[Firefoot]

Rugh had been squatting for quite some time just outside the clearing surrounding the cottage, still as a statue. After a time, the dog had laid down and dozed off. The hours passed, the sun going from high noon onto evening, but still the woman had not emerged from her cottage. Rugh could wait; time as the Tall Men marked it meant little to him.

Then abruptly he stood. The signs were there, for those who could read them: reactions from the birds and insects were the most visible, but it was deeper than that, and Rugh knew as clearly as if the mountains had shouted out to him that there were people nearby: Tall Men. The dog scarcely missed a beat, following as Rugh set off in an easterly direction. After several minutes he came to a mountain ridge where he stopped. Some distance away there stood two women, and beyond them three men, two dark and one fair. It was as if they brought with them some dim resonance, and while they were not the one causing the strange rumors of the earth, they somehow seemed associated with them. The intensity of Rugh's gaze deepened. They were not welcome here in his Mountains, heralds of trouble as they were. The two and the three greeted each other strangely, holding each other then gesturing about as they spoke briefly. It was clear that the cottage was the subject.

One of the men glanced uneasily over his shoulder at one point, seeming to feel Rugh's ruthless gaze but, of course, seeing nothing. Probably assumed it was nothing, Rugh thought in contempt. The Tall Men only paid heed to their senses when hit over the head with them.

As the group turned and headed for the hut of the cruel Tall Woman, the wind shifted, bringing the scent of the intruders to the nose of the dog by his side, who hitherto had only watched Rugh with mild interest. Immediately the dog's ears perked and with a loud Arooo he set off toward the group without even a look back at Rugh. A shadow seemed to pass over Rugh's face; so this dog had not been completely wild, even recognized these Men. Bad dog not see Tall Men bad.