A minute of panicked flight, less then two, and Kel dared to slow as he reached a ravine he needed to take more care in navigating. The downward slope was tricky in the dark and he didn't want to fall and twist an ankle. Besides, he should have put enough distance between them to make tracking him difficult in dark (ignorant to the Ascended's abilities as he was). He was nearly to the bottom when the whisper of disturbed leaves in his wake heralded a predator on his trail, far closer than he had anticipated, and his blood turned to ice in his veins.
Heedless now of injury he scrambled up the other side, knees and hands blackened by loam as the scent of bruised and broken greenery filled the night with a pungent astringency. His heart pounded, breath coming in short, panted gasps as fear twisted through him, lashing at his feet as the young hunter grabbed for branches that broke beneath his weight and plants that that slid from his grip as he hauled himself up the incline. Once he fell, an unseen rock slicing into his arm with a sharp pain that focused him even as hot blood trickled down to mix with the soil and Kel hesitated a breath as he forced himself to move with more precision, scrambling over the lip of the ravine at last and running, running, running through the night.
Ahead there was light, an almost startling brightness after the deep shadows of the nocturnal jungle, and Kel stumbled into the clearing before he could stop his momentum, looking around in desperation for a way out. The meadow revealed little, but it was a space across which he could sprint...
But the moonlight would reveal him easily to the hunter in his wake.
There was no time to go around, no time to think, and after another moment's hesitation he started to sprint across the open ground.
Heedless now of injury he scrambled up the other side, knees and hands blackened by loam as the scent of bruised and broken greenery filled the night with a pungent astringency. His heart pounded, breath coming in short, panted gasps as fear twisted through him, lashing at his feet as the young hunter grabbed for branches that broke beneath his weight and plants that that slid from his grip as he hauled himself up the incline. Once he fell, an unseen rock slicing into his arm with a sharp pain that focused him even as hot blood trickled down to mix with the soil and Kel hesitated a breath as he forced himself to move with more precision, scrambling over the lip of the ravine at last and running, running, running through the night.
Ahead there was light, an almost startling brightness after the deep shadows of the nocturnal jungle, and Kel stumbled into the clearing before he could stop his momentum, looking around in desperation for a way out. The meadow revealed little, but it was a space across which he could sprint...
But the moonlight would reveal him easily to the hunter in his wake.
There was no time to go around, no time to think, and after another moment's hesitation he started to sprint across the open ground.
