Molun smiled proudly, seeming to forget for a moment that he was on the opposing team. “He sure can. But he probably won’t, for this. So we could probably defend it pretty well, but although that would keep the other team from winning, it doesn’t get us any closer to winning, either.”
“Oh,” Perian said, realizing. “That would just be a draw, and then all the losers have to pack everything up.”
“Right,” Molun said with a pout. “What would be the fun of that?”
“You want to go after their ribbon,” Perian said.
He should have guessed, actually. Molun struck him as the sort who would definitely forge off wildly and try to bring in that big win, and he just might succeed. He was pretty sure that Delana would do the same. Arvus might be more likely to play it safe. And that left Perian, Nisal, and Brannal.
“What do you want to do?” Perian asked Nisal.
They shrugged. “It does sound more fun to look for their ribbon.”
And it would be more active. Otherwise, Perian was going to wind up just standing around unable to actually defend the ribbon because he didn’t have any abilities.
“And just think,” Molun said, “if we can getyouthe ribbon, you can just run for it. None of us are allowed to stop you with our elements.”
“Uh,” Perian said, “please keep in mind that I don’t have the conditioning of a Warrior or Mage Warrior. Onadal really tried, but I only ran when he absolutely made me. Brannal didn’t say you can’t stop mephysically, and while I’m sure that you’re not going to do anything to hurt me on purpose, I can see a flying tackle in my future if we use that method.”
Molun waved this aside. “Nisal and I can protect you, and then you just go for it.”
Perian still wasn’t totally sure about the logistics, but he couldn’t help but be buoyed up by Molun’s overwhelming enthusiasm. (Even though this might be how all terrible ideas started.)
“We could split up,” Perian offered after a moment. “I could show you where the ribbon is, and then one of you stays to defend it, and the other two go after the other ribbon.”
“Too easy to be picked off,” Nisal said with a shake of their head.
Maybe strength in numbers did make the most sense.
“But,” Molun said after a moment, “that doesn’t mean we can’t try to muddy the waters a little. What if we cause a disturbance and then rejoin one another?”
“But if they’re all together, they’ll know we’re not attacking them,” Perian pointed out.
“But if they’re not, they won’t be sure if one of their team members is in trouble. Even if they’re all together, they’ll probably still wonder what’s going on. Are we actually all over there? Are we trying to protect our ribbon? Come on, let’s mess with them!”
Yes, this was definitely how all bad ideas started, but Nisal was grinning now, too.
“Let’s do it,” they said.
And so that’s what they did. They were heading in the best estimation that Perian had of where Brannal had been going yesterday, with a guess that he’d thought the same as Perian and had decided to get the ribbon further away as the best chance of it staying hidden. They were all keeping their eyes peeled, trying to look for light yellow. They spread out enough that they could just see one another but were covering moredistance. Periodically, first Molun and then Nisal would dart off, and there’d be the sudden sound of wind in the distance, or the spattering of water in the trees.
Perian supposed it was a bit like they were getting a sudden and unexpected shower in part of the forest. He tried to keep an eye on everything, amazed by just how much there was to look at when you were trying to scrutinize a forest. He was very glad Brannal had specified that they needed to tie the ribbons around a tree. They had a range of a couple of feet from Nisal’s height to Brannal and Arvus’s, but that was so much better than the entirety of the forest from roots to crown of every tree.
If everything was still, Perian thought he might have a better chance at finding the ribbon, but it seemed as though everything was moving all the time. It was the wind rustling through the branches and leaves, an animal scuttling around the ground. It was the way the light was shining through the forest that made it look as though something had moved when it actually hadn’t.
There were the varying colors of the leaves in the trees, the leaves that had fallen to the ground, the ones that were still growing, the underbrush… There was a lot, and Perian had never inspected a forest as carefully as he was now.
Nisal darted off again, and Perian knew they would whip the fallen leaves around and send the wind whirling through the trees.
Perian hadn’t fully grasped how complicated this could be, and he felt like he was on tenterhooks, just waiting for… he wasn’t sure what, really. It was like a spring wound up inside of him, poised tight, because at any moment, he might spot that yellow material and need to bolt back to camp.
Nisal returned, and they continued to move forward, scanning every which way. Every time they saw light bark or yellowed leaves, Perian thought this might be it, but it never was. It was like a needle in a haystack.
It was a good thing Brannal had put a time limit on this, or they would probably have been out here until it grew dark, stubborn until the last.
Or what if Brannal’s team had already found Perian’s ribbon? What if they were sitting cozily by the fire while Perian and his team kept wandering, to finally head back there at noon, all defeated… to find that they now had to start cleaning everything up?
That was entirely possible, wasn’t it? How were you to know if the other team had won if you were just going in circles trying to find a ribbon that could be anywhere in this forest?
