The sound of a key scraping in the lock had me leaping to my feet. A man walked in, face hidden by shadows. A sudden urge to flee overwhelmed me, and I let my basic instincts take control. I dashed past the man, dodging his outstretched hand. I flew down the hall, and burst out of the jail. I ran through the night, only stopping after falling to the ground, exhausted. I held my head in my hands, confused. Why had I run like that?
My skin prickled, and I glanced up, scanning the area around me. Shadows hid everything, but I knew someone or something was watching me. Carefully I reached for a large stick, figuring that any weapon would be better than none. Footsteps were the only warning I had before pain exploded across my back. I lunged forward, away from the attack. Getting to my feet, I turned and found a large man staring at me, grinning.
He swung at me, and I ducked. A sudden hot pain in my shoulder alerted me to the fact that he had a knife. I backed away, looking for an escape. Nothing prevented itself. In my fear last night, I had run into a valley. A cliff face stood behind me, and the only exit was blocked by the man standing before me. He watched as I figured this out, he's grin growing wider. I'm trapped. Now what? I glanced around again, looking for a weapon. Spotting a large tree standing just behind and to the left of my attacker, I smiled.
He walked forwards slowly, enjoying the moment. I waited patiently, watching as he got closer, calculating the distance. I stepped forwards and began to run. The attacker hesitated, surprised. I dashed forwards and leapt, reaching for a low-hanging branch. I swung up onto the branch, balancing lightly on my feet. The attacker gawped, and I just grinned, sitting comfortably in the tree. He glared at me, and walked away. I watched him go; spending a couple of hours in the tree to make sure he had truly left.
Silently I leapt from the tree, and escaped the valley. I walked for many hours, unsettled by the feeling of being watched. But every time I glanced up, every time I looked, no one was visible. Nervous, I decided to head for the nearest town, figuring I'd be able to lose any followers in the crowd. The size of the town surprised me. For a while I stood frozen, overwhelmed by the number of people and buildings.
"Get out of the way!" someone snarled, shoving past me. I flinched, and found myself being pushed by forward by the crowd. Soon, I realised I could see a cliff face behind a large building. The cliff had faces carved into it. Glancing around, I realised that quite a few people were wearing headbands on their foreheads, arms, and even around their waists. The symbol etched into each headband had me paralysed. It was a leaf.