3

Chloris sat on the edge of the small stream, letting her fingers become numb in the chilling water. She relaxed to the soothing bubbling of the stream, letting the sun shine full on her face. She switched hands, running the other through her hair to dampen it. Then she rolled over on her stomach. Cupping water in her palms she splashed it onto her face. The cold water made her shiver, but not unpleasantly, waking her up.

She pulled away from the water to sit a little distance away against a tree, pulling her hair from her face as she went. Chloris knew she had been avoiding unpleasant thoughts, and they confronted her now. Her peace of mind evaporated.

Why had she been captured? What did this man, or the people he worked for want with her? How did the man's alarming abilities work, and did they have a limit? Why had he killed only one of her companions?

She began to breathe hard, suddenly aware that it was getting dark. Her eyes flicked nervously around. Would she have no serenity? If this man invaded her thoughts all of the time, what could she keep to herself? She began to shiver violently, this time from more than just cold. Death would be better than someone prying into every thought or whim that she had. She began to weep, quietly at first, then louder, until it was a howl.

One part of Chloris would have been surprised at her outbreak of emotions. After all, she hadn't cried since she was a babe. But that part was distant. She shook and shook, sobbing uncontrollably. After what seemed like forever, the sobs became silent. Now, she dully forced the emotions into the back of her mind, ignoring them, until she became somewhat rational again. She wouldn't let him see his victory. Give him no reason to suspect weakness, she thought, ignoring the fact that he could probably see the raw emotions behind the dreary wall in her mind.

Chloris scrubbed her eyes with the clean parts of her cloak. When she was sure that all of the tear stains were gone, she made her way back to camp.

When the dim ashes of the campfire came into view, she strained her eyes. The man seemed to be asleep. For a moment, thoughts of escape flicked through her mind. It would be easy. If she was quick she could make her way back towards the city.

Instantly her thoughts were shattered. She had no supplies, she would starve. And her still had the globe. The prospect of returning without completing her mission was worse than starvation in the forest.

Chloris slowly made her way toward the fire, and he stirred, opening his dark eyes.

"Are you hungry," he asked. "There's some dried meat in the packs."

"I don't know," she said bitterly in response, "am I hungry?"

"No. But I thought you might like to chew something, it helps boredom."

She turned away and busied herself with digging through the packs, so that he wouldn't see the tears prickling her eyes. Why was she being so emotional all of a sudden? Chloris found what she was looking for and closed back the pack. When she felt the tears subside, she turned back and settled as far away from the man as possible.

Merrick felt the surge of emotion and ignored it. He stirred the gleaming ashes until they produced a small flame again, then he settled back against the tree and began to doze.

When he awoke again it was completely dark. The fire was out, but that wasn't what woke him. Chloris was gone.

Chloris, unlike her captor, had not fallen asleep. She had watched him, waiting until his breathing became even, then began to busily rummage through the packs. She never found the globe. She hadn't really expected to. After all he had sent her rummaging through the very same packs for food. Any good criminal would have kept his treasure with him. But she did find food and supplies. If she ran away now, perhaps she could attack with the element of surprise later.

Chloris drew the dirty cloak around her like a shadow. She thought about taking her crossbow and dagger from where they sat next to the man, but decided not to. It would have risked too much.

She made her way to the river. From there, Chloris knew, a city was to the south, all she had to do was follow the river towards it.

It was a plan with many holes in it, but it was all she had.