Cal didnât seem overly burdened by the pack at all as he strode down the streets, Masako a few steps behind.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ffff00">âDonât you worry about that. Provided they havenât upped the toll again, I should have enough. If they have though, well, then we might have to cut through the Green a bit. Either way, we got a long walk ahead.â</span>He reached back into his bag without breaking stride at all and pulled out a small package. From it he revealed a few pieces of flatbread. Each was about the size of the palm on one of his huge hands, both in diameter and thickness. He broke the round flat loaf in half and passed one of the fragments to Masako.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ffff00">âHere, this will help keep your strength up. Knowing slavers, Iâm guessing you havenât eaten since being captured in Vaskaan.â</span>He was mostly right, the guards had given her a few bits of stale bread and a sip or two of water while she was a captive. Calâs flatbread was very dense and full of seeds, nuts, berries, and chunks of dried fruit. Each mouthful would have taken a very long time to chew and swallow even if the bread was fresh, but this loaf was dry and tough, well on the way to stale.<br/><br/>-------------------<br/><br/>The young hunter and Lynise tumbled down the tree to the soft earth below. The wet nature of Dankwood made the ground even this far west slightly spongy, which was fortunate for the young hunter as it allowed him to hit the forest floor without sustaining any injury beyond a few bruises. The dagger was thrown wide during the fall and now rested with the blade half embedded in the earth a few yards away. The hunter scrambled to his knees and tackled Lynise, pinning her arms down. He was panting hard. His pale green eyes looked down at her through his mess of thick brown hair.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#00bf00">âBe calm, I donât want to hurt you.â</span>He took a deep breath and released it slowly.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#00bf00">âCan you understand me?â</span>