We continue through the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon. I find I'm much thirstier out in the open than I was in the forest, as the sun beats down on our shoulders and the tops of our heads. It's not long before I'm just about out of water.

In its own way, the area is beautiful. It's hilly and windy, yet peaceful and calm. We haven't seen much wildlife, but Rulf assures us it's all through the area. It'll be harder to set up snares, however, without trees.

The trees that are in the Talic Region are in small forests here and there. They seem to just spring up out of nowhere, but the patches of trees aren't that big. Rulf says we'll try to camp in one at nighttime. He says it'll be safer.

One of the things that I find amazing about the area is how far I can see. When we reach the top of a rise, I can see for miles in every direction, with the exception of back toward Switcher Pass. The cliffs and the forest block my view in that direction.

Ahead of us, to the east, tall mountains rise out of the earth. They're a strange green color and many are snowcapped. I had heard that mountains often have snow on the tops of them, but it's something else to see it in person. Every time I look at them, I want to just stop and stare with my mouth hanging open.

Rulf interrupts my thoughts by bringing us to a stop. "All right, everyone," he says with a growl. "We're well into the Talic Region now, and it's about to get dangerous."

"No," Marleet replies, giving a serious shake of her head.

Rulf remains silent for a moment, then finally asks, "What do you mean, 'no'?"

"I mean NO!" Marleet hollers. "It's already been far too dangerous. It's not okay for anything to get more dangerous."

Rulf stares at her with a look of shock. "It hasn't been dangerous at all. We just had a run-in with some assassins and were chased by angry villagers. Aside from that, it's been easy."

Marleet's voice gets really quiet and comes out shaky as she asks, "What's coming next?"

"Well, where do I start?" Rulf begins. "You've got Reber Trolls, of course. We saw one back in the Pass, but that's unusual. They live out here in the Talic Region in caves and holes in the ground or in ruins of cities they've destroyed. On top of that, you have the Talic Wolves. They're a real problem."

I haven't heard of Talic Wolves, aside from Captain Tilbur mentioning them, although I did hear that there are some predators in the Talic Region that the traders would speak a little about. Most of them wouldn't say much. The look of fear on their faces said more than any amount of words.

"And, of course, you have all the little things like the bugs and the poisonous bushes and berries and more. Oh, yeah, and the Shaloomd. We'll probably see some of those first."

"What are the Shaloomd?" Ellcia asks, struggling a bit with the word.

Rulf turns around and takes in the area as if he hasn't heard the question. Not far ahead are some boulders set just off the road. He moves off in that direction, and we all follow. When we reached the spot, we see that it must be a common area used by travelers. There's an area in the middle where countless fires have been lit, and off to the side, the grass is flattened out and mostly dead. I suspect it's from bedrolls or tents.

We settle down and pull out some food. It's late afternoon and a little early for the evening meal, but we missed having a break of any kind during mid-day.

We wait a while for Rulf to answer Ellcia's question, but he seems to have forgotten. Finally, I pipe up and say, "So, about Ellcia's question. The Shaloomd?"

Rulf nods. "Oh, yeah. The Shaloomd."

He pauses again for a long time. I find that kind of thing irritating. He seems to like to sit there and say nothing while we wait. I'm beginning to think he's forgotten again when he finally speaks up. "The Shaloomd are birds."

"Ahhhh!!!!" Marleet screams.

I jump to my feet and pull out my dagger. Everyone else is on their feet in a second, and we all face outward, ready to defend.

"What is it, Marleet?" Ellcia asks. "Are you hurt?"

"No! I'm not hurt! I'm frustrated! Rulf! You need to start answering questions. NOW! We need more information!"

I put my dagger back in its sheath. I'm tempted to chew Marleet out for scaring us, but I feel the same way. Rulf is too difficult to get information out of. Maybe he'll listen to Marleet. He seems to have a bit of a soft spot for her. She can be annoying at times, but she's also one of the nicest people on the planet.

"Oh. Sorry about that."

We all sit back down, and Rulf takes a mouthful of food. He chews it slowly while he collects his thoughts. When he finally speaks, he says, "The Shaloomd are birds. They're large and have a wingspan about the height of an average man. About Caric's height or a little less. They eat anything from mice to rabbits, but they can actually kill and eat a human."

I find myself searching the sky, and I see everyone else doing the same, aside from Rulf. "So," I say, "we're all in danger of one of these birds coming down to eat us?"

"Well," Rulf replies, "not exactly."

We wait for a bit, and then Hemot says, "This is one of those times when we're expecting more information."

"Oh, right." Rulf looks genuinely surprised. "I mean, some of you are in danger. I'm not. No Shaloomd can pick me up. They don't really attack. They grab you and try to take you up into the sky. If you struggle and fall out of their talons, you'll plummet to your death, and they'll take your lifeless body to their nests. If you don't get out of their talons, they'll just take you alive to their nests. Once there, they'll eat you. You can fight them off, but there are a lot of them up there."

"Is there anything we can do to avoid being grabbed by one?" Ellcia asks.

"They tend to only hunt creatures who are alone. If you see one in the sky, stay really close to one another. Don't go off by yourself for any reason."

"What about..." Marleet says, looking quite uncomfortable. "What about... when we... have to... you know... relieve ourselves?"

Rulf nods slowly. "That could be a problem."

Marleet throws her hands up in the air and shouts, "So, what do we do about that?"

"Just make sure the two of you go together," he says, pointing at Ellcia and Marleet. "But, you're in the most danger," he says, fixing his gaze on Marleet alone.

"Why me?" she asks in a small voice.

"Cause you're so much smaller and skinnier than anyone else," Rulf says. "You'll be the first one they target. They'll pick you up and carry you away with no trouble at all. We'll never see you again." He pauses for a moment and adds unhelpfully, "You'll be an easy Marleet-shaped snack for them."

Marleet's face fills with a look that's halfway between terror and... well... nope... that's just terror. Sheer terror. Hemot slides a little closer to her and glances up at the sky with an angry look in his eye, like he's mad at the birds already.

"How do you know all this?" I ask. "You've never been out of the city before."

Rulf shakes his head and then stands up. "I've been out of the city before, but we need to move."

We get up and return to the road. I see traders off in the distance moving toward us, but they're still far enough away that I can't even make out how many there are.

Once we're moving again, Rulf says, "I've been out of the city three times before now. Once when I was an infant. I was only two months old, and I barely remember it. I was only speaking a few words."

I shake my head, partly out of amazement and partly out of frustration. Something about a two-month-old Rulf speaking annoys me. The image in my mind is also a little disturbing. I wish he was a little more like the rest of us.

"The second time, I was over a year old, so I remember everything, but I didn't learn too much. My mom kept me close by. The third time was just before I turned two. My dad took me out camping. That's when I learned how to set snares."

"You do know that most people can't learn to set snares at two years of age, right?" I ask. But then I add, "But what about everything else? All the other stuff you know."

"I read a lot. And I listen to traders."

"You talk to traders?" Marleet asks. "But you don't talk very much at all."

"I listen."

"Good listener. Good listener," Mic says. "Hears everything. Hears everything."

"And how come the dogs didn't hurt you?" Ellcia asks. "They would have torn any of us to pieces."

"I have tough skin," Rulf growls and pulls ahead of us. From the way he walks, I know the conversation is finished.

We wander on, and it feels like we're making little to no progress. The landscape remains the same with small, rolling hills, covered in grass and the occasional forest in the distance. Ahead of us, I think I see what appears to be a rockier section of land.

"They're here. They're here," Mic says.

I turn around, expecting to see the assassins, but there's no sign of them. A shadow passes over me, and I look up to see a large, black and gray bird with nasty looking talons and a vicious beak. It's only about a stone's throw above us. I assume that's the Shaloomd, and it's just as terrifying as I could have imagined. I don't know how it crept up on us.

I feel Ellcia step up next to me on one side, and Hemot and Marleet pull up next to me on the other side. Mic makes his way over to Rulf, who pulls back near the rest of us. "They'll be on us for a while," Rulf says. "You all have to be careful. I'm not sure, but the bigger ones might be able to take any one of you."

"Wait," Ellcia says. "If this thing flies above us, isn't that like waving a big flag and screaming out, 'Hey assassins! We're over here!'"

"Yup," Rulf says.

"How long will it follow us?" I ask.

"I think they tend to remain more on the west side of the Talic Region. They don't like the mountains, from what I hear. But they aren't our biggest problem right now."

"What?" Marleet hollers. I didn't know her voice could reach that pitch, nor had I previously known what it would be like to have her holler like that while standing so close to my ear.

"I'm more concerned about what's behind us," Rulf says.

I look back and don't see anything at first, but then I notice the problem. I can't see a danger following us, but not far behind us, three Shaloomd circle a short distance above the ground. Someone else is back there, and I expect it's the last two assassins.

Rulf glances back and says, "They're getting closer. And quickly. We have to pick up our speed."

We take off at a decent run, once again, but this time we remain close together. I end up taking Ellcia's hand, and Hemot grabs my other one. We're nearly tripping over one another's feet, and Ellcia's sword keeps swinging over and hitting my leg, but we have to stay close.

"We'll try to hide in the city ahead, or we'll take our stand there," Rulf calls back.

I look at the Shaloomd marking out our pursuers. I think they're gaining on us. At this rate, they'll catch us soon.

We come over a larger hill, and I'm shocked to see the remains of a huge city ahead. It spans over a massive distance, but it's all just rubble. The road itself moves through the city, and the whole area lays in what appears to be a shallow valley in the region.

As we run down the slope of the hill toward the city boundary, I already see there are few, if any, places in the city to hide. It's all just rubble. I expect this is one of the cities that angered a Reber Troll.

Rulf leads us into the city, or what's left of it, and down a main street. It looks like this road is one of the areas in the city not covered in rocks, boulders, and smashed lumber. It's hard to believe one creature could do such a thing.

I glance above us, and the Shaloomd is closer, so I pull Ellcia and Hemot in tight next to me as we run. Marleet is already practically hanging off Hemot's other side, so I'm not too worried about her. Mic sticks close to Rulf. The big guy will take care of his friend. There's no doubt in my mind about that.

We do our best to keep ahead of the assassins. So far, there appears to be no place to stop for a rest and no place to hide. I have a sneaking suspicion the men behind us will be able to run for longer than we can, so we're likely going to have to face them soon.

The road ahead turns sharply to the left, but I can see nothing past the turn until we reach it. We round the corner only to find another turn to the right. When we reach the turn, we find the road dips down steeply, and we charge forward.

I feel like I haven't stopped running since the moment we approached the Captain to volunteer as a Vanguard. As much as I've learned about the lies I've been told, I long to be back in the castle, cleaning statues. Deep inside, I know I just want to rest. I don't think I could ever actually go back.

We're halfway down the hill when we see it. Against the backdrop of rocks and boulders, its light gray skin doesn't stand out at all, but the turning head and the big black eyes catch our attention. We all come to a halt at the same moment and lower our heads.

"Just move along the road slowly, and maybe the troll won't care about us," Rulf orders.

As we walk carefully, the road takes us within a few steps of the Reber Troll's outstretched leg. We step past it, and I'm surprised by the smell. There's an odor of mildew mixed with sweat that almost makes me gag, but I hold it in. The last thing I want is a Reber Troll after me.

We're just about past the troll when I take a quick look at it. I don't mean to, it just happens. I nearly scream as I see the eyes of that thing looking right at me, but I drop my gaze immediately. I wait for it to come after me, but breathe a silent sigh of relief after a moment when it doesn't move.

I hear the footsteps of the assassins coming from behind. They're moving quickly. I think we're nearly at the point where we can start to pick up speed again when I hear a roar. It's too far away to be the Reber Troll, but whatever it is, it certainly isn't friendly. I heard a roar of a lion once when a traveling circus had come to the castle to put on a show for us. It had scared me at the time, but I think I would prefer facing a lion than whatever made the sound that I just heard. This roar is loud, deep, and sounds as if it is a mix between a lion and a man screaming in rage.

I turn my head slowly to look behind me. I hope I'm far enough from the Reber Troll that I won't upset it. A moment later, two men come barreling around the corner. They're each covered in blood, and I don't think they care about us anymore. There's something terrible chasing them, and they only want one thing: escape.

"Move a bit faster, everyone," Rulf says quietly. "Try not to upset the troll, but what's chasing those men is not something we want to face either."

"What is it?" I whisper as we pick up speed. I glance back again to see the men have reached the bottom of the hill and will soon pass the troll.

"Talic Wolf," Rulf replies. "We're meeting just about every danger I think the Talic Region has to offer."

We pick up speed, but I dare not break into a run just yet. I fear the assassins, however. They may be more concerned with getting away from the Talic Wolf than they are with killing us, but I'm guessing they won't pass up an opportunity to finish the job as they run past.

I look back just as the first assassin reaches the Reber Troll. The man doesn't seem to have noticed the troll. I would think he'd at least notice the way we're acting and try to find out why we aren't running, but the look of panic on his face tells me he's not thinking straight.

When the man reaches the point of the troll's foot, a giant hand stretches out and grabs him, lifts him easily into the air, spins him around, and slams him face down onto the road. The second assassin grinds to a halt and tries to scramble away, but the troll grabs him too and raises him up to its mouth.

I turn my head, and we pick up our speed just a little more. We reach the corner just as I hear the troll stop chewing. Once we're out of sight of the creature, we take off at a run again.

Rulf pushes us on even faster than before. "We need to get out of here. The Talic Wolf likely won't care about us, but if it sees us, it'll come after us. You don't want one of those after you."

"Won't the troll kill it?" Ellcia asks. "It killed those men!"

I hadn't realized that Ellcia had been looking back. She sounds quite upset. I make a note in my head to talk to her later about it. I know her well enough to know she'll struggle with that. I think I'll struggle as well but talking to her will help me too.

"No," Rulf says. "The wolf will avoid the troll. The troll won't be able to catch the wolf—perhaps ever—but it'll follow the wolf everywhere and destroy everything the wolf does. Talic Wolves don't like that kind of thing. Let's just hope the wolf doesn't know about us yet."