We were miles away from the city, when I looked back and saw the first signs of pursuit in the distance. From then on our lives had been one of constant action, as we moved northward in an irregular manner as I alluded the pursuit that had gradually grown more distant.
It was dark enough now to move on and I woke the boy, who came awake startled. We mounted up and I led the way through the darkness that was gently highlighted, by the glow of a half moon. I looked back after an hour and saw that the boy was almost asleep in the saddle, as he relied more on his horse's natural instinct to follow mine than conscientiously directing its path himself. It was working for the boy so I let him be and monitored his horse's progress after me a little closer to make sure he continued following me.
The boy hadn't said a word since we had left Kharta. Looking at him now hunched over in the saddle with a blanket wrapped around him to ward off the night's chill reminded me of the awesome responsibility I had taken upon myself to get this boy to safety in the Valley Lands. I should have left him behind for both our sakes. Still I didn't regret my decision completely, if I could get this boy to a better life than I had experienced it would be worth the risk at least in some ways. Having the boy along had changed my escape route considerably though. He wasn't up to an all out run for the Valley Lands so I had decided on a route that I hoped that our pursuers wouldn't expect. Instead of taking the obvious route further up through the Hagathic Wastelands I was taking a gamble on another route. I was going to bypass the Zoarinian forces that I felt sure awaited us on the other side of the Hagathic Wastelands, by going partially through the Plains of Zoar the very heartland of the enemy.
I doubted that my pursuers would expect even me to do something crazy like that. I would avoid the Zoarinian outposts stationed along the northern border of the Plain of Zoar, by hiring a Kawnia Lake fisherman to take us across the lake and drop us off on the shores of the Silepsium Moors. From there it would be a straight shot to Kingdom Pass and the Valley Lands beyond.
Two days later we made it into the Lomar Swamplands and if I hadn't lost anyone still on our tail by now then I wasn't going to.