"Come on, Milly. You can do it. Jump!"

She tossed her head while her front legs pranced in place, wanting to follow, but hesitant. Convincing a mule to jump wasn't the easiest task, especially at night.

"Scratches! Come on, Milly. Come get some scratches!"

With a whinny, she finally sprang up, her hooves scrambling against the rocks. I ducked to the side to avoid the incoming equine.

"Good girl!" I promptly lavished plenty of scratches around her ears and mane before reattaching her reins – which I'd removed during her jump – and guided her up the steep path.

Both of us kept sliding as rock chips and gravel rolled under our feet. As much as I wanted to walk on the moss to the side, Shane and I had agreed it was best to avoid leaving tracks if at all possible. There was no way to tell if the slight indent in the gravel came from a mule, deer, human, or any other large animal. The moss, on the other hand, tore free much more easily and would betray our passage.

Shane's wolf-whisper came out of the darkness. "Olivia, the trail branches ahead. Go left when you see a big rock in the path."

"Thanks."

I knew he wouldn't go far – not when he had to guide us along trails that constantly branched out and converged. The deer herds had left many paths in this area.

I finally spotted a rock much larger than the gravel it sat on. Predictably, the trail going left was much steeper. I clambered up as Milly followed behind me. There was no chance of riding her with the low hanging branches and slippery gravel, not in the dark, so we were restricted to my speed. I wasn't sure how far we managed to travel, but it seemed to be all uphill, which made sense since we were trying to climb over a mountain.

At least we hadn't run into any war parties.

Distant snarls from behind made me pause and hold my spear tighter. They sounded wolf-like. Very wolf-like, with a distinct resemblance to the dire wolf from the other day. Milly thought so as well and snorted as her ears flicked back and forth, sidling against my back. I held onto my spear and kept walking even though the sounds got more vicious and clearly came from more than one animal.

I wasn't sure what was fighting, but I was very sure I didn't want to meet them. If Shane was in the melee, I hoped he was okay. As a werewolf, he was a force to be reckoned with, but so was an entire pack of dire wolves.

Milly skittered behind me, pushing against me in her desperation to leave the wolves behind. Taking a chance, I stepped to the side and swung onto her back. She pranced and pulled against the reins as I refused to let her move. Once she stopped fighting, I gave her some slack and she gingerly minced ahead as each hoof sunk into the gravel. I had to lean against her neck to avoid the low branches.

My legs were grateful for the break, and this part of the trail seemed fairly straight, albeit steep, and as long as she was just walking, it should be safe enough to ride her. The continued snarling fight behind us had her speeding up, but the loose gravel forced her to maintain a reasonable pace. Her four feet were covering more ground than my two had, which was a bonus.

The snarling faded, and I desperately wished I knew which of the animals responsible were on our trail. We hadn't gone far before I was forced to dismount and guide Milly over a very rough section of the trail and coax her to jump up another waist-high ridge. The terrain wasn't any more favorable, so I was once more reduced to walking.

Rustling in the underbrush had my eyes scanning the darkness as I pointed my spear in that direction. "Shane, please tell me that's you."

"It is."

I sighed in relief, then asked, "What was all that snarling?"

"Four dire wolves were a bit too interested in following your trail, and I had to dissuade them rather forcefully."

"Are you okay?"

"A couple of bites, but nothing that'll slow me down."

"Do you want help cleaning them or anything?"

Instead of the clipped tone of pride I expected, his voice was normal. "Thanks for the offer, but they'll heal soon enough."

Apparently the rumor of werewolves having fast healing was true.

"I have to scout ahead, so keep an ear out in case the wolves return. I think I chased them off, but they can be pretty determined sometimes."

"It's too rocky and steep for Milly to run, so please don't go too far in case they come back."

A soft growl floated through the darkness in agreement. Milly tossed her head at the sound and sidled against my back again.

"It's okay, girl. It's just Shane. Let's go."

The night dragged on, and the sky began to lighten. It was a relief to be able to see the ground more easily, but I rapidly became nervous as horn calls echoed out of the valley below and up and down its length.

I paused to listen better, furrowing my eyebrows. How many groups were there? I couldn't make sense of the signals and what they meant, but it sounded like the calls were coming from at least twenty different places. Even if there were only two or three men in each of these tiny groups, that was still at least forty people – not counting the silent ones. Thankfully, none were nearby, or even halfway as far up the mountain as we were.

"That's a lot of horns," Shane said quietly, echoing my thoughts.

I jumped slightly at his unexpected voice, then sighed as I tried to convince my heartbeat to slow down. "At least they aren't close by. What are the odds of finding a secure camping spot before daybreak?"

"That's what I was looking for. I found one, but I'm not sure Milly can get up to it. If she can, it's quite protected, even if the dire wolves return."

"Her biggest problem is that she doesn't like to jump when it's this dark, especially after slipping on so many loose rocks. Once the sun rises, she can get up some fairly steep inclines. It's why I bought a mule instead of a horse for this trip."

"Well, I'm hoping she can get up this one."

"Lead the way."

He guided us off the trail, and the ground became very steep. I had to turn my spear into a walking stick.

"Up here." A dark shape jumped up the shoulder-high rocks ahead.

I eyed up the almost vertical climb with misgivings. The sky was getting lighter, but even if it had been midday, I wasn't sure I'd be able to convince Milly to clamber up the steep rocky slope. I looped the reins around her neck and scrambled up the rocks, pulling myself higher with the assistance of a few shrubs.

"Come on, Milly! Scratches!"

She bobbed her head, eyeing up the uneven rocks. I climbed higher and onto a more level section. With a worried whinny at being left behind, she jumped. Her hooves clattered against the rocks as she struggled to find her footing, sending a rain of pebbles down behind her. With a couple more desperate lunges, she made it up to where I stood.

"Good girl!" I rewarded her efforts with the promised scratches as the werewolf ahead sighed in relief and went to tend the tiny fire nearby.

I exchanged Milly's reins for a lead rope and tied her to a tree so she could graze.

"Watch your step. This ridge isn't that big," Shane cautioned me.

"Thanks."

I wandered a few steps and saw he was correct. This ridge wasn't much bigger than our usual campsite, and all the other edges were vertical drops four times my height. I only had one small path to protect, so nothing could sneak up behind me. It also meant there was only one escape route.

I went back to Milly and unsaddled her, taking my gear over to the fire. "This is a very good camping spot. Good find. It's one of the most easily protected ones I've seen, apart from the guarded way stations."

"Way stations?"

"Some kingdoms have them. They're places where traders can stop for the night when traveling between large towns. Sometimes they even have guards stationed there."

"You're a trader?" he asked, rotating sticks with meat skewered onto the ends.

"Yeah. Most of my family are traders. The last two summers, I've been going north to the markets in Kartesh. I usually catch a ride back on a trade ship, but the winter storms came early, and they were so bad none of the captains would leave the harbor."

"So you figured you'd cut across the mountains instead of waiting for the storm season to pass?"

"Everyone I talked to said it would only take two moonturns to get back home."

"Where do you call home?"

"Tinstin."

He tilted his head, thinking. "I don't think I've heard of that place."

"It's a town just outside Cedarpoint Port."

"That's the port south of the Hawkese Harbor, right?"

"Yes, that's the one. Have you been there before?"

"Cedarpoint, no. But I went to a different port in the Hawkese Harbor several times."

"You grew up along the ocean, then?"

There was a moment of silence as I strayed too close to his past. I was just about to apologize when he replied, "I grew up in the foothills of the Tarsha mountains and helped bring trees down the river as a log driver."

"Oh, the big cedars and fancy hardwoods, right?"

"Yes. We'd bring them to the coast, sometimes to the city. They hired horses to take us back up to the mountains." He scowled at the fire. "On one such return trip, I tried taking a shortcut and got lost. I rode through the wrong town at the wrong time and got hit with a werewolf curse that prevents me from moving around during the day." He snorted. "At least the werewolf part is coming in handy."

"No other guide would have gotten me this far alive," I quietly said, unsure of exactly how to reply to such a tale, although I really hoped he'd elaborate on exactly how the curse affected him during the day.

Silence reigned for a while before Shane asked, "What sort of trade goods do you usually buy and sell?"

"I usually focus on fabrics and furs, although others in my family often deal in a variety of other trade goods."

"Hmmm... that probably allows your family to take advantage of various markets with less effort on one individual's part."

"Indeed. I bring fancy fabrics, silks, and furs from the north, and someone can take them farther south later for a very nice profit."

That started a discussion about which trade goods did better in various towns and how we organized all these trips.