The Fifth Elephant (Terry Pratchett)

There was a hamlet down there, where two rivers met. There would be boats.

This was working. The slopes behind him were white and free of dark shapes. No matter how good they were, let them try to outswim a boat…

Hard-packed snow crunched under his feet. He staggered past the few rough hovels, saw the jetty, saw the boats, fought with the frozen rope that moored the nearest one, grabbed an oar and pushed himself out into the current.

There was still no movement on the hills.

Now, at last, he could take stock. It was a bigger boat than one man could handle, but all he had to do was fend off the banks. That’d do for tonight. In the morning he could leave it somewhere, perhaps ask someone to get a message through to the tower, and then he’d buy a horse and…

Behind him, under the tarpaulin in the bows, something started to growl.

They really were very clever.