Horse Thieves

The two women burst into the inn, startling the patrons. Eabha has the unconscious stable boy in her arms and immediately takes him to George, who has been standing near the bar talking to two men, the one known as A'mal Shukup, and his companion, whom they'd met in the market earlier that day.

George pushes the two men aside and reaches out for the boy, laying his hands on him.

Eabha and Morihana share a look. It is no ordinary touch, the two women know, as immediately Toomie begins to stir.

Paladin, Morihana mouthes to her friend. Eabha nods.

"What happened?" the innkeeper demands, helping lower Toomie onto a nearby bench.

They explain the situation as best they can. As they speak, the young healer Wassup arrives downstairs to tend to Toomie, having been alerted that his help is needed.

George reports that horse thieves are nothing new on the far outskirts of town, in the south and along the west road. With the coming war, every strong, healthy horse has become valuable. But this is the closest the thieves have ever come to town and the incident does not bode well.

At this, A'mal and his friend, who is introduced as Gilthain, express interest.

"I'm sure our employer, Count Mather, would consider this a matter of some importance," A'mal notes, absent-mindedly stroking the small, intelligent looking ferret that has just poked its nose out of his shirt pocket. "Are you planning on pursuing the thieves?"

The woman confirm that they are, as soon as they can arrange for mounts. They are several hours behind the thieves but are confident that they can catch up.

A'mal looks to Gilthain. "What do you think?"

Gilthain nods and they agree to accompany the women.

A town guard enters the inn, the same one the women had seen at the back gate on their way back into town with Toomie. He's here to take an official report but the women have little patience for his questions. They tell him that they're leaving to get their horses back.

A third companion of A'mal, a dark-haired, dark-complexioned woman in loose clothing and soft leather boots, appears. Her name, she says, is Thrysp. After hearing what has happened, she agrees to come along.

Toomie comes to but is able to provide few details. He was hit from behind while enjoying a snack. He saw nothing.

But now that the boy is feeling better, Wassup announces that he, too, would like to come along. George is more than capable of looking after Toomie.

The innkeeper lets them know where they can get horses and the group wastes as little time as possible getting to the back gate.

* * *

Morihana and Eabha, along with Ashling, lead the party to the paddock and quickly ascertain in which direction the horse thieves fled. Half a mile later, they notice that their quarry has grown. There are now the tracks of four humans, quite likely two male and two female, and ten horses.

"This must have been some kind of a rendezvous," Eabha says, mounting her horse again. "The group we're looking for met up with another. We're still four or five hours behind them, though."

More animals means more tracks, which makes the task even easier for the Ranger and her wolf companion. They lead the party onwards as the tracks loop back to the main road and head south. The party heads generally south for hours.

Despite fears of ambushes and traps, the way seems easy, although it is clear that Wassup spends little time on horseback. The young healer grimaces with each stride of his mount.

Past forks in the road, T-junctions, crossroads and even shallow fords, the trail is clear and the party is able to move quickly. They are confident that they can catch the thieves, who must, after all, camp somewhere for the night.

But after the sun has fallen, they lose the trail suddenly at a ford. Their quarry had gone into the water, they are certain, though there is no sign of their tracks coming out of the water on the other side.

Frustrated and angry, Eabha scours the area for a trail but comes up empty. Even Ashling cannot sniff out their quarry and seems dejected at his master's side.

As the rest of the groups grows anxious, Morihana pulls her friend aside and whispers, "Let's see what's visible from the sky. Maybe I can spot a campfire or some sign of human habitation."

Eabha, at a loss, shrugs. "Sure. It can't hurt."

But Morihana is not yet ready to trust her new companions by revealing her true self, especially now that it is clear they are employed by the count. She runs off into the trees on the river bank nearby, saying she is looking for tracks, though Eabha knows the Druid has taken on eagle form and is soaring above them now in an attempt to gain a new perspective on the situation.

Waiting, Eabha catches the sharp-eyed Thrysp scanning the darkened sky. Did she catch sight of something unusual? An eagle flying at night? What would she make of that?

Morihana returns several minutes later, emerging from the trees, and reports that she thinks there is a building down river. Perhaps the thieves have taken shelter there.

The way is difficult and the bank is too thick with plants and trees to be easily travelled. They choose to wade through the water, which is what the horse thieves would have had to do if they came this way.

An hour later, they are frustrated and uncomfortable, and have found nothing more significant than the trail of some fishermen.

A'mal lets his ferret, Twitch, scamper along the bank for a moment to find another ferret or weasel, which the animal manages to do. Eabha watches, intrigued, as they two animals chatter at each other and Twitch returns to report back to A'mal. The Ranger wonders just what abilities the man has.

Magical, no doubt, she thinks. He carries a sword, but is not armoured as Gilthain is. Their talents clearly differ.

"He says there's nothing of interest this way. And no horses have come through recently."

They decide to abandon their search in this direction.

When they finally get back to the spot where the trail originally went cold, it is after midnight and they decide to camp for the night and restart their pursuit in the morning. They have lost a lot of time but maybe in the light of day some clue will turn up.

As they eat, Thrysp, who has been watching Morihana carefully for the last few hours, questions the two women about their reasons for coming to Cockermouth.

The Druid gets tight-lipped.

Thrysp is no fool and sees that her questions are unnerving Morihana. She isn't malevolent, only teasing, but Eabha can already tell these two will likely never be friends. Thrysp begins to ask directly whether or not Morihana is, in fact, a Druid.

Morihana continues to eat, not answering the questions or even looking up.

Thrysp shrugs. "Because it's okay if you are. We don't care. We even have a friend who's a Druid."

Morihana remains quiet and sullen. Thrysp grins.

Eabha knows that Morihana has a lot to lose and is never going to trust the powers that be. And this group's connection to the castle in Cockermouth makes them risky companions at best. But Eabha wishes her friend were at least a little more sociable. Her attitude is embarrassing, especially considering she just led them all on a bit of a wild goose chase through cold water in the middle of the night.

She considers revealing her friend's identity just to get it over with, but suspects Morihana would hold it against her forever. Besides, it really doesn't matter. The whole group can tell by Morihana's demeanour what the truth is. No confessions are necessary.

Eabha sighs deeply, hoping that in the morning they find the trail and that they don't continue to waste their new companions' time any more than is necessary.

After dinner, the group forms a watch schedule and gets some sleep.

* * *

In the morning, as Thrysp meditates by the river and A'mal and Gilthain worry about making it back to town in time for an important engagement that evening, Morihana realizes that magic was used to obscure the trail. It doesn't solve their problem, but it makes Eabha feel better about her and Ashling's sudden inability to track the thieves.

A'mal and Twitch go in search of another ferret to question but instead find a surly water buffalo among the weeds on the riverbank. The enormous creature attempts to trample A'mal, who steps to the side just in time.

Both the Druid and the Ranger attempt to communicate with the beast while requesting that the rest stay back and not threaten. But in the end it is Wassup who manages to get through to the angry animal and prevent any further attempts at trampling party members.

Once the creature has been calmed, Eabha is finally able to communicate with it. She learns the beast is in a bad mood because last night a group of horses trampled its weeds.

Buoyed, Eabha asks what direction the horses were heading and finds it was east, not west as the party had travelled through the river the night before.

Thanking the water buffalo and promising not to further injure his weeds, the group heads east.

They follow the river upstream for a few hours and finally find the place they are looking for, a couple of small shacks nestled into the end of a small valley, at the base of a waterfall. Chugi and Cian, along with many other horses, are penned outside.

The party splits in two, the groups approaching from opposite sides of the narrow river.

They know that the alarm has been sounded when they realize a hawk flying above is not really a hawk at all. After being taken down by A'mal's arrow, it is whacked back into its human form by Thrysp's powerful fists.

Meanwhile, a black leopard leaps out of nowhere at Morihana and but misses and is quickly dispatched with a solid swing from her staff.

The villainous Druid, now grounded and badly wounded, finds herself trapped up against the fence of the corral. She shouts something in a language none but Morihana can comprehend, and A'mal, Gilthain and Wassup find themselves entangled as the trees and other plants around them reach out to grasp their arms and legs.

A'mal manages to wriggle free, narrowly missing being struck by a thick, swinging tree branch rigged as a trap. It whips past his head with a whoosh and he approaches the fence, answering the Druid's spell with one of his own. Rays of crackling flame seem to spring from his fingertips, engulfing his foe and ultimately taking her life.

The other thieves appear. One emerges from the nearby outhouse, startled by the sudden activity. Two others, accompanied by wolves, exit the larger of the two cabins. A fourth, a blond woman in leather armour, appears as if from thin air. They all advance through the corral at the party. Horses scatter to the far end of the pen.

Thrysp jumps the fence and A'mal turns to the rest of the group, who are just getting free of the grasping, reaching flora. They cannot make out his words, but with the motion of his hand, they feel a sudden burst of speed. Breaking free of the branches, they, too, enter the corral where Thrysp has been flanked by the two wolves and is now badly injured.

Wassup tends to the wounded Monk while the rest of the party manages to surround all of the thieves but one, who has realized they cannot win and so flees, jumping across the river and disappearing around the back of the two buildings.

A'mal continues to assail the thieves with his spells, blinding the woman in leather and stealing the strength from another. These two are easily defeated by Eabha, Ashling and Gilthain.

Morihana relies less on her staff than on her command of nature. She calls lightning down on one thief and releases a burst of light from her torc to seriously injure another. But is it A'mal who finished them both off with powerful blast of fire.

They allow the wolves to run off into the woods.

With these enemies dispatched, the party races to the back of the cabin to find the last of their quarry. There, they see a crevasse and a steep trail leading up the cliff. Thrysp leads the party up the trail, with the exception of Morihana, who takes on eagle shape and soars into the sky.

Almost immediately Thrysp is forced to dodge falling rocks loosed by the thief who'd fled up the path ahead of her. As she makes it to the top, the thief emerges from his hiding place and attempts to push her off the cliff. She deftly evades his assault and he is soon overwhelmed by her and the rest of the party.

They drag his body down the trail and add it to the others. After a thorough search of the cabins and bodies, they round up the horses and race back to town. A'mal and his companions have an important engagement to get to.

* * *

It is late afternoon when the party arrives at the back gate. The officer in charge there recognizes them from the day before. The party tells him that they dealt with the group of thieves and reclaimed the stolen horses. They have also picked up 16 others. The officer recognizes four of the horses as being reported stolen recently and claims them. He asks them if they happened to see a squad of dragoons who headed out yesterday to look for horse thieves, but no one has.

Back at the inn, they check on Toomie, who seems to be doing fine, and tell George what happened. A'mal, Thrysp and Gilthain prepare to leave for dinner with the Merchants Guild. A black carriage awaits them outside. But before they leave, A'mal notes that the main reason he wants to attend this dinner is to see if he can get any information about a certain spice.

At this, both Morihana and Eabha become interested. Morihana says she has heard that the food served at The Green Lagoon is seasoned with an unusual spice. A'mal cautions them against eating there, explaining that people who consume this spice tend to become passive. Thrysp adds that it turns their eyes an unnaturally bright blue.

An image flashes in Eabha's mind and she recalls the man at the market the day before. She tells them what she saw, but cannot provide them with many details.

A'mal notes that the spice is a major concern of theirs as it seems intended to compromise the defense of the town. Count Mather is paying them to track the substance to its source and eliminate it.

As A'mal, Thrysp and Gilthain leave, George's daughter, Trixie, approaches Morihana and Eabha. She passes them a copy of the day's newspaper, which they read.

COCKERMOUTH NEWS
Thursday July 5, 1981

KESWICK OVER-RUN

It has been confirmed that Keswick and Rigg have fallen into the hands of the enemy. Rigg was abandonned several weeks ago and Sir Gerwald with the company of Dragoons stationed there went to assist the defense of Keswick.

It has been reported that Keswick is presently occupied by a large force of orcs that are led by this new breed of foe, the half elf/orc (dubbed the erc), but who their leader is and what their motive is remains unknown. The count declined to comment on the reaction to the Stoll or the Military Commanders.

SHUKUP SUMMONED TO THE CASTLE

Yesterday, A'mal Shukup and his companions were taken to the castle in the royal coach where they had a long interview with Count Mather. Shukup declined to make a statement.

WEDDING PLANS WILL NOT BE STOPPED

Despite the impending war with the erc and orc armies, the royal wedding of Lady Gwen to Count Mather will take place on Sunday next at the Temple here in Cockermouth. Duke Tostig, brother of King Sigurd and Lady Gwen's father, said that unless the foe's army was at the bridge, the wedding would proceed as planned.

HEADLESS CORPSE FOUND IN ALLEY

In the Zig-Zag early today, the naked body of a young adult male was discovered. The body has not yet been identified as his head had been severed from his body and taken, presumably by the perpetrator. Local authorities are baffled and would appreciate assistance from the local populace.


There is no particular reason to suspect such a thing, but Eabha almost immediately begins to wonder whether or not this body belongs to Morihana's brother. She doesn't have to spend long deciding how to suggest this to her friend because the Druid has already reached her own conclusions.

"It's not him," she says. "I'd know."

Eabha nods, but can't help but wonder just how keen her friend's senses are right now. Maybe she just doesn't want to believe that something has happened to Dwiss.

Her mind is set at ease a few moments later when Trixie introduces them to Zeron, a town constable. He is able to confirm that, though the body was headless, he appeared to have dark dair. Dwiss is fair.

Zeron says the authorities are really stuck. It was a nice night everywhere in town except in the Zig-Zag, where there was a thick fog. Without witnesses, or someone coming forward to identify the body, there is little they can do.

Eabha and Morihana are exhausted from their adventure. They stay up chatting with Trixie and Zeron for awhile, but head to their room long before A'mal, Thrysp and Gilthain return.