Lost Scout

[Frundette]

"Any training with it?" Aelfric asked as he took note of the rust on the blade. He was not intending to be rude, but as much as he appreciated and certainly needed their help, he felt responsible for the safety of both Ezra and Jasper. He had no desire to explain to Emma that her husband had met his end while Aelfric still breathed or to tell Corin he'd allowed harm to come to Jasper.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

"Well... not formally." He admitted sheepishly. "My grandfather used to teach me when I was a boy, but after he passed my father gave it up. He didn't think a farmer would ever need it."

 

[Frundette]

Aelfric nodded. "Nothing to be ashamed of. Even that training as a boy may come back when it counts." Still, he thought to himself, it would certainly be best to avoid any situation that might lead to violence.

"Let's see where these lead, shall we?" Leaving the horses tied, Aelfric started off on foot, heading south in the same direction as the tracks pointed. "We'll only go a mile or until we lose the trail," he suspected that was the more likely scenario.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Ezra let Jasper go in front of him and brought up the rear. If something was to attack them it would likely come from either end, he thought, so it was best to have the smallest of the trio in the middle. Since Aelfric was in the front, he let him do most of the tracking and focused instead on making sure they didn't get lost amongst the huge trees. Once he lost sight of the road, however, he began finding it difficult to sense even which direction they were headed. The tops of the trees were so thick they blocked out much of the sunlight, making it nearly impossible to use the sun for guidance.

 

[Frundette]

The strange tracks led them mostly south and slightly east away from the road and over relatively flat terrain. It was slow going, as the trail was often difficult to find. And being no woodsman, it didn't take Aelfric long to lose the trail completely. He swore to himself as he searched the ground, but it turned slightly rocky here. "I supposed that's that..." he said. "Either of you see anything before we return to the road?"

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Ezra moved from the back towards the front of the trio and joined Aelfric in studying the ground. He brushed his hand gently across the dirt, then shook his head. "Sorry, I don't see them either, Aelfric." He stood up and looked around them in a full 360, pondering where the scout might have gone if she had followed the tracks. "If she did come this way, do you see anything that might have caught her attention and drew her somewhere else?"

...

Back on the road, Danielle and Duke were following at a reasonably quick pace. The powerful animal's hooves pounded tirelessly down the dirt path, and in her haste to find her father, she missed the tracks which they had followed into the bush and continued down the road ahead of them.

 

[Frundette]

"I don't," Aelfric said. "But hard to say if these tracks were even here six days ago, which should have been when Gytha was on the road through the Greywoods." He felt slightly frustrated as he realized this search may a good bit harder than he had initially realized. If the scout had gone off to explore some side trail, he could end up missing the trail altogether.

"I suppose the best thing for it is to return to the main road and continue on," he said, reasoning that they may have spotted some sign of either the scout or her horse if she had indeed followed these strange tracks.

Jasper, who had been looking at the ground, trying to discover where the tracks had disappeared to suddenly flinched and turned quickly. "I thought I saw something move over there..." he said, but as he watched the location in question, he could not spot whatever it was he had seen. "Must have been a squirrel or such."

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Ezra frowned for a moment, and fixed his gaze in the same general direction as Jasper. A squirrel was not that large at all, and he was surprised that such a small movement would have spooked Jasper so much and caused him to flinch so suddenly. "Are you usually this jumpy?" He questioned, with a half-curious, half-concerned glance. One part of him thought that Jasper would probably right, it was the forest, squirrels did live here... but another part of him became slightly uncomfortable. What if it was something else? "Let's get back to the road... it's going to be dark in a couple hours anyways."

 

[Frundette]

Jasper's cheeks reddened slightly at Ezra's question and he didn't answer, not wanting to be thought of as the unsteady one in the group.

Aelfric turned to head back the direction they had come, able to follow the trio's fresh tracks back much faster than the slow process of following the older tracks into the woods. If anything more dangerous than a squirrel had made the movement in the woods, it did not harass them on the trek back. Lord Ragnar's sworn man untied his horse from the tree and mounted up quickly. "We can ride for another hour at least before we look for somewhere to make camp..."

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Ezra suddenly felt guilty for calling Jasper out in front of Aelfric, he knew that it must be difficult for the apprentice to come with them as the youngest and most inexperienced member of the trio. "I'm sorry," he flashed an apologetic smile towards Jasper as they followed Aelfric back to the road. "I didn't mean to single you out. I'll admit, once it gets dark I'm a bit worried too about what might be lurking out there that we can't see."