The company had been retracing their steps for three long days. Their boots pressed over the same packed dirt and roots again and again.
At first, Arty thought little of it all. The forests looked similar for her after all.
But soon, the worry and anxiety gnawed at her. The same crooked oak with a hollow trunk. The same patch of moss clinging to a fallen log. Even the same sharp outcrop of rock they had passed yesterday.
Her chest tightened and she realized that they had been walking in circles.
At first, she tried to push it aside and thought she was imagining things. But eventually she couldn't deny it anymore. Time itself seemed blurred.
Had they been walking for three days or even longer? she was not sure anymore.
Jan, leading the group, wore a grim expression, his eyes sweeping every shadow.
Hund stayed close by with his hand never far from his blade, his jaw clenched tight.
Esther and Annette, on the other hand, smiled at Arty whenever her unease became too obvious.
