60
The entire company stayed overnight in the cave and set off early the next morning. There had been a suggestion that only the rescue party needed to go, while the rest could stay in the warm cave and await their return. But without either Tarkyn there as pack leader or a constant shield over the woodfolk, the mountain lion presented too great a threat.
The sky was a cloudless blue overhead as they set out and it was not long before the snow turned to slush underfoot. Because they were in unknown territory, the woodfolk kept close together, with lookouts scanning each side, ahead and behind them. There were always two or three at the rear of the group modifying the woodfolk’s tracks when they had passed. In the slushy conditions, their tracks couldn’t be obliterated completely but any
