With the trail lost, the group pauses to consider. With the sun low in the sky, the first order of business is a camp site. Continuing northwest-ish, they eventually find a small dell with a tiny spring-fed pool nearby. Leaving the others to prepare camp, Rawon, Mordikarr, and Raúguey head out to search for the trail, though the time they have left before the sun sets is growing short.
Those in camp gather firewood and build a small fire pit at the lowest point in the dell, still wary of potential flying attackers. They set an empty water barrel beneath the spring to catch the slow trickle, and poke about the nearby woods for anything of interest, finding nothing but pine needles, rock, and trees.
It's almost full dark when the trio of scouts returns. "Anything?" asks Ohwatoo. Raúguey scowls and shakes his head.
Rawon expands on this. "Nothing. With night coming on we only went out a half-mile or so. I get the feeling we're going to find rougher ground ahead. The land is still rising. Tomorrow morning we should go out further and try again. If we don't find something by noon, we'll have to consider striking out without the trail. It'll be slow going."
That thought puts a damper on the evening, and after eating, the camp quickly gets quiet. Everyone is tired from the long day of hiking, and those on watch struggle to stay awake. It's past midnight when Maro notices the pale greenish light off to the northwest, barely visible through the wind-tossed pine boughs. After alerting Durego and Tesso, he creeps to the edge of the dell, and lays flat, hoping for a better angle. No use. Whatever its source, it's too distant to see anything other than occasional glimmers through the trees.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: all comments are moderated to block spammers. Please be polite.