Well, some of us do, he thought. ?I came to Iowa with my friends on a journey eastward-? To the farthest East, to the lands of sunrise, to seek a sword seen in visions. That might perhaps be a wee bit complicated to discuss right now. Also the way the Prophet?s men pursue us. ?-and the Bossman?s men set on us and took them captive.?

Which oversimplifies a bit, but is true in the essence. ?He holds them hostage, until I return with a treasure-wagons left on a road north of here, just past a ruined town. The fall of… three years ago now.?

Jake?s brows went up; it was visible, in the light of moon and stars. ?Those? We know?em. Nothing worth taking there. We checked. Not cloth or saddles or blades or nothing. Wagons too big for us, so we left?em. Mebbe haunts there, mebbe bad spook luck.?

Rudi shrugged and smiled.?They?re what he wants, nonetheless. And I?ve been trying to get to them, and not be killed by everyone I meet.? ?Talk about it later,? Jake said. He glanced up at the sky, obviously judging distance and time by the stars.?We gotta get Murdy away fore we bury him. Otherwise the Knifers, they?ll track and dig him up and eat his heart?n balls.?

The dark young man, Tuk, spat on one of the bodies.?Bassids. Eaters. Monssers.? ?Monssers?? Rudi asked, as they collected Edain?s mount and the pack animal with their gear.

The living men mounted and headed westward along the river. Fireflies flickered across the waters, and a cool wet breath came from the river?s surface. Rudi took a deep lungful, glad to be away from most of the stink of blood and opened bodies, though Murdy and the game on the packhorses-a white-tail, an elk and a feral cow-weren?t all that fragrant either. Something hooted in the woods; they all stiffened, and then relaxed when experienced ears told them it was a real bird. Tuk continued: ?Yeah, monssers, like the ones who chased our pamaws-?