Ayten's Story Outtake for Campaign Challenge Three

ampaign Challenge Three!

I have to stay in the wip, of course. This comes far, far ahead in Verse, Venice and Viziers, after some harrowing events have separated Ayten and Devran from the others on board Devran's ship (challenge details below):

A ship was approaching.

She stood on the hilltop in the shade of the pine, and shielded her eyes from the rising sun. Three masts. Not their own ship, then.

Devran had led them from the brigands' cave, and estimated that they would reach the city in another week's time. If he was right, and the brigands were unable to track them, then they would only have been gone for two weeks.

She had no idea what to expect - had the brigands demanded a ransom, so that Rosa and the others would at least know they'd been wastopaneer? If there'd been no word whatsoever, she couldn't begin to imagine the worry and confusion the others might be feeling.

She sank to the roots of the pine, the knotty bark digging into her back. It was easier to think about the others now, this far from the horrors of the cave.

Devran had insisted they spend two nights on this hilltop, so that he could hunt and fish for them. It wasn't an attractive spot by any means. The land was dry as a desert, and something rotten to the north had even attracted a vulture. Every once in a while, its beak clacked, making her jump.

She took the last of their tacise, stolen from an orchard four days ago, and held it to her nose, breathing deeply of the clean scent before digging in. The juice was tart, but washed with delicious coolness down her throat.

Boot heels rang out on the rocks below and she scrambled to her feet. Had Devran caught a synbatec, perhaps? She hadn't even gotten a fire going.

"Don't be alarmed, Ayten," he called. "I've got someone with me."

He appeared over the top of the hill - leading another woman by the hand.

These were the rules: "Write a blog post in 300 words or less, excluding the title. The post can be in any format, whether flash fiction, non-fiction, humorous blog musings, poem, etc. The blog post should show:

• that it's morning,
• that a man or a woman (or both) is at the beach
• that the MC (main character) is bored
• that something stinks behind where he/she is sitting
• that something surprising happens.

Just for fun, see if you can involve all five senses AND include these random words: "synbatec," "wastopaneer," and "tacise." (NB. these words are completely made up and are not intended to have any meaning other than the one you give them)."

I think I did it all... in 300 words! Not sure if events as written will appear quite this way in the wip [wink]. Looking forward to seeing everyone else's entry!