[Envinyatar]

Ardwulf shook the tension from his shoulders as they rode along. That had been a close call. If only they could make it to the Gap without further delays – he had hopes there would be no further problems once the had put a fair distance between them and the Riddermark. ‘And that will prove another problem altogether,’ he thought to himself as the group plodded on. ‘Once we have left familiar lands, how will we find our way to safety?’

Such thoughts occupied his mind as they made their way along the base of the eastern foothills of the White Mountains. ‘Two or three more days at the most,’ he thought, ‘and we can leave the pass behind and make for the road north in Dunland.’

He had fallen behind just a bit, and kicked his mount in the flanks, urging him forward at a faster speed. Something on the ridge to his left, to the west, caught his attention. Shading his eyes with his hand, he peered closely at it. But it disappeared, fading into the shadows of the trees that lined the sides of the ridge.

‘I wonder what that was?’ he asked himself, drawing up to the group. ‘Anyone else notice something moving?’ he said to the other riders, pointing west. ‘Up there . . . in that treeline just down from the ridge top . . .’