Fending for Yourself (Solo)

[Tebridiar]

Day 40, Winter, Year 510 AV

She could have ridden out.

It would have been quicker, it would have been easier.

But somehow it felt more symbolic, more impacting, by heading out of those gnarled gates on her own.

The guards had given her a second glance, but they are trustworthy. They knew her, flitting in and out of the city regularly. But they hadn’t seen her, well, armed before.

On her back she carried a quiver filled with arrows, and a longbow slung over her shoulder. She was going to learn how to use it today, she told herself. She also had a knife in her pocket, and some rope. She didn’t know why, something had just told her to bring it.

There was no other way to learn.

You had to have patience. You had to have will. You had to have heart.

And with this knowledge, she travelled along the stony path, etched out by countless travellers and horses and wanderers before her. How long had it taken to carve it out of the grass? The Drykas looked after the wilds, maybe the Sea of Grass respected them, too. Allowing them to have a road which would help them on their way.

She could hear rustles in the grass, but as far as she knew, nothing was there.

[Tebridiar]

She turned around to see if the city was still visible along the road, and it was.

But she knew she was a sufficient distance away.

Looking into the grass, she walked closer and casually parted it with her hands, scanning around. Some of the blades had been trampled, something had obviously come through here before. She looked onto the dirt, barely visible below.

It looked like hooves.

She was trying to become better at tracking, and she thought it was definitely a horse. Probably one, but it walked with a strangely uneven gait. She looked closer, and a little glistening thing caught her eye.

It was just out of her reach, so she cautiously stepped further into the grass to take a look at it. Reaching out her finger to touch it, she let it drip onto her finger… A dark, reddish-black liquid.

Blood.

Was the horse injured?

She had to investigate.

If anything, it would further her skills as a tracker, and she needed that. And if anything else, she might be able to check up on the animal to see if it was okay, see if it was with a group, anything.

So, with a last look behind her to the safety of the road, she followed the slightly crushed grass, hopefully leading her to the animal.