[hr][center][h1]I M A L E S S A  S H A R I S[/h1][/center][hr]
The rain and mud made traveling difficult, and Imalessa wished she had brought something other than her heavy cloak. It soaked up the water and weighed her down, and the mud sucked at her boots, threatening to pull them off her small feet. Of all the days for it to rain so much and so violently, or maybe she was just more unused to being under the open sky than she'd thought. The only thing that kept her from being in a positively vile mood was that every step brought her closer and closer to home.

As the hours wore on and the sun sank lower and lower, exhaustion started to wear at Imalessa. The chill and damp made her bones ache. Her legs burned and feet hurt something fierce. She wondered when they would make camp . . . [i]if[/i] they would make camp, but refused to ask. Forgetting her bow had already cost her; she didn't want to be seen as weak as well as unprepared.

That bow lay across her back now. It was bigger than her own but of much better quality. She had yet to try it out and hoped that wouldn't prove too much trouble down the road.

Soon the smell of rain and mud turned sour. Imalessa wrinkled her nose, cursing her luck that now she had to put up with such a fetid stench on top of everything else. It wasn't until the call cut through the patter of rain and creaking of the cart that she realized the danger.

"Trolls! Ready yourselves!" someone shouted. Imalessa wasn't sure who. It didn't matter, not when she could barely hear over the pounding of her heart in her ears.

She scrambled for her bow and struggled to nock an arrow. The rain and darkness wasn't nearly as debilitating as the trembling of her fingers. She'd thought her experience with hunting, with killing predators had prepared her for this, made her capable of this. But that wasn't the call of a wolf or bear, and Imalessa suddenly realized just how inexperienced she truly was.

Her eyes strained to catch a glimpse. She struggled to bring her breathing under control and still her trembling fingers.