Tyranny: Onwards

Chapter 134- Follow

How could Rin not be aware of her presence; they are always holding hands or something. At first, it seems she has complete confidence in Hester, I go to Genesis and inquire her but she just sits and stares at me with no helpful hints.

"Can't you find a trail?" I question, further confused.

Genesis stands and leads me to the trunk of a tree after a thoughtful minute, I get the hint and realize there's no way we can find her.

"So, what do we do now? We can't just sit around and wait, we need to get going." Blaze wonders mutual thoughts aloud.

"We could split up," Phoenix suggests.

"I don't think we are comfortable with that yet, considering..." Aegis explains and it makes sense too, however, splitting proves more reasonable.

"Is it worth waiting if she's the one that left us?" Dagwood can't seem but to ask.

"She has the wizard's staff though," Phoenix points out logically.

"We must split up then," Aegis concludes and scratches his head, evidently conflicted.

"However, some of us will then have no directions to meet up again-" Nichele interrupts Phoenix.

"I can give you some directions, here," she leaves just to return in seconds with a piece of ash from the fire and picks up a flat rock. We all watch curiously as she quickly sketches a few lines and dots.

"Is this supposed to be a map?" doubt radiates in Phoenix's tone.

"Here, this line here is the river, this is the West Ridge, this is the East, this is us. We are going up along the river, crossing, and there's a fair sized hill where the West ridge tapers, in there, is where the wizards are." Her explanation is swift and simple.

"Hm," Aegis holds his chin, peering over her shoulder as she points out all the lines and dots. "So even if we get lost, we should be able to simply find our way over to the West ridge and go to the North end of it." his mumbles confirm we are splitting.

"So how are we going to split?" Rin questions, adding "I am going to go find Hester." there is no swaying her from that.

"Alright, Dagwood and Blaze go straight to the wizards, Phoenix, you go with them...wait...hmm." Aegis understandably requires a thoughtful moment.

"Only two or three need to go after Hester, keep that in mind," Nichele reminds us and thus makes the choices simpler. Honestly, I don't care or want to go after Hester, the one who left us; but, Rin will follow her, and if Hester is planning on harming pursuers, she could be hurt by her passion for Hester.

"I'm going with Rin," I state and Aegis gazes up at me skeptically, then nods.

"That means Genesis is going with you and probably Bagels too," Aegis considers aloud and I nod in confirmation. "Phoenix, you should go with them after Hester," Aegis concludes at last and he nods.

"I'll go with Nichele, er, uh Gen..., Blaze, and Dagwood. Meet you there, good luck, be swift." The parting is clean and abrupt from Aegis.

"Goodbye Claire, see you soon." Nichele pats me on the shoulder with a grin then goes to converse with Aegis about her name happily, Aegis seemingly embarrassed. 

"Bye all 'yall," Blaze and Dagwood wave, I return it and Phoenix leaps into both of them in parting.

I take the rock map as they start heading towards the rivers shore, me Rin, Phoenix, Genesis, and Bagels gather at the base of the tree where the last traces of Hester lay. As Rin and Phoenix continue shouting and yelling, I start burning the image of the map in my mind and memorizing the directional words.

"Ready?" my eyes pull up to see they are, smiling and grinning, as usual, Genesis panting with Bagels on her head.

We leap up into the tree to search for any hints or clues of direction.

"Oh gosh, where do we start?" Phoenix sighs in distress.

"I can send Genesis ahead to find a scent," I whistle and send her off ahead, nose to the ground.

"What about while we wait?" Rin asks.

"My guess is she was leaving in a rush before being noticed, so probably straight Northwards, plus, her trail is still fresh and should make it easier for Genesis; so it shouldn't take too long for us to have a trail." my honest guess remains that Hester underestimated Genesis and was only in the trees for a ways until she thought Genesis wouldn't be able to find it.

We withhold our energy and walk speedily instead as this could very well be the wrong direction; however, it certainly doesn't take long for the trail to be found by Genesis. We refrain from celebration though as she could possibly be within earshot.

As the heat burns down wherever it can between leaves, the trail leads us gradually towards the monster-infested East ridge on which we first explored. It is too soon to stop for the day, however, we do not want to end up stuck in a dangerous cave on the ridge. On top of that, she probably isn't going to stop for sleep, so neither will we.

It takes us not long to sprint over to the base of the ridge and I again find myself in an utter awe, staring up helplessly to the top and gazing at the black patterns with greens, reds, and oranges swirled in. If Hester was on the ridge itself; yet I doubt she would be so careless and stupid, we would be able to see her. Unless she somehow managed to get over them, though I can't imagine how.

The trail continues along the treeline, or, actually just within the trees, where it is still thickly forested. This is probably so that followers wouldn't be able to spot her so easily. The winds are still tender and sweet as we race through the forest, trunks blurring all about us with grand speed.

Genesis halts suddenly and I stumble over her, Rin yelps and crashes to the ground, Phoenix dodges barely and skillfully.

"Genesis, what was that for?" I get up confused and annoyed, her tense form, ears, and still eyes concern me.