Marissa slumped down against the embankment of the dry creek bed with a sigh.  She looked over at her friends and noted that every one of them had dropped off into a deep sleep almost immediately.  Except one.  Saeyll had somehow managed to coax the book from Harrod's safekeeping so she could study it.  The singer looked almost frail compared to Marissa and the stockier young woman didn't know how she kept going.  With a shake of her head, Marissa pulled out the various implements needed to tend to her blade.  Her cinnamon-brown eyes looked over at the pretty singer.

The night had been born in blood and fear, a narrow escape and freezing waters. Gathered on the eastern bank of the river long enough to see their pursuers throwing their very lives into breeching the same obstacles they had just conquered, the young men and women of the Four Rivers decided it was time to move. Move they did.

It was Ryke and Ash once more in the lead, as they moved off east. Game trails were plentiful so near the river. Sticking mostly to them was simple enough, though it was only marginally easier than traveling without them. Even the most fleet footed and nimble of the group of friends stumbled and fell in the dark. Vines lay unseen near their feet. Roots emerged from the ground, and bramble thorns grabbed clothes and stubbornly refused to let go.

This is updated for the start of round three, but as of this update Saeyll status and placing may change, because she held action.

Many many thanks to a talented young lady named Rae Grainger for this. Think of the bridge pilings as being much much taller, and you get the idea.

Three young heroes tore through the pasture lands of the Four Rivers, flying towards their companions as if the very hounds of Shail'Garath were on their tail. In a manner of speaking, that is exactly what was behind them. Tall and broad figures with malformed and misshapen animal faces. Some of those faces rode on whole animal heads, others seemed almost human like, only with some feature that made one think of an animal. Nine of them chased the three.

Background Story

Personality