From his viewpoint, Thonas could not see that Udorus had been standing not far off the trail, watching his reaction to the slaughter. “There they be, go on, take ‘em now and be done with it, and pay me what ye promised.”

 The half-elf patted the dwarf on his shoulder and shook his head, “Not yet, my angry little dwarf friend, not yet.  I’ve waited too long for this for it just to be a quick slaying.”

“But me pay!” raged a red faced Udorus, “You swore ye had a way to get me back in the favor of me clan so that I can return to me home.”

“I am a man of my word,” he reassured him, “continue to lead these two to Salaile, thou hast waited this long, you can wait a few weeks longer.” The sneer on rogue’s face was more the Udorus could handle.

“Yer nothin more then a worthless elf half breed…” but before he could finish his insult, the half-elf’s blade was already at the dwarfs throat.

“You forget thy place Udorus, now get thee gone from my sight or I will kill thee as well as Thonas and his boy. Now go and act your part!”

**********************************

“I hear ye boy, I hear ye, what ye be yellin’ ’bout?” came Udorus’s voice from the trail. Christian and Thonas turned to find him walking up the pass with what appeared to be two dead rabbits over his shoulder, intended for lunch no doubt.

 Before either of them could say a word, Udorus came to a halt at the sight of what had once been his camp.

 “Me wagon! Me Boys! What’d ye do to me things?” he growled as he came towards Christian and Thonas with his war hammer now in hand. 

Thonas drew his sword, “ye can come at me if ye like, but thou are the one that sent the two of us to clear the pass, we had nothin’ to do with the likes of this slaughter” he continued, “thou dost know thyself that the boy can’t hold a sword against one of those rabbits thy hast there, much less a man.”

Udorus stopped where he was, let his hammer drop to his side and sighed, “We best be cleanin’ this up and gatherin’ what we can, before who ever did this decides to come back for the rest o’ us.”

Thonas argued, “shouldst we not head back to Nanholve? Hast thou naught a concern as to who did this to our crew?  We should brandish our weapons and hunt them down!”

“Who is it do ye think the leader of this group?” the dwarf turning an angry eye toward Thonas, “we will continue to Salaile.”

“Aye continue on, then we will die just as these men did, slaughtered by an unknown assailant while the leader of our group is off killing rabbits,” Thonas said with an anger in his tone that caused Christian to take a few steps back, “ I know I shall sleep with one eye open, shouldst I sleep t’all.”

The dwarf stood there, without words, fists clenched and his face beaming red with anger.  Thonas, unable to look at him any longer, turned and walked away from the confrontation.

Christian was uncertain how to take this repartee; he could however see it disturbed Thonas greatly.  Thonas had known the dwarf for some time and was awkwardly surprised that notions of revenge, rage or retribution were not spouting from him. Something was wrong, was the angry little dwarf getting old? Has he lost his spirit to fight, or was there something more? Thonas put his thoughts to the side and pushed himself to tend to the dead as best they could. 

**************************************

It was nearing midnight when they finished burying the bodies and repacking what remained of the goods they were hired to protect.  Fearing the return of monsters, whether human or otherwise, the three continued on foot through the night. They burned torches to light their way on the rocky ascent toward the peek.  By dawn, they found themselves exhausted, physically and mentally.  They had not made good time traveling in the dark and were no more then several miles from the previous days camp. Settling on a small clearing just off the pass, they broke camp for breakfast and hopefully some sleep.  Udorus was more silent then what was usual, and Thonas seemed to be rather restless, regardless of his fatigue. “I shall take the first watch, whilst the two of you get some sleep” he muttered, “I think I will not find any rest this day.”

Christian found himself in much the same state as Thonas, he found it hard to close his eyes without seeing the grim pictures of yesterday’s carnage in his head. 

“Thonas, are ye really as good with that sword as ye say?” Christian asked. 

Thonas turned to look at him with an impish grin on his face and simply replied, “Aye.”

With a rather shy tone, Christian went on, “might ye consider showin’ me how I might wield this one a tad better?” as he waved his broadsword back and forth in front of him.

With his smile widening even more, Thonas again said nothing more then “Aye,” he had been waiting for the right opportunity to teach the boy how to use the sword.

            For a fair part of the morning, Thonas taught Christian as much as one could absorb in one day.  Now mind you, he was far from proficient, but at least he could now hold his weapon properly, execute standard parry and thrust moves, as well as maneuver through some basic footwork.

            “What ‘are ye teachin’ him that fer?” Udorus growled when the clanking of metal on metal awaked him.

            “So he can attempt to defend himself shouldst need be, you grumpy ol’ dwarf, I think he does not wish to end up like our mates.” Thonas bantered back.

            Much to Thonas’ surprise, Udorus snapped into a tone unlike himself, “He ain’t needin’ any trainin’ from the likes o’ ye, he can carry these packs just fine without knowin’ how to be swingin’ that piece o’ scrap metal ye be callin’ a sword. I be payin’ him to carry, not to be fightin’.” 

            Christian took this parley as a sign to sheath his sword, and began focusing on preparing something to eat. Thonas, still somewhat in shock over the comments and actions Udorus had made, sheathed his sword as well, he had always known the dwarf to encourage weapon prowess and the ability to defend oneself.  Something just wasn’t right; while he couldn’t put his finger on it, he knew that no matter what, he will keep a protective eye on Christian, and a suspicious eye on Udorus.

            Thonas and Christian chose not to sleep during the rest of the daylight hours and the three continued toward the peak of the mountain pass.  Finding that they could not keep safe footing from their exhaustion, they chose to camp just after nightfall.  Even though they decided to sleep in shifts, Thonas feigned his rest during Udorus’s watch. His trust had completely diminished in the dwarf and his desire to reach Salaile as quickly as possible increased with every passing moment. 

            The final watch of the night lay with Christian, only then did Thonas allow himself a few hours of sleep.  He knew if something happened to the boy, he would be awakened, just as he had the morning of the ogre attack.