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“Hae ye sent anyone tae try and track them?” Hilda asked.

Gareth nodded, but his mood was dismal. “We didnae find anything. I dinnae know where they’ve gone. They just disappeared. Part of me wonders if they’re phantoms.”

“They’re real, alright, as real as ye or I,” Maxwell said, stepping forward. The sight of him made Gareth blink twice in quick succession, as though he couldn’t believe his eyes. “But we’re here tae look for them. Dae ye hae any information at all? Even just a direction would help.”

“They came from that way,” Gareth said, draping his arm toward the east. “Will ye find them for us? Will ye avenge us?”

“Dae ye hae the coin?” Maxwell asked, but Hilda glared at him.

“Of course we will. As I said, we’re looking for them ourselves. We’re gaeing tae bring them tae justice.”

“Ye will need the luck of the gods. I hae never seen anything like it. There was no stopping them,” Gareth said, and the wringing of his hands became ever more intense. Hilda reassured him that they would do whatever they could to bring these vile men to justice and ventured toward the east.

“I dinnae like offering my services for free,” Maxwell said in a low voice once they were out of earshot of Gareth.

“Look around, Maxwell; they barely hae anything left. What are they gaeing tae pay ye with? Besides, we were already coming here. This is still part of the job we’re paying ye for. These people are just helpful enough tae give us information. If anything, ye should be offering them some coin for their help,” she said. There were moments when she believed he was a kind soul, and then others when he seemed to be callous and greedy, as though gold was the only thing that mattered to him.

He didn’t say anything in reply, though, and wondered if Angus had been right to be suspicious.

They walked to the east and spread out, searching for any sign of a track or a clue. Maxwell sniffed the air and had his face close to the ground, which Hilda thought was taking things a little too far, but she wasn’t going to dispute the man’s method. She looked for anything out of the ordinary or any sign that might indicate in which direction these men had gone. They must have known the woods intimately to be able to strike out at villages along the way, and she had the unsettling feeling that she was being watched. Her skin crawled, and an uneasy chill trickled down the back of her neck. Her eyes darted around, and she was certain that she was going to meet the gaze of someone else, but she didn’t.

A cry came up, and all eyes turned to Angus, who beckoned everyone over.

“I found something,” he said.

They stood around a tree, which had a piece of fabric attached to a particularly thorny branch. Whoever this belonged to must have caught it as they were riding along, for they had left behind a shade of scarlet as well. If they could find the rest of the blood, then they could get a path.

They scoured the trees and the leaves for any sign of dripping blood. Angus was proud of what he had done and goaded Maxwell. Hilda didn’t think it was becoming of Angus to act like this when they were all trying to accomplish the same goal, but she didn’t say anything because they weren’t exactly coming to blows. Instead, she let them put distance between themselves and hoped that the matter would resolve itself. Men always had a tendency to butt heads.

Finding the first clue had been a great boon, but finding the next patch of blood was just as impressive. Once they had a general idea of where the path was going to lead, they were able to track the blood. Hilda could sense them getting closer and closer to their target. Soon enough, she was going to have those who killed her mother in her sights.