Garinor worked his way through the dense forest and sought an exit on the other side. He checked over his shoulder a few times, but no one was following him. He skirted the trees to the left and right and if it had been another day, he would have been enjoying himself. Birds fluttered overhead and he thought he saw some deer off in the distance.
The noon sun bore down through the trees, leaving a pockmarked trail of light along the way. Caught up in the playful moment, Garinor pounced from one patch of light to another, zigzagging through the forest rapidly. It wasn’t long before he broke free.
The trees thinned out and opened to a wide valley overshadowed by the distant mountains. No obstructions came to his sight in any direction and his heart sank. Anyone looking for him would find him easily across an open plain. He might eventually come across a road that would lead to the castle, but patrols were out looking for him and a road would not be safe.
The main road was to the west and so he opted instead to head east along the edge of the forest, hoping some other inspiration would come to him as he went. He set himself into a light jog and stayed inside the line of trees to avoid being seen and to keep out of the sun.
He journeyed for over an hour, alternately walking and jogging, anxious to get to someplace safe. He wished he had accompanied his father on more of his legendary trips across the lands; the man would be gone for months at a time and would return with scores of stories to tell about far-off places. As a very young boy, the places all seemed mystical in some sense, but as he grew a little older he wanted more details, which drained some of the mystique. Had he listened to the tales or accepted one of the many invitations to join him in the past few years, Garinor might have a better idea of where he was headed.
He promised himself that when events calmed down, he would ask his father to plan a journey for them, one that would take them far and wide.
That was assuming, of course, that events did calm down at some point. Trying not to suffocate himself with worry, Garinor let his mind wander, thinking of all the places he wanted to visit. The golden cities to the south, the wild mountains of the north, the desert in the west, or the ocean to the far east. Each place would be loaded with exciting adventures, not perilous ones where he was being hunted all the time.
He couldn’t shake the ill feeling, but he didn’t need to fight himself for long. Ahead of him was a sandstone wall that surely enclosed the well-known city of Kallinoria. It was touted as the richest city in the kingdom and few commoners bothered visiting it, for the cost of a day there would be astronomical.
Penniless, it didn’t matter to Garinor if a day cost one coin or ten thousand. He couldn’t afford either. But it was shelter, and perhaps someone would take pity on his wretched state and he would be able to eat.
The thought of food made his stomach growl. He frowned and peeked over his shoulder to make sure he didn’t see anyone trailing him. As he turned around, he came to a halt. The large green plain he had seen that stretched as far as his eye could see was actually nothing more than a gently sloping hill that then cascaded down in all directions. He had come out of the forest near the crest of it and saw only the green that reached forward along the apparent horizon. His eyes had fooled him, for lower down and further from that central point, there were many landscapes stretching in that direction below the protection of the hill.
Now he had an escape plan if he needed one. He could venture that way after all. His step became lighter and his pace quickened as he finished his flight to Kallinoria.