[color=0072bc]"Maybe that's what I meant, little one: to leave you as the bear's dessert. They are known for their sweet tooth after all."[/color] He smiled and gently poked her head with the staff 'he required to walk'.

He mounted and rested his staff horizontally on the saddle in front of him. [color=0072bc]"Well, all's done here. Let us move!"[/color] With that he went on ever slowly, knowing they'd catch up quickly.

[hr] 
The narrow earthen trail went on for about two miles before it disappeared in the untouched snow. In the distance, through the stark towering trees, a creek could be seen silently passing through towards the west. The cool water was diaphanous, and every tiny pebble could be seen at the bottom, where branches  were caught in that shingle. In spring, little spots of sunlight would dance upon the surface, and tiny fish would swim with the flow.

The path winded and went with the creek between it and the forest, Ofnir knew, but could no longer be seen under the white wintery blanket. He halted his horse, looked back to check the others were in line. [color=0072bc]"The path follows the water for a good while, if my memory serves me well. Stay one behind the other, lest you overestimate the width of the path and fall into the creek. The forest floor is covered in rock and is hollowed in many places, so don't ride through the trees. Come on."[/color]

The further they went, the thicker the forest to their left grew, and thicker the naked dark brown trees became. Eventually, some of them seemed older than the land itself, and were so tall their tops could not be discerned from the angle they observed them. The creek also widened a few feet, and went slower as the ground was a tad flatter there. On the other side, the forest was less dense at its edges, and burial mounds rose like little dunes, their tops dark where the snow had melted, and some of them still holding the remains of ancient and primitive portals that led into them, made of three stones placed so as to resemble small narrow doors.

[color=0072bc]"Here lie buried still some of the men of unknown tribes and tongues who once had a settlement in these parts. This is all left of them: emptied tombs hollowed by time, and some stone plates to suggest human involvement. They used to bury their dead in these mounds with all their belongings, so that they would pick them up once they're risen from the dead. They thought death was but sleeping, and that one day all who have died would come again and live forever in these forests ripe with fruit and endless in size and bliss to support all of the generations."[/color]

He rode on for a while, and then stopped. Dismounting hastily and awkwardly, he sped forward and knelt, looking at the ground.

[color=0072bc]"Come here!"[/color] he hissed. [color=0072bc]"I am no ranger, but those are tracks. Deep tracks. Someone clad in something heavy must have left them. Keep watch, follow the treeline, we are behind them whoever they be. There may be traps. Calariel, I hope we can count on your elf eyes."[/color]