At the border
between the native trees and ytasos, she paused. The forest before her was more welcoming with
its canopy of red, blue, orange, green and yellow leaves. The blue-gray bark of the trees was smooth
and the ground, carpeted by fallen leaves and free of ytaso roots, was soft. The lovely beckoning of the treescape was a
false promise, however. If her pursuer
was behind her, he’d take her in these woods.
And she knew exactly what would happen then.
She knew because
he’d once whispered his threats as he pinned her helpless against a wall.
“I would like to set you free in the forest and let
you run from me. I would like to hunt
you like prey, to follow your scent, to sense your fear as I draw close. I will chase you down, throw you to the
ground…”
She made herself
stop hearing the growling voice in her head.
It threatened to overwhelm her.
Her legs were shaking and she had the urge to sink to the earth and give
up.
Amelia swallowed
and looked about. Nothing moved. No sign of pursuit. She didn’t trust it though, not one little
bit. But there was nothing to do but
continue on and hope for the best.
She entered the
cool forest, the castoff leaves rustling softly under her feet. The going was much easier, but she left
subtle traces of her passage, traces the Nobek would follow easily. She needed to hurry.
Amelia allowed
herself to break into a trot. She was
headed upwards now, the incline slight but enough to make her calves burn with
the effort. The forest slid by, and she
thought she just might make the harder-to-track terrain of the Dagoonda Plain
after all.
Then a growl
rolled through the silent wood, a heart-shattering bestial noise that should
have never come from any intelligent being’s throat. It was so deeply primitive that Amelia felt
it rumble in her bones.
He’d found her.
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