The Beachcombers

 

Alpen retraced his tracks along the edge of the trees. He stopped where they had first halted and looked around for the blowfi. Looking toward the beach, he was surprised to see that the herd of animals had resettled. He stayed low but did not crawl toward the boulder where they had first hid. There it was! It had come out of his pouch as he slithered along the sand.

Putting the blowfi in his pouch, he glanced at the trail that the pup's body made in the sand. As he turned toward the trees, he saw something between the boulders that made his heart jump. He crouched in instinctual caution, then crawled to the next boulder. Glancing around it, he saw the hated form of a Sprint! Atop the nasty creature sat a Fae rider. Alpen ducked his head back behind the large boulder, then glanced back to the north, assuring himself that Bebe, Fallon and Alithea were out of sight around the curve of beach.

He glanced at the trail of the seal pup's body. If the Fae rider saw it, she would follow it, find Fallon's deep footprints in the sand and follow the track. He dared not venture out to cover the pup's track. He wasn't sure if the Fae rider could see over the boulder. He heard the grunt of the animal herd as the Sprint approached from the south. A few animals slipped into the water and the Sprint paused, then turned away from the herd and back south.

Alpen let out his breath in relief then sucked it in again when he saw another Sprint joining the first. The Fae were mercenaries for hire to the highest bidder, but which tribe? He waited several minutes until both Sprints turned away to the south. Satisfied that they were gone, he found a broken branch and used it to hide some of the pup's trail without getting too close to the herd. Finally, he scratched out his and Fallon's tracks toward the water, pleased that the ocean had erased the rest of their tracks.