[Arien]

"Never you mind," Ihwesta said. "Right now I've got to help Ceros get a hold on himself." Now he began to rebuke Ihwesta again, he was particularly angry. After all that happened not only one, but two of his companions had defied order to stay where they were and not leave to go back to the spiders nest. He was only angry because he cared, but it seemed to come across in a more irate mood than he would have liked to pick. But soon Ihwesta had calmed him down an she had duly apologised to him.

“Let us gather our things!” he called out over the camp, “I do not whish to stay here any longer!”

So the others gather their thing and Ihwesta lead the way, but with Ceros by her side now. Arië stayed to the rear of the group as a skilled tracker was needed to keep and eyes out and the others gathered in the middle. They walked silently through the think forest. They had strayed from any recognisable path if there indeed was one present this deep in the forest. This land was not trodden by their race, nor any other race that they had dealings with regularly. It was dark and the trees choked nearly all the light from above.

Vines and weed squeezed and suffocated the trees and odd hacking marks and slashes one the trees often met their eyes. What is doing this? It cannot be just the spiders, that is too obvious, they are too feeble and too few to cover the whole forest. What is it? He sighed, it was no use trying to think about this now, they had to get to a safe camp and soon.

A few hours passed, they all walked and rarely stopped except to examine more trees. The sun must have been at its highest peak because it was getting lighter in the forest, even if the trees tried to block her light out it still seeped through. The shafts of light made the forest look unnatural, dust hung suspended in the light and it was quiet. It was always quiet.

“I hear running water,” Ihwesta said suddenly, looking back at Ceros.

“I hear it too, there must be a river near.” It sound fast, very fast. The sound wasn’t that of a calm stream or brook that leisurely wound through their realm. No. This river was brash and dangerous. No good would come of them crossing it, but they had no other choice. As they neared it they could see how hard it would be. The river was easily twice the width of the one flowing in their realm. A good 30 feet across, and it looked deep, very deep. His fellow travellers gathered round and stared into the deeps of the rampant river.

“How are we going to cross this?” said Arië exasperatedly. Ceros shook his head, the situation certainly couldn’t get any worse.

[ August 29, 2003: Message edited by: Arien ]