"Or they could belong to the spy who betrayed her," Tavis countered. "Either way. I'm not leaving here until we know for certain whose bones those are."
"We're as certain as we have time to be," Basil said. "Our pursuers have spotted us, and now they're redoubling their efforts to catch up."
The verbeeg pointed down the mountainside. Though the scarp was not quite vertical, it was steep and barren enough so that Tavis could see the valley below, where the silvery ribbon of a shallow stream meandered across a lush carpet of pointed conifer trees. More than a dozen earls were urging their horses across the brook, their lances held high and their breastplates flashing tike mirrors in the morning sunlight.
On the stream's shore stood Morten, gazing up at the rocky shelf where the scout and his companions stood. If the bodyguard's wounds still troubled him, he showed no sign of it As each earl neared the shore, the burly firbolg looked away from Tavis to pull both horse and rider up the steep bank.
"Maybe they're not coming after us," Avner said. Despite his words, the boy's voice was doubtful. "Maybe the king changed his mind and sent them to help."
Tavis shook his head. "No, they're coming to take us back," he said. "If Camden were after the ogres, he would have sent more than a few earls."
"This isn't fair!" Avner griped. "If the king's so willing to chase us down, he ought to send a company of castle guard after his own daughter!"
"You're absolutely right," Tavis replied, rubbing his chin. "Since Brianna disappeared, Camden's been doing a lot of tilings that don't make sense."
"He's too distraught to think clearly," said Basil. "Anxiety clouds human judgment to unwarranted extremes, and your addled king is no exception. I fear he's chosen us as his scapegoats."
"Then let's double back," suggested Avner. "I saw a good place to set up an ambush."
"So we can become murderers as well as thieves?" Tavis growled.
"Setter their lives than ours," Avner countered. "It's the only way to save ourselves."
"We're trying to save Brianna, not ourselves," Tavis said, his voice still cross.
"It's too late to save her." Avner pointed at the bone heap. "Even you can't put her back together."
"We can try." Tavis replied. 'That's the only way we'll find out who this realty is."
"But Morten and the earls-"
"Will have to climb the mountainside just like we did-and they're wearing armor," he said. "It will take them at least an hour. If you two help, we can sort through this mess by then."
"And if we discover this is Brianna?" Basil asked.
"What will you do?"
"I'll lead you and Avner to safety before I give myself over to Camden," Tavis replied. "After involving you in my trouble with the king. I owe you that much."
Avner scowled at this, but Basil quickly stepped over to the heap and began to pick up bones. "Then by all means, let's begin work." said the verbeeg. "An hour isn't much time."
The trio soon had the pile scattered across the ledge, gathering the bones into three separate groups: human, ogre, and those they weren't sure of. Tavis reduced the size of this last category by adding some of the unscorched bones to the human pile, since many of those that were obviously human also showed little sign of heat damage. Still, their skeleton lacked critical portions of the legs and back. Even the skull was missing, making it impossible for the scout to say whether the dead person had been as tall as Brianna.
"Well?" asked Basil, impatient.
Tavis shook his head. "I can't tell," he said. He picked up the human pelvis. "The hips look narrow for a woman's, but I can't be sure," he said. "I've never tried to identify someone from a pile of bones before."
"Don't waste too much lime puzzling it over." Avner said. "I can't see Morten and his friends anymore."
"They're probably circling around to come up behind us," Tavis said absentmindedly. "Armor's heavy, so they'll stay mounted and try to traverse their horses up the slope. And the forest back there will offer cover from my arrows."
"You'd actually shoot them?" Basil asked.
"He fired on Camden, didn't he?" Avner's voice was proud.
"I fired past his ear." Tavis pointed out. "But even if the earls realize my miss was deliberate, they won't be sure I'd show them the same courtesy. They'll approach with caution. We have plenty of time."
Returning his attention to the human's bones, the scout pulled the shattered sternum from the pile and began fitting broken ribs to it. "These ribs were broken off like someone pulled them off one by one," he observed. "And they all have tooth marks."
Avner's jaw fell agape. "The ogres ate her?"
"The shaman ate someone." Though Tavis's voice sounded calm, his mind was spinning with dreadful thoughts, all of them racing toward the same opinion Avner had just voiced. Doing his best to hold back the terrible conclusion, he continued, "But it doesn't make sense that it was Brianna. Why bring her all the way up here to eat her? He could have done that anywhere along the way."
