They climbed without a pause for the next several hours, the setting sun their enemy, reminding them that for every step they took darkness was coming closer. The sweat poured off them as they gained altitude despite the increasingly cool air.

Finally surmounting the rise, the group reached a flat area devoid of trees. Why it was bare they could not say, but they could see far down the swathe of sparse vegetation they had followed and beyond it the setting sun.

A whistle drew Rial's attention, and he walked over to where Gryrne was standing, looking over the northward face.

The stream ran through a rocky crevice below them, more rapid and youthful now. It was wider than in the village, though it seemed shallower, and both sides were framed by steep inclines of gravel and stones.

They must be nearing the source, a fact that agreed with their maps. The water remained red and turbid, coating the rocks with pasty foam. Some part of Rial was, oddly, relieved. He had been worried that the source of the pollution would turn out to be somewhere within the inaccessible area they had skirted around.

He tried to follow the flow with his eyes, further upwards into the mountains, but the increasing darkness made it impossible to divide water from shadow so he turned to help set up camp.

"We shall have two on watch at all times," said Brin as they gathered around. "I shall take first watch, with Rial, and that shall be followed by Eselwol and Gryrne. Finally, Shaleigh and Rei will take the final watch."

They nodded as their names were called.

As soon as Brin finished speaking Shaleigh stood and crossed over to the edge of the area, to where she had carefully laid the corpse of Tomasu against the stump of a tree. Rial watched as she stopped close to the body and drew out a small shovel from her pack. She began to dig in the loose, rocky earth.

Eselwol went next and joined her, to be followed one by one by the others. Brin stopped Rial when he made to go as well, holding out a hand to prevent him from passing. Brin nodded behind him, towards the area they would be camping.

"The tents," said Brin.

By the time Brin and Rial had erected the tents the others had dug a hole deep enough to hold the body, despite the dry, crumbling soil that fought to collapse in on itself. Eselwol and Brin helped Shaleigh gently lower the body into the grave, head facing the west.

Though it was village custom to cremate a body, such a thing was not possible now. Instead, the rituals of invoking the protection of the gami were performed, strange symbols drawn into the air and words chanted that Rial hardly understood. He watched along with Gryrne, mystified as the others carried out the necessary rites.

Rial only now understood that these men and women had experienced a far harder world than he had. All of them, from Brin to the young Rei, knew the forms and rituals to be held at the funeral of a companion, following them without hesitation and with the competence of repeated practice. They each moved around the hole without once obstructing another, scattering earth and water onto the corpse below.

Once the body was covered by a light layer of this mixture they began filling in the hole in earnest, returning the mound of shifted earth to where it had lain. Nobody spoke until the ground was once again flat and a bundle of incense burned above, planted there by Brin.[1] The smoke wafted slowly back and forth in the breeze, the final rays of daylight shining in bright strips through the curling plumes.

Rial and Brin stood guard as the others prepared for sleep, practising the forms with their swords. They did not mention it, but the mountain was eerily quiet. The usual calls of the khiladri were silent, a hole in the background noise of the evening mountains. No beast great nor small disturbed them, though the occasional rustle of a small predator finding its yet smaller prey would startle the both of them.

They talked little in the night, only to confirm the other had seen no sign of danger and to question or comment on the use of a sword. The clash of metal on metal rung out over the mountain, driving away any curious wildlife, and once several hours had passed and the second sun too was no longer visible they roused their replacements.

Gryrne was unimpressed.

"Wha..? What time is it?" he moaned.

Rial punched him in the arm.

"Up," he said. "It's time for your watch."

It was to the sound of Gryrne's complaining that Rial finally climbed into his tent and rolled out the bedroll, falling heavily onto it. He still had one thing to do before sleeping, however...

"Mead?" said Rial quietly, pulling his pack around to his front. "Are there any khiladri around?"

There was no answer. Still, he'd never tried speaking to it from within his pack before. Perhaps it did not 'activate' whilst in such a position.

He took out the layers of clothing and hunting tools from his bag, and his breath caught in his throat. Mead was not there.

Rial stared at the bare bottom of his pack, then reached into it in disbelief. His sense of touch confirmed what his eyes told him; there was nothing there.

Rial tore his shelter apart, clawing increasingly desperately around and under the blanket and pack as if the machine were somehow hiding behind one of them, but his frantic, futile search ended as suddenly as it began. He sat there on his knees shaken and defeated. Only the sound of his panting could be heard.

Only the sound of his breathing. It was deathly quiet outside.

Gryrne's voice had cut off, and he heard no movement from any of the nearby tents. The skin of his summer tent was thin, and he should have heard the stirring of his fellows or the pacing of those outside. Even the wind had stopped. His ears rang, deafened by the silence.

The tent flap opened abruptly, button-strap popping open at the force at which it was pulled, and Gryrne's face appeared, pale and sweating.

"They're here," he whispered. "We can see them. They're just sitting there, watching us."

Gryrne had hardly entered the tent, and now he slowly stepped back out, holding the flap open for Rial to follow. He moved as quietly as possible, cautious of noise.

Rial left the tent with one last worried look at the empty bag and stood slowly, looking around.

Violet eyes glinting in the starlight, reflecting the crescent moon that hung above. They were all around.

12... 13... 14..., counted Rial.

Fourteen khiladri. Fourteen of the creatures, sitting equally spaced in a circle around the tents. It was difficult to see, but Rial could make out that everyone else was already outside, standing in front of their tents with weapons drawn. He cursed himself and slowly crouched back down, reaching into the tent to withdraw his sword.

"They're trying to make us turn back," said Brin. "Look."

Brin took one step to the north, towards where the source of the stream must be, and their destination.

A low growl emanated from the creatures ahead, a growl that fed directly into the nerves and froze those who heard it. Goosebumps ran over Rial's skin.

The growling stopped the instant Brin took a step back and turned, now facing the way they had come. Brin took a step forward, then another. The khiladri standing directly in front of him... moved, shuffling sideways. The other animals in this hemisphere of the ring moved too, an almost imperceptible distance backwards to afford those within more room.

Brin stopped and turned to the others.

"They want to stop us going any further," he said.

"Then what do we do?" said Gryrne.

Gryrne did not speak in a whisper this time and Rial flinched in fear that the creatures would react somehow, but they continued to sit there, staring at the humans in their midst.

"We cannot give up here," said Shaleigh firmly. "We must find out what is turning our water to this poison."

"But I don't doubt they will attack if we go further," said Eselwol. "That is a large number of khiladri."

"We cannot retreat. Without clean water we will have nothing to go back to," said Brin.

As if in understanding, the khiladri began growling once more. This time they growled in unison, a low deep rumble from each animal's throat that filled the air.

"We cannot!" shouted Brin towards the surrounding animals.

The khiladri attacked.

[1] Another shock for Rial. The Hakako bundles of incense were meant only for graves, yet it seemed Brin carried some around on these journeys.