"Lying?" Morgan repeated, surprised.
"Not so loud!" the stable hand whispered harshly. "Yes, he was lying."
"How do you know?"
Renna arched her eyebrow and shot the ranger a pointed look.
"All right," Morgan conceded, "I guess you would know."
"So what are you going to do?"
The ranger shrugged.
"Nothing?"
"It doesn't change the fact that we still need to find out what did that to the fields."
Renna grasped Morgan's arm sharply, causing him to flinch. "All they have done is lie to us, and you're just going to follow them blindly and not ask any questions? What reason do you have to trust either of them, especially Zanadar, he almost got you-both of us-killed, or had you forgotten about that already?"
Morgan started to respond, but the big man noticed the commotion and turned away from Elandar. "And what are you two arguing about?" he asked, grinning broadly.
Renna nestled her head up against the ranger's arm and flashed a sweet smile. "Who says we're arguing?" At that, Morgan began to blush furiously, which elicited only a larger grin from the big man.
"I see," he said.
"I wish you wouldn't do that," the ranger mumbled quietly after Zanadar had turned his attention elsewhere.
She looked back up at him. Her large brown eyes narrowed slightly as a fiendish smirk spread across her lips. She gazed at the ranger coolly for a moment, which made him quite uncomfortable, then abruptly laughed and turned away. Morgan was not quite sure how he was supposed to take that, but was convinced talking would only make it worse. He let out a brief sigh and continued into the village.
The worn road leading back through Rindol Field now teamed with activity. Halflings pushing carts of all shapes and sizes full of a variety of crops from the fields weaved in an out of larger wagons drawn by small teams of ponies. Though even with all the movement the town's residents still managed to appear relaxed and generally content.
It did not take long to reach the small stable building. The party quickly gathered their horses, apologizing profusely to an irate young stable boy whom Gray seemed to have offended dearly, and after a brief stop to gather a small amount of supplies, departed.
On horseback, the group stuck out from the rest of the crowd, and attracted quite a bit of attention. Taller visitors were fairly common to Rindol Field, but visitors wearing armor and weapons such as Zanadar's were not. Elandar received many friendly waves as townsfolk recognized him from the previous night, each of which he returned with a dark glower.
"How odd," Renna observed as they continued back towards the farm, "They seem to like you, Elandar."
"They're Halflings," the old man huffed, "They like everything."
Soon they had reached Farmer Harkin's field again. The party rode around the side of his modest home and began down the hill. The mayor seemed to have left, but Morgan could see Jon off in the distance tending to a group of plants. He looked up as they passed and waved. "Good luck," he called out.
The tracks were not hard to follow at first. They continued down into the muddied valley and stayed mostly on lower ground. Morgan had tracked animals much smaller working on much less many times before. Though the grass was tall and thick, this was relatively simple. Even someone who did not know what they were looking for could have very well followed this particular trail.
They rode at a leisurely pace, talking idly while Morgan surveyed the ground around them. "There doesn't appear to be any particular pattern here," the ranger observed after a while.
"What do you mean?" asked Renna.
Zanadar pointed at the scattered imprints in the ground. "He means it looks like they just wandered aimlessly through the valley until they reached Jon Harkin's farm."
"Right," Morgan said, nodding, "And there is no consistency to their movement. Sometimes they are running, other times they are walking. At times they're going straight and others just in circles."
Renna leaned off Gray's back slightly and stared at the ground suspiciously. "You can tell all of that just by looking at some footprints?"
"It has to do with how deep and how far apart they are." Morgan explained, "Once you know what to look for it really is not that hard." He gazed across the valley. "Though it is going to more difficult. The trail looks like it is going to lead up over that hill, which means it will be harder to follow."
"...Because it's not where all the mud was." Renna said.
"Exactly," Zanadar replied, "We will have you tracking with the best of the rangers in no time."
She looked at Morgan and grinned. "I already am," she boasted playfully.
The big men held up his hands. "I stand corrected," he agreed as they neared the end of the valley. Despite Zanadar and the stable hand's joking, Morgan did his best to follow the trail up side of the hill. There were very few solid tracks but several moderately sized patches of displaced dirt amongst the tall grass suggested recent activity.
Unfortunately, the patches seemed to have no point of origin. They were scattered over the hillside in no particular order and worse yet, did not continue up past the crest of the foothill. He frowned.
"What is it?" Zanadar asked.
"I am having trouble picking up the trail," the ranger admitted, "There's no prints here and though I would wager a good deal those dirt piles came from them too, they don't go anywhere."
"Don't worry Morgan," Renna teased in a reassuring tone, "We still think you're the best. Don't we Zanadar?"
"Right," the big man replied. He peered down off his saddle at the ground. For several moments he scanned the area for any signs of passage, leading his horse in small circles through the grass. "I don't see anything either," he reported at last.
"I knew a blind ranger once," Elandar stated suddenly.
Morgan blinked, still concentrating on the ground. "What?"
"He could track better than both of you combined."
The ranger looked up. The old man had ridden a short distance ahead, stopping at the top of the hill. "All right..." he said uneasily, unsure exactly how to respond.
"Do I have to do everything myself?" Elandar muttered something under his breath and pointed out in front of him. "Look," he said as he peered out into the countryside.
The rest of the group rode up next to the old man and followed his gaze down the hill. "What are we looking for?" Zanadar asked.
"You don't see it?" Elandar replied, sounding somewhat surprised.
Morgan surveyed the landscape before him. Rolling green hills continued to stretch out beyond his vision. Trees of varying sizes springing from the high grass littered the countryside. Small pockets of bushes grew around their base and frequently spread out farther into the landscape.
It was nearing midday. The sun now sat almost directly overhead, warming the usually brisk Thestran countryside. A large flock of birds soared through the sky in the distance, calling out to one another as they dove and twisted about in the air.
The big man let out an annoyed curse. "Don't answer a question with a question. What am I looking for?"
"I'm not quite sure what you want us to see either," Morgan offered.
Elandar held out his staff and pointed off into the distance. "Look," he said, "Near the tree on that hill."
The ranger narrowed his eyes, trying to spot what the old man was pointing at. The hill looked to be fairly close, but he knew it was actually deceptively far. It would take them at least a few hours to reach it.
"I still don't know what you're talking about," Zanadar said between clenched teeth, nearly growling.
"Do you see that brown patch on the ground? It's a pile of dirt similar to those behind us."
"Similar?" the big questioned acidly.
"They are the exact same thing, meathead. Whatever made these made that. Don't use that tone with me."
Morgan could barely make out the brown patch. Had the old man not labeled it as such he would have never noticed it. "Are you sure that's what that is?" Morgan asked politely, "I can't really tell."
"Of course I'm sure, tenderfoot." Elandar shot back, "You think just because I'm old that means I can't see anymore. I will have you know that my eyes are more capable right now than yours will ever be."
The ranger gave Zanadar a questioning look.
"Well, we don't have much else to work off of," the big man replied, "We might as well go and see."
They rode in silence for a time, each seemingly content with the company of their own thoughts. Morgan continually scanned the ground beneath them as the horses trudged onward. A few times, he spotted marks that could have been made by the creatures they followed. Or they could have been made by wolves, he had no way of telling for sure and was beginning to have doubts that the old man had in fact, seen what he had claimed.
By the time they reached the point Elandar had spotted, it was mid afternoon. The sun hung heavily in the sky and had long since dried the morning dew. Though it was a pleasant day, a steady breeze kept the group chilled. As they crested the hill, Morgan could clearly see the large patch of displaced dirt. It sat a few dozen paces to the side of a lone, gnarled tree. Its thick trunk was short, and sprouted off into several directions just a few feet above the ground. The tree's branches stretched over the hilltop and were thick with leaves, forming a near canopy over all beneath.
Scrubby bushes spread out from under it and back over the other side of the hill. It looked as though something had dug a shallow, circular trench into the soft earth, piling the loose soil up on one side.
The dirt at the bottom of the trench had been packed tightly into the ground. Morgan slid out of his saddle and kneeled next to it to look closer. He stood up and gazed back at Elandar, a look of surprise on his face.
"It's very faint, and I can barely see it but there is definitely a track in there," he reported. "I never would have seen this, Elandar. How did you spot it?"
"Great, now he'll never be quiet about it," Zanadar muttered under his breath.
The old man shot Zanadar a caustic glance. "My hearing is even better than my sight, you know." He turned his attention back to the ranger and shook his staff with one bony old hand, "And by the gods, I'm a mighty wizard! How do you think I spotted it? Don't look so surprised."
The big man peered into the shallow trench from atop his horse. "It looks like a shelter of some sort," he said conclusively. "They probably slept here, which would explain why the bottom is packed so tightly."
Morgan nodded. "That's what I was thinking." He peaked out over the side of the hill. His face brightened a bit as he saw the land stretched out before him. Several small bushes had been quite obviously trampled by something heavy. Beyond that though, there was nothing. "Well, it isn't much," he said, "But I can tell you they went this way."
"It's a good start," the big man replied. He rode around the dirt shelter, next to where the ranger stood and peered out over him to the south. "And judging by the looks of that," he gestured at the next closest hill in the direction Morgan had indicated, "They stayed in the valley. The soil is loose and rocky, and the incline too steep. It would be easier to just go around rather than try to climb up."
Zanadar and Morgan both looked down into the valley with their eyes narrowed, they gazed appraisingly at the land below.
"So did they go east or west then?" Renna asked finally, after a long silence.
"Hard to say," the ranger answered, "Upwind most likely, but we don't have anyway of knowing which way the wind was blowing when they passed through here."
"Well," the big man said with a shrug, "The wind is blowing east now."
"East then?" Morgan asked.
"Wait a minute," Renna interrupted, "You're just going to guess? You don't have any kind of ranger tricks to tell you which way they went?"
"A great deal of tracking is guess work, Renna." Zanadar answered for Morgan.
She frowned. "That isn't a very reassuring thing to hear."
"The trick is to guess right," he said with a grin, "That's what separates the good trackers from the bad."
It took only a few minutes for the group ride down into the valley. As suspected, there were no additional tracks or signs of the creatures to be had, so they continued on to the east. They stuck to low ground as they circled through the dense grass around the base of the large hill.
Gradually, the ground began to slope upward to meet the hilltops and they found themselves rising out of the valley. There was still no sign of the creatures, but they continued nonetheless. Soon, the group stood atop a small knoll among a narrow cluster of trees overlooking the surrounding countryside.
"We haven't seen anything for a while now," the big man pointed out. He glanced up at the sky. The sun was beginning to sink into the horizon. "If we're going to circle back we need to make a decision soon, we only have another hour or so of daylight left."
Morgan surveyed the area around them. Behind the party, to the north, the hills rolled back into the distance and out of sight. To the south, the land flattened into a grassy field and gradually sloped downward. With a sigh, the ranger turned back towards Zanadar. He opened his mouth to reply, but stopped short. Several hundred paces out into the tall grass something moved. Something big.
He looked to the big man.
Zanadar nodded. "I saw it too."
