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Needless to say that we searched the vicinity for hours without finding a trace of either Scorpio or the undead warriors before we finally returned to the hut to sit at the dying campfire and sulk.
"But Cav, he cannot have dissolved into thin air, can he?" I asked for about the hundredth time in a row, my uneasiness quite apparent.
"I don't think so," the haggard hunter replied with a shrug. "And as far as I know there aren't any holes through which people might simply fall out of the world, either."
I sighed.
"You are a great help indeed. Can you not, for once, give me a serious answer?"
"No." Cavalorn picked up an apple and started to polish it. "Unless you ask a serious question, that is."
"Do you think my trusty warri-- do you think the skeletons killed him?"
"I don't think so, Garland. In that case they would have returned to you." The former shadow was as disheartened by the turn of events as I was, but he, at least, had a better grip on himself. "Let's face the facts- I'm afraid Scorpio ran into even more serious trouble, and your skeletons along with him."
"But what could be more serious trouble than a horde of rioting skeletons?" I asked, pulling a few blades of grass out of the ground and throwing them onto the flickering coals… and in that very moment something strange happened.
Seeing the plants shrivel and die in the campfire's heat suddenly made me long for the unearthly shiver I had experienced during the summoning of my trusty warriors. I had already reached for my pack to pull out another scroll when I realized what I was up to.

The pack dropped to the ground with a dull thud, and I take it I flushed red with embarrassment.
Cavalorn sent me a curious glance while continuing to polish the apple. "Well, if you as a specialist on all things undead don't know…"
"I am hardly a specialist."
A wisp of smoke from the dying fire must have made its way into my eyes, for they started to fill with tears. The last of the blades of grass I had sacrificed in the glowing embers had turned into curly ashes by now, and somehow I felt as lifeless as the dead plants.
The hunter stretched and arose from the wooden bench.
"We ought to talk to Diego tomorrow. He used to be the best-informed guy in the whole colony, and I guess he still is." After a brief glance at the ruined roof he continued, "You can bunk over at the cave if you want to; I'll just sleep out here. I don't mind getting a little wet should it start to rain."
"Thank you, Cavalorn, but I am… I am not tired. You go and sleep in the cave."
He shrugged and handed me the apple. "Have it your way, missy."
"Don't call me missy! My name is Garland!"
The hunter sighed.
"Have it your way, Garland. But you ought to try and get at least some sleep; depending on what we'll be doing tomorrow, being well-rested might just work to our advantage."

As it was, I could not sleep that night; my fears held me wide awake.
I was not sure of which I was more afraid… of never to find out what had become of Scorpio, or of my growing desire to summon another host of undead warriors despite the dreadful knowledge that I could not control them.
And so I waited, angst-ridden, for the sun to rise and a new day to begin.

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