Within the hour, Delziel and Peachy found the mouth of a small cave.

"It must have taken her all night to get here oso," Peachy said as he peered into the darkness. Delziel had to agree. Even though their current location was only a few hours away from where they'd found the National Guard's corpse, the woman and her possibly demon companion had made it evident that the going hadn't been easy. Additionally, the storm the night before had been bad, adding danger to the difficulty. If she'd survived that, then Delziel had to give her some credit. She was brave and a survivor. He just hoped she survived long enough for him and Peachy to rescue her.

After a moment of hesitation at the cave entrance, Peachy pulled out an instaglo, shook it to reawaken it, then glided deeper in. "This place stinks of terror oso. And demon oso."

Delziel nodded slightly as he followed Peachy in. There was no sign of the woman or demon in the mouth of the cave, though Peachy seemed interested in a spot to the right, directly against the wall.

"I think she slept here oso."

Since Peachy had that spot covered, Delziel looked around the rest of the cavern. It wasn't anything special, just an opening about six feet high by six across. There were no signs he could see that the demon had touched anything.

Deeper in, the ground sloped down, and a constant breeze pulled his hair. There was an exit on the other side. There were faint noises in the cavern that sounded like either water dripping or the movement of monsters.

Peachy buzzed over to join Delziel, his instaglo shining into the damp darkness of the cavern. "I hope she got some rest oso..."

"Can't think it'd be easy with a demon watching you sleep," Delziel retorted as they headed further into the cavern.

Peachy gave a snort. "No oso..."

Delziel knew caves like this could have all kinds of creatures in them. Mostly monsters, though. Cave crawlers, for one, which were not the kind of thing the inexperienced had any business messing with. Everything about this woman's path through the woods screamed novice. Maybe the demon had taken them out, but given that it didn't lift a finger to stop the oshu, Delziel knew the woman was on her own in facing anything that came at her.

Reacting automatically to noise at his left, Delziel whipped his sword from the sheathe-ring on his left hand and turned to face the threat. Only after he'd done so did he think that maybe it was the woman.

It was not. It was a cave crawler creeping out of a crevice, translucent body glimmering in Peachy's instaglo.

Putting his sword through the monster's head, Delziel left it dead, half hanging out of its hole. "Did she pass through here?" Delziel asked.

"Yes oso." Peachy drifted down to point at scuff marks in the mud. They'd not been washed away, so it had to have been this morning.

He easily bounded over the cracks and rocks she'd clearly struggled with. Given the marks of her passage, Delziel could tell she'd gotten through the cave entirely unmolested, even though he was attacked three more times by cave crawlers. He could only conclude that they'd been frightened into hiding by the demon escorting her.

"You think oshu don't have very good senses oso?" Peachy asked, speaking Delziel's thoughts aloud.

"The research says they attack based on ground vibrations. Maybe they don't see or smell well?"

"Cave crawlers can't see either oso."

Delziel couldn't really argue. Perhaps it was something else that cave crawlers could sense that made them hide. In any case, they'd reached the exit of the cavern to find the bulky shape of a Sasquteel on the slope, pacing around at a ledge.

"That's not a good sign oso..."

Delziel could only shake his head before striding out into the sunlight on the slope of Mt. Pallin. The cave crawlers had been easy, but that was because they liked to keep most of their lizard-like bodies hidden in their crevices. They could be avoided if you didn't need to pass their dens. The sasquteel was not a monster easily avoided once it saw you.

His boot crunched some gravel. The sasquteel whipped around to face them.

In seconds, it was charging, spittle flying as it roared.

A cloud formed above Delziel, quickly brewing into a thunderstorm. Dodging to the left, he avoided getting struck, then ran to meet the monster. He wasn't a long-range fighter, though closing into melee with the monster was just as dangerous as being at range.

It slid to a stop, grabbing a massive handful of rocks as it did so. Those rocks came flying toward Delziel in a shotgun blast, slamming into the ground around him as he quickly flicked his sword to the sides to deflect what he could from hitting his body and head.

One still got through, striking his shoulder, though it bounced off the armor he wore there.

Reaching the sasquteel, he didn't stop.

Delziel slashed as he passed beside the monster, cutting its leg out from under it in a single strike.

The sasquteel collapsed to its side, but turned to rake Delziel with its claws.

He sped up to get out of range, barely avoiding the monster's wicked, sharp claws.

Tearing the ground in a three-legged stance, the sasquteel whipped around to chase him.

Delziel circled it to the right, looking for another chance to attack. The sun disappeared.

Risking a glance up, Delziel discovered another dark cloud forming. This time, it was larger, covering not just him but the sasquteel. This attack would hit both of them, and the sasquteel clearly didn't care.

Knowing the sasquteel couldn't move the attack once it was cast, Delziel changed directions and ran out from under the cloud. The sasquteel scrambled after him, trying to catch and drag him back in.

Lightning flashed, raining down on the area just as Delziel got out of range.

Struck multiple times, the sasquteel howled in pain.

Once the lightning stopped, Delziel sprinted back in. With a low sweep upward, he took the sasquteel's head off. That didn't end the creature, though.

Delziel continued running, making sure to get far enough away from the sasquteel as it exploded in a ball of chaotic magic. The cliffside bounced with the force of the explosion.

Crouching, Delziel held his hands out for balance, holding his breath as he waited to see if this would cause an avalanche.

After a second longer, Peachy joined him. "Looks clear oso."

Not trusting it, Delziel looked up Mt. Pallin to double-check that nothing was coming.

"Unfortunately, while you were busy, I scouted the area oso. The woman's and the demon's scents disappeared oso. There's no trail to follow from here oso."

Straightening, Delziel sheathed his sword with a gesture.

"Maybe we could take a dergenflurgen and search from the air tomorrow oso?"

Delziel, not ready to give up yet, carefully crossed the cliff face to where the sasquteel had been lurking when they'd first spotted each other.

Below was a hundred-foot drop and a large pile of loose stone that looked ready to slide.

He didn't see anything that looked like a body. With no clues as to what had happened to the woman, Delziel was forced to give up for the day. Getting back to the base camp was going to take what remained of the daylight hours.