Chapter 3

My nose told me that there was water somewhere nearby. Probably a seep, which would explain the little clump of cottonwood trees on the otherwise dry, treeless plain. That also explained where he’d gotten the wood for the fire.

It meant he had the trees to his back, where my hooves would no doubt inevitably break a twig or bend a branch if I tried to sneak through. Perhaps if I circled around and approached carefully from the side, I might still be able to creep up unnoticed. I could just see, by the fire’s glow, that he was wearing human form. If I could make a sudden rush at the last second, I could probably trample him and-

I halted in place. What was I thinking? Apparently, I had stalked Raneld with thoughts of his death running through my mind for too long. There was no reason to kill him now. Indeed, I wasn’t really certain why I was following him at all, save that I had nothing else to do.