The Escape

Writers: Chelle, Miriah, Paula
Date Posted: 22nd June 2012

Characters: J'ackt, Zandan, Wanorsh
Description: Jenackt runs from Zandan and holders.
Location: Emerald Falls Hold
Date: month 8, day 10 of Turn 6
Notes: Mentor Approved

J'ackt

After his daughter had come and told him that a holdless had just
tried to steal from his larder and had threatened her as well,
Wanorsh was furious. The cotholder quickly organized himself and his
three oldest sons, grabbed weapons and headed out into
the waning light as the sun prepared to set to see if they could find
the filthy thief. Boy or not-they would not allow him to molest
their women and get away with it.

The alarm was sounded, letting other cotholders know what had happened
and to keep an eye out. Some of them joined the search
party. Someone with a firelizard sent word back to Zandan at the main Hold.

When Zandan received the message, he cursed. He went to study the
large map of the hold's territories on his office wall. Even if he
took the fastest runner and pushed it hard (which Aivorn wouldn't
approve) it was still more than day's ride. The area beholden to
Emerald Falls hold covered several _hundreds_ of square miles.
"Thread eat him," he cussed again. Some of those Holds didn't have a
holder , which left it Corowal's and Zandan's duty to protect them.
His only option to reach the cothold in time before all the tracks
were mucked up was by dragon. He called in his second, told him to
collect a party of guards and trackers and send them over by runners.
He himself rushed to fireheights to see if he could convince the
watchrider on duty to give him a lift. He would probably end up owing
a favour for the dragonrider. If he was lucky, the rider on duty would
be blue- or greenrider who liked big men.

Jenackt wasn't a fool. He had watched the girl sprint away and
immediately knew he was in trouble. He had weighed his options
quickly; he heard the search party being gathered and snorted. They
were foolish if they thought they could catch him in the dark, but he
didn't know if they had decent trackers. Perhaps they did...He broke
in to a grim smile and headed to the west, making sure that he left a
nice rough trail for them to follow. They wanted to track him? He
would give them something to follow.

He broke off into a run while holding his aching side and headed
towards the river, away from his dwelling and into the thicker woods.
He knew just what to do.

It was a shame none of the cotholders had a watchwher. The main guards
would, but it might be too late. However, they did have canines and it
wasn't long before the baying of dogs could be heard as they led their tramping
humans through the underbrush. The men were on the lookout for wild animals,
secretly hoping the thief would get eaten by one.

A large brown dragon landed little stiffly to the cothold's yard. The Watch dragon
today had been elderly brown pair. But the words "Holdless scum attacking young
girl," had done the trick and the dragonrider had agreed to take Zandan there. During
the flight he learned that the brownrider had great-grandchildren and was obviously
fond of them. After thanking and dismounting, Zandan went to search with the cot holder.

Jenackt rushed towards the river, his side burning like fire. That little chit most certainly cracked a rib and it made running even harder. He had to pause to take a breath as he reached the river bank. His side would be swimming difficult, but in order to throw them off, he would have to.

He could hear the distant sounds of pursuit and his lips quirked. They certainly weren't being quiet. Wincing as he took another deep breath, Jenackt hurriedly waded into the swiftly running river. He had to bite back a yelp as the cold reached his hips; that alone was almost as painful as his ribs! He glanced back behind him, took as deep a breath as he was able, and plunged in deeper.

The current wasted no time in picking him up and he struggled to stay afloat, spitting
water from his mouth as the rivers currents spun him wildly in the water. He had to let
it carry him for now, the struggle to keep his head above water took most of his strength.

The dogs lost the trail at the water. Wanorsh cursed. They could keep going, but they'd
be going blind. **That little holdless fish guts** Turning around, he heard Zandan's name mentioned and waited there for the Guard Captain with the others.

The cotholder's son led Zandan to the scene. "What's going on here? Can you give me
the details? The message was too short," Zandan was on a foul mood and didn't care
about politeness.

"Daughter was out picking berries. She caught some holdless trying to steal our food. He tackled her, threatened her, then she got loose to come get me. He took off. We set
the dogs after him but after the water here.." He shrugged, frustrated.

"Lost the track to the water, did you?" Zandan grunted. If he was holdless being chased,
he would do that too, and try to lead the chase away from his hideyhole. A holdless must
have had a hidehole, to protect from Thread. Zandan looked around. The problem was that
the region had plenty of places for holdless to hide: mountains, abandoned settlements and deep forests, temporary lumber camps. Just because he knew which direction not to go, left him still all the other directions. "Check the river bank opposite of us and down- and upstream too," he instructed, know he had already gotten away from them. "I must also talk with your daughter. If I get any kind of description of the culprit, we can spread wanted-notices around the Hold."

"Fair enough," Wanorsh watched the others spread out and do as Zandan
had instructed. "She's back at the cothold." He indicated with his thumb in
which direction as he spoke.

Zandan just nodded. Nothing much he could do right now.

Jenackt finally managed to find the shore and staggered up the slick grass, only to collapse in exhaustion. He coughed heavily, wincing at the pain in his side and mentally cursed at himself for being so careless in his actions tonight. No doubt that the Lord Holder would soon know of him. He lay in the grass panting for only a moment before forcing his weary body up. He had to move quietly and carefully away and get to his little dwelling. Holding his side, he resolved to get there and stay for a while. It would be best if they thought he had moved on.

Last updated on the July 1st 2012

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