It took two days of hard travel for Jaheira and Merena to reach the area they had been told was the approximate location of the attack. Despite her earlier optimism, Merena became increasingly tense and withdrawn during their journey, as if she were attempting to steel herself for some disastrous revelation. Jaheira's attempts to draw Merena into conversation, though not rebuffed, met with little success. At night, Merena mechanically assisted Jaheira with the camp setup, and then spent much of the night staring silently into the fire.
On the afternoon of the third day they found what they were looking for. Although the bodies and most of the debris had been cleared away from the road, the signs of a recent battle were unmistakable. After exchanging an excited glance, both women raced forward to examine the area.
After a few moments of silent study, Jaheira spoke. "Evidently the caravan had stopped on the side of the road before it was attacked; that is fortunate, otherwise all the signs would have been destroyed by the travelers that have come through since then." She snorted derisively. "As it is, those idiots who came to investigate nearly did the job themselves."
"But in my judgment," she continued, "at least two sizable groups of mounted men rode through the area after the initial battle. Do you agree, Merena?" She glanced up at Merena, who was standing a little way away, staring at the ground as if transfixed. "Merena, what is it?"
Merena looked up at Jaheira with more animation in her face than at any time during their journey. "Jaheira," she said in voice hoarse with emotion, "these are Challenger's tracks. I would know them anywhere, I've seen them in my dooryard often enough!"
"Are you sure…" Jaheira began, and then waved away her own question. "No, of course you are sure." She hurried over to where Merena was standing. "Yes I see, they are quite distinctive, much larger than the other horses. Merena…" Jaheira glanced up and caught Merena's gaze. "these tracks look to be part of a group that arrived after the battle!"
Merena nodded, obviously not trusting herself to speak. Then she gave a small gasp and a stricken look crossed her face. "Jaheira, what if it is someone else riding Challenger?"
Jaheira put her arm around her friend comfortingly. "Merena, they did not find Anomen's body, and someone was riding his horse after the battle. The simplest explanation is that it was Anomen himself. Besides, from what I've heard of Sembian warhorses, they are trained to be extremely loyal to their owner; any brigand who tried to capture Challenger would not have an easy time of it."
Jaheira was happy to see that Merena was looking a considerably less anxious at these reassurances, and was then able to turn her thoughts to something that had been nagging her. "You know, Merena, I believe I saw the same hoofprints on the other side of the battlefield."
Within a few minutes the women found not one, but two places where Challenger's hoofprints were clearly visible. One, they noted to their surprise, had come from farther up the road in the direction that the caravan was traveling when it was attacked. "By Silvanus!" Jaheira exclaimed. "I had assumed these tracks were made by the group sent to investigate! But if Anomen was among them…" After exchanging an excited glance, the women turned in unison and began eagerly following the trail to its origin.
A short distance up the road the two women found clear signs of another, smaller battle, including a broken farm cart in the ditch. Without speaking, Merena and Jaheira began searching the surrounding area for further clues to Anomen's fate. Jaheira noted that Challenger's tracks seemed to go no further up the road, and was puzzling over what that might mean when Merena let out a surprised gasp.
Jaheira rushed to her side and followed Merena's gaze to her grim discovery; a body lying partially covered with leaves dressed in the tabard of the Order. At first Jaheira feared the worst, but a second glance assured her the body was not Anomen's. Although the man had been dead for some time, she could tell he had been fair-haired and beardless, his tabard of the familiar style that Anomen had worn when he was a squire in the Order. The arrows still protruding from his back left no doubt about the cause of his death.
"One of Anomen's squires." Merena said in a strangled voice, glancing up at Jaheira with barely suppressed terror in her eyes.
Jaheira said reassuringly, "Merena, I haven't seen any other bodies, but let us be certain." The two women did a thorough search of the area and to their relief, indeed found no one else. But also found no evidence that Anomen had been past that point, bringing their search to an abrupt halt.
"It must be the other trail we saw back at the battle site, the one that led into the woods." Merena said decisively, though Jaheira could tell she was not as calm as she appeared.
"I agree" Jaheira replied. "For whatever reason, he never went past this point. Come, let's find the trail again before it gets too dark."
They swiftly retraced their steps and found the second trail where they had identified Challenger's hoofprints, which meandered into the woods next to the road. At first, the trail did not seem very promising, but after following it for a few minutes they found a patch of wet earth by a stream that showed Challenger, a number of other horses, and several wagons had passed down the trail in recent past.
Sure now that they were on the right path, they continued for another league before the sun slipped below the horizon. Merena determinedly pressed on in the gathering darkness until Jaheira caught her arm.
"Merena, wait! We should stop for the night — it will not help Anomen if we lose the trail in the darkness."
Merena looked like she wanted to argue, but after a pause, nodded. "I know, Jaheira. It's just that now we're finally getting close, I hate to delay even a moment."
"This trail is at least a week old, it may take us several days to catch up with him, even at our swiftest. I know you're worried, but try to be patient. We will leave at first light, I promise." Jaheira assured her.
The two women set up camp, and as she had on the other nights of their journey, after they had eaten Merena sat staring in the fire, arms wrapped around her knees. Jaheira sat beside her, expecting to have as little success as she had previously in getting Merena to talk.
To her surprise, Merena began speaking without any prompting. "When Kelsey left me, everyone said that he was to blame, that it was some defect in his conscience or his character that led him to behave as he did, and that there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. I believed that was true, I accepted it…in my mind, anyway. But even after the initial heartache had lessened somewhat, I'd wonder if there was something I could have said or done to prevent him from leaving. Or if it was some fatal flaw in Kelsey's character, why didn't I see it in him? Why did I blindly trust him for so long? Often I'd lie awake at night at questioning what fatal flaw there was in me that made Kelsey unable to love me the way I loved him."
Her voice was choked with emotion, and Jaheira saw that unlike Merena's stony demeanor of previous nights, that tears were silently coursing down her cheeks.
"Then Anomen came." Even through her tears, Jaheira could hear the warmth in Merena's voice when she spoke of Anomen. "If anyone had a right to question my judgment for trusting Kelsey, or to think that I'd gotten what I deserved for being a blind fool, it was Anomen. But there was never a word, not even a hint of recrimination from him."
"No one would think you're to blame for Kelsey's actions, or for trusting him!" Jaheira scoffed. "Especially not Anomen, considering how he feels about you."
"Even if that's true, he never asked me for anything but my friendship and my company. Sometimes I felt a little guilty taking so much of his time, but he always seemed so happy to visit, and I enjoyed his company so much. And Kylia…you should see how she brightens when he's around; how could I say 'no'?
"I can't tell you how much his unquestioning faith and loyal friendship meant to me." Merena reached over and squeezed Jaheira's hand. "I know you, and Imoen and all the rest of my friends have faith in me too. You've been wonderful through all of this. But somehow, with Anomen, it was different. Here was an attractive, intelligent, accomplished man who believed in me and craved my company in a way that Kelsey clearly did not. He was there when I needed him, and I can see now how much he helped me put aside my doubts and finally accept in my heart that I was not to blame for Kelsey's unfaithfulness."
Jaheira glanced over at Merena uneasily, not certain she should share her concerns. "Merena…" she began.
Before she could adequately formulate her thoughts, Merena spoke again. "Jaheira, don't look like that; I know what you're going to say. Gratitude for someone's friendship and being flattered by a man's attention are not the same thing as being in love with him. I know that."
She shrugged. "I wish I could explain exactly how and why my feelings changed, but I can't. Perhaps finally getting Kelsey out of my heart let me see Anomen for the man he is." Merena chuckled, the first laugh Jaheira had heard from her since the beginning of their journey. "All I know is that one day I found that instead of worrying that Anomen might expect more than friendship from me, I worried that he might not."
Merena's face became thoughtful and she stared into the fire once again. "But even though I knew I felt more than friendship for him; that I desired him, I didn't truly understand just how much he meant to me until Emond came to tell us he was missing." She looked up at Jaheira with tear-filled eyes. "I think I told you about the time when Kylia was two and she was lost in the woods near the farm for an hour. When the High Watcher told us about Anomen, I had the same feeling — the same gut wrenching, paralyzing fear that someone I loved with all my heart was in peril. That's when I knew for certain that I loved him — loved him for himself rather than because he made the pain of losing Kelsey bearable."
Merena buried her face in her arms. "Oh, Jaheira, I will never forgive myself if anything happens to him! I'm sure he agreed to escort the delegation because of our ridiculous quarrel. What if I sent him to his death?"
Jaheira managed to suppress an urge to roll her eyes. "There's no need to be so dramatic." She said crisply, but she put a comforting arm around Merena's shoulders nonetheless. "If you persist in loving Anomen, you will have to get accustomed to having him in some danger. It's part of his job, after all. Besides, you know as well as I do that Anomen is not a two year old lost in the forest. I have no doubt that he is capable of taking care of himself until we arrive, and you should have some faith in him too."
"Now," Jaheira continued, "if we are going to be up at dawn to find this lost love of yours, I insist you get some rest." Jaheira maneuvered Merena onto her bedroll with only token protests; it was clear that Merena was deathly weary from days of suppressed worry over Anomen's fate as well as the day's events. As Jaheira watched over Merena as she slept, she sent a silent prayer to the gods for the success of their task.
As planned, Jaheira and Merena had broken camp and were on the road by dawn the next day. At first, the trail they followed meandered through the woods, seemingly little more than a path of convenience through the densest part of the forest. Several times they lost their way entirely, and had to stop and backtrack to pick up the trail again. Merena was patient through these setbacks, though Jaheira could tell that the delays only increased her anxiety. But around mid-day, the trail opened onto a much larger and more clearly defined track, with obvious signs of long-term use.
"Well, now much is clear." Jaheira commented. "Did you notice that this path runs roughly parallel to the Athkatla road? I'd wager they have a dozen side paths that connect the two, making it very convenient to intercept traffic on the road and then disappear into the forest with their spoils. There have been reports of brigand activity along this stretch of road for months, but no one suspected they were so well organized. Now we know we're on the right course."
It took several minutes to find one of Challenger's hoofprints to confirm which way Anomen had gone, but once they had done so they set off with a will, heartened by their progress. They followed the brigand's road for the rest of the day and all through the next, hoping each dawn would bring them to their goal.
On the morning of the third day they had gone no more than a few leagues when movement in the trees caught Jaheira's eye. She silently motioned for them to stop and maneuvered her horse next to Merena's. "There is someone hidden in the trees ahead." She told Merena in an undertone.
The two women concealed their horses behind some dense underbrush and cautiously approached on foot. Soon, it was clear that the man in the trees was positioned to watch both the brigand's path and the main road to Athkatla; only Jaheira's keen eyesight and a bend in the road had prevented them from being seen. When the women had approached close enough to see the sentry clearly they exchanged a glance, both puzzled by what they saw.
It was a young, beardless man, clad in rough leather armor. At first glance, he looked like one of the brigands, but…"Too young" muttered Jaheira. But it wasn't just his youth that seemed out of place — very likely some of the brigands were of a similar age. But this young man simply didn't have the hardened look she would expect of someone making his living by killing and kidnapping travelers. Merena understood immediately. "And too clean." She whispered in agreement. Then Merena eyes lit with excitement and she wordlessly pointed to the base of the tree where the young man was stationed. There, partially concealed by leaves, was a shield; a shield clearly marked with the symbol of the Order of the Most Radiant Heart.
They had found one of the missing squires.