Saria kept a hand clamped over her hip as she ran but blood oozed between her fingers anyways. Out of breath and sure no one was following her, she stopped and sat on a rotten log. Carefully pulling her hand away she lifted her shirt and inspected the wound. Even through her fur Saria could see it was a nasty cut, deep enough to have hit the bone and it throbbed painfully. Her hip hurt but she believed it was just from the inflammation of the cut. She slowly peeled off her bloody shirt and set it beside her. Then she unwound the sash around her chest and rewrapped it around her waist over the cut. She bit her lip to keep from screaming as she tightened the sash, trembling from the pain. After pulling her shirt back on she leaned against a tree next to the log to try and slow her heart, but her mind kept going back to her family. Were they dead? She couldn't be sure but she hoped beyond hope that they were somehow alive. Even if they weren't she needed to get to the Jade Palace as fast as she possibly could.

Breathing deep breaths to get through the pain, she put her hand on the tree to steady herself so she could stand. Her leg hurt but she forced her weight on it and moved anyways as she gritted her teeth. She had run before she could get any of the food or supplies her parents had gathered, but they had taught her to forage so she could eat along the way. She decided to stay off the main roads and check on other towns from the forest. She limped along a narrow trail at a slow jog as she made her way through the forest and climbed to the top of a hill overlooking the town. The townsfolk called it Love Hill because couples would go up to the top and make out under the stars. She had a good view of the town and saw that smoke was still billowing from various houses. There wasn't a house she could see that wasn't destroyed and tried to find her home but couldn't see it through the trees. Her family had lived here for generations and she'd known so many people in that town but they were all most likely dead now. Her eyes pricked but she swallowed the tears and turned from the remains of the town. She had to get to the Jade Palace and stop whoever was doing this no matter what.

She began moving east, traveling as quickly as her hip would allow as she followed the rarely used trails. She picked berries and various fruits along the way to keep her sustained, and drank from creeks or rivers when she came to them. As night began to fall she found a hollowed out tree trunk and crawled inside for the night. She had left her blanket behind and shivered as the cold night moved in. Before the sun went down she peeled back the sash around her waist. Her hip throbbed painfully and the cut was angry and red but trying to form a scab. Blood and a clear liquid oozed from the wound so she covered it back up. Curling into a ball on the cold dirt, she tried to sleep but the bugs in the tree wouldn't leave her alone and she squirmed as they burrowed into her fur and bit at her skin. Even though she got little only a little sleep, she woke the next morning at sunrise and was off again.

Reaching the town of Poun, the closest neighbor to Kia, she found a similar sight. She climbed a tall tree slowly as her hip hindered her, but made it to the top and looked at the town. It was bigger than Kia and was the place where most roads ended up. There wasn't any smoke but the rotting smell told her it had suffered the same fate as Kia. There was so much death and destruction. Why were the rhinos trying to wipe out the valley? She didn't know. She sat in the tree, debating on whether to scavenge the town, but remembered how the rhinos had taken everything from their home and would have done the same to Poun. She climbed down and melted back into the forest and found the trail again. That night she found a tall branch in a tree large enough to support her and she climbed up slowly, using her right leg to support most of her weight. When she reached the branch she was sweating from the pain, and gingerly moved so she'd be comfortable. She looked at the cut and saw it turning blue, and puss was beginning to form. She tried to push the puss out but it hurt too much and she nearly fell out of the tree. Instead she covered it up and tried to fall asleep but it throbbed painfully.

As she traveled, her wound continued to worsen and was beginning to turn a light purple and throbbed constantly, giving off an odd smell. Her hip was becoming stiff, making it hard to walk and she had to find a stick to help support her. It slowed her down but she kept moving. She made for the mountain range; it seemed so far away but got closer every day. On the third day she was feverish, constantly shivering as she tried in vain to stay warm. Saria had just passed a small town that had been wiped out and was chewing on a few berries when she became dizzy. She fell to her hands and knees and was sick, retching even though she fought to keep her meal down. As the waves of nausea subsided, she lay on her side to catch her breath. Her entire leg was hurting as she forced herself to stand and kept moving, leaning on her stick more than ever.

On the sixth day the mountains loomed above her, telling her she was near the pass. She wasn't keeping any food down, retching several times a day whether or not she ate and her leg was nearly numb with pain. Saria didn't know how much further she could go, the pain searing not only her hip, but her leg and abdomen as well. Her leg suddenly gave out on her and she collapsed in the dirt, crying out as she landed on her bad hip. She panted through the pain before pulling herself to her feet as tears streamed down her face. Picturing her family gave her strength, fearing for their lives and relying upon her to bring help made her grit her teeth and she kept moving, all but dragging her leg. She finally reached the mountains, relieved because she didn't know how much farther she could go. Her leg gave out on her a lot, the searing pain making putting weight on it almost too much.

It was late in the evening and she leaned heavily on her walking stick as she peered at the steep incline, trying to decide the best course of action. Saria was weak with fever and hunger, knowing it was going to be much harder than walking on flat ground and she wasn't sure if she had it in her but had to try. Bracing herself she carefully put weight on her left leg, but before she could catch herself she fell. She spit out rocks and dirt and tried again, and again. Every time she tried to put weight on her leg even with the staff it would give out on her. There was no way she was going to walk up that mountain, but that wasn't going to stop her. She pulled herself to her knees, leaning on her right leg as she inched forward. She didn't know how long she crawled; she only focused on making it that next foot.

She crawled all that night and the next day before she reached the peak of the pass and looked down into the Valley of Peace. Her hands and knees were bruised and bloody and she was exhausted, shivering from fever. The sun had just set and in the distance she could see the Jade Palace. Relief swamped her and she crawled towards it, and didn't watch where she was going when she hit the downward slope. Rocks gave way beneath her hands, and caught off guard she slipped and began tumbling down the mountain. She hit various rocks on the way down, bruising and battering her body relentlessly. As hard as she tried she didn't have the strength to stop her fall. She rolled all the way to the bottom of the mountain, the side of her head hitting a rock with a sickening thud, knocking her senseless just before she landed on her left hip at the base of the incline. Her scream pierced the night as wave after wave of agony coursed through her entire body. She fought to stay conscious as her vision blurred, her head throbbing and blood seeping into her eyes from the gash on her head. She tried to move but the pain in her leg paralyzed her.

Tears streamed down her face, both from pain and failure. She had failed to reach the Jade Palace. She would die here and her family would die if they weren't already dead. How many more people would die because she had failed? She knew the rhinos would continue wiping out towns, killing countless innocent people because she had failed. Even though she fought to remain conscious, her vision began to dim. On the verge of passing out she felt something touch her shoulder. She looked up and was able to make out the face of an older goose, her grey feathers streaked with white.

"It's ok," she soothed, clamping a wing over the wound on her head. "You're going to be ok." Saria shook her head, tears streaming down her face.

"Jade… Palace… must… warn…" she managed to whisper before she succumbed to the darkness.