The River of Bones--An Archie Hunter Adventure by E C Hunter

Author:E C Hunter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: E C Hunter
Published: 2020-03-07T12:19:27+00:00

Chapter 28

For Magnus, the dawn was an unwelcome sight. It made the world visible, it made him visible. The only way to combat that would be to become invisible, he would have to keep to the trees, stay out of sight and if necessary, lie up during the day. After consideration he decided to continue riding along the forest roads until a time he judged to be ‘after breakfast’ and then duck into the woodlands. He would have to lose the horse of course but that might be an advantage. A horse was easy to track and if he could encourage it to move off at a tangent to his own course then it might fool those who would be following him. As the day grew warmer Magnus started to loosen up. A good time to part with his pilfered pony and have a look at the injuries he’d sustained in the container battle.

Magnus slipped from the animals back, wincing as he hit the ground. He led it by the head collar until it was facing the way they had come and let it go. “Off you go wee girl” he said, slapping it’s rump with all the strength he could muster. The horse needed no second asking and shot off at full tilt until it rounded a corner in the track and was lost to Magnus. In a shady clearing he found a bed of sphagnum moss and pulled up handfuls of the dripping bryophyte. He stripped off the rags of clothing he wore and used the moss to clean his wounds, knowing that the small amount of iodine it contained would help to act as an antiseptic. When he was done he cast a critical eye over what parts of his body he could see. It was not a pretty sight. His arms had multiple lacerations and abrasions. Blood and lymph still oozed from some of them. His torso and legs were a mass of bruises, some older than others and starting to create a spectrum of vile colours. He needed rest, food and pain relief, the adrenalin of the escape had worn off leaving him shaky and hungry.

At the edge of the clearing was a clump of stunted willows. Magnus broke a young branch and with his fingernails stripped the outer bark away. Underneath was the pale green inner bark, he pulled off a section of this, folded it up and stuffed it inside his cheek. The bitter astringent flavour was the result of the plant containing salicylic acid, pretty much the same as taking an asprin. The bitterness also helped assuage his hunger.

Moving carefully and minimising his effect on the undergrowth Magnus moved deeper into the bush. Food could come later, right now sleep was the answer. A bed of tempting blueberry bushes provided a comfortable mattress and Magnus was asleep within moments. He did not lie worrying about Archie, it was pointless, he knew that the only way he could do anything about the situation was to be fit; and that meant sleep.

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