Thread: A Journey to a Safer Place (Angel + Strmas)

Kryton sat almost motionless as by the light of the moon, he studied the plants near him and compared them to the sketches he had made. There was almost no visible difference between the Morningrush and the Leitner leaves, they were indistinguishable to the untrained eye and easily confused to even a trained eye like Kryton, but each plant had its own friends it liked. The Morningrush choose ferns as its neighbors while Leitner plants preferred cattails. unfortunately neither type grew next to these plants, they were in a group of reeds. While they looked alike the herb each produced were quite different. Morningrush could produce a powder that would cure a belly pain while Leitner would remove all ails in this life and let you try your look in the next! Studying his sketches, Kryton decided the reeds were closely related to the cattails, so it was a Leitner. He quickly added a new sketch to his book to make the next time he saw a similar grouping easier. Kryton put his sketch away and carefully harvested the plants putting them in one of the dozen of sacks he carried. He stood, steadying himself, one of his legs had gone to sleep from sitting so long. Kryton was a big man and dressed in the white fur cloak, hat, and leggings he looked almost more like a bear than a man but over 40 years of soft living had turned a once powerful physique into a rounder, softer one, albeit still a quite large one. Even as a young man he had never had much interest in the warrior life that seemed to high risk to get the things he wanted. Kryton loved the finer things and the pleasures of life but fighting to take them seemed like a terribly inefficient way to obtain them. He wasn't really a herbalist or Apothecary but he was as skilled as anyone else in the lands, his plant lore gave him an easy cover to travel through the lands. Every town and cot hold welcomed a man that could give some relief to the various ills that plagued the living or gave a measure of escape from them. And as he moved unsuspected and unhindered he worked his true vocation, finding the secret needs and desires of men and what they would give for those needs. He had already become a rich man working as a trader, acquiring what people most hungered for and providing it at a generous profit for himself. Kryton had his own hungers of course, but he kept them closely held to himself. From his work he knew what a disadvantage a man was at if the other knew what he truly wanted. Kryton stopped from arranging his sacks as he heard the sound of the hounds drawing closer. He had seen the slavers out scouring the woods for days now, from the sounds of the hounds they were closing in on some poor wretch. There couldn't be many elves left from the enclave, the slavers were very through. just as he was about to turn back to his sacks she burst into the clearing, obviously young and even at a glance he could see she was quit the beauty, he could also see she was doomed, the wound on her leg betrayed her. the dogs would never loose her scent now, at least not by normal means. He knew that standing still in his white furs against the snow backdrop he would be almost invisible to a man but an elf, even a young wounded and distracted one, would soon sense him. While he could see he was two or more times her size he was not foolish enough to think such comparisons mattered with a elf. he had no doubt that little slip of a girl could rip him to pieces with her bare hands and she almost certainly had some fine elfish blade hidden on her though her clothing did not leave many places to hide things! and could slice and dice him as well. Girl, he said in firm voice but pitched so she could hear but that it would not carry too far, they are closing fast. You'll never outrun them with that. He pointed at the wound on her leg. He could see she was wore down to almost nothing, she must have been running for days. Would she trust him? Did she have a choice. he held up his arms showing he was holding no weapon. Your only hope is to hide, he pointed to the brush around his sacks, the snow was packed up against the brush and the brush almost seemed to form a little cage around the trees. He moved his sacks aside, there was a tiny opening into the brush, You'll have to trust me Elgii, he didn't know much elfish but had picked up a word or two while trading and heard them use that term for children, I think I can fool the dogs but you must hide and be still.