Morning all and Welcome officially to August. I have to say I am curious as to how this month will play out. Usually the dog days of August are to be feared, heat wise. Then they break with the fall rains. This year June and July were broiling and we are still being blasted by what feels like fall rains. Perhaps we are through the heat and Fall will come in with September. Perhaps the heat is circling for round two. Should be interesting to see. For now, it is the first and it begins with rain storms. Let’s see what the first prompt of the month brings. Timers at the ready and off we go.
This feels very condensed. As though it needs to be pulled apart like taffy with more story bits added to it.
Thursday, August 1st: He followed the trail for as long as he could.
He followed the trail for as long as he could. At first the signs were obvious. Even an inexperienced tracker would have seen the divots kicked out of the ground by unwilling heels and the hoof prints of horses in the soft earth. And he was not inexperienced.
He followed the wide and obvious trail, looking for signs that were a little less obvious. The main trail was so clear cut that it looked like it could easily be a decoy. It hadn’t been. It was as though those who kidnapped Lady Ameila hadn’t realized there was the possibility of someone following. Soon, the prisoner was passed to others. These captors seemed to realize that tracking was an option and that there was the likelihood of someone being sent after them.
There also appeared to be fewer in the group. He sent his assistant off to follow those who continued to leave more obvious signs of their passage and Lucas followed them to an inn. there they were seen spending more coin than usual and there was no sign of the lady. Lucas reported back ad the continued to follow the less obvious trail.
While those they followed tried to hide the signs of their passage, they were not adept at it. They kept to the hard packed and often traveled roads when they could. He wasn’t certain if it was to eliminate signs of their horses or for speed. He spotted when they left the trails and again thought this was more to avoid detection from those they passed than it was to hide from those following. The trail always led back to the main road. As the main road led to one of the largest ports, he sent Lucas on ahead. While he was following, they were still ahead and there was always the possibility of losing them if they boarded a ship. With Lucas watching, he hoped they would at least identify the ship if it came to that.
After winding on and off the road, he finally come to the port. It was fully as busy as he feared and when he arrived, he reached the rendezvous point he arranged with Lucas. He found the message his assistant left. The Sea Spray. it was the name of a ship he found when he made inquiries. He looked for his assistant and could not find him. He wondered if Lucas managed to stow away on the ship even ass he gathered her particulars. It was then that he found out about the body. the body that was found and had an eerily similar description to his missing assistant.
He checked in with the city officials, identified himself and was shown to the morgue. He identified Lucas and arranged for his body to be sent home. Using his official papers, he found what he needed about the ship and secured passage on another bound for the same port. He sent a pigeon back to the castle and boarded the Ship to follow. He hoped that those at the castle had contacts in the city and that through the use of pigeons information would be waiting for him when he arrived. If not, he would be looking for a needle in a haystack.
Ten til Midnight 