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twice. Those episodes were more of the typical type of encounters. I think I remember that he killed two of our men last year. We didn’t pursue it because the men were trying to force themselves on a woman and it didn’t have anything to do with our affairs. The men were assigned to a city garrison at the time and were off duty. I think he was thought to be a bandit at that time.”
    “So, he’s basically a nobody,” summarized Sarac. “Then why does he choose to get involved with the Children now? Maybe we can pay him to turn on the Children and give them up?”
    “Perhaps he would accept such an offer,” agreed Lattimer, “but for our people to be able to present it, they would be close enough to kill him. I think we can save our money and just eliminate him.”
    “Send a message to Majork,” Sarac ordered. “Tell him I want his goblins to be ready in case the Children get across the mountains. Have it done diplomatically, Lattimer. The goblin king must think he is offering to help, not being ordered to.”
    “I am familiar with the goblin’s personality traits,” smiled Lattimer. “He will be begging for a chance to get his people involved.”
    The Dark One waved his aide off and returned to pacing the floor of his study. Lattimer was correct, there was not much news to be heard.
    ***
    Kaz quietly set down on a clear area of the mountain peak near the northern pass through the West Mountains and Alex swiftly dismounted. It was dangerous for Kaz to fly in amongst the mountains at night, but Alex was disturbed by the tracks found near the knoll on which the Rangers slept. The large group of Dark Riders had turned around for a reason and, if Alex’s guess was correct, he would find those men guarding this pass.
    Alex threw several coils of rope across his shoulder and made his way towards a narrow gully below him. He had ordered Kaz to set down near one of the peaks so there would be less chance of an accident, which meant the Dark Riders guarding the pass would be well below him. He would still have to get much closer to the actual pass to verify his suspicions.
    Alex found a trail after descending a fairly easy slope and turned towards the pass. The night air was cool and the stars twinkled brightly above. The moon was in its last hour, which meant Alex would have to hurry to use its light in order to see the Dark Riders. Alex loped along as quickly as he could yet still remain silent. Several times during the journey the gully he was using ended and Alex had to seek another path towards the pass.
    Finally, the Ranger arrived on a cliff that overlooked the pass. Two hundred feet below lay the northern road through the West Mountains. In a wide area of the pass, just east of the summit, was a campfire with several men sitting nearby. Not far from the fire, several dozen men lay sleeping, confirming Alex’s suspicions. Alex searched for the sentries he knew would exist and found four of them, two on each side of the road, but only on the western approach. Alex frowned at the sloppy, haphazard approach to security. The Dark Riders were totally exposed to an eastern attack. If he still commanded the Targa Rangers, his men would simply climb over the mountains and attack from the East, wiping out the enemy force before the sentries knew what was happening.
    Alex paused before leaving to look again at the men around the campfire. He subconsciously reached into a pouch and extracted the scope the elves had given him so long ago. Focusing on the men around the fire, Alex inhaled sharply. There were four Black Devils talking down there, when he thought there would be only one. He collapsed the scope and returned it to its pouch. Alex sat there thinking. Sarac must have known about the Children well before the clearing of the sky to have reacted so swiftly. There could be no further doubt about the Southern Pass being filled with Sarac’s men.
    Alex rose and started the series of climbs necessary to get him back to