The horse of gold before them was suddenly struck with fear, without warning. The silent woman whom she rode with quickly covered their mount's eyes with a cloth, turning her head this way and that in search of the cause. "What is the matter? Why have we stopped?" She asked her rider. "I don't know! What's making Lizaveta freak out? I don't see anything, and there's too much blocking my view around here." The woman with the stern face said in reply. "Is there anything that I could do which would help?" Gale asked, looking over at the frightened horse from over Shiloh's shoulder. "Yes actually. Take the reins, and make sure the horse's eyes are covered up. I'm going to get off and check the area. It'll be quick, but if you see anything out of the ordinary say it." The woman slid off the horse's back onto the ground and began to close her eyes and focus. 

She must be using some sort of art which granted her insight, from what Gale could guess. Following directions she kept watch from on the horse, hoping that she would find the reason soon. So far Mebari had kept her horse restrained but it was still fearful.

The horse Ernest was riding on suddenly stopped, and Ernest nearly fell off of it. She had been right that she wasn't very good on horses - she had been so focused on keeping her balance that she'd hardly even had time to look around.

She managed to get her balance again, and caught the tail end of her companions' conversation. This was what happened when horses freaked out? Ernest had kind of thought they ran around without obeying commands, but she had to admit this was better. However, she decided to get down off the horse before it either panicked more or did something else strange.

Ernest scanned the area around her for animals, but saw nothing, although she had to admit that she knew little about the animals of the savanna, and one could have easily snuck past her, unnoticed. "Do you see anything?" she called to the other girl who was searching. 

The girl with short black hair came up and asked her if she had seen anything. She gave herself a few more seconds before replying. "…No. And that bothers me. I'll need to take a second look. This'll be a pain and a half." Closing her eyes, Shiloh reopened them activating her aura sight. Immediately the feedback began pouring in as life signatures were popping up all over the nearby savanna. There were so many, and all moving at different speeds. This wouldn't work, she had to focus more. Narrowing her search to the immediate area within a ten meter radius, she began a slow scan of the region. Then she felt it. There was something lurking in the tall grass, completely concealed by normal means–but the magical signature was off the charts. It was almost nauseating as it flickered like a bonfire in a pitch black room.

Shutting her eyes and closing off her senses, she grabbed her head with both hands and clenched her teeth in discomfort. "Ugh…I think my stomach just inverted itself." Taking in a deep breath, she pinched the bridge of her nose refocusing her eyes. When she was feeling less like she wanted to empty the contents of her stomach, she turned to Ernest. "We're being followed. I don't know how long, but there's something out there that's keeping itself shielded from our eyes. It's not very big, but the magical signature I picked up was off the charts–almost made me think my head was going to split." Pointing in the direction where the overwhelming signature was, she continued. "Ten meters away, keeping itself close to the ground. Biped or quadruped unknown. At the moment it is not inherently hostile, however it seems to be distressing enough for beasts to know its presence. No discernible scent within the average human range of olfactory sensation."

Looking to Mebari, the fire-haired girl, and Ernest she asked: "Question–should we engage or continue to press on?" Lizaveta was still skittish, the mare's eyes nervously darting about while snorting loudly. The chestnut horse was currently calm thanks to its eyes being covered, however it was starting to paw the ground in response to Lizaveta's fear.

Gale looked where the stern woman pointed, but saw nothing. How strange. Was something really there? The horses seemed to think so, and it was bothering them very much to where they wanted to run. The girl with the bear shawl did her best to keep them calm in spite of their natural instinct to flee. She couldn't understand most of what she was saying, but the stern woman seemed tense. Not fearful like the animals, but worried. "I think we should try to keep going. If it hasn't attacked us, then maybe it is merely curious?" She was not one to start a fight, and wanted to have their trip be as peaceful as possible. She was aware of the others' concerns, so she did not try to persuade them. Patting the flank of the chestnut mare she had been riding, she wondered what was following them. It was something powerful with magic, but no one knew what in particular. 

It was not close as to garner caution, but the questions as to who, what, when, and why swam in her head. What would the others choose?

Ernest frowned. Something invisible. That probably meant trouble. If it was hiding, it almost certainly had a reason to be doing so. Still, it hadn't attacked yet, so that was comforting. She considered more carefully. What did they know about this beast? The horses could sense it, as could the girl with the dark hair, but none of the rest of them could. It had magic, that was almost certain, so it was most likely dangerous, even if it wasn't attacking at the moment. And for some reason, it didn't want to be seen, although that could easily have been a survival instinct, as the dark-haired girl had mentioned that it wasn't very large.

She decided she agreed with the fire-haired girl, at least to some extent. "I also think we should continue," she said. "Judging by what you've said, it has the potential to be very dangerous, especially since you're the only one who can see it." In her head, she added, and seeing it gives you headaches. "If we were to attack it, it would most likely defeat us. I would rather have the chance that it will leave us alone."

A small part of her told her it might not end well if the horses panicked, but she tried to ignore that part. Every plan had its risks, and bolting horses seemed a much smaller risk than being attacked by some magical creature. 

Mebari agreed with the other two. "Let us resume our journey then. Hush Lizaveta, we won't let anything harm you." The golden horse was calmed, and the medicine woman mounted it again. She helped Ernest up onto Lizaveta's back while Shiloh and Gale did the same. Before they set off, Shiloh threw a glance over her shoulder again in the direction where the strange magical beast had been. 

'Don't you dare try anything, whatever you are.' She thought in its direction. She had no idea if it could even hear thoughts, but her intent was clear. With the slap of the reins they went off at a gallop again. The horses stayed calm this time, which was good for all of them. They soon came across a rushing river, too wide to leap across. In the waters several fish were leaping up as they went downstream, but for some reason Mebari did not look pleased at the sight. Pulling up the chestnut mare alongside Lizaveta, Shiloh asked the medicine woman: "Why are we stopping? I don't see any predators this time." 

The bear shaman spoke in a serious tone. "Something has bewitched the water. See how the fish are leaping, as if gasping for air? They are running from something, but also gripped by some kind of madness. I have never seen such a sight before, even during the fullness of the moons." Shiloh wasn't entirely sure if that was correct, but she assumed Mebari meant this wasn't the right time for them to migrate. "So they're being affected by magic…somehow? Can't we just go around the river or make a bridge?" Mebari shook her head. "If this part of the river has been afflicted, then the bends further down will be just like this one. We cannot leave until we find the source of the madness." 

Gale peered out from behind the stern-faced woman and saw the river was an endless stream of fish frantically swimming and leaping. She had never seen fish jump so high, or had even known they could jump. Some of the fish ended up jumping out of the water onto the banks, and were flopping around as if they were gripped by the same fear the golden horse had a while ago. There were several dead fish lying beside the river's edges, likely from being out of the water. "Why are the fish trying to leave the water when they cannot live outside of it?" She asked. It was an innocent question, but an important one.

The stern woman turned around to look at her. "How should I know? Maybe they've really gone crazy like Mebari said. Even if we try to throw them back in they'll just beach themselves again." She then continued speaking with Mebari. "All we have to do is find whatever's tainting the water and get rid of it, right? So shouldn't we be following the river against the current? The fish are all coming down from there, so it has to be upstream." Gale continued to watch the frenzied fish, now worried as the number of fish piling on the river's edges were steadily growing. They were killing themselves, but for what? It wasn't just one type of fish, but several. Large, small, and everything in between. Not every fish tried to flee onto land, half tried swimming along the current to the other parts of the river out of their range of sight. The dream-walker wanted to push them back in, as just watching them struggle out of water was difficult for her. But if they truly were gripped by madness, then it would be futile.

An idea occurred to Ernest and she filled her hands with water and picked up one of the smallest fish. It swam around in her hands and she looked at it somewhat sadly. "It is the water, then," she said. "I'd hoped that whatever this was was just related to the fish and not the water, but, as you can see, they behave normally in different water." She lifted her hands slightly to show the fish swimming around inside them.

Tilting the fish into one hand, she grabbed two little flasks from her bag. Into one she put the fish, and filled it with water from her water skin. The other she dipped into the river, being careful not to actually touch the water. "This might be worth keeping," she said. She didn't mention her keeping of the fish, but it had seemed wrong to her to save it and then let it go mad again.

"I don't think they've gone crazy," said Ernest. "I'm not entirely sure if fish can go crazy. I think something here is affecting them." She turned around, trying for a second to look for the magical predator that they had seen earlier, before remembering that it was invisible. "That thing that we saw might also have something to do with it." 

Shiloh watched out of curiosity as Ernest did her little experiment. Surprisingly, and thankfully–the fish were alright when they weren't in the river water. "That's slightly more reassuring. I've heard of things happening when people dump into rivers tainting the water, but if that's the case then there's nothing I can do about it." At the mention of the strange beast they found earlier, her eye twitched. "I was hoping you wouldn't say that. It's not impossible, but I'd rather it not be the case." Magical creatures were fickle, and unpredictable. More importantly, they were harder to kill. She had taken several extermination jobs back in Canelux, but they were all 'normal' things like wolves, mountain cats, and wargs. 

Mebari pondered over this new information, and turned to Shiloh. "If you could, might you use your hidden sight to see if that beast is nearby again?" Shiloh hesitated, and closed her eyes. "…Alright, I will. Give me a moment." The floodgates of sensory information opened again and she took a deep breath. Slowly, carefully she scanned the immediate area. The water was giving a strange signature, where there should be none. It was faint, but then she found a stronger one. It was around five meters away this time, and the size was similar to that of a small wild dog from how well she could approximate from that distance. "…Found it. The water's giving off a signal, and that thing is here too. It's about five meters behind 'Fox', Mebari."

She had picked up on the hint from Mebari's little comment earlier and figured out she was referring to the four of them together. In Mebari's tribe there were four animals which they associated with different roles: the bear, the wolf, the fox, and the eagle. Mebari was the bear, so by an educated guess she was the wolf, leaving the short-haired girl as the fox and the fire-haired girl as the eagle. Turning off her aura sight, she rubbed her eyes to refocus. "It's still following us. I don't think we can just leave it be this time." Shiloh pulled out her hand axe. It was her payment back when she helped hunt down a winged lizard in the Bohar plains, and it was especially effective on beasts. She was ready to confront the thing that had been tailing them this whole time, but only if the others agreed.

"Is it truly the creature's doing?" Gale asked. She knew that the water was causing the fish to act abnormally, and if they were moved to new, untainted water they recovered immediately. However she couldn't see how or why it was related to the strange creature the stern woman had seen earlier. The bear-woman asked the other to see if the magical beast was near, and the response was positive. It was also closer than it had been back when the horses had panicked. The stern woman believed it to be a threat, and had her weapon at the ready. The dream-walker on the other hand still did not feel it had hostile intent. If it had, then why did it not attack them directly? So far only animals were being affected by it, and when it was gone they should return to normal.

"Must we fight it?" She asked, looking to Mebari and Ernest. She hoped that they wouldn't think so. Perhaps this was all a misunderstanding. If they could converse with it, maybe they could understand its intentions better.