Morning all and Happy Wednesday. We’ve made it to the middle of the week which feels very odd as Monday was a holiday. I expect later today I will panic about the week running out to fast, but for now I am doing well. So let’s take that feeling and see what it brings out in the morning prompt. Timers at the ready if you are joining in.
I like this. Somedays you just need a good adventure tale.
Wednesday, November 13th: Ferns carpeted the ground.
Ferns carpeted the ground. From Where he stood the world looked like some sort of Jurassic stage set. The ferns, the sheer volume and variety spoke of a land before man even if the trees were more familiar than he assumed the dinosaurs would have seen.
‘Fairly certain when the meteor took them out the trees burned too,’ he thought as he stepped forward. The ferns swayed with his steps but there was no true path. A few steps in and he tripped over a hidden rock. He pinwheeled his arms wildly and while his feet crushed more than one fern, he managed to keep his balance.
He stopped and caught his breath. The scent of green filled him from the crushed ferns beneath his feet. He had no better description of it. It was the scent of green. When he was younger there were many things that smelled or tasted of colors. For the most part that faded as he grew older but still sometimes his only description for a taste of a scent remained a color. This was green.
He let the thought go along with the memory of teasing for his mixed up senses. It was yet another thing that marked him as odd throughout his life. ‘One more for the list.’
He sighed expelling the green air and took another cautions step forward. His progress was slow. He not only had to pick his way across the fern covered ground, he had to look for signs of the others. They were heading this way and as this was the best path west, he knew they would have gone through this field. To his left was the river. At this point in its course it was deep but had giant boulders dropped in from the passing of ancient glaciers and the swift current smashed along sending up frothing sprays. It was too dangerous to cross let alone sail along.
To his right the land grew steeper and far rockier. While here there were too many trees for him to see the rocky slopes, before descending into this ferny valley he saw the trees peter out os the land sloped upward, gradually becoming vertical cliffs. This stretch was the only stretch of ground they could have taken.
It wasn’t wide as far as stretches went. He could hear the river and through the trees he could see the land begin it’s upward slope. They would have chosen the path of least resistance and gone through the center. There were five of them and even if they were taking care there should have been a host of trampled ferns. He should have seen a swath of crushed plants.
He saw nothing of the sort.
‘But they had to have come through here,’ he thought, eyes still scanning as he took one cautions step after the other. He was only about a week behind them, nine days at most. He thought it was closer to seven but knew from previous reports it wasn’t more than nine. He was told he should be able to catch up with them.
His route, in the beginning was faster. He traveled by boat for the first part while they had taken an inland route. They need to stop at various sites along the way. He had no need to do so and could move faster. When he alighted from his boat and took to the land he checked in. He knew he wasn’t too far behind and knew, with effort he could catch up. They weren’t moving fast.
Ten til Midnight 