Badger

Last night was another warmer night, and there was no rain to keep me awake, so I slept soundly.  I had a big surprise this morning when I awoke.  I went to check on my snare and I'd caught a badger.  It'd struggled to try and break free, and was clearly weary from its efforts, but it wasn't dead.  I clubbed it with the flat of my sword until it stopped wriggling, then I cut its head off.  I took it over to a tree and hung it by its back legs,  Tonight's evening meal will be sublime.

I left my camp for a while to gather some more firewood.  I also stopped off to pick up some more mushrooms, there seem to be plenty of these in the shaded areas under the trees.  I wrapped these in the cloak and set off back to camp.

When I returned to camp, perhaps an hour or so after I'd left it, the badger was no longer dripping blood.  I considered lighting the fire and eating here, but I really need to move on.  I packed down my camp and hung the badger from my belt.

I set off once more to the west, following the river.  The woodland gave out to the plains by mid morning, and I kept along this southern bank, as close to the water as I could get.  I'd been walking away from the sunrise at first, but as the day passed and the sun moved around the south, and it stepped behind the peaks of mountains - those, I believe, are the peaks of the Gora delve, although I'm not used to seeing them from the outside.

The further I've travelled to the west along by the water, the more rocky and uneven the ground has become.  The river is getting wider too, and I've had to cross a couple of side streams too.  Immediately after crossing one of them, I stopped for some food.  The fresh water was wonderful alongside my meal of apples, berries and raw mushrooms.

As the sun headed westwards, it began shining upon my face as I walked, and I began looking for somewhere to set up my camp.  By late afternoon I'd reached a low outcrop of rock which overhangs the land underneath it a little.  At the bottom of this low cliff are some bushes and nettles, but there is also plenty of room for my camp.  There are more of these black coloured berries growing here, so I will not starve during the night.

It took me a little to get the fire going again.  While I have plenty of firewood I don't need a large fire, and it could attract unwanted Gurgam attention.  I put half of the badger on a wooden stake and raised it up over the fire to cook.  I cooked mushrooms to go along with my roasted badger on the blade of my sword again.

This is the most complete meal I've had since I escaped from the Gurgam lair.  It feels really good to be eating healthy meat once more.