25. Pursuit
After talking to Abigail Brenner, it takes us almost an hour to find someone who both knows where the Hafter's Grove cave is and is willing to take us there. He introduces himself as Eddin, and he can't be more than fourteen or fifteen-prime age for doing reckless things like deliberately going to a darkspawn's lair. In keeping with that, he seems more curious than anything else, peppering me and Jowan with questions about darkspawn until I remind him we're trying to be sneaky.
After that he's quiet, simply pointed out which way we need to go, shortcuts through the underbrush, things like that. He proves to be a very good guide-good enough I start wondering if he's elf-blooded to be able to see in the dark so well. I have no idea if that's how it works, but I've never met a human capable of seeing in the dark like he can. I hold tight to Jowan's hand the whole time, helping him avoid walking into tree branches or tripping over rocks as best I can, and planning to tease at least a little about humans not being able to see in the dark. Despite my help, he does still trip a few times, barely keeping his feet each time, and I decide to save the teasing for tomorrow.
"Here we are," Eddin whispers, crouching behind a clump of trees and nodding toward a nearby cave. "Only cave in all a' the grove."
"Thank you," I whisper back. "We can manage on our own from here."
"Thanks, Warden," he nods, and vanishes into the darkness. Soon as he's gone, Jowan snaps his fingers, summoning a small flame, which he cradles in his palm.
"What are you doing?" I hiss, glancing toward the cave. There's no sign of movement, or light, or anything from within but I'd really rather not be spotted. It would make this more difficult than it has to be.
"Just checking..." he mumbles back, rolling up one pant leg and gingerly probing his shin.
I giggle, watching him work. "You know bruises prob'ly won't show up this fast, right?"
"I'm more worried about one actually bleeding," he shoots back, looking relieved that that's not the case.
"Y'know, it amazes me sometimes how you can be such a baby about things like bruises and scrapes, but then take down a pride demon single-handed while pretty much bleeding to death without a word of complaint."
"A little mystery for you to solve," he teases. "But later. Right now we need to find Velanna and Jerin. Pass on what Brenner told us."
I nod. "That was good thinking, by the way; healing her arm. How'd you know she was worried?"
Jowan shrugs. "Working in a mill is a physical job, so it made sense she'd be worried about something like that interfering. Plus, I know firsthand how badly those injuries can hurt."
"Mm. Y' ready to get on with this?" I nudge, eyes still fixed on the dark mouth of the cave.
"Uh-huh. Why's it dark?"
"That is an excellent question, and hopefully one we'll have an answer to very shortly," I reply, snagging his sleeve as I begin edging toward the cave. If Velanna and Jerin are in there, we should have seen some sign of it by now. I'm beginning to worry what might have happened to them. Only one way to find out.
oOo
The passage had more twists and curves than his vallaslin, making Jerin very glad for the dirt floor and the long, winding track Velanna's staff had left along it. They would have gotten lost for sure without that.
"This is ridiculous," he muttered, batting aside cobwebs.
"You're the one who wanted to come down here," Velanna pointed out, brushing an insect of some kind off her shoulder.
"No, I mean, the darkspawn didn't have that much of a head start. We should have at least seen some sign of it by now. Tracks, or torn cobwebs, or something."
"Well, there I can agree with you," the mage concurred. "Even Awakened darkspawn aren't usually all that particular about covering their tracks."
"What if it didn't come this way?"
"Then we're in trouble, because there are entirely too many other options," she replied.
"Well, how much longer do y' want t' go b'fore we give up?" Jerin asked.
Velanna bit her lower lip and thought for a moment. "Five more minutes without any sign, and we can go back for the commander and her mage."
"You don't like him very much, do you?" Jerin commented, bemused.
"I don't like a lot of people," she deflected. "Especially shems. Now, do you want to spend our entire five minutes discussing racial biases, or do you want to find a darkspawn?" She pressed her lips together tightly and marched into the darkness ahead.
Eyebrows raised at her touchiness, the hunter followed. "Velanna, remember t' drag your staff so we don't get lost."
She grunted and pointedly dug the butt of her staff into the ground as she continued rapidly on.
"'Lanna, calm down. It was just an observation. I'm not intendin' t' take it anywhere."
"Well, good. 'Cause I wouldn't indulge you if you were," Velanna muttered. "Please... just... drop it."
"I'm trying to," he replied. "Consider it dropped." He watched the tension bleed out of her posture. "Let's turn left here and see what we find."
She nodded. "Sounds good to me."
What they found was a passage somewhat straighter than the previous ones, not that that was saying much, with far fewer cobwebs stretched across it.
"That's promising..." both elves muttered as a slight breeze reached them from somewhere up ahead. If they were nearing another exit, maybe there would be some trace of their quarry here, or maybe even the darkspawn itself. With that thought in mind, Jerin shifted almost seamlessly into a more stealthy gait, which Velanna imitated as soon as she caught on to what he was doing.
And sure enough, they hadn't gone far when Velanna hissed," There's someone up there."
"I hear them," Jerin whispered back, slowing his pace even more. He could feel the mage nearly vibrating with impatience, but part of being a good hunter was not scaring off your prey. They finally reached the last curve between them and the-approaching, Jerin realized-individual and rounded it with weapons drawn.
And nearly ran into the torch carried by the approaching figure. The elves swore, dodging back, and the figure yelped, recoiling instinctively as well.
"Wait, don't!"
Velanna almost dropped her staff. "James?!"
The youngest of the Farrow boys pushed back the hood of his cloak and gave a sheepish grin. "I can explain, I swear."
A/N: In which the author almost forgot elves can see in the dark(again. Seriously, why is that so hard for me to remember?!), Velanna's temper makes a reappearance, and we meet another of the Farrows. I love this family, okay? xD Also Velanna's... issues(for lack of a better word) with Jowan are A)not new, and B)to be explained later. How much later I don't know, but it will happen.