[The Barrow-Wight]

* * * * * Rhûn Nation * * * * *

Kasteni motioned for his guard to wait while he road forward to meet the strange soldiers. The man on foot that the mounted leader had spoken to walked forward, but the Advisor used Petrij to brush him aside and pushed his way to the other man. “You bar our way across this road,” he said, speaking directly him “and we are in haste. Stand aside.”

The foot soldiers grumbled at the commanding tone Kasteni used, but the man sat silently assessing the group he had stopped. The man Kasteni had ignored approached again and said, “You must speak to me, for Ninos does not speak to those he does not know, especially strangers.”

“Strangers?” asked Kasteni. “We are but two days from Ozvalda and you name me a stranger? These lands belong to Mislavini, and I speak for him in saying that you are the strangers. Identify yourself or prepare to experience an Ozren welcome to our land. One that you will not survive.”

The strange leader smiled and spoke. “Kasteni, you know me well.”

“Of course I do, Ninos. And you know me. So why do you approach as enemies?”

“We ride defensively, Kasteni, and we ride in retreat.”

“As do we, though we were in fact riding this way. It would appear we both ride to and from danger. Tell us what lies ahead of us and we will likewise share the same information.”

Ninos was the lord of Losinj, easternmost of the Ozren client kingdoms, and he and his party had been riding to Ozvalda to participate in the Year’s End celebrations when they had been waylaid by bear-like beasts and besieged in the Karloba Hostel. The motley group of soldiers that accompanied him now was the remnant that had survived the attack and they had hoped to be clear of the monsters. But after Kasteni related the tale of the previous evening it became apparent that the road to Ozvalda was not safe.

“Let us ride together to my land, Kasteni,” said Ninos. Together our groups can better survive and it will help you along your westward road."

“Agreed. You will find no sanctuary to the east. How far is it to Karloba?”

The standing man answered, “It is less than three hours, my lord, and if we go quickly we can reach Vakuf before dark.”

Kasteni nodded. Vakuf was a small city of a few thousand souls, mostly criminals and vagabonds, but the place was walled and well defended, and no group of wild monsters would defeat it easily. There, horses could be replaced and a quick dash westward would put them into Ninos’ kingdom.

“Yes. Let us ride to Vakuf immediately.”