There were six roads of bare, hard packed earth leading away from the city, each leading to a nearby village, but Skoll wouldn't have used any of them so the rescue party didn't either. Instead they made they way through the tall grass, criss-crossed with tracks made by hunting and foraging parties. The tracks made it impossible to tell which had been made by Skoll and his captive, but as they got further from the city the tracks thinned out until there was nothing but virgin grass ahead of them.

  Alvaldi, as the oldest and most experienced hunter, took charge of the expedition and told them to split into two groups, one of which would angle to the north, the other to the south. "When you have walked for an hour, turn and angle back," he said. "By following a diagonal path, we will have a greater chance of intersecting theirs. Skoll is no doubt skilled at moving without leaving any trace, but Daphnis wants to be found. She will be leaving sign for us to follow every chance she gets. Look for broken stems, footprints in soft ground. Anything that shows that people passed that way in the last few hours. Whoever sees something first sounds their horn..." He indicated the horns he and Geirrod were wearing on their belts. "...and the other group will come hurrying to join them."

  "Separating like that, we will be easy prey for any rex that comes along," said Thrymr doubtfully. "We set out as a large force for a reason."

  "Aye," Fornjot agreed. "We know they're heading for the Broken Lands. We should remain as a single group and make all speed to get there before them. Then we can wait to ambush them as they approach."

  "The area around the bandit camp will be swarming with bandits," said Alvaldi, though. "Our best hope is to catch Skoll before he gets close. The danger of bandits outweighs the danger of rexes and groths. We will do as I say."

  The others nodded their reluctant agreement. Alvaldi then took his force, which included Tarvos, angling to the south, while Geirrod took charge of the group angling north. As they went Tarvos studied every stem, every weed and every patch of bare ground they passed. Small buzzing creatures leapt into the air around them, disturbed by their passage, and skylings sang to each other as they searched for mates, although the hunters never caught a glimpse of them.

  Tarvos heard a crack and looked to see a seed pod, at the top of a tall grass stalk, splitting open as a seed squeezed its way out. It had a long, green pseudopod that it used to push itself out of the hard, brown pod, and then it dropped to the ground where it began burrowing into the dry soil. More pops sounded all around them as more seeds began to emerge, and Albiorix grabbed one before it could fall, popping it into his mouth.

  Thrymr scowled at him. "You know those things are poisonous, right?"

  "Only if you eat about a dozen or them," Alviorix replied, chewing with an expression of deep delight. "Just one won't do you any harm, and they taste really good. Lots of goodness in them, too. Enough food to last them all through the summer years, deep down where burrowing welkies can't find them."

  "You're supposed to be watching for sign," said Alvaldi irritably.

  "I can eat and look at the same time," Alviorix replied, still chewing.

  The ground shook with a mild earth tremor. The hunters stopped while they waited for it to pass, and Tarvos glanced up at Caelus, still visible in the sky even though it was now full daylight. The stories told by the grandfathers spoke of much more serious earthquakes happening during changes in the seasons, with great rifts opening in the ground and entire villages being levelled as earthen dykes flowed like water and stone buildings collapsed on their occupants. "Have mercy, Lord of Change," he whispered, still staring up at the daylight star. "Do not hinder me from rescuing my Daphnis."

  "Perhaps he will create a ravine in Skoll's path and slow him down," said Thrymr as the ground continued to shake. "Maybe he will help us for once."

  "Few of the stories tell of him helping people," said Fornjot, though. "Better if he directs his attention to others and leaves us alone."

  Tarvos thought he was probably right, and so they waited patiently for the tremors to cease. Then they moved on, still searching for sign. "Those tremors will probably have vibrated all the footprints away," mused Alvaldi thoughtfully. "With the ground being so dry and dusty. Focus on the grass. Bent leaves and broken stems."

  They did so, and soon afterwards Fornjot called out that he'd seen something. They gathered around to examine what he'd found; a line through the grass where more of the leaves than usual were pointing in the same direction, as if something the size of a man had pushed its way through them. They led away from the city going west, the direction they thought Skoll was going.

  Alvaldi was sceptical, though. "From what I've heard of his prowess, it seems strange that he would leave such an obvious trail," he said. "This may have been made by some animal."

  Tarvos was encouraged, though. "He had a captive," he said. "And it must have been still dark at the time. He was in a hurry to get as far away from the city as possible. It made him careless."

  "Maybe," said Alvaldi thoughtfully. "Maybe."

  "We have to follow the trail," Tarvos pressed him impatiently. "He's getting further ahead all the time."

  "We were looking for a trail," pointed out Thrymr. "We've found a trail."

  Alvaldi nodded. Yes," he said. "Yes. Very well." He took the horn from his belt and blew a long note on it. "Skoll probably heard that," he said, "but he has to know we're coming anyway."

  Tarvos settled down to wait impatiently. He rose to his full height to look out over the long grass, trying to see Geirrod and his group approaching. Fornjot moved a short way into the grass to answer a call of nature, as did Alvaldi. "Better empty your bladders now," the elderly hunter advised the others. "Once we get moving, we won't be stopping."

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  The others took his advice, and a moment later Fornjot cried out. "There they are." Tarvos hurriedly re-adjisted his clothing and looked to see six heads bobbing in the grass, coming at a fast run. "You found something?" asked Geirrod when they were close enough.

  "A trail," said Tarvos, pointing at it.

  "Possibly," said Alvaldi. "Keep your eyes open for any sign that it's not them. In the meantime, let's make speed."

  He led the way at a steady trot, a pace that they could maintain for hours at a time, and the others followed in single file with Tarvos and Geirrod in second and third place.

  ☆☆☆

  Shortly afterwards, they came across a spot where the grass stalks had been bent and disturbed over a wide area, as if the person they were pursuing had lain down for a while. Just beside it was a trophy necklace, casually discarded. The Merlin clansman (Tarvos was ashamed to find that he couldn't remember his name) picked it up.

  "This belonged to Hati," he said, looking grim. He showed them one of the teeth; a wide, flat herbivorous tooth for chewing tough vegetation. ""He took this from a rogue hammerhorn that went mad and leaped clean over palliaq village's dyke. It killed five men before Hati killed it by shoving a spear right down its throat. His hut has the hammer horns mounted over the door. Even Palliaq himself is jealous."

  "It's definitely Skoll's trail we're following, then," said Alvaldi with satisfaction. "Now we can make speed in earnest and catch him up."

  Tarvos and Geirrod were both staring down at the area of disturbed grass, though, their fists clenched and tears in their eyes as they imagined what must have happened here. Alvaldi put comforting hands on their shoulders. "She is still alive and we will rescue her," he told them. "She has suffered an outrage and an indignity, but she will recover from it."

  "It will likely take us all of tomorrow, and maybe the day after, to catch them," said Tarvos, though, his fists tightening. "She will suffer further "indignities' at his hands before then."

  "Then let's move fast to make sure she suffers as few more as possible," Alvaldi replied.

  Tarvos couldn't agree more and led the way on, but it was harder to follow the path now, with fewer signs left to show the way. In full daylight, it was much easier for Skoll to avoid disturbing the grass. If Daphnis had the courage and the spirit that he thought she had, though, then she would leave evidence to lead them on. To Tarvos, every bent leaf and broken stem was a shout of defiance, and the urge to run full pelt into the grass, shouting her name, was almost too great to resist.

  He kept himself to a steady trot, though, knowing that in the long term he could cover more ground more quickly if he paced himself. Also, he would need the others with him for the confrontation with Skoll. The other man had bested him once, and would do so again if he tried to face him alone.. Daphnis needed him to keep his head and not throw his life away uselessly.

  He trotted on, therefore, the others following behind, scanning the ground for the signs that told them that they were still on the right path. Above them, the sun continued to rise in the cloudless blue sky, and ahead of them Caelus, the daylight star, the Lord of Change, dropped steadily towards the western horizon as if leading the way.

  ☆☆☆

  They ran for ten straight hours, only stopping when the setting sun made it impossible to see the signs Daphnis had left for them. They used the last of the daylight to hunt for wild gooths, and it was Hyrrokkin who made the kill with an expert throw from his sling. They skinned and cooked the gooth over an open fire, but neither Tarvos nod Geirrod had any appetite for eating, both of them painfully aware of what was almost certainly happening, at that very moment, to the women they loved. In the end Alvaldi had to force them to eat, reminding them that they had to keep their strength up if they were to have any hope of maintaining the pace the next day, but to Tarvos it felt like swallowing lumps of clay.

  At around noon the next day, they came to the Now and Then River. It had been a long time since the last rains, and so the wide channel was almost empty, but there was a trickle of water running along the middle from which crowds of animals were drinking. Tarvos saw a group of three rexes a few hundred yards along the riverbank to the south, and a large pack of groths a little further on. They ignored both the humans and the herbivores gathered around as they drank, though.

  "Ugh," said Thrymr. "I hate those things."

  Tarvos thought he was talking about the rexes, but the other man was looking in another direction and Tarvos followed his gaze to see the skeleton of a fleethorn strolling in a leisurely fashion along the riverbank. He nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I remember the first time I saw one of those. Gave me quite a fright. My father thought it was hilarious."

  As the skeleton moved, he saw the sunlight reflecting from the glistening layer of transparent jelly that coated it. It was a bonecreeper; a gelatinous creature that used the skeletons of dead animals to support itself, enveloping them and digesting whatever flesh might be left on them. They were uncommon but harmless, and after remarking upon it to each other the humans ignored it.

  More worrying was the mudclaw that was eyeing them less than a hundred yards away to the north. Rexes and groths were fairly predictable, and would generally leave people alone unless they were hungry or provoked, but mudclaws were mad. They were large enough with thick enough hides that spears did them little harm, and they could shrug off the fist-sized stones thrown from a dozen slings. It was already turning to face them as the hunters emerged from the grass, but then a hammerhorn came shambling into sight and the beast turned to charge it instead. The hunters hurried across the river while its attention was diverted, splashing through the knee-deep water while trying not to twist an ankle on the smooth, slippery stones it was running across.

  Shortly afterwards the land began to rise as they approached the Spine, a ridge of hilly ground that reached out from the mountains to the north. As they went, the tall grass began to thin out, being replaced by a shorter variety in which thorn trees stood, each standing alone, separated from its neighbours by several paces of open ground. They were yellowing as their above ground parts began to die, but their huge tubers, deep below the hard, stony ground, made good eating for a man who had the time to dug down to them. The hunters had nothing but their spears to dig with, though, but further on there would be jabfruit, and in the meantime they had the rest of the wild gooth to eat.

  They passed their second night beside a large boulder that sheltered them from a wind that was starting to blow, stinging their faces and hands with the particles of dust it was carrying. It was still blowing the next morning, and when they set out again and they tied cloths to their faces to protect them.

  They'd been running for less then an hour, though, when Geirrod, who was taking his turn in the lead, gave a cry and darted off to the left. "Look," he said, standing next to the scattered remains of a camp fire. "They stopped here last night."

  They gathered around, and Alvaldi crouched down to dab at the ground with his fingers. "The ground is still warm from the fire," he said. "They must be just a couple of miles ahead of us."

  Tarvos stood and stared off to the west, sheltering his eyes with his hand to study the line of rocky hills that lay ahead of them. "Then let's go," he said impatiently. "Less then an hour from now, Daphnis with be back in my arms."

  "He must know that we're close behind him," said Alvaldi, though. "Be alert for ambushes. Even when he knows that all is lost, he may still try to kill some of us first."

  "We'll be careful," said Geirrod, who was sharing Tarvos's eagerness to go on. "Let's go!"

  He didn't wait for the others to reply but ran on, Tarvos following and the others close behind, as they set out on what must surely be the final stretch of their long chase.