Rest day

They kept up an easy pace throughout the hours that trickled by, until the limp in Allyssianne’s foreleg became so pronounced for her to continue. As night was falling, they stopped to try to find a place to camp. Marny loped off to and scouted around while Natalie stayed behind with Allyssianne (and also to get a stone out of her hoof).

Marny returned not to long afterwards, having found a sheltered enough clearing to stay. The three girls changed back into very tired humanoids and sat down, revelling in the absence of snow. Natalie lit a fire with some of the wood she had found around the site with a prod of her wand and a few muttered words while Allyssianne created small orbs of magic and stationed them around the perimeter to warn them of any intruders. After a few moments of fine turning them, (they kept going off if an ant went by), the girls all curled up around the fire, and fell asleep.

The days wore on and on in the same rhythm. Rising with the sun, running throughout the day, occasionally stopping to rest, hunt the native deer or to drink from the occasional icy cold stream, going to sleep as the moon rose. After a week of days such as this, Marny was tired to the point of fainting, Allyssianne’s shoulder had stiffened to the point of not being able to move it and Natalie had lost all the spring on her step. They eventually agreed, one week and two days after their escape, to spend a day resting.

Marny hunted that day, bringing back two hardy deer thanks to her hypnotic and hunting skills. Allyssianne roasted them while Natalie determined their direction towards Cairo with a very battered compass that spend its travelling days in her mouth. Allyssianne sat with her back against a tree, massaging her shoulder carefully, having eaten her fill of the deer, and watching the other two finish.

All three of the girls looked a little worse for wear as time wore on. Even though it was barely a week since they had started to travel, it seemed like so much longer. No one managed to stay awake that night, all three slipping into a blissful, peaceful sleep, curled up next to each other by the dancing fire.

A rustling in the bushes gave the three girls a rather rude awakening. Natalie was the first to hear it, and the first to be on her feet with her wand out to fight. The other two were not far behind. They stood with their backs to each other so that no one could attack behind their backs, and they would see all around.