I guess this is part 2 of my attemp at the Marathon
She started walking directly towards the middle of the path looking for the lighthouse, but paying attention across the path for any herbs she could find. At first there were many kids and teens all walking together along the path, but soon each scathered towards a direction, some hunters stopped somewhat close to the village and hid in trees with bows and arrows, others followed different paths, some more confident or stupid left the paths, heading toward denser parts of the woods.
The little girl thought if the person was smart and knew how to find their way home, that would be the best way to go, and that's probably what she would have done if she wasn't looking for the lighthouse. She followed the path until she was all alone, she kept looking around but there was no sign of the lighthouse, if it was surrounded by light it shoudn't be too hard to spot.
She looked at the sun, something was wrong she had been walking for more than three hours, she probably should have already seen it, if it was in the middle like they said, would the evaluators have lied? She stopped, she only had three hours of light left, she hadn't even found the herb yet, something was off, had she gone the wrong way?
Doubts flooded her mind, she decided to go off the trail, towards the east towards a clearing she knew, where the sun would shine in the mornings and she knew she could probably find Agrimony or White Behen, as she walked the kept looking at the sun, for some reason her instincts told her she had less time than she thought, she fastened her step. She had to find those herbs and get home as soon as possible. "Damn it". She clenched the dagger on her belt. After maybe 20 or 30 minutes she found it.
The clearing, she ran, and looked for the herbs, but when she found them, they were covered in a thick, black goo, she had never seen before. She didn't want to touch it, but she didn't have much time, so she grabbed a big leaf out of the tree and rolled the flowers on it, and tied it with a piece of string, and put it away in her pouch, she looked a bit more, but didn't find anything else, she heard screams, far away from her, coming from the west, when she looked towards the direction of the screams she noticed droplets of the black goo going somewhere, she shouldn't but she followed it, first they went south, towards the village, but after maybe 15 minutes of walking it turned east again, the sun was starting to set. She knew she wasn't going to make it back to the village. Disappointment and fear dawned on her. She should have just found the herbs and gone home, she made a mistake, one that could cost her, her life. Now she didn't have a choice she had to find the lighthouse now.
Mean while in the village, the last few kids were arriving, there were only 5 kids out of the walls of the village and the little girl was one of them, her mother was worried:
-she knows these woods, she should've been back by now, something must have happened. She said to the headmistress.
-I am sorry Marion, but there is nothing we can do.
The woman shook her head, she wasn´t going to leave her daughter behind. She quickly got on a horse and tried to head out and that is when they appeared three boys, one of them covered in blood being carried by the other two, all around 16 year old. She stopped:
-What happened? She asked, others coming closer.
-These two, stupid they tried to hunt a bear…
The Headmistress came closer, urging the guards to keep the common fold away. The two boys slowly put the other boy on the floor.
- …well they failed, we were nearby hunting a dear, when we heard it,the screams, our deer ran and we lost it, we knew we wouldn't find anything else to hunt so we ran for the screams, the other kid, it looked pretty rough, worse than him, we knew we couldn't carry both of them, so we just left him… The boy looked down
-He probably woudn't make it. Said the other one.
-Okay. Said the headmistress.
-Don't worry boys your action will be taken in to consideration, you made the right choice, you two, go fetch me a doctor. She said to two of the guards.
Marion looked at the boys, still holding the reins of the horse:
-Where was he?
-Marion, no, you should go looking for you dauther, the Sun will set in an hour at the most!
-If she is my daughter she will be fine, I have to trust her, that she is either going to the lighthouse or that she is coming home. I won't ask again where was he? How far?
-Maybe 40 minutes northwest of here, near an a big oak tree not too far from the trail.
-Ok, I am going, by horse I should get there much faster.
-If it is what you wish, I won't stop you, but he might already be dead.
-In any case I will send two guards after you, we can't afford to lose the best herbalist of the village.
-Ok, if she get here before me, tell her everything is going to be ok. It's not my first night in the forest.
And with a smile she departed full speed towards the forest.
The little girl started looking for the lighthouse again, and after a while she felt like she was being watched, she looked around but couldn't see anything, she kept walking trying to stay calm, "panicking wouldn't help", she kept repeating to herself, it was getting dark, the lighthouse should be easy to see, but it wasn't.
That was when she saw it, the shadow, she got a shiver down her spine and she had never felt so small. It was huge, watching her from a far, smiling at her, waiting, it would only have to wait a few minutes then the sun would be gone, and he could get her, an easy target.
-Light, light will deter you! She scrambled and tore a piece of her pants, putting it around the biggest branch she could find and carry, then she grabbed her strike-a-light and the flint, and started trying to light the improvised torch. Every minute that passed as she failed she could feel it getting closer, until it finally worked and she lit it on fire, not only that but she had grabbed a bunch of smaller branches and sticks and lit a fire, the whole forest could burn for as long as she cared at that moment.
, but it feels great afterwards... it really does.
I still suck but it's fun to break your own records, I go at it until I improve every day, that's my rule.
I'm sure you have brightened up her days and created a beautiful memory for her. The world needs more people like you
