Lost?

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 5115

Fred had the feeling that the dwarves' outward show of confidence masked an underlying unease. He wasn't altogether sure, though. Dwarves were not easy to read - at least, not without a lot of experience of them that few humans had ever gained.

He wondered why he, Astra, Tarin and Rift had not seen or heard any deadrels when they had come through the forest a few days earlier. Perhaps they had not come through this area - one part of the forest looked much like another to him, so it was hard to say. Or maybe they had just been lucky, and not disturbed the deadrels - or whatever it was that was behind them.

They continued their journey. They saw nothing to alarm them, but the forbidding quiet continued. Or was he just imagining that it was forbidding, Fred wondered. Perhaps he had let their grim discovery back in the glade get to him. They had been travelling through the forest for over three days now, though. Surely they should have been out into open country long before this? Hadn't traversing the forest only taken a day or so on their inward journey? Or could his memory be playing tricks? Somehow everything before entering the forest seemed a very long time ago. He found it hard to believe that the dwarves could be lost, in any case. Though there had been no sign of the sun, they had a lodestone to tell them which way north lay.

After a few hours it began to get dark and they made camp for the night. As on previous nights, the dwarves took it in turns to keep watch whilst the other two slept. As on previous nights, Fred weighed up his chance of using his sword on the dwarf on watch and making his escape. As on previous nights, he decided that the chance of killing the dwarf before he could cry out and alert the other two was too small. Even with his new sword and armour, he doubted that he could overcome two dwarves angered by the death of their comrade. In any case, what would be the point? Sooner or later they would leave him to continue his journey on his own anyway.

  1. Eventually Fred fell asleep. As on previous nights in the forest, he slept poorly.
  2. Meanwhile, the main dwarf party had arrived at its destination.

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JH

10/23/1999 1:15:24 PM

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