Escape from Cirices Part 1

Chapter 14

Magda insisted staying for the night but Lokeyia insisted they move on, and get as far away from Cirices or any city as possible. They travelled another several kilometres before making camp. Abigail was aware of the dryness in her throat, the biting cold on her nose and her chapped lips. There was nothing to eat apart from less than a fistfull of palentonae. It was already getting dark and Lokeyia and Sara didn't want to gather so Abigail went hunting. A few metres away from the clearing where they made camp, she spotted a rabbit and took it out before it even knew what hit it. She walked further away from the camp and smelt the faint smell of a skunk. There, Abigail spotted it, strolling around the branches five metres above her head. 

She took it out, and when the skunk hit the ground, a foul odour filled the air, dropping Abigail to her knees. Skunks had pretty sharp claws so when Abigail got up, she sent another arrow at the skunk just to make sure.

She was a bit disappointed. When she had finished with the skunk, she realised there wasn't much meat; it was mainly fur and bone. The rabbit was a fine one, and when it had been roasted, skinned and gutted, it had about as much meat as the skunk.

Back at camp, Lokeyia was nervous about the skunk because she had never eaten wild game unless it was squirrel or rabbit. Magda and Abigail assured her it was fine and was quite similar to rabbit. Probably Abigail should have lied and told her she caught two rabbits, because there would been to way to prove that she hadn't. Lokeyia dug around for some roots and found two hand fulls of palentonae which she wrapped in leaves and put over the hot coals. Again, even with rabbit and skunk meat, Abigail felt her throat, nose and mouth very dry. She sipped some water in her pack, which helped, but wasn't enough. They needed to find that stream again or maybe even the Green River. No, not the Green River. Enemies would lurk there, waiting for travellers to be pulled by their desperation and need for water.

However thirsty the girls were, the horses were far thirstier than them. They had been moving all day and had been carrying heavy loads, so Abigail gave Noctus a litre of unpurified water as horses could deal with unclean water. She also fed him some spare, uncooked roots while he grazed on grass. Abigail had eaten plenty of grass in her life, but she generally got sick after doing that. An idea occurred to her; she had eaten leaves as well. Maybe she could climb a tree and get some leaves...