The Third Leg of the Race

JP with Gonyaul and Alexis:

Gonyaul woke before the sun started peaking over the horizon. The wraps had effectively kept them bound tight together and immobile. He was still in the exact same position he was in when he fell asleep. He was careful to move slowly. It wasn’t too difficult because he was also cold. Fortunately they were able to keep each other warm enough to tolerate the night air.

The last thing he wanted to do was startle Alexis awake and cause unnecessary movement. Opening his eyes, he saw his face was nuzzled into Alexis’s neck, as her head was resting on top of his shoulder.

The breath from his whisper brushed against her skin. “Alexis … Alexis”

He assumed she probably had stayed up much later after he had fallen asleep, most likely keeping a vigilant watch over their safety. It would have been nice to let her continue, they both could use more rest; however, they needed to get back on the search for Islana.

Based on his orientation he really only could see her and behind her. They would both need to be awake and alert to help one another start the process of getting back down without plummeting 27 feet.

The soft calling of her name drew Alexis back to consciousness. Slowly opening her eyes, she took stock of the situation.
Apparently, they managed not to fall off that tree during sleep. She supposed that was as good of a start into the day as it got.

“Yeah. I’m awake.”

Gonyaul took the next few moments explaining what they needed to do in order to dismount the branch and get into position to move down the tree. He then demonstrated it. He made sure to move carefully and whispered any key commands.

Gonyaul untied his wrapping holding himself against Alexis, retied the wrapping for the descent, moved off the branch and immediately leaned into the wraps for leverage. He moved just enough feet down to provide Alexis room to repeat what he just did for herself. He nodded encouragingly.

“You turn.”

He stayed near so that once she was set to move down, he would be able to support her if needed. It was slower moving down then it was up. He was available to quickly answer any of her questions should she be unsure of the technique to keep tension moving with gravity.

Once on the ground he gladly shook movement into his limbs. When she was also done, he began preparing the linen wraps to be rewrapped along his forearms.

Back on the ground, Alexis took a few moments to loosen her stiffened muscles.
She retrieved her water canteen and offered it to Gonyaul.

“Didn’t bring food though. Suppose we should see if we can scrounge some up on the way.”

Gonyaul thanked her for the water and agreed.

He led them back to the cult trail using the makeshift clues he left for himself last night when they veered off the path. Once he found their stopping point he turned and whispered closely.

“You keep eyes for trouble and food? I will keep eyes on way.”

It was a rhetorical question as he got back to work hunting for the next sign on which way to go. Everything did indeed look different in the daylight.

It took a good fifteen minutes of looking around but Gonyaul was now confident he found they next way. He lowered down and began intensely focusing on connecting the dots of environmental anomalies.

And just like that, the two of them were once again on the trail of the cult members.