ever eluded a snatching hand, and stalked forward, crouching low.
Florin pointed at Jhessail and then at Pennae, indicating she should watch over the thief's advance. Islif was already waving at the priests to keep eyes out east and south, as she swung around to peer back along the Ride behind them.
Pennae turned and came back to them. 'A very old road but used recently by lots of horses, some oxen, and wagons. Mules, before that. Doust, get down off that beast, and come with me.'
The quietest of the Knights blinked at her and then looked at Florin, who nodded.
Doust sighed. 'Tymora be with me,' he muttered and swung himself awkwardly down, almost falling from his horse.
Wincing at the stiffness riding had given his thighs, he stumbled after Pennae, who shot out a hand to catch hold of his nearest elbow, dragged him to a halt, and with a glare and some wordless miming, indicated he should try to move as stealthily as she was.
Doust rolled his eyes, kissed the holy symbol of Tymora he wore around his neck, grinned at her, and attempted stealth. The result made Pennae roll her eyes.
'Follow about a dozen strides behind me,' she whispered. 'Quiet is better than haste, but keep me in sight. If I'm attacked, yell for everyone to come running.'
Without another word or looking for his nod, she turned away, sank down into a wary crouch, and set off through the tall grass with no more sound than faint whispers.
Doust watched her go, thinking she looked remarkably like just another tree-shadow. She very soon became hard to see, blending into the dark trunks of stunted trees and the gloomy shadows under leafy boughs. Without thinking overmuch, just trying to keep the curvaceous thief in sight, he followed her.
Grass and dead, brittle-dry shrub branches crackled under his boots, and he was startled by something dark rising up right beside his face.
Before Doust could turn his head, whatever it was bit the lobe of his ear gently-and then caught hold of his wrist when he instinctively flung up his hand to strike whatever was biting him away.
'Stay right here,' Pennae breathed into the ear she'd nipped. 'Don't move at all. Not at all. Until I come back for you.'
Eyes fixed on his, she sank down to her knees, vanishing into the tall grass as if the ground were swallowing her, and… was gone. The priest of Tymora stood alone, staring around uncertainly, with the faintest of breezes ghosting past his throbbing ear.
Until Pennae rose up out of the grass again right in front of him, looming up dark and sinuous and sending him stumbling back on his heels with a startled 'Eeep!' that made her grin like a satisfied vixen.
Without a word she stepped around Doust and back out into the road to rejoin the rest of the Knights, leaving the priest to scramble after her.
He did so, murmuring a heartfelt prayer to Tymora to keep all of their skins intact in the days ahead. Ears included.
Chapter 5
Hiding behind our Lady For in every blood fray we fight And every exploit shady We're nay so bad as priests so bright Who daily hide behind 'Our Lady'
The road leads to a hollow much used as a caravan camp, if I'm not mistaken,' Pennae told her fellow Knights. 'Old fire rings, stumps of trees that have been felled, dried, and burned as firewood, and a little creek that's been churned into mud by the hooves of horses and draft oxen. Out the back of the camp glade, the trail goes on, deeper into the forest, but it's really overgrown. No one has used it for a very long time.'
'So this is our way off the Ride?' Florin asked quietly. At Pennae's nod he swung down from his saddle, waved to the rest of the Knights to follow, and started to lead his horse into the trees. Everyone followed, Pennae quickly capturing the reins of Doust's mount with her own.
By the time the Ornament of Tymora reached the hollow, Jhessail and Florin were heading back past him, out to the Ride to watch for Dauntless. At the sight of Pennae and Doust, Semoor beckoned and called, 'Help me hobble our-'
Pennae let go of her fistful of reins, sprinted to him almost as fast as a speeding arrow, and caught hold of his chin.
'Idiot of Lathander,' she hissed into his face, 'shut up. Shouts and raised voices carry far. We're none of us deaf. Yet. Dauntless could be just the other side of yon duskwood, hmm? Stop trying to be a grand-voiced priest bellowing to impress folk in the next kingdom, and start being an adventurer. Talk only when you must, say as few words as possible, and say them quietly. Dolt.'
'I love you, too,' Semoor muttered as she let go of his jaw and strode past him. 'Hey, don't you hobble horses?'
'I've work yet to do,' she hissed, swiveling at the hips to answer him without slowing, then turning smoothly back to face forward again as she plunged into the deep woods at the back of the clearing. Once more she sank into a crouch and became a silent, flitting shadow, scouting along the overgrown continuation of the trail.
Doust and Semoor exchanged looks and shrugs and then bent in unison to see to hobbling the horses.
Not that there was much to do. Islif had already set to work, clamping her large hands around bits and rings to quell janglings. The two priests joined her. They were just finishing when Florin and Jhessail burst back into the hollow.
'Dauntless!' the lady wizard snapped, 'and five Dragons with him! Mounted and heading right here as if they use this camp all the time!'
The two priests stared at her helplessly.
'Where'll we-? The horses!' Doust said.
'There's no place to go!' Semoor added.
'Get into the trees,' Florin and Jhessail commanded in unison.
Jhessail promptly plunged past Doust and Semoor, doing just that, as the ranger snapped, 'Leave the horses! We make poorer targets if we spread out. Keep low and work magic from behind trees where the likes of Dauntless can't get good swings at us! Go!'
The priests went.
Islif beckoned Florin as she headed across the hollow back behind the Knights' hobbled horses. It was the only way to have any hope of intercepting Pennae when she inevitably tired of poking around in the foresr and came back.
'Someone's been through here,' a man said, his voice coming from the direction of the Ride. 'Can't still be here now, though. There's not an outlaw or a sneak-thief in the kingdom as can escape my scrutiny, know you.'
The speaker pushed through the tall grass, on foot and leading — J. his horse. Seeing the hobbled horses ahead, he stopped midword, jaw dropping in astonishment.
'Well, Morkoun?' someone jeered from behind him. 'I s'pose ye'll now try to tell us yon horses are neirher outlaws nor sneak-thieves and so managed to sneak past thy eagle-keen-'
'Will you dolts shut up?' Ornrion Taltar Dahauntul snarled. 'Horses mean either horse thieves have left these nags-and 'tis an addled-fool place to leave them, now, isn't it? — or more likely, their riders have gone into hiding in the trees all around us here, just a breath or two ago! Why, they could be the Knights themselves! If you shattered-helm-brains hadn't been so cursed talkative, a-chattering through your unthinking, worthless lives, we might be staring at people now, not just their happily grazing horses!'
He urged his horse forward, pointing impatiently with his sword. 'Look! Saddles still on them, and
