Hey guys! I hope you like this chapter! I'm almost done writing Hunted!

-owl

Conor was content to stay at the back of the group as Monte led them to the apartment above the trading post. He had to admit, he never would have expected it to have been Monte behind the counter! He was clearly good at lying and hiding the truth.

Meilin, Abeke, Tarik, and Nicolai had caught up with Conor and Rollan just after Monte had admitted who he was. With all six of them there, in addition to Briggan and Essix, Monte had reluctantly promised to bring them to meet with Barlow.

As they walked through a hallway Conor saw a shadow move before the furry face of a raccoon appeared for a second. Then it was gone, and there was nothing Conor could do to coax it out again. Quickly he caught up with the rest of the group just as Monte knocked on a heavy looking door.

The door opened swiftly, behind it a brawny man with massive sloping shoulders and thick whiskers. In all, Barlow had quite a similar build to Nicolai. He glowered at Monte. "Why are there Greencloaks at my door?"

Monte wrung his hands and nervously glanced towards Briggan. "They... insisted."

Barlow rolled his eyes as he sized them up. "I see we have seasoned veterans of... what? A week?"

"Please," Abeke said. "We need your help finding Arax the Ram."

That brought them up short.

"Is this a prank?" Monte asked, amid Barlow's laughter.

Tarik shook his head. "No. The Devourer is back and is after the talismans. We need to get to Arax before they can."

Barlow stopped laughing with a start. "The Devourer?"

"He returned, just as promised. Or, at least someone channeling his... goals. Zhong is under attack. The Wall has been breached and southern Nilo is at war as well," Nicolai added, his voice betraying his annoyance towards the former Greencloaks.

Neither seemed to buy the story and after a minute or so of silence Meilin spoke up. "I saw the attack on Zhong with my own eyes. Jano Rion was practically burning behind me as I left my father to defend it."

Barlow scowled. "You left your father? Was it the Greencloaks who took you?"

She nodded, annoyance still clear in her eyes.

"Kids should be kids. Not trained to be soldiers."

Monte held up a placating hand towards Barlow. "Don't let him get going on that. Anyway, we're very sorry about the war going on overseas, but we haven't a clue where to start looking for a Great Beast, let alone Arax the Ram. I think we should call this conversation over now, shouldn't we?"

"You are both good actors," Rollan complimented the men. "but the laughing and the over-explaining gave you away."

Barlow looked at him with an unreadable expression. "What's with the gyrfalcon?"

"Take a guess."

With a flash Jhi and Uraza joined the group, and all of a sudden the room seemed to become half as big as it had been.

"Are we trying to figure out who has a bigger bear?" he asked, looking at Jhi, unimpressed.

Nicolai cradled his head in his palm for a few seconds. "Barlow, use the brain I know you have and look at the bear."

Monte was the one to respond. "That's a panda. With silver eyes."

Barlow scoffed. "Poor taste in jokes."

Abeke narrowed her eyes. "Uraza is also right in front of you."

"I left Briggan outside," Conor said in an even tone. "He helped me have a vision. I saw a bear and a raccoon leading the way to Arax."

That brought pause to the group. "Let's see the wolf."

Barlow took a while inspecting all four of the Fallen. After nearly an hour or poking, prodding, and just plain thinking, he spoke. "You want us to believe that the showdown has begun?"

Tarik nodded.

"I had hoped to be long dead before this happened," Monte confessed.

"Do you really think you will be able to get Arax to give you the talisman? He didn't in the last war. Why would he now? If you think it will be easy, you don't know him." Barlow said.

"But you do," Rollan commented.

Monte turned to the boy. "We get it! You know things! Essix wasn't known as the Deepseer for nothing."

Rollan didn't have time to ponder that sentence because Tarik kept the argument going.

"So, you've seen him?"

"We've been damn near everywhere in western Amaya. One day, high in the mountains, Scrubber, Monte's raccoon, found us some interesting tracks. They were as though from a bighorn sheep, but out of scale." He held up his hands to show the size of a dinner plate. "We followed the tracks for a while before we saw him."

"He is the single best thing we've ever seen on all our journeys," Monte put in.

"Did you engage?" Nicolai asked.

Barlow shook his head. "We were intimidated from the distance we were at. He saw us, though, and kicked up wind. Once we backed away, he let us leave."

"Kicked up wind?" Meilin asked.

"Arax can influence the weather in high places."

"You really saw a Great Beast?" Conor asked, wonder in both his tone and his face.

Briggan butted his leg.

"Sorry."

Monte glanced from Briggan to the rest of the group. "You kids are traveling with legends."

"And that brings me back to my point," Barlow spoke up. "You are children. You should be at home, not here. The mountains are no place for children."

No one got a chance to argue that point again because the Four Fallen approached the former Greencloaks, getting up on their hind legs (Jhi), landing on Uraza's head (Essix), or just showing teeth (Briggan and Uraza). After a long moment while Barlow stared down the animals, the man threw his hands up in surrender.

"Fine. We'll help you find Arax. Monte, you'd better go dig out our gear."