Taking a few miners who had volunteered—members of the Blade of Freedom now, he supposed—Little Smo made his way east along the river.
Orc totems were easy to spot because they always stood in clearings. They were hard to find because those clearings lay deep in the forest.
The miners must have followed the river upstream. That way, they could travel far without getting lost. It was well past noon by the time Little Smo and the others reached the place where they had found the totem.
The wooden totem had been driven into the ground. It depicted a giant bear standing upright. Little Smo could not make sense of it, so he memorized as many details as he could before moving on.
Crossing the totem meant entering the Orc tribe's territory.
They advanced cautiously, listening for any sound in the forest besides water and wind.
Crack—
A dry branch snapped under someone's foot, and they all stopped.
"Boss, look over there..."
The man beside him pointed to a patch of weeds ahead. Beneath them lay a pile of droppings far larger than any human could leave. More importantly, it was fresh.
After glancing at the footprints nearby, Little Smo whispered, "Let's go back..."
Confirming that the Orcs were still there was enough. If they went farther, the Orcs might spot them.
The trip out had taken two hours. They made it back in one.
"Bad news?" Lame Bob asked as Little Smo and the others came running back.
"Yeah... The Orcs are still there."
"Do we have to leave again?"
Worry creased Lame Bob's wrinkled face.
The Blade of Freedom's members had only just begun to think of this place as home. The journey here had exhausted them. If they had to flee again so soon, far more than