Sybil, Trigger, and Dovev were now deeper into the forest. Tall, shading trees had severed the moonlight, and only thin openings in the branches allowed the warriors to find their way.
A hulking shape crashed through the brush a hundred feet ahead, and snapped off a few branches on a nearby tree. The heroes pursued, pushing through the weeds and flowers, until they reached the forest edge--and discovered a huge gulch.
Here the trees ended, and about a length of ten feet stood between them and a long drop into the deep ravine. It was about fifty feet deep, and seemed to run parallel to the forest. Dovev looked to his left and saw the figure running through the ravine, north. The drop was fifty feet... how did he get down there so quickly?
~
Meryle, Zakara, and Klaus were meanwhile in pursuit of the smaller figure. They'd seen him dart from between some trees and into a patch of swamp. Now they stood near a babbling brook, thin and dark within the forest's shadow.
"Darn... where did he go?" Meryle wondered aloud, waving her magical orb of light from side to side. Klaus did the same. Zakara's crackling electricity provided its own light.
"We're so shiny... maybe one of us should have gone with the other group," reflected Meryle.
She was about to elaborate further when a shadow emerged from the brush. The figure they'd chased. It stood there, silently, taunting them, unwilling to make the first move. In many ways, it seemed as though perhaps the figure wasn't even there, but was only a ghost of a man, a wisp in the moonlight. None of the adventurers could see in the dim lighting, but the shadow wore a smile.