" I'm going to break my face, I just know it." lamented the gnome.
" But...I'm willing to endure all hardship because I have been blessed with a new life....thanks to you guys." Timbra wiped his hands together ridding the soft mud that clung to his hairy skin.
Gailwind appeared to smile at the gentile nature of the priest, but it was quickly lost as Moran swooped along overhead with a strange cry.

" Something comes!" alerted Aramil as he extinquished the light upon his staff.

The hobbits immediately sought cover. Pulling at the rangers arm, Nanith led Teflar down a side decline so their precense from the air was minimal. Roslyn helped Erelis duck down behind a juniper bush and told him firmly to stay where he was until trouble passed. Gailwind stood beside the mage and watched him follow the falcon's flight around an unseen river valley a mile up their northern embankment.
" Does your bird spot friend or foe?" murmured the lorist.

The magician's face was grave and he made no response while he gripped a rolled parchment with stiff hands.

Nanith clung one hand to the ranger and, with his other, held his shortsword firmly. " Remember, we can trust no one." The hobbit peered up into the high ridge of the canyon where silence emanated in the lifeless night. " They may look like friends, but we'll probably be better off avoiding any sort of contact."

Unsheathing his sword in response, Teflar agreed " True my friend, we shouldn't trust anyone save eachother." He noticed the hobbit breathing a little hard. " Now.... be my eyes and tell me, what moves in the darkness?" The ranger balanced against a nearby boulder and whispered
" What dangers should I fear?"

Roslyn, like a field mouse, crawled back out into the slanted field of cracked rocks. " We will find the answers soon enough when we finish our climb." She glanced at the ranger momentarily realizing his failing strength." Whatever is near us is waiting I think...up above us."

Erelis called out softly from his sitting position among the berry bushes.
" Then let's go and meet it. Backtracking is not our option now. Ahead is our sole destiny and we shall engage our fare with the might of deadly will."

The team realized that the psion was right; they had no choice but to rise above the gorge once again. To stay bunkered within the canyons dangerous depths could prove their ultimate downfall.

With more prompting from the rogue, Aramil focused on his familiar. Closing his eyes, he was the only one now who could sense the presense of his avian a mile off in the distance. After a few moments, he related " She cannot see much. There are figures by the water...obscured by the mists, I think."

Gailwind noticeably shuddered. " You think that we have caught them?
I-I mean do you think it's possible we may encounter the thieves?" The lorist fell to wide-eyed frantics " What if they are here to take us out? What if they are here to squash us because we are the only threat...now weakened!"

Erelis came back out onto the rocks with a contrasting calm demeanor " I don't think so, elf. I saw their faces firsthand and I know that they would have killed me instantly had they felt any threat to that stolen shard." He now looked down at Roslyn who searched his face for reassurance.
" Arrogance will be their downfall. Somehow that makes me feel at ease. They will least suspect us when we finally close the hunt upon them." The druidess nodded and donned her hood which concealed the upper half of her face. " I will go out ahead and find any obstacles in the dark. Please follow tenderly along everyone...it will be a long climb." With that, the team silently gathered and allowed the druidess search out the easiest pass up the sheer canyon wall.