Into Taleria

Chapter Two

Okay... Where did the elf go?

Did he seriously just leave her there? Oh, that was so not cool. What was she supposed to do now? In all her twenty-three years of life, Kate had barely left the city where she'd grown up, wilderness survival was firmly outside her skillset. Unless you count watching commercials for those reality shows where they dropped somebody in the middle of a random forest with nothing but a water bottle and a pocketknife for supplies, and filmed them fighting their way back to civilization, which Kate didn't. She'd never even watched an episode—not that it would help, especially as all she had was a book.

Yeah, this wasn't good.

Okay, don't panic. Lindolir was gone, yes, but he had to have come from somewhere, right? That meant there was probably a town or village somewhere nearby, or at the very least, a road. All Kate had to do was find it, then she could get help and figure out some way to get home.

Of course, that was easier said than done. Lindolir hadn't left any obvious tracks to show which way he'd gone, so following him was out.

There was a map in the book, but even if Kate was in Taleria, and the Meadowood Forest because that's where Lindolir lived, the map wasn't too detailed on its forests. All it showed was a bunch of trees with a few small houses dotted here and there representing villages, and that was no help at all, especially without knowing where she was starting from.

Well. There was nothing for it, she supposed. She would just have to pick a direction, wander as straight a line as she could and hope she stumbled onto something useful before her legs gave out.

"Yup, I'm gonna die!" she said cheerfully. Gotta stay positive, after all.

She turned to the left, because, for no reason she could ever say, she'd always been partial to that direction, and anyway, without a path to follow, it was as good a choice as any.

She hadn't taken more than a few shaky steps when she caught movement out of the corner of her eye, and turned just in time to see Lindolir step back into the clearing with one eyebrow raised as if to ask what exactly she thought she was doing.

"Well, you took off, what was I supposed to do?" she said defensively, crossing her arms over her chest, even as a wave of relief washed over her. She was pretty sure her chances of survival just shot up about ninety-five percent.

He frowned, then made that 'follow me' motion he'd used before, and thankfully, this time he waited for her to catch up before walking away.

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Trudging through the forest was not fun. Crashing through the underbrush, snapping twigs and stumbling on exposed roots, Kate felt about as graceful as a wrecking ball, especially in comparison to Lindolir, who somehow didn't disturb so much as a leaf in his passage. Then again, Kate reasoned, she'd been paralyzed less than an hour before, so she was doing pretty good just staying upright.

Still, the trek was wearing on her, and it wasn't long before she was huffing and sweating like she'd just finished running a marathon, which was something she swore she'd never attempt again, not after the last time. Oy, that had been a bad idea.

So yeah, it sucked, but as she didn't see any better options, she plodded along a few feet behind Lindolir and managed okay—at least until they joined a nice, smooth, well maintained path. That, of course, was when she tripped over her own feet and nearly planted her face in the dirt. Lindolir's lighting quick reflexes saved her, catching her before she could hit the ground, and though she had no idea how he'd even known she was falling, walking ahead of her as he'd been, she was grateful for it just the same.