Damn, Thought Anna. Where did today go wrong?
Anna found herself stumbling through the same forest in which, mere hours ago, Anna had bathed in her gold. now, she found herself nearly blinded by darkness and attempting to track her stolen wagon. Maybe I should've accepted Inigo's search party after all. The young bartender had offered to send a search party with her. But Anna was afraid that after they retrieved the wagon, the men would want the money that they had lost in the drinking contest as a reward.
Anna kneeled down and brushed her hand against the cool, dry ground, searching for a hoof print or her wagon's tracks. As Anna grazed the ground in the darkness, her fingers came across an imprint that she knew belonged to her custom-made horseshoes.
Alright, thought Anna as she peered in the direction that the print faced, the bastard's headed south. Looks like I'm in luck after all. Anna smiled. Whoever stole her wagon was stupid enough to attempt to go through the woods in the dark instead of taking the merchant path that was free of trees and harsh terrain. If I run the path fast enough, I should be able to cut them off before they get too far south. Naturally, being a merchant, it took only a matter of moments for Anna to locate the path on which she had traveled so many times.
Once she reached the path, Anna began to run faster than she had ever run in her life.
Anna ran and ran until she reached the end of the Merchant path that merged with the rough, dark woods that were now behind her. Made it, Anna thought as she wiped her brow. I just hope that whoever decided to steal my cart didn't get here first.
Anna took a second to catch her breath and then headed to the side of the path. There, on the side of the path, sat a small cave. Anna entered the cave, sat on a stone, and drew her Levin sword.
Let the wait begin
Riding through the now-rainy forest, a small, cloaked figure sat atop Anna's horse as it clumsily clopped, stumbled, and splashed over tree roots. "How the heck am I supposed to guide this thing," whined the figure to itself aloud. "This was much easier when I planned it out in my head earlier. Now I'm cold, it's dark, and I'm drenched in rain." Anna's horse stumbled on another tree root. Jumping with surprise, the figure clung to the back of the stallion with its hands and feet. The figure scrambled and squirmed around on the horse's back in a vain attempt to place itself in an upright position but all it managed to accomplish was putting itself in an even worse position. Now the figure desperately clung to the horse's side. "Excuse me," the figure strained. "Mr. Horse, would you mind stopping so that I can reposition myself on your back?" The horse responded by continuing its sloppy trot through the forest, splashing a puddle of water onto the figure's cloak. "I don't know why I ever thought that would work," the figure sighed. Then suddenly, the horse stopped. A surprised figure lifted itself up in confusion. "Wow, I can't believe that wor-"
Before the figure could finish its sentence, the horse took off at full speed, Flinging the figure back into its side-clenching position. "Please Stop," the figure screamed desperately, hoping that the horse would once again heed his command. "Please!" At this rate the figure knew that he would lose his grip and be trampled by the horse and the wagon that it carried. all he could do was hold on for dear life. But wait, there was something else. The figure dug his hands and feet into the horse's side as he removed one hand from the beast and reached into his cloak pocket. "Almost Got it." The figure strained as he fumbled around in his pocket. he glanced up for a quick second and then quickly returned to searching his pocket. This time, he searched desperately. Through the darkness, the figure saw that his stolen steed was fast approaching a cliff. "Come on come on come on," he chanted. Then the figure's fingers came across a small, round amber stone. "Got it," he exclaimed with excitement. The figure pulled the stone from his pocket and it began to radiate a strange light. However, just as the light began to emit from the strange sphere, the horse, the wagon, and the figure were launched into the air. The figure fell, screaming in terror as his stone slid from his hands. There was a flash of bright light, then nothing.