The Northern Approach Read Online Free Page B

it was, it was far enough off that the smell was still faint. Deep down, he hoped it was not more elementals.
    That was when it hit Raeln, his hand resting on the bark of the tree wet from a rain shower the night before and his feet soaked to the bone. Nothing out there should be burning at all, and even elementals would be hard-pressed to survive the dampness. For miles in any direction, nothing should have been remotely dry enough to burn—unless someone had worked very hard to start that fire. Elementals would mean smoke but likely not fire. Only a camp or home of some sort would justify the scent of burning wood.
    “We must be close,” whispered On’esquin, pointing toward a narrower patch of trees ahead. He then pointed up at the sky, where black smoke rose over the peaks. It was not the smoke of wet things trying to burn, but the smoke that came from long-smoldering fires.
    Raeln tried to follow On’esquin’s initial gesture, but all he could see were more trees, leading right up to the nearly sheer face of a mountainside. For all he could tell, the smoke was on the far side of the mountain. He stared at the area for several seconds and then realized the mountain wall appeared to part slightly, as though there might be a narrow valley, hidden by the woods themselves. Likely, the path, if it even existed, was no wider than twenty feet, making it extremely difficult to see so close to the mountains with the dense woods. They were no more than a mile out, and even that close, Raeln had to really look at the place to be sure he was not imagining it. Were it not for the smoke, he doubted they would have even noticed it.
    “A pass deeper into the mountains,” the orc added, still eyeing the gap in the mountains. “If I were hiding from an undead army, that place would be quite appealing.”
    Raeln started walking, not feeling well enough to wait for On’esquin. Where there was a campfire, there had to be water and food. Whoever it was out there, he had to hope they were not averse to guests. Even if they were, he might be able to put up one brief fight if it meant a sip of water that had not been collected from leaves that caught the rain.
    The day seemed to drag on far longer than any since they had begun traveling, the gap in the mountains becoming only slightly more visible as they neared it. Raeln had nearly reached his limit, his legs trembling and his head spinning, before he could make out anything more about the pass and whether they had detoured for good reason. Still, the smoke continued to rise, hinting at something beyond the pass, however far that might be.
    With the sun nearly behind the mountains, Raeln heard the rumbling of water coming down off the steep rocks. He searched around and felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders when he spotted the small stream coming off part of the mountain wall near the pass, winding its way eastward past them through the woods.
    Raeln stumbled toward the stream in a hurry, barely mindful of On’esquin following him at a distance. He very nearly collapsed at the edge of the water when he arrived, and plunged his face into the stream to practically inhale water in hopes of catching up on days of drinking far less than he should have. There was something distinctly off about the water, but he was too tired and thirsty to care.
    “We may wish to stop here for the evening,” On’esquin said, leaning up against a tree as he stared off toward the pass, making notes with a piece of charcoal on parchment. “It might be another hour or two before we get through the pass, and there’s no way of knowing how far past that we must go. I would rather we travel during daylight on unfamiliar ground.”
    Raeln pulled his muzzle out of the stream, panting for breath as he nodded in agreement. He could have traveled through the night, once he no longer felt as though he would die of thirst, but On’esquin was the one with the plans and the poor eyesight. Raeln could