Morning all. I hope you are doing well. I had a strange dream where I was sent to a wading pond with a small net and told to only catch the blue fish. Most of the fish were gold with only three blue fish. No clue why. I was quite inept though. Somehow it was very important that those fish get caught. It was a strange dream altogether, but there you have it. What is life without strange dreams? So shall we jump into our morning prompt?
You know I somehow thought when i saw the sentence i would jump back into the dream. I did not. I like this one much better though.
Thursday, May 11th: He splashed through the stream.
He splashed through the stream. At this time of year it wasn’t much of a stream. A wide strip of smooth rocks to either side and water marks showed him where other seasons would fill the area and rush the water through. He heard the dogs braying in the distance. Hopefully the stream would be enough to put them off.
Instead of wading strait through he walked upstream in the water. He hoped the natural inclination would be to look for him downstream as he wouldn’t have to fight against the current and he would be heading towards the border.
By going upstream he sacrificed a little time, although not much given the current depth of the water and strength of the current, and he was going deeper into Geraldan territory.
It wasn’t his first choice, but he knew the landscape here and knew the frontier towns. They had as little liking for the emperor’s men as he did and while they might not openly help him, they might not be inclined to report signs of his passing.
As he waded upstream he tried to look for a passage out of the stream that would not seem too obvious, yet was easy enough for him to use without leaving too much of a trail for the human trackers accompanying the dogs.
A short distance away he spotted it. The dogs were closer now and if he didn’t get out of the open then all his trickery wouldn’t be worth much. He made his way to the bank. There the bank was steeper and there was less of a wide path to show the dripping water of his passage. There were rocks sticking out of the embankment and he used them to scramble up, trying to dislodge as little as possible in his climb. He made it to the top in two steps and to his relief he found himself on top of grass. It was the kind of grass that grew in drier soils and with the current heat the thirsty ground would drink up the droplets he left behind leaving very little of a trail to follow.
He scrambled to the tree line and kept moving, losing himself to the shadows. E made it across the stream which would hopefully confuse the dogs and they would lose his scent. The trackers would eventually pick up his trail, at least he suspected they were good enough, but he hoped they would search downstream towards the border first. It would give him time to put some distance between them and hopefully for signs of his passage to fade and be harder to find.
“Henat help me,” he said, invoking the god of stealth and speed. With luck he would be on his side. He had pushed his luck hard this trip and hoped Henat had just a little extra to spare for him. He moved as fast as he could, while leaving as little a trail as possible. The dusty earth kicked up a little dust, but the vegetation was wide spread enough that there would be no boot prints. The growth here was low and dense enough that it would take little damage from his passing, the few crushed leaves barely discernable. The trackers following him were decent enough, but they weren’t as good as they should be. He allowed himself a tight smile at the thought.
Ten til Midnight 