Morphiel did not wait to be asked or invited--he simply took the lead. The twin paladins followed him, one obviously more comfortable in the woods than the other, but the other he noted made good time on the merits of her endurance, even if she was annoyingly loud in her stride. He didn't bother to look back; keeping up was their affair, not his, and there were dangers out here that you had to be aware of if you wanted to survive them. He hated to surrender the advantage of surprise to the twin who couldn't seem to keep off the dry twigs and panted like an old woman, but such was life.

Morphiel tucked hi staff up under his arm as he went. He nimbly stepped over a hidden bear-trap and up onto the exposed root of an ironwood tree. With a leap off of it he came down onto the down-slope of a ridge, and slid on the sides of his feet.

The faster twin vaulted over the root and stopped to help her sister before sliding down after him. "Would you slow down?"

"Steuben is moving with all deliberate haste." He stepped along three more sets of roots. He could hear the two paladins struggling, even the ranger of the pair. He paused to let them catch up, but masked his grudging generosity by stopping to sniff the air and examine the leaves around him. "We must do the same."

The ranger stopped next to him, doubled over, bracing herself up on her knees. "We saw..." She gulped a breath. "I saw a...a spoor...back there..." She wiped her nose on her sleeve. "Are there goblins out here?"

Morphiel snarled. "An encampment, a few miles west. I don't like having them on my land, but they haven't encroached. thankfully the farmland is all across to the east and my tennant woodsmen keep close to Linden." He bent down and fingered some soil idly.

The other twin stopped to stretch her back with a groan. She arched backward, her eyes closed, and took a deep breath. She scowled. "Have they been a danger so far?"

"Some of the woodsmen have complained." He started moving again. "I hear there have been disappearances in the town, but I don't think that was their doing."

The ranger caught up to him. "Why do you allow them on your land? Is it not your duty to protect the tenants and people inside your--"

Morphiel glanced at her in disdain. "You may have noticed the lack of an army on my lands!" He shoved a branch aside with his staff, not caring if either paladin ducked in time to dodge it. Judging by the lack of any reproach or the sound of any injury, he assumed they both did. "Or are you alleging I should go there and lecture them?"

"Why don't you--Uff--" She had to pause as she helped her sister over a deep rift in the ground. "Why don't you get help from the neighboring lords? Laszlofi to the west would be just as..." She panted heavily. "...Just as..."

Morphiel snarled. "I will not be lectured by children."

"We aren't children!"

"Well you're younger than I am!" He turned to glare at her before turning back to the dubious path ahead. "You're younger than most paladins I've ever met, even. And when did Brownstone become interested in this county anyway? Next the Swan-mother will want a temple here."

The other sister winced in pain, now conceding to show some exhaustion. "When little Anje came back naked, bruised, and bleeding down her thigh."

Morphiel stopped and turned around. He looked to her, searching for any sign of exaggeration. She met his gaze seriously, and with just a hint of sorrow on her face.

Morphiel pushed aside the cold stone in his gut and said, "The miller's daughter?"

She nodded. "And others. From six counties around."

Morphiel could just imagine the poor man. The miller was the one who took the county's grain and readied it for export, and so he had met Morphiel a few times. His family was the light of his life. He was a simple man with a simple life, and he always managed to smile a little even through his nervousness at dealing with land-lords. He just wanted to live an honest life and do right by his family. Morphiel could at least have empathy with that.

He didn't deserve this.

The ranger gestured around her. "And that spoor proves that the goblins aren't staying put! They are encroaching!"

Morphiel waved it away dismissively as he tried to think of some comfort he could give the Miller. "Scouts. They always push ahead."

"How do you know it's not them!"

"It's not." He began to weigh the costs of going to speak to Murkagh directly. It would be a risk, to be sure, and there was no way the Staves had enough men to help, but if they--

"How do you know!"

He rounded on her. "Because I went out there when I heard about the disappearances!"

The ranger cowered back just a step reflexively. He quickly checked his glamour to make sure it was still in place. It seemed to be.

She stared at him. "How do you--"

"I'm a noble of Rendru. How would you guess."

She nodded. "Were-ravens."

He did not confirm or deny--to avoid lying. He turned and kept moving. "I moved as soon as I heard. You have one day before the trail goes cold. If you don't find them in that one day, they are gone."

"Murkagh said the same thing."

"He's a coward. He knows what's at stake here and he will not push into the forest. He serves no purpose here."

"He's no coward," the other sister corrected. "Brownstone coordinates with him. He's cautious and he values the lives of his men."

"A staff's purpose is to protect and serve. They are the line of defense that protects people like the Miller and his family. If he won't do his job I have no use for him."

The ranger sighed. "Do you even know the man?"

"I know him well enough." He absently triggered a bear trap with his staff, yanking it free angrily. "And I know the oath he supposedly took before he decided his job was too dangerous. I asked for men and I got mice. If they were afraid of the job, they should have requested a dispatch more to their liking and sent me men who value the oath they took. The oath to protect and serve is sacred."

The twins stopped.

Morphiel stopped and sighed. "What? are you taking offense on his behalf?"

The other twin smiled. "You're a Staff."

Morphiel's blood ran cold. He looked to the implement in his hand and then back to her.

"I can hear it in your voice. You value the honor of your calling. You take it seriously. You're a true believer."

Morphiel snarled in anger. "I am not a Staff and I will thank you to never speak of it again!" He turned back to the trail, raising his staff to trigger another bear trap.

And then stopped.

The ranger twin started to step up along side him, but he swung his staff back to bar her way before she stepped in it.

Morphiel bent down, gingerly pulling the leaves aside.

This bear trap was a different design than the ones his woodsmen had set. To begin with, it was no bear trap--bear traps did not need steel leather-awls in place of teeth. The black wrought-iron into which the awls were set made Morphiel's fingers tingle to brush them.

The second sister peered over the ranger's shoulder. "Oh my god."

The ranger bent down and fingered one of the sharp leather-awl teeth. "Meant to pierce good hiking and riding boots." She looked up at Morphiel. "Are we sure the children are the only disappearances?"

Morphiel thought back over the last month. "Three of my woodsmen are overdue on rent. I am always...more lenient with their time because of...what they do...They sometimes go out for weeks at a time..." He looked to her, his voice taking on more of an edge of command than he intended. "But they're competent! Strong men, capable..."

The ranger stood up. "You've been complacent with that Goblin encampment too long, Lord Hinterstrad." She picked up a fallen branch and motioned everyone back from the trap. "They're encroaching."

She hit the trigger of the trap once with the branch. It slammed closed with a loud SNAP!