'Quit whispering at me!'

“Quit whispering at me!” Osh laughed softly. “If you want to talk, I’m standing right here.”

“I’m not whispering at you,” Ris said.

“You certainly are! ‘Osh! Osh!’ I hear you!”

“I am not!” Ris laughed. “You’re hearing voices, my friend. It’s the beginning of the end! Next you’ll be seeing the dancing hedgehogs, and then…”

“I am not hearing voices!” Osh cried aloud. “Only yours!”

'I am not hearing voices!'

“Hush! You want someone to hear us?”

“What was that?” Osh hissed at the sound of a crackling in the brush on the hill above them. It was the sound of a large creature that walked on two feet.

“Excellent work, my friend,” Ris grumbled.

“Still think it was a good idea to leave the bows with the horses?” Osh whispered as they both drew their knives.

“Wait… perhaps that’s who was whispering?”

“If it is, then he knows my name,” Osh said nervously.

“Either that, or he is begging for leaves.”

“Can you gentlemen spare a leaf?” a familiar voice laughed from behind them, but when they turned they saw not the young elf to whom the voice belonged, but a naked, grubby, shaggy elf with an untrimmed beard.

'Can you gentlemen spare a leaf?'

“I’m so hungry I think I could eat leaves!” the stranger said with another weary laugh. “Don’t you have any food for this beggar? Some cheese, please?” he added in English.

Then Osh was certain, and he sheathed his knife and fell onto one knee. Ris immediately followed his example.

“Oh, no! Get up!” Vash laughed. “You two are the last creatures I want to see on their knees before me when I’m naked!”

'Oh, no! Get up!'

“You’re home!” Ris giggled.

“I’m not home yet. I need to get down to the lake. Did I hear horses?”

“How did you escape?” Osh asked excitedly. “We didn’t even know where you were!”

“Lar helped me, though he didn’t mean to. The idiot dog he is! But I’ve been hiding in a… in a place I know for the last quarter moon. I didn’t dare come out until the moon was full, and I’ve had nothing to eat since then besides bat’s blood, and if you gentlemen don’t mind…”

“Bat’s blood!” Osh gasped. “You didn’t…”

'You didn't...'

“No, I didn’t kill a bat,” Vash sighed. “Where are your horses? Where’s Kiv? What are you two doing all the way up here, anyway? Looking for me?”

“No, we’re…” Osh looked at Ris, and Ris looked at Osh. “We’re waiting for the Cloud Shadow Pack,” Osh said softly.

“But that pack crosses over the hills in this season.”

“Your father summoned them,” Osh mumbled.

“What? Why? What’s been happening here anyway?”

'Many things!'

“Many things!” Ris said eagerly, pleased to have an opportunity to change the subject. “The men’s church was destroyed by magic two nights after you were captured.”

“Two nights?” Vash murmured.

'Two nights?'

“It seems as if something escaped from beneath,” Osh said, “but history does not tell what was beneath those stones before we arrived. Even Druze didn’t know. We hoped to find you there, but there were no tunnels.”

“He used my magic to lift a stone two nights after I was captured,” Vash said dazedly. “I don’t know why…”

“He asked you to lift a stone?”

“He used my magic. I didn’t do it. What…” He stopped and held his head in his hands for a moment. “I need to get to the lake.”

“Your father tried to speak to her, but she would not come.”

'Your father tried to speak to her, but she would not come.'

“She won’t come for him! Ohhh…” he moaned. “How is Iylaina? Has anyone seen her?”

Ris looked at Osh, and Osh looked at Ris.

“What?” Vash whispered hoarsely. “Surely she still lives!”

'Only you know.'

“Only you know,” Osh murmured.

“Hasn’t anyone seen her?”

“Not for a few days,” Ris said softly.

“Tell him!” Osh growled.

“You tell him!”

“Tell me what?” Vash cried. “Where is she? How is she?”

“We don’t know,” Osh said. “She disappeared three nights ago.”

Vash groaned. “No, no, no… Tell me he didn’t take you again,” he whimpered, “my darling, my darling…”

'Tell me he didn't take you again.'

Osh looked at Ris, and Ris looked at Osh.

“Your father believes Druze might have taken her,” Ris said.

“Druze?” Vash gasped.

'He hasn't slept since you were taken.'

“He hasn’t slept since you were taken,” Osh explained. “Your father has kept him locked up, but four nights ago he escaped and hasn’t been seen since. And three nights ago Iylaina disappeared and hasn’t been seen since. Your father thinks Druze might have taken her to help him find you.”

“But Druze is completely mad!” Vash whispered, stricken with horror. “That sweet girl, alone with him!”

'But Druze is completely mad!'

“Your father doesn’t think he would hurt her…”

“Hurt her? He loves me like a son, but he once tried to take my brain out through my nose when I told him I had a headache! My poor girl! She’s nothing but an infant before him! She doesn’t even know what she can do! For three days he has had her?”

“She’s still alive…”

“But where? I’ve been hiding here since before then!”

Osh and Ris looked at one another and shrugged.

“I must get to the lake! She might know.”

“I shall take you there,” Osh said, “and Ris will go tell your father you’ve returned.”

'I shall take you there.'

“Not my father—not yet. I shall go to him myself… afterwards. Where is Kiv?”

“He’s with your father…”

“Never mind,” Vash muttered and started walking down the hill. “What about Shus?”

Osh looked at Ris, and Ris asked him, “Isn’t he with Sul? Waiting for the—”

Vash stopped and turned back to them. “Waiting for the what?” he asked suspiciously. When the others did not answer, he asked, “Wolves?”

'Waiting for the what?'

Osh and Ris looked sheepish, but still said nothing.

“Never mind!” Vash snapped. “I shall find out for myself. But you shall send Shus to me at the lake. And tell him to bring my clothes, before I lose to frostbite anything I hold dear. Also tell him to bring cheese,” he added as he stalked off towards the stamping horses.

Osh and Ris did not look at one another, but each wore the same hesitant smile. Vash had returned. Perhaps life could begin again.

Osh and Ris did not look at one another, but each wore the same hesitant smile.