Sir Aldric Thornhaven's Arc

Chapter 2 of 5

The tavern was warm and loud when Aldric pushed through the door. His guards filled two tables near the fire. He set his gloved hands flat on the wood and told them what he had found. A den. A mother Fel and her young, beneath the stone rise by the stream. Silence spread across the room. His men were fighters, not woodsmen. Not one of them knew that ground. "I need someone who can lead us to the cave mouth in the dark," Aldric said. "The reeds hide the trail. A wrong turn and we lose the whole morning." No one spoke. His youngest guard studied his boots. The stone rise was a maze of gullies and false banks. Aldric knew the way once, in daylight. He could not swear to find it again before dawn. A serving woman set down a tray of cups. She had bright eyes and a red dress laced tight at the waist, and she was grinning at him. "You're all sitting here glum as wet dogs," she said. "Over a hole in the ground." She was the tavern girl who poured for half the town. She wiped her hands on her apron and leaned against the table like she owned it. "It is more than a hole," Aldric said. "And I have no one to guide me to it." "Then you've been asking the wrong table." The girl jerked her chin toward the corner. A woman sat alone there, a cup untouched before her. Ruth Harwell. The farmer's widow. Aldric had not seen her come in. "That one grew up on the stream," the serving girl said. "Trapped rabbits under that rise before you wore that fancy armor, Captain." Aldric crossed the room. Ruth did not look up. Her hands lay still on the table for once. "Mistress Harwell," he said. "Is it true? You know the stone rise?" "Every gully." Her voice was flat. "My husband and I ran lines there for years." She finally met his eyes. "You mean to kill the thing that killed him." "I mean to kill all of them," Aldric said. "But I cannot find the den in the dark. Not without you." A blue-furred cat wound between the table legs, its white tail brushing Ruth's boot. She reached down and touched its head, and something in her face eased. "I'll take you," she said. "At first light. I know the safe banks and the ones that give way." She stood. "But I lead. You keep your men behind me until I say." "Agreed." Aldric felt the weight lift from his chest. He had his scout. Ruth pulled her shawl tight. "There's mud on the low path. Bring rope." She walked past him toward the door, and his guards watched her go. She was no longer only the woman who had seen the beast. She was the one who would take them to its door.