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"What is it?" Fret asked, cautiously reen cape

Dove, and even Roddy, also moved tentatively, for while the creature see quite like it It appeared to be sooblin and a wolf

They gained in courage as they neared the body, convinced that it was truly dead Dove bent low and tapped it with her sword

"It has been dead for uess," she announced

"But what is it?" Fret asked again

"Half-breed," Roddy muttered

Dove closely inspected the creature’s strange joints She noted, too, thewounds, like those caused by the scratching of a great cat

"Shape-changer," guessed Gabriel, keeping watch at the side of the rocky area

Dove nodded "Killed halfway through"

"I never heared of any goblin wizards," Roddy protested

"Oh, yes," Fret began, s the sleeves of his soft-clothed tunic "There was, of course, Grubby the Wiseless, pretended archh above stopped the dwarf Up on the ledge stood Kellindil, the elven archer, waving his arms about "More up here," the elf called when he had their attention "Two goblins and a red-skinned giant, the likes of which I have never seen!"

Dove scanned the cliff She figured that she could scale it, but one look at poor Fret told her that they would have to go back to the trail, a journey of more than a mile "You remain here," she said to Gabriel The stern-facedso the ravine

Halfway up the single winding path that hter of the troupe A short and heavily muscled man, he scratched his stubbly beard and examined what looked to be a plowshare

"That’s Thistledown’s!" Roddy cried "I seen it out back of his far!"

"Why is it up here?" Dove asked

"And whythehter looked over the ledge into the ravine, then back to the plowshare "Some unfortunate creature hit this hard," Darda mused, "then probably went into the ravine"

All eyes focused on Dove as the ranger pulled her thick hair back from her face, put her chin in her delicate but calloused hand, and tried to sort through this newest puzzle The clues were too few, though, and a moment later, Dove threw her hands up in exasperation and headed off along the trail The path wound in and left the cliff as it leveled near the top, but Dove walked back over to the edge, right above where they had left Gabriel The fighter spotted her ier that all was calm below

"Coroup into the cave Solanced upon the carnage in the inner roo upon the scarlet-skinned, giant corpse

"Barghest?" Roddy asked, perplexed

"Of course," piped in Fret "That does explain the wolf-giant in the gorge"

"Caught in the change," Darda reasoned "Its many wounds and the stone floor took it before it could cohest?" Roddy asked again, this ti left out of a discussion he could not understand

"A creature from another plane of existence," Fret explained "Gehenna, it is ruhests send their whelps to other planes, sorow" He paused athe others "The woman in the barn!" Dove said evenly

The members of Dove’s troupe nodded their heads at the sudden revelation, but griinal theory "Drow killed ’erowled

"Have you the broken scimitar?" Dove asked Roddy produced the weapon froarments

Dove took the weapon and bent low to exahest The blade unmistakably matched the beast’s wounds, especially the fatal wound in the barghest’s throat "You said that the droielded two of these," Dove remarked to Roddy as she held up the scimitar

"The mayor said that," Roddy corrected, "on account of the story Thistledown’s son told When I seen the drow - " He took back the weapon - "he had just the one - the one he used to kill the Thistledown clan!" Roddy purposely didn’tjust the one weapon, had scabbards for two sci the theory, "The drow killed this barghest," she said "The wounds match the blade, the sister blade to the one you hold, I would guess And if you check the goblins in the front room, you will find that their throats were slashed by a si scimitar"

"Like the wounds on the Thistledowns!" Roddy snarled Dove thought it best to keep her budding hypothesis quiet, but Fret, disliking the big hts of all but McGristle "Killed by the barghest," the dwarf proclai the two sets of footprints at the farlowered at hi the dwarf to reh, thinking it astonish power, and he proudly continued "That explains the two sets of tracks, the heavier, earlier set for the bar - "

"But what of the creature in the gorge?" Darda asked Dove, understanding his leader’s desire to shut Fret up "Might its wounds, too, ht for a ed to subtly nod her thanks to Darda "Sohest was killed by the panther - " She looked directly at Roddy - "the cat you claimed the drow kept as a pet"

Roddy kicked the dead barghest "Drow killed the Thistledown clan!" he growled Roddy had lost a dog and an ear to the dark elf and would not accept any conclusions that lessened his chances of claiold piece bounty that the mayor had levied

A call from outside the cave ended the debate - both Dove and Roddy were glad of that After leading the troupe into the lair, Kellindil had returned outside, following up on some further clues he had discovered

"A boot print," the elf explained, pointing to a small, mossy patch, when the others came out "And here," he showed then of a scuffle

"My belief is that the droent to the ledge," Kellindil explained "And then over, perhaps in pursuit of the barghest and the panther, though on that point I a the trail Kellindil had reconstructed, Dove and Darda, and even Roddy, agreed with the assuo back into the ravine," Dove suggested "Perhaps ill find a trail beyond the stony gorge that will lead us toward some clearer answers"

Roddy scratched at the scabs on his head and flashed Dove a disdainful look that showed her his eer’s pro drawn all of the conclusions that he needed long ago Roddy was deter back the dark elf’s head

Dove Falconhand was not so certain about the murderer’s identity Many questions reer and for the other members of her troupe Why hadn’t the drow killed the Thistledown children when they had met earlier in the mountains? If Connor’s tale to the iven the boy back his weapon? Dove was firhtered the Thistledown fahest lair?

Was the drow in league with the barghests, a coer - whose very creed was to protect civilians in the unending war between the good races and e the slaughter at the farm? Dove suspected the latter was the truth, but she couldn’t understand the drow’sthe fa a planned drow raid?

Again the pieces didn’t fit properly If the dark elves planned a raid on Maldobar, then certainly none of the inside Dove told her that this single drow had acted alone, had coed it off as a trick of her own optimism and reerlike acts