Consciousness returned slowly to the warrior. It started with an icy prickling sensation in her big toe and became a catalogue of aches and pains that spread throughout her body, from a sharp pain in her right arm, to a dull ache in her ribs, and finally a deep splitting headache that felt like some whacking at her head with a rock over and over. With aching slowness, Jeri managed to drag her eyes open, but her vision was blurry and she found it difficult to focus. She found herself lying stretched out on the river's edge, the sharp stones of the rocky river bed poking into her back. One foot was half submerged in the dark, icy water of the river and she appeared to be missing her boots.

Overhead the sun has vanished behind thick storm clouds and the day was now overcast and gloomy with a cold drizzle falling around her. In the dim light the surrounding landscape looked washed of colour and where once the blue waters of the river had trickled merrily across red and brown stones, now murky, black water gurgled slowly downstream across grey, jagged rocks beneath a dismal grey sky. Thick clumps of black slime coated the surface of the water and as Jeri watched the slime meander downstream she would occasionally see a bubble of air break the surface of the slime and pop, filling the air with a foul, choaking stench.

In the middle of the river floated the corpse of the goblin she had slain. Its mottled brown hide was bloated and slick with slime and Jeri could see thick white maggots crawling out of the ruined flesh of the corpse. Nausea rose within her and she had to choke back the desire to vomit at the foul sight. By sheer force of will she managed to drag herself upright and stand, although every muscle in her body protested and ached terribly. Her limbs felt heavy as if they were trying to drag her back to the ground and every movement she made was difficult as her body was slow to respond to even the simplest commands.

A splashing sound dragged her gaze slowly upwards and Jeri watched in horror as the corpse of the goblin began to rise out of the dark water of the river. Black slime dripped from a gaping wound in its chest and its eyes blazed with an unholy purple light as it slowly lifted its head to capture her in its gaze. A thick tongue crawled out from behind its jagged black teeth and it licked its cracked lips as it smiled evilly. "Mine," it rasped in a hollow voice that seemed to echo around her. Moving slowly at first, but with ever increasing speed with every step, the creature began to wade through the dark water, reaching for her with its rotting hands outstretched. "Mine," it croaked again.

Instinctively, Jeri reached for her sabre, but the familiar weapon wasn't at her side. Neither were her daggers and even her armour appeared to be missing. She was clad only in thin wool shirt and pants, both torn in several places after the adventures of the day and clotted with foul-smelling dried blood that flaked off the cloth as she moved. Stumbling across the rocky ground, her body still feeling sluggish and unresponsive, Jeri backed away from the river and the walking corpse pursuing her. Looking for something to defend herself with she spotted a broken tree branch nearby and reached down to pick it up. But the branch was as rotten as the corpse pursuing her and it burst apart as her fingers brushed it. Several inch-long centipedes oozed out of the crumbling wood, twitching sluggishly as they fell towards the earth and then began to crawl towards her along the ground.

Turning to run, Jeri felt like she was moving through thick treacle with every step taking a lifetime. Somehow she stumbled her way away from the river and out into the open field beyond. As she crossed the empty field she felt like something was missing, but her mind was as sluggish as her body and she couldn't think what it could be. She fell several times as she ran and each time she seemed to fall into a patch of muddy ground so soon she was caked with mud that was weighing her down even more. Behind her the undead monster steadily shambled towards her and despite its slow pace it always seemed to be getting closer. She could almost feel its foul breath on the back of her neck.

Then, in the distance, she heard the dull sound of a horse's hooves clomping along the muddy road and Jeri dragged her gaze upwards to see a distant rider slowly moving towards her through the rain. The tall figure of the rider stopped at the very edge of the field and turned its hooded head to face her. Jeri's headache suddenly grew worse and her legs buckled beneath her as she collapsed under the pain, falling heavily into the thick mud of the field. The rider turned away and slowly disappeared into the distance as Jeri struggled to regain her feet. "Wait!" she tried to call out, but her tongue seemed to be caught in her throat and all she managed to get out was a dry croak.

Something grabbed at her ankle. Looking down, Jeri saw a skeletal hand reaching out of the mud to clutch at her. She kicked out at the hand, and although she managed to break free it was still able to rake its claw-like fingers along her ankle and foot, leaving bloody grooves in her flesh. She stumbled away from it, but all around her the ground began to break apart as first one, then a dozen, and then hundreds of skeletons crawled from the earth and began to reach for her. A heavy hand grasped at her shoulder and spun her around, pushing her backward towards the ground. Her vision swam as her head struck the muddy ground and then the undead goblin was on top of her, sitting on her stomach and forcing her down into the mud. The corpse hissed at her at it leaned forward towards her face, fat maggots tumbling from flesh and bouncing off her like rain.

The undead creature hissed at her again and its foul rotting breath assaulted her senses. Her vision swam again and she felt like she was falling away into blackness. Spots danced before her eyes and the twin sparks of the creature's glowing purple eyes seemed to spin around her like a vortex that was sucking her in. It's sharp obsidian teeth began to morph before her, widening into yellowing chisels with flecks of green between them. Then the creature opened its mouth and a gigantic slimy tongue snaked out and licked the side of her face. She cried out and…

…and then she woke spluttering as a large, rough tongue licked the side of her face. Something snorted warm air into her face and showered her with mucus. The familiar, but unwelcome smell of wet animal fur tickled her nose and she coughed, her throat feeling raw and dry.

"Bad horse," someone nearby cried out.

Jeri's thoughts were still hazy in the aftermath of the vivid nightmare she had just experienced, but she recognised the increasingly familiar voice of the young wizard, Mursa. She turned her head slowly towards the wizard and saw the half-elf running towards her waving a large piece of white cloth at the creature that loomed above her, its shadow blocking out the sun. Jeri dragged her gaze upwards and was pleasantly surprised to see the face of her warhorse, Desert Wind, looking back at her. The big warhorse licked Jeri's face again, his hot breath brushing across her face as he lowered his head and nuzzled her cheek once before pulling away, snorting at the wizard and stamping its feet uncomfortably close to Jeri's head. Mursa waved the cloth angrily at the horse again and with a final snort followed by a loud neigh the warhorse apparently decided she was not worth the trouble and clomped off to investigate the long grass growing at the water's edge.

Mursa knelt down beside her and began to carefully wipe her face clean with the cloth she had been carrying, which Jeri could now see was a piece of the robe the wizard had been wearing earlier. "Sorry," Mursa said when she had finished cleaning Jeri's face. "I didn't think he would try to eat you."

"He was just making sure I was all right," Jeri said with a smile. "Where did you find him?"

"I didn't," the half-elf replied. "He just turned up and started nibbling on your hair. I pushed him away a couple of times but he kept coming back. Is he your horse?"

Jeri nodded and then ignoring Mursa for the moment she turned her head to either side to look around her to try to work out where she was. The last thing she remembered, apart from the nightmare, was falling backwards into the water of the river with the big goblin falling on top of her. She now appeared to be lying on a thick bedroll which had been laid out on the grass near the river bank. A wool blanket covered her and a blazing fire had been lit nearby in a circle of round stones that the half-elf must have dragged over from the river. Her armour was also stacked neatly nearby, along with her boots and weapons belt. It was hard to tell how much time had passed since her battle with the goblin, but the sun was now almost directly overhead so it had been several hours at least.

"What happened?" she asked the half-elf who was still kneeling at her side.

"Well," Mursa began slowly. "After you killed the goblin you fell into the river and I had to pull you out which took me some time because with your armour you are heavier than you look. I thought you were dead, but thankfully you were still breathing, just really cold and wet. I wasn't sure what to do, so I lit a fire to warm you up and then this horse turned up and started trying to chew on your hair. He had the blankets and bedroll tied behind his saddle so I took your armour off and made you more comfortable. That was a few hours ago and I've just been waiting here for you to wake. I wasn't sure what else to do."

"And the goblins?"

"The two that survived the lightning bolt ran off when I was pulling you out of the river. I didn't have time to stop them getting away. They ran along the road to the west I think."

"So they know we are here," Jeri said, her brow furrowing as she wondered why the goblins were going west instead of east where she imagined their forces were. She asked, "have you seen any sign of them or any others since?"

Mursa shook her head. "No, it has been very quiet. I haven't seen another soul."

Jeri tried to get up, but found her head starting to throb again and she also felt dizzy and light-headed. With a groan, she slumped back onto the bedroll until the dizziness went away. Reaching up, Jeri probed the wound on her forehead and found it had been covered with a fresh cloth bandage, probably another piece of Mursa's robe. Unfortunately the bandage was sticky with fresh blood which meant the cut had reopened and was still bleeding freely, which explained the dizziness.

"It was bleeding when I pulled you out of the water," Mursa explained, her face pale and uncertain. "I did what I could, but it's still bleeding. I'm not sure what I need to do to fix it."

Jeri pointed toward her horse, who was still nearby. "In the left saddlebag are several bandages and a small pouch." she said. "I'm going to need them."

Mursa hurried over to where the horse stood chomping on the grass after some hesitation began to rummage through the saddlebags. The horse twisted around to look at her, baring his teeth at her and switching her side with his tail, but not going as far as biting her. The half-elf quickly retrieved the items Jeri sought and hurried back to the warrior's side, handing them over.

Jeri put the bandages aside and opened the pouch, taking out a thin, curved needle, some black silk thread, and a clay pot sealed with thick black wax. "What is your needlework like?" she asked, holding out the needle and thread.

"I… I have never," Mursa stammered, her face pale.

"It's all right," Jeri assured her, still holding out the needle and thread. "It's not hard, you just need to sew up the cut as neatly as you can. I can't see it or I'd do it myself."

The wizard finally accepted the needle and thread and knelt down beside Jeri again, untying the bandage and dabbing away the fresh blood that flowed from the wound. She held the needle close to the cut, but her hand was shaking. "I'm not sure I can do this," she said.

Jeri reached up and gently gripped the wizard's arm to steady Mursa's shaking hand. "It's all right, just take it slowly and carefully."

"Will it hurt?"

"Yes," Jeri admitted. "But not too much and it has to be done."

Jeri grimaced slightly as Mursa finally summoned up her courage and pricked the needle through the warrior's skin and began to sew up the cut. The wizard took a long time, but Jeri concentrated on ignoring the pain and guided the girl through the process as best she could. It would be a messy effort and would leave a particularly nasty looking scar, but as long as the wound was closed it could start healing. As soon as the thread was tied off, Mursa used one of Jeri's daggers to cut it before she handed the bloodied needle back to Jeri.

"Will it leave a scar?" the wizard asked, dabbing away the blood again and reaching for the bandages.

"Yes, but what is one more. I have plenty already," Jeri replied, stopping the wizard from picking up the bandages and pointing to the pot instead.

Mursa handed over the pot and Jeri removed the wax seal. A minty scent filled the air as she screwed the lid off and handed the pot back to the wizard. "Now you need to spread some of this salve across the cut. Not too much, but just enough to cover the whole cut completely. Then you can bandage it up."

"What is it?" Mursa asked, shivering slightly as she dug out a small amount of salve with her fingers and spread it carefully along the cut. "It's cold."

"Something a priestess of Éla gave me a couple of seasons ago after I did her a favour. I don't know what she put in it, but it works well for stopping infection so I keep using it."

"It's enchanted," Mursa commented.

"It is?" Jeri said, sounding surprised by this news. "Well I guess it was a pretty big favour and she was very grateful. How can you tell it's magical?"

"I am a wizard," Mursa replied, digging out some more salve with her fingers.

Jeri had a feeling that magic didn't quite work that way, but didn't press the issue further, instead just lying back and letting Mursa complete her work.

"Does this sort of thing happen to you a lot?" the wizard asked as she finished applying the salve and picked up a bandage.

"More than I'd like," Jeri said. She pointed to a thin white scar ran along her chin. "This was a dagger from a drunken sailor in a dockside tavern in Brechlen." Next she tugged the collar of her shirt aside to expose three long scars the stretched from her shoulder down to her breast. "A gnoll did this during a skirmish in Grevesmühl five years back." Finally, she pushed the blanket aside and tugged up the hem of her shirt so show the wizard a semi-circular line of jagged circular scars across her stomach. "And this was a varsk bite from two years ago in Rzhlev. That one was really bad and I didn't think I was going to survive, but we had a priest on hand who was able to patch me up."

Mursa finished applying the bandage and helped Jeri sit up. Jeri still felt dizzy, but the pain from her head had gone for now, the salve numbing it. From her previous experience with the salve she knew that wouldn't last and she would feel it again by the next morning. Jeri was about to help the wizard pack away the needle and the salve when she noticed that Mursa's left hand was also wrapped in a strip of cloth. "What happened to your hand?" she asked.

The wizard looked down at the bandaged hand. "It's a bit embarrassing," she said. "After I pulled you out of the water and dragged you over here I decided to try to find your sword and I… well stabbed myself on tip of the blade when I finally did find it."

"Can I take a look?"

Mursa nodded and held out her hand. Jeri quickly untied the rough bandage and saw that the cut was shallow and had already stopped bleeding so didn't need stitching up. However, she did spread a little of the salve on it and replaced the bandage with a fresh one. "You should be all right," she said. "It won't leave much of a scar either."

"As long as I can still move my fingers," the wizard said, testing the movement in her hand. "Some of my spells depend on precise gestures or they go awry."

"It will be a little stiff as it heals but you didn't do any major damage. Let me know if you need me to take another look," Jeri said, retrieving her boots and tugging them on before climbing back to her feet. She shook off the last of the dizziness she was feeling and picked up the rest of the bandages and other items and went to put them away in the saddlebag. Desert Wind looked up as she approached and butted her side with his head, which she noticed was still encased in the metal armour he wore in combat. She knew what the horse was trying to say and patted the side of his neck and then stroked his mane. "All right boy I guess we have no choice."

She turned to Mursa and called out, "Give me a hand here."

The wizard hurried over. "What do you need?"

"We need to remove Desert Wind's armour."

"But won't you need it if we encounter more goblins?"

Jeri shook her head. "Speed is more important now. Those goblins will probably be back by sunset and I want to be well away from here by then. This armour will only slow us down now."

The well crafted armour for her stallion has cost her a considerable sum of coin and she hated to leave it behind, but Jeri knew that she couldn't expect her horse to carry both it and the two woman without risking injury. She was already concerned for the horse after he had been wandering around in the sun for most of the day wearing the heavy armour and although he still seemed pretty feisty still there was a limited to his endurance. Like her, the stallion was from the Khinasi lands to the south and used to tough conditions, but Jeri was close to reaching her limits after the events of the day and she was wary of pushing her mount too far. Desert Wind was more than just a steed, he was a valued companion and she wasn't sure what she would do without him.

Working together Jeri and Mursa soon had the armour removed and piled neatly underneath a tree. Jeri hoped she would have a chance to come back for it, as it would be expensive to replace, but she suspected she would never see it again. Right now though, speed was more important than protection and she hurried to prepare to get moving. While Mursa packed away the bedroll and blankets and extinguished the fire, Jeri carefully buckled on her armour and weapon belt. She was forced to leave the helm off as it wouldn't fit comfortably on her bandaged head, and one of the arm guards had also been badly damaged by the reflected spell earlier. Jeri didn't know enough about magic to know what might have caused the spell to be reflected like that, but whatever the reason it had died with the goblin. She still strapped the arm guard to her arm, but it wouldn't provide much protection until it was repaired or replaced.

After clipping her helm to the back of the saddle, just behind the bedroll and blankets, Jeri swung herself up into the saddle. Reaching down, she took Mursa's hand and pulled the wizard up behind her. The stallion neighed a complaint over the extra weight, but Jeri just patted his neck again and said, "just for a little while boy."

"Are we going to follow the road?" Mursa asked, slipping her arms around Jeri's waist as she settled in behind the warrior on the horse's back. The wizard had her purple travelling bag slung over her shoulder and Jeri hoped it didn't slip off during the ride as she didn't want to stop if she could help it.

Jeri didn't respond immediately as she considered the options available to them. Certainly Cole and the rest of the survivors from the camp would be following the road, the waggon tracks had already indicated that. But they now had more than half a day lead over them and there was also the goblins to consider. Mursa had seen the two survivors from the group that attacked them earlier going west. It was unlikely the goblins would go west unless they expected other goblins to be there so that meant the main force was probably off in the forest somewhere, and could very well be camped out somewhere along the main road, or they could be pursuing Cole. She considered heading east instead, back towards Edlenna, but the goblins had come from that direction initially so they could be there as well. In a sudden moment of clarity she recalled a map she had seen in the Baron's castle before setting out on this journey and a new option opened up to her.

Guiding the warhorse with the reins, Jeri rode towards the road first, the heavy warhorse leaving deep hoof prints in the soft ground. After travelling a short distance along the road, she suddenly appeared to change her mind and turned the horse towards the river instead. The water wasn't deep but it still lapped around their feet and came up to Desert Wind's chest, making the horse toss his head and snort out a complaint. Staying in the water for some time, Jeri followed the river north, well past where the manor house still smoldered and even past the crossing where she had fought the goblin. Finally, she reached a bend and guided the horse out of the water and up onto the rocky bank. A narrow path appeared in the trees before them and Jeri guided the horse towards it.

"Where does this go?" Mursa enquired from behind her.

Jeri bought up the image of the map in her mind again, wondering as she did so why she could suddenly recall it so clearly. "It leads to a pass through the mountains into Ruelshegh province in Müden. It's not used much any more, but according to the map I saw there should be another road that leads off it down towards the Bannalach at the border of Dezeel and Coulbaraigh provinces. It's a slower journey and there are a lot of hills to climb, but it may be safer than the main road."

The wizard nodded and clung tighter to Jeri's waist as the big warhorse shouldered its way past some bushes growing close the to the track and began the slow climb up the first of the hills. The track seemed stable but it clearly hadn't been used in some time as leaves and small branches reached out from the trees to scratch at them as they passed and several times both women were forced to duck to avoid low hanging branches overhead. Jeri found herself questioning the wisdom of taking this track instead of the main route, all based on a map she had seen for only a short time nearly a week ago. Yet for some reason this seemed to her to be the right way to go, almost as if something was guiding her to take this path, so she kept on the path hoping her instincts were correct.