knew that it had its limitations. Even the most difficult trials - for Brynn, one had involved shooting targets from the saddle and at a gallop - were with-out the greatest of consequences, and hence, without the true understand-ing of the disaster that could be failure. For failing a test in Andur'Blough Inninness could mean humiliation and weeks of intense corrective training, but failing a test out here would likely mean death. Brynn had to learn that, had truly to appreciate all that she had to lose.
And so, on that morning when Belli'mar Juraviel took note of some curi-ous tracks crossing the soft ground in front of them - tracks so subtle that Brynn didn't even notice them from horseback - he allowed the woman to move obliviously past the spot, then studied the trail more closely. Juraviel knew the tracks, had seen them many, many times during the days of the Demon War, when he had traveled beside Nightbird and Jilseponie battling Bestesbulzibar's minions. The tracks were like those of a human, a young human, perhaps. But those made by shod feet revealed a poorly crafted boot, and those made by bare feet showed a telltale flatness in the arch and a wide expanse at the toes narrowing almost to a point at the heels.
Goblins. Moving east and in no apparent hurry.
Juraviel looked up and studied the area, even going so far as to sniff the breeze, but then he smiled at himself and shook his head. The tracks were probably a day old, he knew. These goblins were likely long gone.
But he knew the direction.
To Brynn's surprise, JurayieLannounced that they had to turn to the east for a bit. She didn't argue/of cobrse, for he was her guide, and so with a shrug, she brought Dirediisk in line behind the moving elf. When that day ended, the pair had put twenty miles behind them, but in truth, they were no closer to the steppes of Tpai than they had been the previous day, something that Brynn surely/took note of.
"Are we to travel around the world, then?" she asked sarcastically after they had eaten their dinner of vegetable stew. ?Perhaps that way, we can sneak up on the Chezru from behind."
"The straight line is always the shortest distance, 'tis true," the elf replied. ?But it is not always the swiftest."
"What does that mean? What have you seen up ahead?" Brynn got up and looked to the south. ?Monsters?"
"There is no barrier looming to the south, but this road is better, I believe."
Brynn stared hard at the cryptic elf for some time, but Juraviel went back to his eating and didn't return the look. He wanted to keep the mystery, wanted to have Brynn off-balance and wondering. He didn't want her to know what was coming, and likely coming the very next day.
Later on, when Brynn was asleep, Juraviel hopped, flew, and climbed up the tallest tree he could find and peered through the dark night to the east.
There was the campfire, as he had expected. It was a long way off, to be sure.
But the goblins, he believed, weren't in any hurry.
Brynn stared through the tangle of trees, sorting out the distinct and con-fusing lines until she was fully focused on the ugly little creatures beyond.
They were diminutive - not as much so as the Touel'alfar, but smaller than Brynn. Their skin color ranged from gray to sickly yellow to putrid green, and hair grew in splotches about their heads, backs, and shoulders.
Elon-gated teeth, misshapen noses, and sloping foreheads only added to the gen-erally wretched mix. Brynn wasn't close enough to smell the creatures, but she could well imagine that such an experience wouldn't be pleasant.
She turned and looked up to Juraviel, who was sitting comfortably on a branch. ?Goblins?" she asked, for though she had heard of the creatures during her stay with the elves, she had never actually seen one.
"The vermin are thick about these stretches," Juraviel answered, ?out-side the borders of the human kingdoms."
Brynn thought things over carefully, particularly their unexpected change in course of the previous day. ?You knew they were here," she reasoned. ?You brought me here to see them. But why?"
Juraviel spent a long moment looking through the trees to the goblin group. Several of them were visible, and he suspected that more were about, probably out destroying something, a tree or an animal, just for the fun of it. ?You do not know that I brought you here to see them," he