Friday, October 24, 2008

Chapter 110: Too Close For Comfort

~ It didn't take long for Team 6 to cover the surrounding territory, but by the time they were finished the sun was already sinking low on the western horizon. They regrouped South of where they had scaled the cliff at Takyle's call. On that side of the mountain the grade was much more shallow and the granite was clothed with a thin layer of rocky soil. A little further down the slope the occasional scrubby tree had managed to get a toehold among the boulders. Stunted and bent to the wind, but still standing nonetheless.

Takyle stood on top of a large rock, gazing down.

"So guys, there seems to be a path here. It looks like it winds down the mountain."

"Awesome, are you thinking that's what you want us to follow?" asked Andrew.

"Well I don't see any other clues, unless one of you two found something?" Takyle said, hopping down from her vantage point. Andrew shook his head and Jaden joined in.

"Alright then. Our options seem to be to go ahead and make camp right here, or we could follow the path down for a little ways while there's still daylight. If we do that though we have no idea what we might run into."

The three people looked between one another for a second. Finally Jaden spoke.

"Listen, I am sore and exhausted and, make no mistake, I would love to collapse right here. But if you guys want to go on for a little while then I'll do it. I still want to win." Andrew nodded.

"Well Jay, I'm all about the winning side of things, but I did promise you some rest, and to be perfectly truthful I wouldn't mind a bit myself . My stomach is killing me, or at least trying damn hard. Ta?"

"Even though it doesn't feel like we've made it very far today, we've been hitting it pretty hard in the last 24 hours, so yes, let's go ahead and find somewhere to camp. I will suggest going at least down to one of those little trees so that we can have a fire though."

"I'd support that," Jaden agreed.

"Ok, let's do it then," said Andrew with over the top cheerfulness.

As it turned out, even at the base of the tiny trees there were very few fallen branches and what twigs they did find were not anything that would feed a fire for more than a couple of minutes.

"I guess maybe it's time to break out that camp burner that we've been hauling around for all this time," suggested Andrew.

"I suppose it is." Takyle found a large patch of ground that was relatively level and set her pack down. "I think I have that. Shit, I hope it still works. Remember, when we fell into that stupid dungeon thing my pack was open."

"Sit down Jay," Andrew ordered and Jaden did as he was directed without a complaint. Takyle quickly located the little burner and its tank of fuel and set them up on a flat rock.

"Ok, the moment of truth." Takyle hit the primer and auto-ignition buttons and held them down. For a moment the small contraption sputtered impotently before a small blue flame suddenly burst forth. All three team members cheered quietly and gathered around their tiny beacon.

"Fantastic. Warm food. And it will be for reals warm because I know that this fire is actually here," said Andrew.

"Yup, warm food. If you can call it food," Takyle agreed.

Jaden didn't really care if it was really warm or even really food. All he wanted was to have something in his stomach before he just gave up and let himself fall asleep. Luckily, Takyle and Andrew seemed to be similarly motivated and it wasn't long at all before there was a little pot of something nutrient rich and steaming over the flame.

"Should we take watches, or do you feel confident that we're away from danger?" asked Andrew.

"I don't know that it's possible to be away from danger in this race," Takyle answered. "At least it's beginning to look that way." She leaned over to stir the pot on the burner and then picked up Andrew and Jaden's mess kits and spooned out some of the colorless gruel for them before doing the same for herself. "I guess that means we should probably rotate watches. Unless of course you feel that you sleep light enough to hear someone sneaking up on us."

"He sleeps very lightly," Jaden contributed helpfully between bites. "If I get up he knows." Andrew shook his head.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure I'd gamble our safety on that... Unless... I could rig a couple of traps real quick. A trip wire maybe. We are surrounded by gravel, which is hard to be silent on as well. I don't want to take undue risks, but I doubt I can overstate exactly how tired I am. If I had the first watch I'd be afraid that I'd go to sleep."

"Yeah, me too... I like the idea of the traps. Let's do that," Takyle decided. "I'll help you with whatever you have to do for that after we're done eating."

"Sounds like a plan," said Andrew. ~

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