The large puma that had given Mox cause for concern didn’t seem all that interested in following them back to the Pacific trail. In fact- it barely even seemed to notice them, they cautiously made their way along the winding path as they rarely took their eyes off of it. Mox led them along in single file until the path slowly began to widen once again as they came closer to the main trail, once he was convinced that they had a clear line of sight from the large puma the mood became more relaxed as he and Trip began to see familiar signs that told them they were growing ever so close to the Pacific Ocean. The path of the Pacific Trail in the late afternoon would take them up hills and down into gully’s and washed out ravines, until they saw the monstrous rock formations off to the right of the path that everyone knew as Thor’s Towers.
Fishbin was within ten miles when they had decided to take the back way in, a slightly treacherous path that would lead them up and around the Towers, but would offer them a clear view of the Pacific trail the rest of the way, just in case Morg Creel’s little hunting party had tried to sneak up on them. They would no doubt be on horse back and if they did spot Mox and his friends, the path leading up to and around Thor’s Towers would be a slow climb for even the fastest horse’s. They had just rounded the face of the first Tower nearest the ocean when something off in the distance made Mox stop them while he climbed up to a ledge of the first tower. He pulled his spy glass clear from his pack and lye down on the cold smooth ledge and took a look towards the Pacific Trail, Indeed, Morg Creel had sent someone out to search for the raiders that Ava and Murph had killed, and there was little doubt that they had found the bodies and were now looking for someone’s hide. Trip cautiously climbed up beside of him.
“How many are there?” He whispered.
“More than fifteen. Less than twenty-five.” Mox calmly answered.
“Do you think they’ll pick us up?”
“No- not likely, we didn’t leave a trail or any sign, I was checking since we first came into sight of the Towers, they’ll probably just take a straight line into Fishbin and ask around there. We’ll just wait here for a bit, let them get ahead of us, then we’ll take the back way into Ferral’s place. We just have to be careful.” Mox answered.
“Morg?”
Mox stared straight ahead but shook his head no.
“It looks like that bastard Furlong is riding point.”
“That’s bad too.”
Mox offered a calming smile.
“Well it’s bad enough I suppose, We’ll just wait for them to pass, and then we’ll take the back way into Ferral’s place. Besides, they may just be fishing here, they may not have even gotten a look at whoever killed Morg’s guy’s, Furlong has a keen mind though, he'll be asking a lot of questions in Fishbin. We’ll wait until they pass by, and then we’ll take the beach path in.”
The beach path that would take them up behind the town of Fishbin took them downward from Thor’s Towers to BlackRock beach, the route that they would be taking stretched out their trip and a bit more but in the long run it would be safer traveling than the pacific trail would be, they would be less likely to run into Furlong’s little hunting party if they had for some reason decided to double back to check behind them. From BlackRock beach they could clearly see anything that even tried to creep up on them from the ridge top above them, but Mox knew that they needed to make it to the next trail head before it was completely dark, which he estimated to be still close to one hour away. After dark would settle in, high tide would soon follow, and they would make it all the way to Crooks fork before the sun sat completely on the Pacific. Once back on the top of the ridge, the new trail led them over one hilltop to another before the path turned once again slightly inland toward Fishbin. In the distance they could begin to see slivers and speckles of light through the night, and they all knew Fishbin was close. Mox would make the decision however to take them to a deep cave that he and trip would often hold up in whenever they were in the area and didn’t have anything to trade for a night's lodgings in one of the many shelter dens in town.
“It looks like that bastard Furlong is riding point.”
“That’s bad too.”
Mox offered a calming smile.
“Well it’s bad enough I suppose, We’ll just wait for them to pass, and then we’ll take the back way into Ferral’s place. Besides, they may just be fishing here, they may not have even gotten a look at whoever killed Morg’s guy’s, Furlong has a keen mind though, he'll be asking a lot of questions in Fishbin. We’ll wait until they pass by, and then we’ll take the beach path in.”
The beach path that would take them up behind the town of Fishbin took them downward from Thor’s Towers to BlackRock beach, the route that they would be taking stretched out their trip a bit more but in the long run it would be safer traveling than the pacific trail would be, they would be less likely to run into Furlong’s little hunting party if they had for some reason decided to double back to check behind them. From BlackRock beach they could clearly see anything that even tried to creep up on them from the ridge top above them, but Mox knew that they needed to make it to the next trail head before it was completely dark, which he estimated to be still close to one hour away. After dark would settle in, high tide would soon follow, and they would make it all the way to Crooks fork before the sun sat completely on the Pacific. Once back on the top of the ridge, the new trail led them over one hilltop to another before the path turned once again slightly inland toward Fishbin. In the distance they could begin to see slivers and speckles of light through the night, and they all knew Fishbin was close. Mox would make the decision however to take them to a deep cave that he and trip would often hold up in whenever they were in the area and didn’t have anything to trade for a night's lodgings in one of the many shelter dens in town.
“We’d best wait out the night here until first light, then we’ll make our way into town, there’s wood for fire building nearby, we can build a fire in the hollow near the back of the cave without attracting attention.”
With two flint rock’s and some shreds of dried grass, Mox started to make the fire while Trip gathered the wood to keep it going, once lit Ava gave them some more of the dried jerky from her pack, and as they ate Mox figured it best if he took first watch by the mouth of the cave while the other two slept. After about five hours, Trip would come to the mouth of the cave to relieve him. Mox on the other hand was still trying to piece some things together in his head, The stranger who called himself Hiram Midler from the Temblor and all the incidents surrounding him, he began to relate his thoughts to Trip. What if the guy that he’d met up with outside of Coppers Mill had turned out to be the same guy that Ava’s friend Murph was on his way to meet? what was he going to tell Murph about Owl’s keep? and why were the three riders after him? Mox just had a disturbing feeling that they hadn’t seen the last of those riders. So many unanswered questions, but now at the present, they had Furlong and his crew to keep an eye on, they were the more immediate danger. Trip sat by the entrance of the cave and Mox went back to sleep for a few hours, and before they knew it, light was breaking, and they were all three up and ready to make the final push down the trail to Fishbin.
~Scratch.. A.B.T. Copyright © 2014~
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