His breathing was shallow, his lungs burned with every breath. He was sure something inside had broken. His head pounded and he was having a hard time focusing. "This is not the time to be losing contentration," he mumbled to himself. They were still looking for him, and this small cave entrance would only deter them for a short while. Good thing for him the entrance was on the other side of a
pond, and partly underwater. That would throw them off for a while.

Now to get moving. His friend Frolia had told him abou this cave, and he knew there was a back entrance.

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Ponce knew they would end up in wet territory, even before the quarry headed south. The explanation was simple: reality hated him. Everything he had he'd gotten by hard work, hours of slaving away and drudgery and force and pressure, every tiny reward came with an extremely excessive price. But he'd come to expect that, and the men had been specially equipped with the gear to handle the wet area.

Twice they must have passed the cave the quarry had fled to, and finally camped about an hour further into the mountain forest than it. Not that Ponce would ever know - he'd made a tiny mistake, and like always, it was going to stab him in the back. However, there was the one mistake he wasn't making. He knew he'd left his wife and daughter at home, and had guards posted. It had been a necessary
precaution due to his child's attachment to the quarry. Still, something seemed amiss in the camp. That evening, he delved deeply, the men lined up, and he began calling roll. Twenty minutes later, he had singled out the one soldier that didn't fit. He'd never guessed his own daughter would go to such pains to disguise herself as a soldier - she'd never had to live the hard life Captain Ponce faced daily. Still, she was here now, and he told her to wait in his tent, while he talked to the men. Searching strategies were lain out, and he returned to his tent, hoping for one good night of rest before the search began again in the morning - but he should have known better. She was gone.
Magekind™ says:
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The cave was dark, and with no dry wood or tinder to light it. Scrambling around in the dark was the only option. Being too exhausted to even consider that ligth and smoke from a fire would immediately draw the attention of any sentries nearby. Taron had never been in trouble before in his life. He didn't really know why he had done the deed now. If he ever made it out of this alive, he would be shamed forever. Upon thinking this, he realized that there was only one option. He either must live in shame, or live as an outcast. Not many outcasts were known to live long beyond the boundary of the enforrest. The magic of the druids kept people inside safe, but the creatures beyond were what mothers told their little children about when in order to keep them in line. Taron began feeling his way back along the cavern. The rocks were slippery with dew and mud, and possibly other things that he did not want to even think about. His breathing was slowing a little, and he realized that he was hungry. He had not eaten before going out that night, as he usually ate when he came back. He was hoping that the cave was not long, and as it was narrowing, he had a fear building that he would never make it out. He could not go back the way he came unless he wanted to incur the wrath of Captain Ponce. How did he know the cart was Ponce's? And why oh why did he take the dare to pop the corks on those wine barrels? He didn't even remember which of the boys had given him the mallet. But he did remember the look on the Captains face as he came running
from his house screaming for his soldiers. ________________________________
Mina knew she should have stumbled under all the weight, but again she did not as she leapt from one stone absolutely coated in slippery moss to the next. She had done this countless times, but then she was either clad in a loose dress or something a little less modest, and far less constricting. She knew they'd passed Taron, she'd watched the sign, but where had she lost him? Again she leapt, and again she landed perfectly on another mossy stone. It was almost as if the moss gave her traction because she asked of it, for it certainly did not have the effect on anyone else.

Ponce followed the stream north, as his daughter's tracks had gone that way, and for a while he felt he was making progress, until the mountain trail broke sharply upward, leaving him a few hundred feet above the water. He kept glancing down in the fading evening, hoping to catch a glimpse, the armor she was wearing would surely be easy to spot. And he did, twice, and once he called, but knew she would only run harder. He swore under his breath, and again a little louder. His daughter - his only child. Why did she have to leave him? Wasn't it bad enough that everything else hated him for what he was? Finally, the trail moved back down to meet the stream, and he thought he saw her again. This was good - but something was wrong. It was the animals. Such a strange group, three wolves seemed to have allied with an enormous mountain lion, and a bear prepared to join the fray should his companions find the war difficult. What were they - ? But he had no time to think. The wolves charged, and instantly, the hated half of himself made manifest as two long white claws shot out of the top of each of his wrists, and he drew his sword. He wasn't exactly sure what happened until the first wolf's head was severed, and he felt Mina's energy dissipating quickly from the body. Damn again. The sentinels were her own, then. But he couldn't stop fighting now.
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