Following a Column

When we awoke this morning our clothes were again dusted with frost, but towards dawn some high grey and white cloud has rolled in from the west, bringing with it some warmer air.  The others were telling me that the weather isn't normally this changeable, it's because we're high in the mountains that the air moves quickly and can bring cloud in as rapidly as it moves it on again.

Alas the snares were both empty this morning.  I gathered them up before we moved on; we can probably try those again tonight.  Perhaps they'd be better out on the plain rather than in the woodlands.

Although we rose just as dawn arrived, we found that we'd missed the departure of the column.  It had moved on by a couple of miles by the time we set off from our camp site.  We still expect to be catching them up by the end of the day, but we're not sure if there is enough leeway to reach them before they run into the civilised lands of the Gnaeblin.  We can only try.

I gathered up a few handfuls of these blackberries while the others unpicked the waxed sheets we're using for a lean-to shelter, and I also found a wiry apple tree that still had plenty of small fruit on it.  I put a couple of dozen of those in my sack too.  When I got back to the camp site all was set so we headed out.

We finished eating breakfast on the way.  The apples have come in handy too - they're very sweet and firm but really good to eat as we move quickly along.  The berries and apples are a good supplement to the dried meat and bread of lunchtime.

Despite the weather being poorer, we can still see the column ahead of us through the grey air, and we still cannot say with certainty whether it's Gurgam or not.  But we are, once again, closing them down.  Now it's important that we don't give our presence away, so we're being even more careful about our route through the hills.  Its hard to say if they're looking out for people following them or not but we will not take any chances now.