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Les was not sure how long they had walked, nor how far they had traversed. Her feet were aching and her bones throbbed and all of her bumps and bruises from falling were now stinging uncomfortably. Talon didn't dart ahead this time, and Les was grateful for the slower pace, but the fear and anger were slowly returning, ebbed only by thinking about her sore body. It was when they got to a point on the path lit by a lamplight that she nearly forgot her pain, and her curiosity was compounded. The lamp hung from the limb of an enormous tree. Bigger around than any Les could recall having ever seen. Below the lamplight Talon stopped. The path branched off in three directions, each more clear than the one they'd arrived on. The world around them was thick with silence. And then footsteps. At first Les wasn't sure she was actually hearing anything. She thought it was her imagination, until the sound intensified.