Garinor decided the best thing to do was to go into hiding and wait for the whole mess to blow over. If he could sneak into a town, he might be able to find a way of keeping alive without exposing himself to those who were looking for him. Because all his troubles had been toward the east, he opted instead to head west, toward the desert.
His body hurt all over and he was still damp, thus it wasn’t a pleasant trip. He plodded along, letting the landscape guide him. Hills turned him either north or south. Animals roamed about, and he didn’t think he would remain unnoticed. He smelled of the river and he worried the creatures would hunt him down. It was another motivation to keep moving.
Each step was difficult, but he didn’t let himself dwell on anything except to keep moving forward. His only hope was in getting to the town before he collapsed from exhaustion.
He walked until the sun sank down and drifted out of the sky. He didn’t mind. He was mostly dry by then and it had been hard to see with the sun standing there before him anyway. He had no idea how far he had traveled or how much further he needed to go. But every step was a step toward freedom and new hope.
One day he would return home and recapture lost time with his family. Whether that would be a month away or years, he didn’t know. It all depended on what happened to the prince and whether the king would find a way to stop him.
As he kept going on, a row of buildings came into view. He was nearing the oasis of Urdill. It was the last refuge before the brutal desert and it was there he sought a place to bide his time.
He spent years in the oasis, working odd jobs for months at a time. He was well-accepted into the community and he worked hard. Rumors of the prince’s activities kept Garinor in hiding much longer than he would have liked, but he was alive and safe, and when he returned to Paligar as a grown man, he was welcomed with open arms and was never threatened again.
However, he also never fulfilled his true destiny.