Pitt took his leave a few days after returning from killing the blue panther. The town had thrown a small celebration. He took it in stride, but he told the people he dealt with regularly he needed to stop goofing off and head home. He had his own things to take care of that was hurt by his absence.

He gave Mrs. Barratree, the innkeeper, a hug. He shook Yeats's hand. Then he picked up a bag of food, and a canteen on a strap. He headed back to the signpost to take his bearing to head home.

He didn't know how much he had walked on the three hundred mile line from the city to his home in the Highlands. He doubted that he had covered the first hundred. He took a long look ahead when he reached a stretch of ground not covered by trees. He smiled when he saw part of a mountain in the distance.

The orc badlands would be to his left and reaching into the same mountain chain he was walking toward. He could have walked from the shaman's village toward the upper end of the chain if he hadn't had to return to inform his new friends that things had worked out better than he had thought.

He walked through the wilds, enjoying the lack of responsibility. He could walk on like this forever. This was the only good side of being yanked across the face of the world by Montague.

The spirit should be able to put him back in the same spot he was pulled from. He never did. Once the danger was being addressed, he vanished back to whatever spirit realm he called home.

Pitt paused on the bank of a river. He looked up and down. He didn't see any boats on the water. He judged the distance. It was a long swim to get across. He wondered if there was a ford or bridge close by. Either would be better than swimming in his opinion.

He decided to climb a nearby tree. He needed the higher elevation to get a better look at the surrounding area. If he found a better way across than swimming, he would try that.

If he couldn't, he would swim across the river and stay on his line of travel.

He decided that he should mark his way in case he did find a simpler way than swimming. He looked around until he found a stump at the base of a broken tree. He yanked it out of the ground and threw it across the river. It landed on the other side and then fell over on its side.

He nodded. It hadn't been a perfect throw, but he had a solid pointer almost where he wanted it to be. If he crossed to the other side, he could just come up the bank until he found the stump and take another bearing.

Simple woodcraft, he told himself.

He picked a sturdy tree next to the river. He wanted a clean sightline along the water. He wasn't likely to get that from a tree away from the bank.

He climbed up to the top of the tree as fast as he could run on the ground. He looked along the river in both directions. He saw a setup for a ferry downriver. That looked like an easy way to get across.

He slid down the tree and dropped to the ground. He started along the bank. The faster he reached the ferry, the closer he would be to being on the other side of the river and a bit closer to home.

He hoped he could avoid trouble. He didn't want a reputation as a wandering hero. People would open their doors, and start asking for crazy favors. He could do without the problems that would cause.

Maybe he should start disguising himself whenever he had to do something to fix some problem. He needed a mask and specialized clothing. Then he could pretend to be the masked hero who solved people's problems while actually being the lazy goon who didn't want to do that much but drink and smoke cigarettes.

It might work as long as he made a reputation as the masked avenger. Otherwise, they would still look for the same old Pitt, and expect him to carry them around.

Pitt reached the side of the river across from the ferry. He didn't see anyone walking around. He looked for a way to signal he wanted a ride across the river.

He decided to yank on the rope. Maybe he could pull the raft into the water and over to him. Then he could pole himself over the river.

The rope slid smoothly through the pulleys on either side of the river. Nothing happened to move the ferry into the water.

What was going on? Had he stumbled into another problem? He should have kept going when he had started out instead of pausing.

That couldn't be helped, and he had a way to cross the river without getting wet. He could walk back up to the stump when he got to the other bank.

Pitt grabbed the line. He yanked himself over the water. He started swinging along the rope, switching grips as he got to end of each arc. His feet almost dragged the water but he kept them up and dry.

He landed on the other side of the river. He brushed his hands together as he started up the river to get to his stump.

Something was wrong at the ferry station. He didn't want to know what. This had the feeling that something was going to pop out and try to eat him. He didn't want to give it a chance. Moving away from the ferry station seemed to be the right idea.

It bothered him that no one seemed to be around. He expected more people to be doing things despite the lack of customers. Had the ferry shut down for some reason? Why would it do that?

Pitt thought he might be jumping to conclusions. Maybe the people who ran the ferry were away for supplies. There didn't have to be a sinister reason for everything.

He laughed at himself. He had fought monsters most of his adult life. He lived in a world where there was a sinister reason for everything. He wasn't heroic enough to go back and find out what was going on. Someone else would deal with it eventually.

If it became something only he could handle, he expected to get a call from Montague and a lecture about not helping those in need.

It wouldn't be the first one he had received from the spirit over the years.

He found a broken tree in his path as he worked his way up to where he had thrown the stump. He paused. The breakage looked familiar. He squinted at the wooden trunk laying on the ground.

He looked back across the river. Hadn't there been a broken tree like this over there? He decided to write it off as similar actions taking place instead of the same thing breaking both trees.

Something that broke a healthy tree like that would be strong and big. Two of them on both sides of the river could be a good thing. If the trees were broken by the same animal, then it commuted the river to get to where it felt like going.

If it was one animal, it could explain the ferry shutting down.

He wasn't going to be in the area long, so it didn't matter if there was a giant monster creeping through the river forests. It could try to stop him if it showed up while he was marching away. Then he would think about what he was supposed to do.

He heard a roar come up from the trees. It sounded too big to be a regular predator.

He decided to wait until it had passed him by before thinking about trying to find the problem and dealing with it.

Pitt was not worried about any personal threat. He had survived the worst the world could throw at him. Anything lurking in the woods would be taken care of before the next group of travelers came this way.

He didn't hear the roar again. Maybe it was hiding to take on a more powerful threat than the one a lone traveler could impose on it.”

Maybe it was waiting to ambush him while he was trying to find his stump.

He decided to smoke a cigarette before he moved on. It might calm his nerves.

He rolled up a cigarette and lit it with a snap of his fingers. He puffed on it as he looked around. His stump should be up ahead. Once he found that, he could take his bearing and head on.

He didn't like the shadows that were encroaching on his pleasant walk. It just meant trouble.

Pitt finished his cigarette as he came into view of his stump. He paused at the print it obscured. He moved it out of the way with his foot so he could look at the print in the soft ground.

He grimaced as he tossed the pieces of remaining cigarette into the river. Of course there was a giant monster roaming around. Could he not go one day of travel without finding one of the things.

He decided that as long as he didn't run into whatever it was he was just keep on going. It could be someone else's problem. He didn't have to kill it as long as it wasn't close.

It wouldn't be the first time he had let monsters live.

Pitt took his sighting. He shook his head. His line of travel followed after the giant monster. He started out.

If he ran into it, he would walk away if he could. It wasn't his job to kill it. He was retired.

He wondered if Pantalaus had known about this and pointed him along to take care of things. He wouldn't put it past the old man. It was his style of letting others choose their own doom.

Pitt tried to put the possible manipulation out of his mind. The gods used mortals as their tools all the time. This wouldn't be any different from any cleric that happened to be going this way.

And the Brotherhood were prototypical clerics before they were anything else.

He walked through the trees with his eyes on his goal. He didn't plan to stop for anything.

He reached a road after a few minutes of walking. Old debris dotted the sides of the road from smashed wagons. He supposed that was an explanation for the ferry not being manned.

Of course a monster cutting off the road would make the ferry useless for the region.