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After about an hour, he assured , he caot thrown off his back Bastien’s head raised toward the treetops Following his gaze, I realized what he had spotted My breath hitched Perched on a high branch--and thankfully facing the opposite direction--was one of the

I expected Bastien to turn around and begin running in the opposite direction It seemed obvious to me that the hunters had already struck here, as we had feared But he kept creeping forward, even as he swerved to avoid direct visibility by thehard and fast as the trees began to thin and we approached a clearing The ground sloped froes doard, and in the center was a wide hole in the ground It looked like a giant rabbit hole or… a wolf hole Hunters in unifor in and out of it

Co in my mind What if they had installed alarh to understand that they had taken over the lair

Finally, Bastien stepped backward and began running in the opposite direction, away frouessed we had traveled about ten miles, he slowed to a walk

Still, he remained quiet

"So, they took over the Tuftbrooks’ lair," I said

"Yes," he grunted "They are--or were--a tight-knit group, and I did doubt that any of the to submit to the hunters or cooperate hatever it is they have in mind The hunters have raided the place and either killed them or kidnapped thehin the distance, a reminder that ere still close to the ht," Bastien said, picking up his pace again

We traveled through the forest until we reached another spread of mountains, a san cli and stopped about twenty feet up, where we came across a s down on the rocky surface

Bastien set down the satchel and the belt he had been carrying in his teeth He nudged the satchel toward me with his nose "Please take out my clothes"

I hadn’t known that he’d put clothes in here But as I ruh, I found three clean sets HeI pulled out a shirt and a pair of pants as well as, ahem, underpants, and handed them to him He collected thee I wasn’t sure where he planned to change, but I stood back quite a distance…

When he returned, he was athat he’d come when he had, because it had started to rain We backed deeper into the cave together, bringing the belt and satchel with us We found a couple of flat rocks and sat down