We continue through Switcher Pass for the rest of the day, moving slightly south away from the cliff-face once again. When we make camp, Rulf insists we not have a fire. None of us mind. The nights aren't cold, and it just means we'll likely fall asleep earlier. He says he'll light one in the morning if he catches any food.

Once we've set up camp, he has us practice with our actual swords—not sticks. At first, I think that'll be too loud, but he says that we're just trying to get used to them and are not going to practice with one another. We spend an hour or so going through the forms and working on keeping our legs and feet where they should be. We're just swinging our blades through the air, but it's a lot of fun.

The next morning, Rulf checks his snares and finds he didn't catch anything. He mumbles something about Switcher Pass, and we move on.

My feet are still sore, and my muscles hurt a lot, but I find I'm not struggling as much, and my muscles warm up quickly each day. I also notice that the huge bruise on Mic's face is starting to clear up. I'm not sure I've ever seen him without it. He seems to be enjoying himself. I don't talk to him much, though. The few times I've tried to engage him in conversation, it's hard to get anywhere, and he just shuts down.

At around mid-morning, we come across the next Vanguard. They are, like the first, all dead. It appears as though some of them put up a bit of a fight as four of the men have their swords drawn, and one sword even has blood on it, but there's no sign of the assassins. We search the bodies and take their food and money. I wonder why the assassins don't at least rob the men, but then I think about the amount of money we're getting. None of the dead men have much of anything on them. We'll be lucky if we can purchase enough food for one day with what we've collected.

No one asks any questions until we're out of sight of the dead Vanguard. At that point, Ellcia speaks up. "How do you know it's the same men who killed this group?"

Mic is the one who answers. He simply says, "Rulf knows. Rulf knows. Rulf always knows. Rulf always knows."

Rulf gives his traditional growl and then explains, "Thieves move through this area, but they never attack armed men. The Vanguards were killed by professionals, and professionals won't attack unless they're paid to do so. That's two Vanguards gone, at least. There are only four in total."

Ellcia starts to ask another question, but Mic interrupts her by running in front of Rulf. He slams his shoulder into Rulf's belly and whispers. "Back. Back. Turn around. Turn around."

"What's wrong?" Hemot asks.

Mic shakes his head and hisses, "Quiet. Quiet."

Rulf turns and pushes us back. I move through the forest as quickly as I can, and Mic directs us behind a large tree. Once around it, he pulls Rulf slowly out and points. Rulf shakes his head for a moment, but then his mouth drops open. He turns his head back to us, and I see something on Rulf's face that I never would have thought possible.

He appears genuinely afraid.

He glances around as if he's looking for an escape route and doesn't seem to relax until he looks a short distance to the north. I look in that direction, and I can see the ground rise up a bit. It looks to me like there might be a way through that will prevent us from being seen.

"What is it?" I hiss at Rulf.

He shakes his head at me. "Reber Troll."

I glance around at Ellcia. She looks just as confused as I feel. A quick look back at Marleet tells me she's in no better position to tell me anything. I only know of Reber Trolls by name, not much more. Only Hemot looks like he understands. Unfortunately, his expression matches Rulf's.

"Where is it?"

Rulf points, and I move around the edge of the tree. I look through the forest and can't see anything out of the ordinary at first. I ask him to tell me where exactly, and he points toward a large rock. I scan the area again, but still can't make it out. I'm about to ask him one more time when I realize what I'm looking at. What I thought was a large rock is actually the troll.

It's huge!

Its skin is gray and does, in fact, look like stone. The head is broad with wide-set eyes and a mouth that's disturbingly large. The mouth itself is partly open, and I can see a few teeth. They look yellowed with age.

The body and the arms show muscle and fat bulging through saggy, thick-looking skin. The hands have four fingers each, and I assume the feet, which I cannot quite see as they're behind some bushes, have four toes as well. I suspect if the creature stood up, it would be about four times my height.

It hasn't moved one bit, and I'm about to wave the others to come around and see it when I notice the eyes. The eyes are large, about the size of my fists. It blinks now and then, slowly dropping the lids down and raising them up again. The terrifying part, however, is that the eyes are fixed on me.

"Don't move fast, Caric," Rulf says. "Drop your gaze. Don't look at it."

I look down at the forest floor and lower my head for good measure. I hear a deep grunt from the direction of the Reber Troll and hope that it doesn't mean the monster is going to come for us. If it can move fast, there will be little we can do to stop it.

"Everyone follow me," Rulf whispers. "Keep your eyes on the ground. Don't make eye contact with it. Don't make any noises that you don't have to make. If you make a loud noise, don't apologize, don't try to cover it up, just go on walking quietly. Let's do our best to make it out of here alive."

We follow Rulf through the forest, trying hard to walk silently. Living in the city, I have never seen anything like that before, but I'm guessing they're dangerous. I'm not surprised after looking at the thing.

We reach the area where the ground rises up a bit and is covered in large rocks. I have a bit of a panic that it might be more trolls, but a second glance lets me know there's nothing to fear.

We travel along until we're confident we're far enough away, and Rulf and Hemot visibly relax. Rulf drops down on the ground and leans back against a tree. I knew he was scared, but I had no idea it had terrified him that much.

"What's a Reber Troll?" Marleet asks.

Hemot answers with a shake of his head. "It's something we never want to meet—or at least meet again. They're indestructible. A hundred trained soldiers can't take one down. If you're lucky enough to break its skin with a sword or a spear, you only make it angrier."

"Are they fast?" Ellcia asks, looking back over her shoulder.

"No," Rulf says. "Not at all. They walk at about the speed of a fast walk for us. You can outrun it over a short distance with no trouble."

"Then what's the danger?" I ask.

"Never stops. Never stops," Mic says.

Rulf nods. "That's right. It just never stops. If you anger it, it will chase you to the end of the earth. It will move at that steady pace until it catches you. You can't lose it once it settles on your scent. If a Reber Troll is after you, no city will take you in. They'll toss you over the wall to the Reber Troll rather than give you sanctuary."

"Why?" Ellcia asks. "Don't the walls stop it?"

"Even if the walls could stop it, do you think you'd want one of those things patrolling around your city day in and day out for the rest of eternity?"

I'm beginning to understand. It's a terrifying thought.

"But it wouldn't matter, because the walls won't stop it," Rulf says. "A Reber Troll will just slowly tear its way through the wall or gates or whatever barrier you have set up. There's a city on the other side of Switcher Pass that tried to resist a Reber Troll a long time ago. It was one of the strongest, most secure cities in the kingdom at the time. The son of the Lord of the city upset a Reber Troll, and it came after him. He hid in the city, and the Reber Troll entered the city and began to slowly tear down building after building. No one in the city, aside from the man who had upset it, died. They had to leave, though. The city is not much more than rubble now. The Reber Troll tore down every stone wall and every building over a period of four months until there was nothing left. Then it picked up the scent of the Lord's son and went after him. It took the troll six years, but it eventually caught up to the man and killed him. I've heard of cities that when they see a Reber Troll coming, they just open all the gates and hope the beast will walk in one gate and out the other. If it doesn't, they all prepare to leave. There's nothing else they can do. Nothing can stop a Reber Troll."

I don't like the sound of this. "How do you anger it?"

Rulf shrugs his shoulders. "Don't know."

My mouth drops open. I was beginning to think Rulf knew everything. He knows how to survive in the wild and even set a snare. He knew all about the assassins and knows more about us than I feel like we know about ourselves. He knows all about the Reber Troll... except he doesn't know the one piece of information that could keep us safe from the creature.

"I know," Hemot says.

I look at him in surprise but remember that he was the only one of us who didn't look confused a few minutes ago when the Reber Troll was first mentioned.

We all turn to Hemot, and a big smile grows on his face. He sticks out his chest as if he's proud of himself and says, "It's really easy to upset a Reber Troll. You do it by annoying it. I've read a bit about them. There have been people who have run into the side of one or even a man who accidentally shot an arrow and hit the Reber Troll in the side of the head, but it didn't upset the creature. However, there have been people who have walked too close to it, and the thing goes berserk. Something annoys it, and it comes after you. There are reports of loud noises or talking or laughter that have upset a Reber Troll. If you wake it from its sleep, that annoys it. If you make too much noise or move too fast around it, it's sure to come after you."

"Is it coming after us now?" Marleet asks.

"I think we'd see it or hear it if it was," Hemot says. "The thing I don't understand, though," he says with a frown, "is why the Reber Troll is here. Normally they're only found in the Talic Region and sometimes in the mountains."

Rulf grunts his agreement and pushes himself back onto his feet. "Time to move."

We continue east and then a little north again. Rulf wants to keep us close to the cliff-face. He tells us that since the ground is rockier in this area, we'll be harder to track. The downside is there isn't as much chance for food or water in this terrain.

Until this point, we've had plenty of access to water. I haven't actually given it much thought. Today, however, I notice that my waterskin is just about empty, and there hasn't been a stream for a while. We still have food, but without water, we're in trouble.

As we move, Rulf and Mic keep whispering back and forth. I really don't understand those two. They seem like a really unusual pair. I realize that I've never asked if Mic grew up in the castle, although Rulf suggested that he did. But then, it doesn't make sense to me that two kids would leave the castle on their own at ages five and six. Why wouldn't they just stay with the rest of us?

My mind drifts back to the rebellion. Rulf didn't say what my dad did. I was told he was a servant, but I don't remember that kind of thing. I remember him dressed in fancy clothes. I remember him wearing armor. The armor he wore, even though I was so young, had looked quite impressive to me. I remember everyone obeyed him... but even a head steward doesn't wear armor, fancy clothes, and order everyone around.

My mom was in charge as well. No one questioned her. She was tall and strong and... dangerous. She was never dangerous to me, but I knew others feared and respected her.

Just as I start to think again about my memories of the throne room and Hob calling me "Your Highness", I push the thoughts down. I don't even want to consider it anymore. It all... scares me.

I glance over at Ellcia... or as Hob called her, Lady Ellcia. I wonder to myself who she really was. I'm sure she and Marleet and Hemot are all wondering the same kinds of things about themselves. I really want to know who I am, but at the same time I kind of wish I was still at the castle, polishing statues and cleaning floors.

I'm distracted from my thoughts as I notice two things. First, Rulf and Mic keep glancing behind us. Second, we've picked up speed. We're nearly at a run, and I'm already breathing quite hard.

Rulf hisses, "Follow close behind me. Do exactly what I do!"

He turns quickly to the left just as a loud thud sounds near my head. I glance back to see a crossbow bolt lodged deep in a tree.

We break into an all-out run, moving our way back and forth through the trees. Hemot, with his long legs, is right behind Rulf and Mic. Ellcia starts to trail behind after a few minutes. I notice Marleet has slipped right to the back. I let Ellcia get in front of me and slip behind Marleet. Her face is flushed, and she looks terrified.

I tell her to keep running and slow down just enough to run directly behind her. Before I realize what I've done, I've set myself up as a shield for her. The moment I do realize it, however, I immediately go through a range of emotions from courage to terror to compassion for Marleet to embarrassment at doing the most absurd thing I can imagine doing to humiliation at the thought that I'd rather someone else be the shield.

I have that armor that's impenetrable. I guess I'm the best one to do this. I hope it can actually stop a crossbow.

Rulf weaves us back and forth, and a few more bolts end up whizzing past us or lodging into trees. One bolt hits a large rock and ricochets off to the left, narrowly missing Hemot.

The cliff-face is still to our left, and we're drawing right up next to it. What's strange, however, is the ground is rising on the right as well. Before long, the rocks and small hills on the right have turned into another cliff, albeit a small one compared to the one on the left. I can see through the thinning trees ahead that the cliffs are coming close together. I fear they'll meet, and we'll reach a dead-end. If so, our pursuers will easily kill us off.

I holler out to Rulf, "The rocks on the right..."

"I know!" he growls back. "We can't stop!"

The air is forced out of my lungs, and I crash onto the ground, rolling for a few feet before I slam into a tree. I can't breathe, and my back and shoulders ache. I'm not sure what's happened at first, but then I get it. I've been hit in the back with a crossbow bolt. The pain from the bolt shoots through me before I remember to concentrate. I know it hasn't penetrated my body, so it can't actually hurt me. But real or not, I can't get the air back into my lungs, and I'm starting to panic.

When the men rush up, I'm not moving. They ignore me, not offering much more than a glance at what likely appears to be the body of a recently killed teenage boy.

I stretch and twist and suddenly find I can take a deep breath. I try to be as quiet as I can, but I don't think I was successful. Pushing myself to my feet, I draw my sword. My friends might need my help.

I rush through the forest. Most of the ground is covered in a thick, soft dirt or pine needles which makes little sound as I run. Ahead, I can see the assassins. A quick count looks like there's nine.

When I reach them, I stay just out of sight behind a large tree. My friends have their backs to a rock wall. The two cliffs did end up meeting, and there's no way out. Ellcia, Hemot, and Marleet look terrified, and each one seems to be pushing the others behind themselves in an attempt to protect one another. Mic stands by himself, mumbling over and over, "Don't hurt us. Don't hurt us."

Rulf, however, is nowhere to be seen. I wonder if he was shot like me, but without the armor, he'd be dead.

"Ah, here we are, then," one of the assassins calls out. Each man holds a crossbow in his arms, but not one points it at my friends. There's no real need. They have nowhere to run. "You are the last Vanguard," the one man continues. "I will admit, I didn't think you would be the hardest of the four groups to kill. The others didn't seem to even know we were coming, but you have all managed to evade us." He laughs and then adds, "Until now."