Lost in the Forest
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 8353
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Whilst Simon was more than willing to climb the tree himself,
the others forbade it. Fit though he might be, he was too old for
such a strenuous activity. Neither Frederigo nor Andrea was willing. One
would have had to remove his gloves and the other her cloak, and each had
a feature that they needed to conceal. So that left Astra, who was happy
enough to do it. "It's only right that it should be me," she said. "After
all, I was the one who fell asleep while on watch, without which the trail
and the stream might not have vanished. I can't understand it. I have never
fallen asleep on watch before."
She selected a tree that looked to be higher than any of the others in the vicinity, then shed her cloak and began to climb. As she removed her cloak, Andrea looked at her as intently as she could without appearing to stare, but could not see any obvious sign of a change. She supposed that it was not altogether surprising. Given the way that Astra had set out to resist her lycanthropy, Andrea was sure that had the princess realised she was changing it would have made a big impact on her, but she had seemed surprisingly cheerful over the last few days. Perhaps it was Astra's resistance to her "curse" that was slowing the change down? Could she even prevent it altogether by sheer force of will? If anyone could do that, then she could. Or, if they failed to return to Belboz with the two items he needed, would she before long start to alter little by little? Andrea decided that she owed it to Astra to help find those items. Once they had been obtained, though, then she would feel free to follow her instincts. She would take the chance to slip away, probably at night, and lose herself in the forest. Even if the others mounted a search, they would never find her. It would have been nice to have had Astra as a pack-sister, but if the Aqualarian didn't want it then she would have to respect her wishes.
Soon Astra rejoined them on the ground, and put her cloak back on. "It's not good news," she reported. "All I could see was the tops of trees. Though the path and stream might not be far away, I couldn't spot them. And if we can't find them, then it will be pure luck if we find the lake, even though we may only be a few miles away from it." "Can't we follow a wild animal?" asked Andrea. "After all, the creatures of the forest have to drink." Simon smiled. "What wild animal is going to come near a group of four humans?" he asked. "And besides, most wild animals are nocturnal, and we can't hope to track them at night." "I know you have great power," Astra said to Simon. "After all, you can frighten away werewolves. Can you not apply that power to finding the path?" "I'm afraid not," he replied. "It's not a magical power, but rather the power of prayer to repel evil. It cannot help us now." "Well, how about you, Andrea?" Astra asked the girl. "You have some sort of magic power. Do you think if we get you a Y-shaped twig, you could perhaps turn your ability towards water-divining?"
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JH
3/18/2000 11:14:56 AM
Extending Enabled
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