Trek For Survival

Gia was cooking more meat from the deer, that hadn"t finished getting cooked the night before, so they could take it with them.

"I suppose," answered Vonn. "We lived in the capital city, in the poor section of town. I cut wood in the forest just north of the city to make ends meet, when I overheard some men talking about the army and what they were planning."

"An army was marching on the capital city?" Llewel shook his head in disbelief.

"The men said they planned to burn the city to the ground and siege the castle in it"s middle. I managed to get everyone here out of the city before the army arrived."

"That"s amazing. I"m surprised you weren"t caught by scouts," said Kilyn, who was sitting and watching them work next to Mikey, who was shoving slivers of the cooked deer meat in the pouch his new pet slept in.

"Some of the scouts did follow us in to the forest," said Tom with a sigh. "That"s how we ended up here, instead of dead. It"s amazing how we"ve traveled so far, just trying to get back to the human lands after all of that."

"Well, based on what I know of the mountains, you probably still have a really long way to go," said Llewel, sitting back on his heels while Vonn finished putting the tent away.

"We were hoping you had a map we could see," said Vonn, tying the tent to his backpack securely.

"There is a map in the main city, but I don"t think it would be a good idea for you to go there," said Kilyn, shaking her head.

"Why? Do you think they won"t like us showing up?" asked Carla, folding blankets and putting them away in bags.

"No, nothing like that. I imagine the royal family would be thrilled to host you in their palace," said Kilyn with a chuckle. "They love any excuse to throw a party. No, I don"t think it"s a good idea for you to go there because it"s so far out of your way."

"We really don"t want to add to our journey, if that"s alright," said Gia, checking the meat she was cooking by cutting it open. It was still a little b.l.o.o.d.y, so she turned it and poked the fire to get it to flare up.

"I can draw you a rough guess to how the terrain is?" offered Llewel, raising an eyebrow questioningly to Vonn.

"That would be good," Vonn agreed, nodding his head.

The elf found a stick and started drawing in the dirt, explaining as he went.

"These are the mountains that separate out forest from the human lands, that the dwarves claim as their home, and the magical forest covers. They get really steep and dangerous from here to about here, which is well past our forest. The next possible place you could cross would be here, but it"s filled to the brim with giant spiders, that I would really recommend you avoid."

"We will!" exclaimed Carla without any hesitation, shuddering and pulling her cloak closer.
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"I would rather not take everyone into the path of danger," said Vonn.

"Well, the next opening that would be somewhat safe, would be here. You will need to travel alongside the sea for a while, until you get to this valley. The last thing I heard from scouts that traveled that way, said there was a clan of creatures living in the waters. So, if you avoid them by clinging to the edges of the mountains, you should be fine."

"What kind of creatures?" asked Tom.

"Eh, well, they were described to me like lizards. Our scouts didn"t get very close to them, as that"s pretty far south for us to travel."

"We"ll just have to be careful, I suppose," said Vonn. "What"s on the other side of the mountains there?"

"Gra.s.slands. The weather should be getting to spring by the time you reach them, so the worst you would have to worry about would be storms. I don"t think our scouts have ever seen anyone living there. If you can get across them, you should find the human lands again."

"So far still to go," said Carla with a sigh.

"There isn"t anything dangerous along all that way, except the lizards in that one valley, right?" asked Gia.

"There"s plenty of dangers," laughed Kilyn. "Wild beasts that are hungry and looking for a meal, not so wile creatures that would see you as an easy target, and I"m sure there are people of one kind or another somewhere along there, that we elves don"t know about. We haven"t had scouts down that way in several hundred years."

"What?" said Vonn in dismay. "Then everything you"ve just told me could be completely wrong!"

"Technically, the mountains haven"t moved," said Llewel, pointing to the tree canopy above them, as if they could see the mountains through the tangle of branches.

"We have no choice," said Tom, standing and putting his bag on that Carla had just handed him. "We at least have an idea of where to go and what to expect on our trip back to the human lands."

"I suppose," murmured Vonn, putting his bag on as well.

Gia grabbed the last of the meat up by the stick it was tied to, and wrapped it in the hide of the deer. Throwing it over her shoulder, she stepped in behind the others as Kilyn made sure the fire was completely out.

"We"ll escort you to an older village that"s along your route," said Llewel as he stepped in line with them. "It will provide you with some protection and decent rest for as long as you want to stay while we make arrangements for someone else to travel with you the rest of the way through our forest."

"Is that so we don"t get lost?" asked Mikey, walking carefully with one hand over his pouch so it didn"t bounce so much.

"Our forest can be rather hard to traverse if you don"t know the right routes," said Kilyn, catching up with them. "It would be easier on you if we showed you the quickest route."

"We thank you for your hospitality," said Tom. "I"m not sure how we can repay you for your kindness."

"It"s our job to keep an eye on the forest and deal with anything we come across. Following along with you all gives us something exciting to deal with, instead of the boring same old stuff," said Llewel.

"Some of the things you need to go across might be difficult without sight," said Kilyn, looking at Tom thoughtfully.

"What sort of things?" asked Gia, her stomach churning as images of craggy pits and rushing rivers entered her mind.

"Well, we"re about to encounter the first of them," said Llewel, pointing up ahead.

The soft sound of water trickling along stones came to their ears in the following silence, as they continued walking forward. The trees ahead of them thinned, letting in more sunlight. The river was wide and slow, skipping and dancing over the rocks that had been washed down from the mountains and tumbled until smooth and round. It was a beautiful blue green and clear enough to see each pebble and rock. Placed in a curving path across the water, was a collection of boulders that had been ground smooth on the top, to allow easier walking across them.

"Stepping stones!" cried Mikey in glee, starting to jump up and down in excitement, then holding his pouch carefully, he looked up at Llewel. "My little sprout can"t get wet, can he?"

"Sprout? Is that what you named your Limcheez?" asked Llewel with a laugh. "No, you shouldn"t let it get wet."

Nodding, Mikey got a look of concentration on his face and started across the rocks, making sure he took each one carefully, so as not to lose his balance and fall into the water. Gia was impressed and relieved. She had been worried the boy would get to excited and rush off, getting soaked. Perhaps this tiny creature he had gotten as a pet would be a good influence and keep him out of trouble.

"Are you ready, dear? We"ll take one step at a time," said Carla.

"I"m right behind you, in case you misstep and start to fall," said Vonn.

Tom nodded and using his walking stick, felt out each stone before carefully positioning himself on the edge each one and stepping across. It took forever, in Gia"s opinion, but she didn"t mind. Her father was actually making it across on his own. Once he made it across, she let out the breath she had been holding and smiled. While it wouldn"t have been deadly if he had fallen, it would have slowed them down tremendously while they dried his clothes off to be able to travel again. He had extra clothes he could have changed into, but the cold wind would have been even colder while wet, and she didn"t want him to get sick.

"That was nothing. When we get to the village, you"re going to have to walk along winding tree branches that are high off the ground," said Kilyn with a grin. "That"s when the fun begins."