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Nogrod · 08-14-2006, 12:46 PM

That Narleah was nice company, Novgorod thought as he continued straight forwards on his quest for the treasure the next day, even though she didn’t remember the song. Novgorod had no idea about how the race was going so far but he was quite assured that he was not in a bad position. Everything had gone smoothly and easily and he had been able to keep up a fair pace every day.

Suddenly his path was cut by a wide and deep dry gorge, spreading miles away to both directions. I’m not going to go around this one, Novgorod thought to himself as he tried to estimate the distance to the other side of the gorge. More than 10 feet, less than 15, maybe something in between... A piece of cake, without the carriage. He had to settle down to think for a while.

He could jump over it easily, there was no problem there. He could also throw all his belongings over it with confidence. But how about the Blueberries? He still had about half of the berries with him, some two pints of them in the open basket he had made yesterday. There was no chance of jumping over the gorge with them.

He took a sip from his waterskin and realised that he had not much of the water left. The day had been hot and the consumption of water had been equal to it. There it is! The sudden birth of the idea made Novgorod smile widely.

He took the basket between his feet and started pushing the berries into the waterskin. As the skin was as full as he could get it he put the lid on and started pressing and squeezing it. Soon the berries inside the skin were mashed and mixed with the rest of the water in it. Carefully Novgorod opened the lid and took a sip. Hmmm... real Blueberryjuice! After blowing into the skin softly to open it as large as possible again he started shoveling more berries into it. After performing this same operation three times he had managed to liquidize all the berries and had a fair 1½ pints of energizing juice in his waterskin.

Time to go. He packed all the belongings he could into his backpack, including the waterskin and the quiver with the arrows. He threw it over the gorge with no effort. Then he tied the laces on his sword’s sheath to secure the sword. Off it went too, followed by his bow.

Then he took some distance from the gorge, checking that his steps would fit rightly as he would approach the edge. To secure everything, he drew a mark on the ground from where he had counted he should start his speeding and made a test run. It looked fine enough. It had been a long time he had really have to make a long jump, but the distance was so short that he should make it easily. Better safe than sorry, he said to himself as he prepared for the jump.

Then he bursted into a run, gathering up speed before the edge... and jumped!

Novgorod landed to the other side, a fair two feet clear from the edge. He repacked his belongings, took a sip of the Blueberryjuice and continued his journey in good spirits.

08-14-2006, 12:46 PM	#64
Nogrod Flame of the Ainulindalë Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Wearing rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves in a field behaving as the wind behaves Posts: 9,308	That Narleah was nice company, Novgorod thought as he continued straight forwards on his quest for the treasure the next day, even though she didn’t remember the song. Novgorod had no idea about how the race was going so far but he was quite assured that he was not in a bad position. Everything had gone smoothly and easily and he had been able to keep up a fair pace every day. Suddenly his path was cut by a wide and deep dry gorge, spreading miles away to both directions. I’m not going to go around this one, Novgorod thought to himself as he tried to estimate the distance to the other side of the gorge. More than 10 feet, less than 15, maybe something in between... A piece of cake, without the carriage. He had to settle down to think for a while. He could jump over it easily, there was no problem there. He could also throw all his belongings over it with confidence. But how about the Blueberries? He still had about half of the berries with him, some two pints of them in the open basket he had made yesterday. There was no chance of jumping over the gorge with them. He took a sip from his waterskin and realised that he had not much of the water left. The day had been hot and the consumption of water had been equal to it. There it is! The sudden birth of the idea made Novgorod smile widely. He took the basket between his feet and started pushing the berries into the waterskin. As the skin was as full as he could get it he put the lid on and started pressing and squeezing it. Soon the berries inside the skin were mashed and mixed with the rest of the water in it. Carefully Novgorod opened the lid and took a sip. Hmmm... real Blueberryjuice! After blowing into the skin softly to open it as large as possible again he started shoveling more berries into it. After performing this same operation three times he had managed to liquidize all the berries and had a fair 1½ pints of energizing juice in his waterskin. Time to go. He packed all the belongings he could into his backpack, including the waterskin and the quiver with the arrows. He threw it over the gorge with no effort. Then he tied the laces on his sword’s sheath to secure the sword. Off it went too, followed by his bow. Then he took some distance from the gorge, checking that his steps would fit rightly as he would approach the edge. To secure everything, he drew a mark on the ground from where he had counted he should start his speeding and made a test run. It looked fine enough. It had been a long time he had really have to make a long jump, but the distance was so short that he should make it easily. Better safe than sorry, he said to himself as he prepared for the jump. Then he bursted into a run, gathering up speed before the edge... and jumped! Novgorod landed to the other side, a fair two feet clear from the edge. He repacked his belongings, took a sip of the Blueberryjuice and continued his journey in good spirits.