The wolves hesitate, looking to their leader for guidance.
Annifred says, through her toothy grin, “He say no. Why still here?”
This is enough for the wolves’ leader. He breaks off, vanishing into the forest. His henchmen follow his lead, and vanish in separate directions.
Annifred calls after them, “You not want supplies anymore?” and then bursts into gleeful laughter.
Hotspur just sits down, and begins tending his soup again.
Larrikan gently pulls Sakura in closer to the big minotaur. She follows happily.
Blue thanks Vash, for he was as ready as Hotspur, even if the wolves didn’t realize it.
Overhearing Kerry and Doug’s concerned conversation, Hotspur says, “Only five of them. We’d have had wolf stew tonight for sure.” Annifred’s manic grin comes back for a moment.
Larrikan resumes snuggling with Sakura. Annifred also does the same with Douglas.
As the camp settles back into calm, Hotspur tells the others, “If they’re fool enough to come back, we don’t wait next time.” Once again, Annifred grins widely; clearly she approves. Hotspur doesn’t mention it again.
Late that afternoon, Aykuh returns. She says the dryad she was talking to did see the ship land, and she was quite impressed.
Kerry asks, “Did she see the take off?”
Aykuh says, “No, she was distracted by other things. She has a bird’s nest, it’s so cute! She missed it. She did think she would have noticed it if it had been as dramatic as the landing.”
The dryad says, “I’ll keep asking. Have I missed anything here?”
Hotspur says, “Nope.” with a shrug.
In the morning, after a quiet evening, Aykuh has returned. She sat and waited for the others to wake. Hotspur waited with her.
Aykuh tells them the latest dryad saw the hunt come and take the ship. From the timing, it was shortly after the crew’s arrival, probably the time the hunt was heard at the Egg.
This discovered, the group heads back to town. They are on the trail by midmorning, walking along happily.
Larrikan gets out his recorder and once again plays cheerful music as the group walks along.
The music is infectious, making them all happy. Another instrument, a flute perhaps, joins in, fitting in perfectly with the music. A string of some sort joins as well, filling in perfectly.
Larrikan realizes something has gone wrong when he walks smack-dab into Douglas, who seems to have tripped on Annifred. And it is dark, with the familiar path nowhere in sight.
There is the sound of chittering and the scamper of small feet running away.
The dark seems to stun Larrikan. His usually good night vision seems to be ho help, and he rummages in his pack. Finding what he wants, he flings a handful of dust into the air, where it stays, glowing. Several of the night-vision enhanced mutter at the light.
A quick roll call says no one is missing.