Running Red

Chapter 1 - You Have for Me a Message?

As always, I'm totally up for anybody who's willing to give me so feedback or editing tips. Always appreciated!

Hope eveyone likes this as much as I do.

Cover courtesy of Firebender_Zeke. You'll have to go to her to say how much you like it! -FO97

The forest floor was a blur beneath my feet. They barely touched the ground as I pushed my already fit body to its limits, driven by my duty. . .and by my fear. I carried as little with me as possible. A maroon leather vest, a pair of soft skin tight breeches, and a pair of shin height moccasin style boots. Aside from one small knife at my waist and a leather band around my forehead, I had nothing else.

Brief flashes in the canopy above told me that the sun was nearing the ground. I probably only had an hour left. I ran faster, dodging around moss covered trees and memorized dips in the wet and sunken ground. My senses were tuned for everything. A rustle. A flash. A print in the soft dirt. Anything that might tip me off to a second presence, but as nothing seemed to present itself, I ran headlong through the forest on the faint dirt path.

Gradually, unfamiliarities gave way to more recognizable landmarks. An overgrown clump of bushes. A tree with one long jagged scar. Two rotting and wet logs lying on their side. These were encouraging appearances and I unconsciously began to scan the breaks between trunks of trees,  even though I knew I would not see anything until I started the ascent uphill.

The hill came soon enough and slowly, by degrees, began its rise. I did not shy away, but instead enjoyed the challenge and pushed myself harder. The hill got steeper and I ran harder. It became steeper still and I bounded up as fast as my body would allow me. Very soon, my heart was drumming heavily in my chest, and my breath, which had already been labored, became great gasps for air enough to stabilize my body.

The trees did not stop with the coming of the hill, but clung strongly to the slope and pushing through the soil where they could. Once, through the great green foliage I glimpsed the sky and was a bit alarmed to see that there was no sun in the sky and, worse, the very first and most ambitious of the stars were beginning to wink into existence. I ignored the burning pain in my calves and thighs and began to rhythmically breathe as deeply and fully as I could to better make use of my lungs.

Then, like ghosts in a dark room, two giant slabs of solid granite appeared in the upward climb. There was a narrow crevice between the two mountainous shapes, wide enough only for three men to stand shoulder to shoulder, and it was into this that I entered.

With my entrance into the crack I left the trees and bushes behind,and the ground leveled out, visibly becoming more beaten. Less vegetation and more dirt and tracks. I could also see the now black streak of sky above me, though the tunnel was much darker than the outside had been. My rapid footfalls echoed in the lonely channel, which almost made me turn and look behind me to make sure I was not being followed, but I shook off the feeling and continued.

Finally, blessedly, the fissure in between the slick gray rock curved left and abruptly ended. The end consisted of one giant trunk. The trunk had once been a tree, standing easily hundreds of feet above the ground. The branches and leaves had been sawed off and a large portion of the bark stripped to reveal the creamy white wood underneath. The roots had also been removed to leave the bottom flat. Ten men could not have wrapped their arms around the whole of it.

As I pounded closer, I glanced at its visible surface. One inch deep marks marred the wood, clustered toward the bottom and slowly dispersing as it gained altitude. For fifteen feet trenches destroyed the surface until only the smallest and weakest of scratches made it above the others.