As he ran Amaryliss tried desperately to remember his geography. "Okay." He muttered to himself as he ran. "We were just north of Amard Hold, we're under the protection of Adanuk Weyr which is way south-west of here. I'm head in an easternly direction ......." He cursed under his breath. "I have no clue where I am!"
He stepped on a branch and heard it snap under his feet. "What's that? Who's there?" A strong male voice called out to him.
He cursed under his breath again. "Slavers." He whispered to himself. He looked around for somewhere to hide. He quickly scrambled up a tree and for once praised Weyrwoman Magika of Adanuk who always made sure the trees in her territory were protected from Thread. The man appeared under Amar's tree, peering carefully into the underbrush. The slaver didn't think to look up, and as a result Amar was safe. The man disappeared, but Amar decided it might be safe to stay in the tree until the slavers left in the morning.
Amar pulled himself onto a higher, sturdier branch and rested his head on his folded hands. "I'm not sleepy, I'm going to stay up here all night and in the morning I'm going to head south and with any luck get back to Amard Hold and Lord Niyok. I'm just going to rest my....eyes...."
.In seconds he was snoring softly, precariously perched in a tree, just south of Amard Hold.
* * * Amar slowly opened his eyes to the grey morning, the sun barely risen. "Ohh...." He moaned, forgetting where he was. "That has to be the worst night's sleep I've ever...ugh!" He stretched, lost his balance and fell 20 feet to the forest floor. He lay on the ground, staring up through the canopy of green. "Uhnnnn....."
Finally, after a few moments of self-pity, Amaryliss dragged himself to his feet. He stretched and looked around. "South to Amard then." He found the bag he'd packed the night before in a bush and slung it over his shoulder. "I hope I make it to Amard before lunchtime..." He mumbled to himself. "I'm getting hungry."
* * * Amar lay on his back in the middle of a field that seemed to stretch out forever in every direction. It had been three days since he left his home and Mother and he hadn't had anything decent to eat since then. A few small edibale roots and plants here and there, but he had no way to make a fire or cook them so their taste was awful and Amar couldn't stomach many of them. "Thread should just come and burn me to death." He moaned, too tired and hungry to keep walking. The sun was at it's zenith, right above him, beating down on him and cooking his stomach. He groaned and rolled onto his stomach. "I wonder where Amard went. Stupid Hold, up and leaving while I wasn't looking." He stopped complaining long enough to think seriously about his predicament. He sighed. "I miss Roza and Lilika." He stared at an odd bug that was crawling along the leaf in front of him. "They would know what to do. Just a few days ago we were walking along the trail to Amard, and Li was correcting my geography, reminding me that we were heading north because of stars that were just coming out..." Amar paused, realizing the mistake he'd been making.
"Damn, damn, damn, DAMN!" He smacked his head against the ground. "I should have gone north not south! Now I have no idea where I am!" He couldn't help but smirk at his last remark. "Like I knew before now." He sighed and watched the bug fly off. "What am I going to do now? I can't think of anywhere south of Amard." He yawned and turned to face the south. "I'm going to die out here in the middle of nowhere and no one will ever find my body and Lilika and Roza will meet each other turns from now and get all nostalgic and wonder what ever happened to their old friend Amaryliss..." He sighed and sat up. "They'll never think to look here, south of everything, where neither man nor dragon dare venture..." He stopped dead as he watched what surely must be a mirage burst forth from between 200 feet in front of him. The imaginary green dragon bugled loudly and dipped underneath the ground, proving to Amar that she was a figment of his tired, starved imagination. The green then reappeared, glistening wet. She landed on the ground 50 feet from where he was lying. With another roar she shook herself off, covering Amar with water. She then jumped 20 feet into the air when Amar stood up and told her that she wasn't his imagination.
"What in Faranth's name?" A woman with long, disobedient brown hair appeared from behind the dragon. "Who are you?"
Amar calmed himself down, replacing the stoic mask he usually wore when around people who weren't Lilika and Roza. "I'm Amar and I'm lost. I haven't seen anyone or eaten much in almost three days. I got a little carried away in my reaction to actually seeing something." He smiled softly.
The woman reached into a pouch she was carrying around her waist and grabbed a piece of old bread from it. She tossed it to Amar with a smile. "I'm not sure if it's day old bread, or day old day old bread, but we should get some food in you right away." She smiled as the gypsy wolfed down the bread quickly. "My name is Aliana and my dragon is Xynoth. We're from Adanuk Weyr."
Amar nodded, stuffing bread in his mouth. He was aware that this was where he was supposed to tell her his story, but he didn't feel much like sharing.
The greenrider continued. "Where are you from?" She looked at her dragon and laughed. "And Xynoth would like to know where you got that hair."
Amar blushed. "I'm a gypsy. I don't have a home that I'm not going back to and my hair is perfectly normal where I come from."
"Where is the rest of your troup?" Aliana tried once again to draw him into a conversation, keeping a serious look on her face and ignoring Xynoth's comments.
"We got seperated." Aliana opened her mouth to ask another question, but Amar cut her off. "Look, I don't want to talk about it. All I'll say is that I can't go back, so either leave me here or take me with you." He stood up and towered over the greenrider, forcing her to make a decision.
Aliana was in no way, shape or form intimadated. Xynoth would always protect her. She mounted and gave Amar a hand up. "I'll bring you to Adanuk with me. You can go where ever you want from there."
Amar nodded, pretending that he knew what he was doing. He'd ridden a runner before, but never a dragon. As Xynoth leapt into the sky he clenched his jaw, shut his eyes and threw his arms around Aliana.
The greenrider smiled and put one of her hands over his. "You think this is bad? You ain't seen nothing yet!" Xynoth disappeared between.
* * * Amar sat lazily in one of Magika's chairs as the Weyrwoman looked him over. Aliana stood beside Magika and whispered into her ear. "Keep him around Weyrwoman. Xynoth's not a Searchdragon, but we are going to train for it. She's got a natural talent she hasn't honed yet. He'll be a rider."
Magika bit her lip, undecided. "He's already made it clear that he doesn't want to stay."
Aliana snorted. "He's a gypsy, of course he doesn't want to stay. Keep him."
Magika shook her head. "I'm not keeping anybody against their will."
"But..." Aliana protested.
"But." Magika added. "I'll send him to Golin Hold. Marielle will keep an eye on him and I'll send and Searchdragon that comes here there way, okay?"
The greenrider nodded.
"Amaryliss?" Magika raised her voice so he could hear her.
He looked up at her, outwardly composed after a good meal and bath, he appeared not to care what the Weyrwoman decided to do with him. "Call me Amar. Please."
"Amar." Magika smiled. "I know you don't want to stick around here, and you don't have to, but I would like you to go to Golin Hold with Aliana. I don't want to just turn you back out to the wild."
Amar smiled. "I was doing okay."
Aliana grinned. "Sure you were."
Amar thought about his situation for a moment. He'd gotten a chance to look at a map and knew basically where he was and where the Holds surrounding the area where the camp had been attacked were. Golin was nowhere near there. He sighed. But what are the chances I'll ever see them again? He sighed sadly, then put on a fake smile. "Sure. Golin sounds like fun."
Amaryliss at Golin Hold...
* * *
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