Krane
--the foothills near the coast--
to ALL
: The last man to join us at the rendezvous point reported that he had caught a glimpse of panthers while making his way to us, some distance downslope but he was certain of what he had seen. I thought for a while, darkness took longer to fall here in the hills, perhaps there was time. I grinned “Take two men, head back towards where you spotted the panthers, leave some sign that you were moving towards them then circle back here,,,and don’t get close to them!” He nodded, knowing what was needed and moments later, with two others in tow, he faded from the camp. It was a long shot but worth a try, if we could send the opposition on a wild panther chase it would buy us time
(15:57:17 )
Krane
--the foothills near the coast--
to ALL
: It would be a cold camp tonight, we couldn’t risk a fire, there were sure to be tarns aloft, their riders looking for just such a sign. The men knew their business and set up camp quickly and efficiently, allocating duties and drawing up a guard schedule. I didn’t need to make an inspection but did so to reassure them I was taking this as seriously as they were. I took a shift on the middle watch, not good in terms of getting a good night’s rest but good for a newcomer finding his place in the band
(16:05:07 )
Krane
--the foothills near the coast--
to ALL
: We broke camp before dawn again with the same practised efficiency. After we had eaten I gathered the men together, cleared a patch of ground and with the blade of my knife drew a crude map in the dirt. I drew a cross to mark our present position, a series of marks and lines to represent known trails then another cross due south of where we were “This is our objective, a small village, mostly herders, raising verr and tarsk. If we reach there we’ve won” The men nodded in understanding, one had even visited the village, arriving by tarn unfortunately, they were pleased to know our objective
(16:17:23 )
Krane
--the foothills near the coast--
to ALL
: We set out following a trail leading more east than south. In fact, the direction didn’t matter, our objective was simply to evade the pursuit as long as possible. I knew however the toll that constantly fleeing before a larger force would take. As fatigue grew and the net began to close in it became hard to resist the temptation to just turn and make a final stand, get it all over with. Having a goal, a place of safety to aim for would aid morale and keep us going when our bodies wanted to give up
(16:25:16 )
Krane
--the foothills near the coast--
to ALL
: For the moment at least, luck was on our side, the cloud cover was low and thick, the humidity sapped our stamina but we were unlikely to be spotted from the air. We came to a place where the trail split in three different paths, we split the group. four men following each, just far enough to find a likely spot for an ambush, leaving just enough traces to show they had passed. One group managed to rig a trap with a concealed fishing line leading to a log holding back some rocks, nothing lethal but enough to say we could have hurt you if we wanted. We gathered again at the point the trail split and in single clambered up the side of the hill away from the trail, the trailing men erasing as best the could signs of our passage. With luck, investigating the trail would delay our pursuers considerably
(16:33:36 )
Krane
--the foothills near the coast--
to ALL
: I toyed with the idea of circling back perhaps attacking the rear of the column when they halted at the fork in the trail, even discussed the idea with the two most experienced men in the group when we took a midday break. Although the idea appealed, taunting our opponents and vanishing again sounded fun it would cost us our biggest advantage. Right now, they did not know where we were, even a successful attack would leave them with the knowledge that we were close by and they would not be as unprepared as they were yesterday. Far better that we draw them further into the hills and try and pick them off when they spread out in smaller groups to hunt us down
(16:39:05 )
Krane
--the foothills near the coast--
to ALL
: These men were mercenaries, not regular military and I had thought that the rigours of a day spent clambering through the hills, constantly checking our back trail for pursuit and fearing what the forward scout might report would lead to complaints, bellyaching and lack of discipline but I was pleasantly surprised to find otherwise. The men were professionals, they were taking pride in making their colleagues work to track them down. They had been well trained and from this sample at least, the bad fruit discarded
(16:49:46 )
Krane
--the foothills near the coast--
to ALL
: We were able to move in a more southerly direction now but I worried because the ground here was open, though the clouds covered us from the air, we could be seen if pursuit was close enough to cross the ridge behind us before we could disappear into the broken ground ahead. Our other option was to circle around but that would cost us time and perhaps a large part of our lead. For the moment I was confident that the clouds would deter any attempt to use the tarns to fly men ahead of us but tomorrow might be different. Accepting the risk, we set off, jogging across the open terrain in a skirmish line. Though open, the ground was strewn with rocks and the need to be careful of our footing restricted our pace. We made it to cover without incident and with no sign that we had been seen, with luck we had survived the day undetected
(16:56:39 )
Krane
--the foothills near the coast--
to ALL
: Leaving two men at the edge of the open area to watch incase pursuit was closer than I expected, the rest of us spread out and moved on in search of a camp site. We had managed to keep our supply of water topped up from streams we had passed during the day so a dry camp would not be too great a hardship. We found amongst some rocks, a small clear area that would be enough shelter and after making sure there was nothing lurking there, particularly snakes, set up camp for our second night on the run
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