Ulric's eyes narrowed slightly in irritation when Alexander and his henchmen showed up.  He'd purposefully left without them and hoped that the Duke would have taken the hint.  The slave hunter should have known better.

"Most likely," he said, agreeing to the theory about natives.  He'd encountered various tribes over his life and it was hard to say how they'd react to outsiders.  Some were openly hostile while others had been inviting.  "Maybe send a few of your fastest men ahead to scout it out so we know what we're walkin' into?" 


[hr]

Now that the pace had slowed enough to allow the group time to look closer at their surroundings, Brinley couldn't help but marvel at the strange and wonderful plants here.  She'd spent most of her young life herding sheep in the hills close to Port Harwick where most of the trees had long since been timbered out to make room for grazing land.  

Here, everything was so bright!  The plant leaves were so many vibrant shades of green that she didn't even know existed before today.  And some of them even had large flowers of bright reds and oranges.  "It's so beautiful," she said out loud even though she was mostly talking to herself.  

When her gaze shifted ahead, she noticed the trail where Water Snake was leading them seemed to split; one path continuing on along this side of the river and other toward a rather perilous looking bridge.  "Do you think we're going to cross that?" she said back to Gregor, Szandor, and Oliver.

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