THE CHOSEN ONES ( PART TWENTY TWO )

"Ben!" whispered Nathen, "do you think your father
would mind me having his spears?"
"Na! me pa would be glad you are getting use out of
them, you take em."

The full moon was shining down on the two new found
friends. Nathen knew the first thing he must do, was to get some food, so with the moon shining bright, Nathen went down to the river and speared a
couple of fish. They were so hungry, they tore the
flesh from the fish, then ate them raw.

"Do you think the hunters will return this way?" Ben said chewing on some fish.
"They could, but I think that we will be safe tonight," replied Nathen.

Nathen decided it would be safer if they found a
tree to sleep in for the night, so they started to
climb a really tall tree, that had a base in the
top part of the trunk, which was just large enough
for the two of them to snuggle down in. Nathen
threw a blanket over them, that he had found at
Ben's camp. "Night," whispered Ben.
"Night," whispered Nathen.

*************************************

Joshua ran off, through a thicket, as he did so,
Bruin thought, 'run, run be safe friend.'

Joshua thought as he ran, 'my only hope of staying
alive, is to stay close to the river.'

Although he was tired, his only thought was to get
as far away as possible, before Jonah found him gone.

As he ran, he kept glancing behind to see if he was
being followed, but no one came, 'How lucky,' he
thought.

The moon was full, he could see the river, as soon
as he reached the river, he started to run along the bank, he felt a shiver at how exposed he was,
but his only hope if anyone came, was to cover his
human smell by diving into the water.

Joshua could hold his breath for ages under water,
a trick his father had taught him, so he could catch more fish.

He felt like he had been running all night, his
hands hurt real bad, so he decided to bathe them in
the river, as he let the water run over his hands,
it felt good and cooling, he ripped a piece of cloth from his top, then used it to bandage his hands.

Joshua was quite tall and had once been muscular,
but because of being starved he had lost a lot of
muscle, his shoulder length dark hair fell thin
and loose around his shoulders, his dark tanned
body felt weak from digging. Joshua felt he had
lost his spirit, but he was determined he would be
free.

He had a drink from the river, then set off once
again. As he ran, he suddenly thought, 'what about
foot prints?' There was nothing for it, he would
have to go back a little way and clear them.

He found some branches and swept away his foot
prints, taking him self down the bank and into the
river.

As his body landed in the water, he breathed in,
the water was freezing, he shivered but started to
swim into the dark by the light of the moon.

To be continued ........THE CHOSEN ONES ( PART TWENTY THREE ) | ABCtales