Odif's heart was in her throat; she had no idea how to save herself! To move her wings at all this close to the ground would send her in a wild tumble, but if she didn't do something she was going to hit the log wall at full tilt. Either way was death. A cry escaped her as she worked to angle her wings to gain some altitude. A quick idea flashed through her mind to slap her hands on the ground to help her get higher. The ground was just far enough below her, however, that she knew she would not make contact unless she dropped another foot, erasing the small gain she had just made. As the imposing wall raced at her, she kept trying to climb as she braced herself for the impact.

Suddenly, arms wrapped around her just below her shoulders.

"Up!" Shilo yelled as he hauled her vertical. All Odif could do was keep her wings set as they closed the last few yards to the wall. Climbing quickly with Shilo's help, she bent her knees back as the edge of the roof passed below her.

As they banked together, she realized she was clinging tightly to the arms around her.

"Can you land without splattering yourself?" he chuckled.

Her breath was coming back to her. "Yes," she said weakly.

She caught the air as he let go. She flew slower as she descended again into the street, this time pulling herself vertical to stumble into a jog as she landed. Her heart was racing from exertion and fear. Her legs were rubbery but held her up. She had never been so glad to be standing on her own two feet.

Landing beside her, Shilo waved a finger at her in a ano-noa gesture.

"You should practice a while before trying that. You could get yourself killed."

"I didn't mean to do it," she said as she looked around. "Did we scare everyone inside?"

"I didn't see anyone before you tried to ram that building," he told her. "You look in the ones on the left, I'll get the right. If you sense anyone just holler, don't go in."

Starting their search, they went down the street, looking into every hut. By the time they reached the end, Zit had arrived. He stayed in cat form, sniffing for evidence as he went along. The only thing they found was a large red stain in the road where blood had been spilled. Noting this, they searched inside every hut for clues asto where the villagers had gone. Odif found traces of magic, but very faint, nothing powerful enough to make the entire population flee in panic or force them to send their men to attack. Zit changed into elven form so he could tell them what he had found.

Standing in the deserted street together, the trio attempted to puzzle out the mystery.

"It happened early this morning, whatever it was," Zit told them.

"How do you know that?" Shilo asked.

"The bedding in almost every hut was on the floor," Odif explained.

"That's abnormal?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"For most people, yes."

Zit nodded down the street. "They left in a panic. Whoever was hurt in the street was taken with them."

Odif agreed. "Yes, we saw no pyres, and there is no body."

"Maybe they were still alive," Shilo said with a shrug.

Odif shook her head sadly. "There is enough blood there for two elves. Whoever it was, was bleeding very badly. If they were alive this morning, they aren't now."

Zit's eye's brightened. "Yes! They took him with them. With that pool, there has to be a blood trail. They left in a hurry, so I doubt they stopped to bind the wound until they were clear of the village. If we cannot find them then at least we will know which way they went."

Odif knew what he was thinking. "A wolf has the best nose and will not attract attention. I'll fly over you with Shilo and--"

"Whoa, whoa!" Shilo interrupted, shaking his hands at her. Pointing at Zit, he said, "You follow the trail," then turned his finger to Odif. "You go back and tell the others--and try not to run into anything. Those people are probably scared enough without you dropping out of the sky on them! I'll fly on ahead and let you know if I find anything. Me and Zit will be back before nightfall, whatever we find."

Odif knew he was right, but the way he said it irritated her. She watched as Zit took on the form of a gray wolf then trotted down the street with his nose to the ground. She was about to take off when Shilo put a hand gently on her shoulder.

"Hey, be careful. You look real cute like that, so don't go banging yourself up," he said with a grin.

Behind his attempt at humor, she saw concern in his eyes. "I will. Keep yourself and Zit out of trouble."

"I try," he said with a gleam in his eye. He then jumped into the air and was off with barely a flap of his wings.

Odif did a little better at this takeoff. Running down the street, she began to pump her wings. More used to the new muscles, she lifted off with much less effort than the first time. Climbing just above the treetops, she headed back towards the others.

Zit padded along through the overgrown fields, following the faint vapors wafting up from the ground. He had left the road; and even though the blood trail had ended, he still smelled elves. He had also picked up the scent of hoarcs. The blood trail had gone off the road, as did that of the hoarcs.

Whenever he shifted into an animal, his intellegence also made the shift. Being in canine form, he was not able to reason what this information meant, he just kept following the trail. He saw a large winged shape pass overhead. He knew the shape of his friend. His friend was beckoning him to follow faster.

Breaking into a loping run, Zit chased after him, still aware of the scents he was following. His friend flew low and landed up ahead. Zit ran to him then sat by him, licking his nose to help cool himself a bit. The wolf would not understand words, but the elf could. Thinking of the elf, Zit changed.

Once he had completed the transformation, he got up from all fours and told Shilo, "I smelled hoarcs. Either they have the elves or were chasing them."

"They got em." Shilo grimaced. "The women are roped together, and there is a wagon loaded with children towards the rear. One black knight, a wizard and around a hundred hoarcs. I don't think we can free them by ourselves."

"Maybe we can slow them down until we get the others here," Zit suggested.

Scratching his head, Shilo frowned at him. "This is getting weirder all the time. If hoarcs were chasing them, why did the men attack us?"

Zit's face turned grim. He recognized these tactics. "The same thing was done near the Great Lake during the War of Tears. They probably came in before dawn and dragged them out of bed. They forced the men to attack us by threatening to kill their families. The bloodstains we found are most likely from an unlucky woman who was used to show they meant business. It is a cruel but very effective way to get people to fight for you."

"And we are to think Elrad is responsible," Shilo concluded. "What will they do with the women and children now?"

"Slavery. That is, unless we charge in there. Then they'll start killing innocents hoping we will either back off or spend our energy trying to save those we can. Meanwhile, the leaders will disappear."

Shilo's fists clenched. When it came to fighting, he had always been one to jump right in and start whipping on someone. This was not combat, it was lowdown and cowardly, hiding behind defenseless people. "And if we go for the leaders then all those elves will die."

Zit nodded. "Did they see you?"

"Nope. So, how do we kill that slime?"

"We don't, not yet. Go tell Trelem, I'll shadow them. We have to get those women and children away from them somehow. Once they settle in for the night, I'll come find you. Set camp near an oak tree." Zit knelt down and shifted back into wolf form.

"Good luck, buddy." Shilo bent down and scratched behind his ear.

The sun was dipping below the horizon when Trelem led the group into the elven village to get ready for the coming battle. The huts allowed the wizards to prepare spells for later use. The large oak at the one end of the street was needed for the druid rituals and to prepare acorns, bark and leaves for the fight. Mother Freida, Sister Amber and the two knights knelt together, praying for the safe return of the captives and for victory over the forces of evil. The swords and shields of the slainelves the halshaken now had and were sharpening their blades.

Zit returned after dark, stepping out of the oak tree to greet Odif, who still bore her wings. They all went to the meeting hall to discuss what to do.

Jo-Jo the wizardcast a protection spell around the large room to ensure no prying eyes or ears could know their plans. Clearing away the tables and chairs, they gathered around Zit in the middle of the room as he made a simple sketch of the hoarc camp on the dirt floor. He explained the layout as he drew.

"In the center--here--are the women, they're still tied together. In a triangle around them are three fires, hoarcs around each. Just in front about twenty feet away is the knight and at least one wizard in a tent, with hoarc guards. In the back are the children--the wagon looks to be covered with a wooden cage. I saw ten hoarcs around them. The perimeter has four sets of three guards, and the nearest oaks are here, fifty feet to the left, and here, just behind the children, thirty feet away.a Zit sat back and looked up at Trelem. "Any direct attack we can come up with will not stop them from killing the women and children if they choose to."

The halshaken shaman gave a snap of his long jaws to indicate he had something to say.

"We must not let the presence of innocents stop us from destroying what we must," he hissed.

"Agreed," Scorpio told him, "but we have to save all of them we possibly can."

"What are the women wearing?" Gloredaniel asked.

"Peasant clothes--dresses, blouses and skirts, nothing unusual." Zit told her.

Nodding, she said, "What if Jo-Jo teleports in amon the women and protects them while I do the same with the children. Entaurus and Thlad will still be able to fight their wizards. If we all rush in, the confusion will give us the upper hand."

"How are we all going to get there?" Glier asked. "Maybe four wizards and two druids can show up by popping in. The rest of us have to walk it."

"I can fly in with Odif," Shilo offered, "That's two more."

"Hoarcs also see well at night, better than most of us," Tayan pointed out. "We go in there tonight, and we will not have surprise on our side."

"In the daytime with hoarc swords at the women's throats, we have no chance at all," Scorpio argued. "Halshaken are cold-blooded, the hoarcs will not see them coming."

Odif shook her head. "No, Tayan is right. We have to go in the daytime. Look at setup of their camp--they're expecting trouble. Their placement will allow them to fight us and kill the captives--that is, if we could get enough people there to do any good."

"We are not giving up on those people!" Scorpio said firmly. "There has to be a way to get enough of us in there to at least escape with the elves. We can go back and kill the hoarcs later."

"Zitalenarius, which way are they heading?" Trelem asked.

Zit was pleased that someone could pronounce his name. "They're following a streambed, heading for the river. By how fast they are traveling, I'd say they make it before noon tomorrow. If we can catch them crossing, maybe we can divide them up."

"We can wait on the river bottom and drag them under," the shaman suggested.

"That will make a few hoarcs disappear." Shilo snorted. "What about all the others?"

"No, not the hoarcs...the women!" Tayan said thoughtfully. Looking around at the others, he said, "I think I have an idea that will work. Jo-Jo, Gloredaniel, Entaurus, Zit, Odif, Shilo and Thlad, you can get yourselves to the river. Can any of you take someone else with you?"

Jo-Jo nodded. "I can carry one other person with me."

"So can I," Thlad added.

"I'll fly someone," Shilo offered.

Raising his arms up, Trelem stopped them. "I can transport everyone with Odif's help. Tayan, tell us what it is you have in mind."

"It will be risky, but I think we can get the elves away from them," Tayan told them. "We'll have to go tonight, when the ravens won't be watching. A large part of our success will depend upon the halshaken here. The timing will have to be perfect. Here's my plan..."

The first hoarcs appeared on the riverbank where the gravel of the dry creek bed spread out into a fan. They carefully scanned the far bank only abowshot away. Seeing nothing moving, a few waded through the chest-high water to the other side. Satisfied it was safe, they motioned for the others and kept going. Lash came behind on his horse, followed by a line of hoarcs. As the women were pulled into the water, none of the hoarcs noticed the swirls upstream. The women stumbled along tied together. One woman slipped, causing the ropes to jerk on her neighbors. The hoarc next to the lead woman grabbed her arms to keep the line going.

"Please untie us, we're all going to drown!" a young elfmaid in the middle of the line cried.

"Shut up and move!" the lead hoarc hissed. He staggered, his face opened in shock. As he opened his mouth to scream, he was dragged under.

The lead woman stopped, her eyes wide as she saw the shapes below rolling away. Another long shape was speeding towards her. She tried to back away as it grabbed her leg and pulled her off her feet. The rope around her neck went taut as she went under.

The women screamed as, one by one, they were jerkedoff their feet to disappear into the water. Some tried to run upstream, some back, and some tried to brace themselves. The effect of their struggles only made the line disappear faster. By the time one of the hoarcs grabbed the rope to cut it loose half the women were gone.

A thick tail shot up out of the water behind the hoarc, slapping him prone. The last that was seen of him was one clawed hand briefly grasping at the air. Another hoarc disappeared as the rest of the screaming women were pulled under by their necks.

Shouting and flailing at the water, the remaining hoarcs hurried for the nearest bank. The ones hurrying back to the small gravel beach met the ones who had been around the childrenas wagon. Raising their bows, they watched the water for any other signs of movement. Across the river, Lash had ridden back to start spreading hoarcs out along the bank.

The mud beside the gravel beach erupted as Odif, a halshaken and two short, dark humans, Theo and Hutch, rose up and threw handfuls of acorns at the hoarcs. The small nuts rained down, each exploding with a flash of fire and a sharp bang. The series of small explosions tore into the hoarcs, turning them into dust.

As large holes opened in the mass of hoarcs, halshaken shot out of the water near the other bank. Holding a spear thrower in each hand, they dropped hoarcs that had been getting ready to shoot at Odif's group. Near the wagon, the knight Coran on the right and Glier on the left led bands to engage the hoarcs that had not gone to the riverbank.

Enraged at being ambushed, Lash drew his sword and pointed at the wagon as he screamed, "Kill the children!"

His wizard raised his hands to cast a spell. Behind him, Shilo dove out of the sky with an iron trident and speared him. As the wizard fell, Shilo flew low, stiffening his arms to knock two of the hoarcs headlong into the halshaken waiting below. The wizard was still twitching on the ground as the winged man raced across the river to help those on the gravel finish killing the hoarcs that were still standing.

Lash watched as druids, wizards and armored humans came out of nowhere to join in slaughtering his hoarcs. On his side of the river, hoarcs met halshaken fighting their way up the bank. Bright flashes of light told him another wizard was on this side. His wizard was dead, and he could see an elven female standing in the wagon casting fire and lightning at any hoarc who dared approach the children. A quick glance downriver showed halshaken were helping a red-haired man pull the choking women from the water. Two more robed figures were with them. Looking closer, he recognized the red-haired half-elf, Tayan Montara.

Lash quickly assessed his position as hopeless. He had lost his captives, one wizard was dead and Lantharum had probably made the camp by now. Even though the druids' force looked smaller, they had plenty of magic. If he had a thousand hoarcs, he didn't think he could get to the elves, let alone win this battle. Halshaken were crude but cunning, andhe had no idea how many more lay on the river bottom waiting to come up and join the fight. On top of all that, he dared not risk killing Tayan by accident.

"Retreat!" he snapped and turned his horse away from the river. Only a quarter of his hoarcs joined him as he led them away. The rest died in a chaotic battle on the banks of the river.

Most of their energy was spent on clearing the hoarcs from the childrenas side of the river. Once those were dead, Shilo flew over to the other side to help the halshaken as others made their best speed through the water. Gloredaniel stayed on the wagon trying to calm the children, who were screaming for their mothers. As more of the company crossed the river and lashed into the hoarcs, the ones still able broke and ran. Trelem called a halt to the few halshaken who went after them then started tending to the wounded with Odif and Zit.

Once back on the other side of the river, the soaked elven women hugged and comforted their children. Amber was pleased they hadall made it through alive. Two of the women had drowned by the time the halshaken named Ulnargash towed them away. Through prayer and blowing the breath of life back into them, she and Mother Frieda had brought them around, sputtering and choking. They healed the rope burns and cuts the women suffered. She then stayed near Tayan as he kept watch with Gloredaniel, just in case any hoarcs were still alive and tried one last time to attack. The past few days had been hard, but now they could finally claim a small victory.

"Excuse me," one elf said as she came up to Tayan. "I am Thalansala, Salinthia's sister. Are you Eric?" she asked with a nervous smile.

Tayan stiffened and glared back at her. "No."

"I didn't mean to offend you, it's just that the way he was described to me..."

"I am not Eric," Tayan stated. He turned to Amber. "I'm going back a ways, make sure there aren't any more hoarcs around," he told her then strode quickly away.

Surprised by his rudeness, Amber tried to speak to him as he passed. He ignored her, eyes fixed straight ahead. He had not been in one of his bad moods until this elf women had talked to him. She asked, "Who's Eric?"

"I didn't mean to anger your friend." Thalansala apologized. "He just fits the description my sister gave to me of Eric. Eric is the husband of my great-niece, Jenesalinthia. I was asked to watch for him."

The name struck a chord with Amber. She'd heard it before but wasn't sure where. "Your great-niece? Where does she live?"

"In Tolina with her mother and my sister. Do you know her?"

Amber shook her head. "No, I just remember hearing her name."