| 405 The smoke rises slowly from its source in the west and is then whisked away by the wind. You are sure that there was no smoke before you stopped to water Pallenten. Someone has either just started a fire, or a fire, thought to be out, has rekindled in the wind. If the latter is the case then you should put it out before it becomes a conflagration that could spread out of control over the plains. Remounting you head off towards the rising smoke that has thickened even from the time you first noticed it. Judging by the thickness of its plume, the smoke column is rising from a fire only a short distance ahead. Turning Pallenten first to the south across the stream, and then slightly more to the west, you find your objective over a small rise, hidden within a bowl-shaped depression in the ground. Here there is the remains of a large fire and the butchered carcasses of three or four large deer. All the signs show that this has been someone's camp for a number of days, and that they have left in a hurry. The fire was extinguished but in their haste the embers had not been buried. With the coaxing of the breeze some pieces of partially burnt wood have burst back into flames. Dropping to the ground you look more carefully about the camp and see that the hurried departure of its residents has provided you with a small boon. Within a discarded sack you find three strips of expertly dried Sempaca meat. Each has been carefully packaged and has not suffered at all from a day or two in the open. There should be enough food here for three extra meals. (If you wish to take these meals, record them on your character sheet.) Turning your attention to the area surrounding the camp you find a number of clues to the nature of the campers who spent time here. The most significant of these lies in an area of soft ground. It is a clear set of footprints, each print as long as your forearm and around a finger length deep. They are definitely not human. Quickly you return to the campsite and do what the Hordim should have done in the first place. With the use of a deer's shoulder blade you dig a small pit next to the fire and then shovel all the remains of the fire into it. An amount of dirt is all that is required to extinguish the flames, then you shovel the remainder of the soil to fill in the hole. The job takes but a few minutes and you consider it ample payment for the food that you have found. With the fire no longer a danger you call to Pallenten and remount. A light flick of her reins is all that is needed to urge her southwards.
| Turn to section 386.
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