars like those around Anathar's Dell settled around their cookfire, magically absorbing its energy, eventually extinguishing it, but the night was too warm to worry about it. The breeze wafting up from the dale was laden with the perfume of night-blooming flowers. Unfortunately, it also carried the howling up the bluff. The noise was growing closer, but there was no sign of any Zhentilar patrols.
Holly woke Jas for the second watch. Joel was considering taking Jedidiah's watch so the old man could sleep, but the elderly priest woke on his own, looking far more fresh and alert than Joel. The young bard settled down near Holly. Despite the howling, Joel felt completely safe with Jedidiah on watch. He wondered if his trust in the old man wasn't a little childish, but then he remembered how Bear had claimed to sense so much power in 'the fourth one.' The young bard fell asleep within minutes.
Joel dreamed it was dawn. The sky grew as red as blood, and the sun crested the horizon, burning with white flame. The sun rushed toward him, then passed him, knocking him to his knees with a blast of hot wind. When he looked up again, Holly's form was a black silhouette against the brilliant, white-hot sun. Although Joel heard nothing, he knew the sun was speaking to the girl.
'Joel, wake up!' Holly cried out, shaking him by the shoulders.
Joel's eyes snapped open, and he sat bolt upright, expecting to see the unnatural dawn. It was still night. The air was cool. Joel was bathed in sweat, however, as if he'd slept too close to the fire, but the fire was out. Holly appeared to be damp, too.
'What's wrong?' the bard croaked, his throat parched.
Holly mopped her brow with her sleeve. 'I had a dream, but I think it was more than that. The sunrise came to me to warn me that something bad is going to happen. I think-I think it was a vision from Lathander,' the girl whispered.
Joel shuddered. Having a vision from Finder hadn't seemed too alarming, but having Holly's vision from the god she served-that was disturbing.
'Did the vision give you any more details?' the bard asked, trying to keep calm by analyzing the vision.
'There's evil approaching,' the paladin warned. 'Great evil.'
'Bear?'
Holly shook her head.
'The Zhents? More priests of Xvim?'
'No,' the girl replied with more headshakes. 'Something evil is coming. Something as cold as death and as dark as a crypt, smelling of dust, so evil it hurt to sense its presence.' Joel sighed. Finder's vision had been slightly cryptic, but Lathander's was maddeningly obtuse.
'There was one other thing,' Holly said.
'What?' Joel asked eagerly.
'You weren't there. There was death all around, but you were gone.'
Joel looked around for Jedidiah, hoping perhaps the old priest would have some insight into what Holly had sensed.
Jas stood lookout near the edge of the bluff, but of Jedidiah there was no sign.
'Jas,' Joel called out, 'where's Jedidiah?' His question echoed through the hills, a chorus of Joel's inquiring about the old priest.
Jas turned from the bluff and strode back to the campsite.
'You want to shout your question again?' the winged woman growled softly, her voice dripping with sarcasm. 'I don't think they heard you back at the Flaming Tower.'
'Where is he?' Joel hissed.
'He walked down into the brush,' she answered, tossing her head in the direction of the bushes they'd crawled through to reach the top of the bluff.
'You know he was thinking of trying to lead Bear off our track. How could you let him leave? How could you be so selfish?' he demanded accusingly.
'It was just a call of nature,' Jas said, exasperated with the bard's anxiety. 'He went down there only a few minutes ago. If he had been gone much longer, I would have wakened you.'
Joel huffed. He snatched up his sword and tied it to his belt. 'I'm going to check on him,' he said to the paladin. 'You better stay with Jas.'
The young bard scrambled downhill through the brush, righting the urge to shout out for the old priest, praying he was still nearby.
