She didn’t know how long they had been walking, but from what she could tell the sun was about four fingers further through it’s fiery walk across the sky, and she’d once seen on TV that this equated to a rough hour. She sighed, noting how dry her mouth was and looked up again to see a line of trees barring their path a few hundred metres away. The trunks reached out with their vivid brown wood, but above them, although there were varying shades to the leaves, the overall feel was the same weak green as the grass. They continued closer and the trees grew to fill their view until finally he stopped, right on the edge of a forest path. Sophia halted her steps immediately, not wanting to be closer to him than she absolutely had to be, however he turned to look at her anyway, making a quick gesture to one of the dozen escorts behind her before turning back to the woodland. The other man, similarly clad in brown barbarian garb and only marginally smaller than his superior, came forward and placed a silver bowl of water on the ground at the mid-point of the metal lead. He returned to his place without even acknowledge her existence, but they all stood motionless, waiting.
Half a minute passed as she looked back at each of the guards – their eyes fixed firmly ahead – and then at the back of the one in front. He was as a statue. So, timidly at first, she took a step towards the bowl. Nothing happened; they all remained in their trance, and a stealthy second and third pace brought her within reach of the bowl. She dropped to her knees and drank deeply from the silver gift, the water as cool and fresh as any she had ever tasted. It was gone quickly and instincts told her not to linger, so she placed the small basin down where it had been and reversed three innocent steps to the full extent of her restraint.
