[doug*platypus]

The Great Wood

The leagues were long indeed from the Elvenwood to the Great Wood. Skara, Rû-Sahn and the band of kidnappers had now covered half the distance back to their homes. For the first time since they had captured the elven girl, Skara felt that they had covered enough ground to rest properly, for the rest of the day and night.

The elfmaid, whose name Nu-Reif had been learned from Nura, had caused them no end of trouble. When the men had been attacked by a pack of crazed boars, she had escaped with the aid of Blair's sister. It took quite some time before they were both recaptured, and the sun was coming up before the camp was in order again. The wounded man, Barold, had been gored horribly by one of the boars. If those fools had only stayed calm, thought Skara, it might not have happened. To think, they were overrun by a pack of swine! In the confusion, Barold had been surprised and defenseless. With his wounds he would never have survived the trip home. He was barely conscious, panting and gibbering, when Rogar had to take the knife to him to end it. Skara put Rogar and two others to task to dig Barold a grave in whatever way they could find. When Rogar rejoined the rest of the group he was in a foul mood. Skara saw him watching with delight as Blair beat and scolded his foolish sister. Skara did not stop Blair from doing this - such behaviour had to be punished, and she should never have come along anyway.

"What are we going to do with her?" Rogar had asked with an evil tone in his voice.

Throughout the rest of the journey, a close watch was kept on Nura by both Blair and Rogar. Skara also kept one eye on Rogar. As if the captive was not enough to deal with! Now Skara had to worry about Blair's wench of a sister freeing her again, and also about what was going on in Rogar's twisted mind. He had begun to question almost every lead that Skara took, and he was often caught staring at Nura. He was the only man in the group bigger and stronger than Blair, or there would have been no concern. It would take several of the Easterlings to fight Rogar, and if he had some of his friends on his side it could prove very bad for Blair, and for Skara. Fortunately the weaponsmith Rû-Sahn still seemed loyal, and apart from Rogar only Bór, the brother of poor Barold would openly speak against Skara's advice. Since he was only young, however, noone paid any attention to him.

Nevertheless, in spite of their squabbling the men of the east had covered a good distance now without sign of pursuit. The girls now seemed too frightened to try and escape, after being recaptured last time. Skara had taken their elfcakes and trod them into the ground as a further punishment. The elf would now share what they ate, even if it made her retch, and she would be given only enough to keep her walking. After finding their rafts and crossing the Great River, the men with their captive had skirted the eaves of the Great Wood, heading north. Game was now plentiful, and there were even mushrooms and roots to gather. This was now Nura's job when at camp, with her brother guarding her.

They had then turned directly east into the forest, and now made straight for the morning sun. By entering so far north, Skara had hoped to throw off all chance of pursuit. Now fifty leagues from the southern edge, he doubted that even elf eyes could spy them from afar. The more Skara thought about it, the more he relaxed. For the Great River had done them a huge favour. There were no fords that he knew of, and the river was so wide that surely only the gods could have bridged it. Unless they used their wicked magic, the miserable elves would have to swim across, hopefully losing all trace of his men. Skara smiled, feeling better than he had for weeks. After throwing more fuel on to the fire from where he was sitting, he leaned back and began to doze.