It was a quick and scary ride. The horse must have been going as fast as it could, for Emi was forced to duck tree branches every few seconds and hold on to the horse as it jumped small gullies. She could feel the coppery tang of blood in her mouth from a cut somewhere on her face, she couldn't duck all of the branches. After what seemed like an hour, she pulled back on the reigns and slowed the horse. Emi jumped off the horse and rummaged around in her back, eventually pulling out a roll of fishing line. Reasoning that if the line was strong enough to pull up a shark, it would be strong enough to knock her persuers off their horses, she strung it up between two trees at about chest height. Emi hoped that the two men and Ilana would have given up on her, but she realised that they were probably the sort to dog her step all the way to wherever it was that the Aiel lived. Emi sincerely hoped that the Aiel lived in a place that was easy to find, she'd hate to be riding around for a year looking for it. All she knew was that Tanil was leading her Eastward, of course Ilana had taken her some kilometers south and she had no idea where the city that they were travelling from fit into the picture. East it was though, and Emi knew that Ilana and the men would know that as well. Another hour in the saddle and the forest started to thin out. Trees became more sparse and began to give way to rock dotted plains. Mountains began to loom ahead of her off into the distance. It looked like a continuous wall, spreading along the horizon ahead of her. To the right, she noted, they seemed to turn towards the west, but these mountains to the south of her seemed not quite as tall and foreboding. Emi, realising that the imposing wall of mountains must be the 'spine of the world' that Ilana spoke of, decided that it would be much easier trying to tackle the smaller ones, rather than the larger ones to the east. To that end, Emi turned to the south and hoped that doing so would put off her persuers. It was a long shot, but it might at least give her a bit of time.

It was nearing night, when Emi was stopped short by a river blocking her way. It looked to be flowing from the mountains to her left and heading back westward towards the forests. It didn't appear too wide, nor too swift. Emi undid the reigns of the horse from one side of the bit, and led the horse towards the river. The river wasn't very swift at all, nor was it too deep. Horse and rider were soon across to the other side, both wet and cold. As it was beginning to get dark, Emi decided to stop for the night. She could see nearby a group of boulders, rising up out of the ground, and decided to stop in there. She found a nice spot in the middle of the boulders that could not be seen from across the river and tied up the horse. A quick search for wood turned up nothing large, there were many small bushes however. A plant with large shiny leaves seemed to be the most common form of flora in these rocky plains. Emi broke up some twigs and one of the bushes into smaller pieces, and once set in a pile rummaged around in her pack for her zippo. The lack of bark and dried leaves would have made for a dismal fire had it not been for the shiny leaves. Although green, the leaves proved better than eucalyptus leaves for a fire. The leaves shined because of all the oil in them, and that oil made for a very powerful fire. Emi was soon dry, and checking her weapons (making sure that they weren't wet) and her pack (praying that her spare clothes didn't need drying). The weapons weren't wet, and neither was the contents of her bag (thanks to a liberal coating of scotch guard a few weeks back). Emi walked around the boulders, making sure that the fire couldn't be seen from the north, and once she was satisfied, set herself down to sleep.

She was woken numerous times during the night, the hooting of owls was the common culprit. Not once did she hear the noise of people wading through a river. She was guessing that it was about four or five o'clock in the morning when she really woke up and began to get ready for the day. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon and the birds were calling out their morning prayers. No magpies, no kookaburras. All the familiar bird calls were gone. It made her slightly homesick, but the growling in her stomach drew her attention to a greater problem. The bread she took from Ilana was a heavy black bread, something completely unlike the 'plain white block, cut sandwich' she used to buy on her way home from school. Emi was hungry enough to eat anything though, and a slab of the heavy bread was quickly demolished. It was easily washed down by water from the bladder and once she was on her horse she made a quick detour by the river to refill it.

By night on the second day she was camping at the base of the southern mountains, with a fire set in a small gully. From what she could see in the fading light, the mountain, whilst not quite as imposing as those to the east still looked very difficult to climb. The morning, with it's increasing light, did not help her opinion of it. Emi was faced with a difficult decision. She could attempt to go over the mountains here, or follow them westward until she found a way around them. The horse was obviously tired from the hard riding and Emi didn't know if it would be able to make it up the mountains, but she couldn't stop for fear of getting captured again. So it was that she decided to follow the mountain range to the south west, and about mid-day she came across another river flowing down from the mountains. Emi decided to follow the river to it's source, and discovered that, over time, it had worn away quite a gap in the mountains. Night of the third day, she camped in a cave overlooking the river.

Another group of hills was on the other side, and Emi travelled at a more sedate pace over these. The top of the hills afforded her a great view to the south and east. To the south she could see another river working it's way from the East, coming out from in between two large groups of mountains and threading it's way in between other hills. To the East she could see desert, interspersed with brush. It was something very akin to the outback, the centre of Australia, but where the river flowed the green of trees and grass followed. Whilst the river she was following did not quite meet up with it, she was confident that if she could reach this path of green the she would have an easy ride through the 'spine of the world'.

By the fifth day she had reached the river, with it's escort of grasses and plants. It was now that she had run out of food, and the gnawing pain in her stomach made her aware of the need to eat. The sixth day found her following an eastward fork of the river into the desolate wastes ahead of her. When the river here began to get thinner and shallower, she realised that she needed something to eat urgently. Whilst she knew that Aborigines could find food in the outback, they knew where to look for it. Emi did not, and it was no knowing how long it would be before she found any of the 'Aiel'. It was nearing night time when she began to see lights in the distance. They appeared to be coming from up ahead, next to the river (although it looked more like a creek now). As she got closer, it became apparent that it was a group of covered wagons all drawn into a circle around the creek. A couple of fires were burning in the middle of the wagon circle, and lanterns hung around the perimeter. Dogs barked, running out towards her, stopping just inside the protection of the lantern-light. Men rushed out, hiding behind the wagons with bows drawn or spears in hand.

"Who goes there? Friend or Foe?" a voice called out to her.