The Company discussed their findings as they began traveling back to Imnesvale. This conversation ended earlier than expected; after an hour or so, Valygar insisted on taking his own route back to his cabin somewhere in the woods. When the others asked him to stay at the Umar Inn with them instead, he declined.
"My hiding place will not work for much longer," he said. "I must make use of it as I may while I still can."
"How soon can you be ready to set out?" Lidia asked.
"Tomorrow morning," he said. "I will travel light; I would suggest that you do the same."
After they returned to the village, Lidia spent several hours training, reviewing some techniques with her staff and practicing her throws with Azuredge. She tried not to push herself too far, as they had a strenuous day of travel ahead. Still, it was a way of clearing her mind, of shaking loose all the troubles she carried for a moment. By the time she decided to stop, the sunlight was laying itself down in the forest before the night fell.
She returned to the lodge, going around to the back and washing off her face from a bucket of cold water from a nearby well. The entire time, she remained on full alert. Every so often, she glanced towards the darkening forest, wondering if they would strike again and where. Despite having fewer protections against the shadows, Minsc and Yoshimo had offered to take the watches tonight so that the others could ready all their spells for the long journey ahead.
She didn't like this, even if they had volunteered. She had half a mind to sit up with them, though they had rather firmly insisted that she do otherwise.
When she opened the door to the room she shared with Aerie, she found the elf sitting on the floor in front of the bed, an array of spell components laid out before her: small bits of metal and wood, finely polished stones, vials of colored sand, broad and pungent leaves, glass beads, and a small wooden effigy of a raccoon's face.
Aerie greeted her with a somewhat sheepish smile. "I'm…I'm trying to figure out what Valygar means by traveling light, I suppose," she said, gesturing to the objects laid out in front of her. "I mean, I didn't have much to begin with, and I don't know what I could leave behind."
"You made it out this far and carried your things the whole way," Lidia said, returning the smile. "You're doing fine. Just pack what you normally would and roll your bedroll extra tight."
"Ha, maybe the circus made me ready for this part. We always had to bring our homes with us." A sad look came into Aerie's face. "It'd be a lot easier if we could just…I don't know…"
Lidia stepped carefully around the laid-out trinkets, sitting next to her in front of the bed. "What is it?"
"It's…it's times like this where I wish I could fly again," she said quietly, leaning against the bed. "Just climb on top of this inn and get where I needed to go, without trudging along the ground."
Lidia considered this a moment. "I've heard you mention that you could fly a few times. If we could all do that, we'd go a lot faster — and with fewer blisters."
"Oh, you're so — practical sometimes!" Aerie chuckled, but her smile soon faded. "I wish…I wish I could make you feel what it was like."
She stared straight ahead, as though her eyes saw something Lidia could not. She said, softly, "The clouds are a special place up there…it's like a land of billowing white beauty that you can almost walk upon. Last night, in my dreams, I was there, and I had my wings back…it was wonderful."
"It sounds wonderful," Lidia said. "I'd hate to have to walk everywhere if I knew what that was like."
Aerie was putting on a brave face, but she was blinking rapidly, as though she were spending a great effort to maintain her composure. "I…I've had years to learn to get used to being on the ground. And sometimes I think I've done it, and then I feel as though I've just lost my wings all over again."
"You've been through a lot over the past couple tendays," Lidia said. "If you need time away— ."
Aerie shook her head. "We're…we're going to do something good here. Maybe that will help. Doesn't it?" She leaned forward and carefully scooped up the spell components. "I've dumped enough on you already. Please don't…don't worry. I'll be ready whenever you need me to be."
"You're among friends here," Lidia said, getting up from her place. "Anytime you want to talk, it's not any trouble at all."
The shadows were again silent that night, and no one else had died, though during his watch Yoshimo could have sworn he saw a woman, thin and pale with black and silver hair, clad in a long white robe.
"What was unusual about her?" Lidia asked.
"Her eyes," he said with a shudder. "They looked right at me, and they were dark and dead."
But there was no sign of anything unusual as they made their way back to Merella's cabin; the village, forest, and road even looked cheerier than usual, as the sunlight was brighter.
Still, as soon as they approached the cabin, Lidia started glancing about, as though she expected that specter or the shadows to leap out at any moment. She felt the same evil presence she had sensed yesterday, but this time its wake seemed stronger than before.
As soon as the thought passed through her mind, Valygar emerged from the cabin.
"Good to see all of you here," he said. "Waiting here was no treat. The body in the cabin — it's gone."
"Gone?" Lidia asked.
"See for yourself."
They went inside. Sure enough, the body on the bed had disappeared, with no sign of where it went, without even a trace of blood or any other fluid upon the floor.
"That's the clearest sign I've seen that we're dealing with undead," Lidia said. "Standing here sends a chill up my spine."
"I agree, on both counts," Valygar said. "I've been stopping by this place every now and again. Something's not right here, and hasn't been for a while."
"What sort of abomination consorts with both wolves and shadows?" Anomen asked.
"Maybe Yoshimo's specter has something to do with it," Lidia replied. "Still, if we're lucky, we'll find out."
They then started their journey proper, following the path in front of Merella's cabin further northeast. Valygar took a place at the front of the group, directing the turns and paths they took without hesitation.
As they traveled, the day faded into twilight. The crickets and birds chirped for a little while, but before long everything felt eerily silent, without even an insect stirring.
Yoshimo looked around him. "Perhaps we should make camp before night falls," he said, only a hint of unease in his voice. "This is no place to travel in the dark."
"That's not going to make a difference," Valygar said. "Right now, it's the middle of the afternoon."
Aerie and Yoshimo gave each other worried looks. "What…kind of place is this?" Aerie asked, out loud but partly to herself.
"An evil presence is near," Anomen said. "Does your blood not quicken to feel it?"
Minsc said, "It's only time for Minsc and Boo to send enemies to sleep! Lullabye and goodnight, evil!"
Lidia warmed her light gem in her hand, hoping that her companions' spirits would hold steady as the darkness strengthened. "Well said. Let's go shed a little light."
The path narrowed, forcing them into twos by twos and then in single file as the forest grew thicker and darker. More than once, someone tripped over someone else's foot or a tree root. Night fell starless and much too early. At certain points it seemed that even the lantern and light gem struggled to pierce the darkness, only good for casting shadows in the brown, stiff grass breaking beneath their feet and in the bare, gnarled branches, in the bones of the forest stripped clean. There was nothing green. While the surrounding country was waking up to springtime, this place slept. As they went further in, the air grew colder, and they even began finding traces of snow, ghostly white in the dim light.
She thought she heard voices and howls on the wind as it whistled through the bare tree tops. She could not distinguish what the voices said, but they seemed to be in mourning. Fitting, for the land was dead.