For a ever so short moment, all his worrys were washed away, together with the ever flowing stream of water.
But when he surfaced, hard reality hit him again.
'Still no food or shelter. At least I can follow the stream.'
Traversing through thick vegetation and without clear sight was as dangerous as getting found by the pursuers.
He heard many story's of randomly getting attacked by creatures, or even insects. These things may seem harmless at first, but can kill you on a different level, often over a long time in agony, as the venom they release are hard to counter.
He took a breather, letting his sore muscles relax in the cool water for a minute.
'This stream should come from the same source as the river.' he thought.
'Walking upstream and I may find the other branch flowing towards the hill area, but who knows where it may lead me.' Uncertain, he followed his other idea.
'This stream is quite big, easily reaching my thighs in the middle. Maybe this gets bigger towards the exit. Then other settlements may be around that area, too.'
One reason they build on the hilly area was the river, that produced some risks, but also assured their survival. Without a well or another reliable source, water is a main problem of settlers.
'Guess I will go downwards.' Mikael decided. Following upstream means walking deeper into the woods, into the unknown danger.
Drying his feet by waggling them in turn in the wind. Hungry and exhausted, he began walking downwards, a bit away but still parallel to the water.
On the way he found some nuts and berry's he knew were consumable. They soon filled his bag, leaving his worry only to finding a hideout for tonight.
Munching on some green berryies that tastes very sour to being out of season, he also considered sleeping on a suitable tree.
'In a cave I have the risk of disturbing local wildlife, on a tree falling down when sleeping.' His eyes wandered from the ground searching for more nuts to the sky, or better said the intertwining branches of the tall, old trees.
Despite being sturdy, the branches had to be close enough to support him, also he had to get up there in the first place.
The feeling of danger was abruptly ignited again when he suddenly heard the snapping of twigs besides him, far to close to hide in time.
He got numb, mind blank and half crouched, half about to run away.
He may looked at that spot the sound came from, but he saw nothing.
"Mikael? Is that you?" He heard, butt took a second to sort that voice to a person.
The next moment he felt another body hitting his, a head next to his ear.
"Mikael, I'm so glad that you are alive!"
'Nina!' he realized. The smell of her hair, the warmth of her body, all that made him instantly feel relaxed, relieving the stress that build up over time.
"Nina! Wha.., How did you escape? Where are you coming from?"
He asked, also embracing her. The touch of another person. The sensation more welcomed than anything else.
"I'm also glad to see you!" He then stammered, clutching her torn tunic.
She separated them, holding him at arm length away. Teary eyed she looked him in the eye. Not talking, she kissed his forehead, like a mother would.
Her hands rested on his shoulders, beginning to answer his question.
"I ran together with Nana away with some other people. I wanted to accept my faith first, but she dragged me with her, saying something along the lines of "These are not normal bandits".
So we ran, and got successful in here."
She stopped for a moment, letting go of him.
"But shortly after hell followed us. A couple man stormed in after us, tracking down our tracks and killing the first that stopped due to exhaustion or carelessness.
Thanks to Nana we ran further and further, but I couldn't keep up with her. It's amazing."
She chuckled, shaking her head and sourly smiling.
"A woman her age has so much stamina, no wonder she survived the first time."
"What happened to her?"
Nana was no where to be seen, her absence suggesting she either was nearby or gone for good.
He also hoped for an adult, leading them, making the decisions.
Every thought had to be considered, questioned. That took a surprising toll on his soul, as it directed his survival. But her answer slew his hope.
"She died, shot by an arrow from the pursuers. She noticed them early, don't ask how. Helping me hide, there was no time left on her own. So she ran again, but couldn't get far. From my hideout I heard them saying how there should be only very few left."
Tears welled up in her eyes, voice breaking.
"We two may very well be the last. And it takes mostly another day for them to find us." She despaired.
"Are they close to us?" he asked, not wanting to give up. "It is late, we need shelter! Else we die tonight, by cold or humans!"
She still wept a bit, making it hard to get any information of her.
'We can't remain here! This is too open, plus we make far to much noise!' Calming down, thanks to her presence, he gained clarity.
"Come!" He held Nina's hand, helping her stand and pulling. "We need to go. I don't want to give up, neither do you!"
His words, as well as his lead smoothed her nerves. She nodded, then saying:" I saw a hollow tree near us, big enough to fit us both."
Not believing his ears, he probed into it further.
"Where? If so, you may saved us already." He rejoiced.
"Not far, maybe some minutes in that direction."
Pointing towards the depth of the forest, he had a bad feeling abandoning the path he has right now.
'But we will sleep at least secure.' he made up.
"Can you lead us there?"
Nodding, she held his hand, not wanting to let go, fearing the loss of him marks her end.
And Mikael didn't mind, either. She was no stranger, his only friend left.
"Should be around here... Ah, there!"
"Quieter." he whispered. She talked far to loud, needing him to remind her of the situation.
She looked back apologetic, but proudly pointing at the narrow entrance of a wide tree.
The bottom had a hole, barely visible and only at nearer inspection.
"Look, that is perfect for us." She whispered. Crouching down, the both crawled into the trunk.
Surprisingly, they fit in there, having enough room to sit, albeit closely.
"Yeah." he exclaimed in awe. "Fantastic job finding this. You saved us."
She smiled. Due to the dark interior in addition to the descending darkness, it wasn't shown to him.
Her head leaned on him, despite her being a bit tall than Mikael.
Now in a safer place, they calmed down, sitting side by side, not saying anything.
The happenings today were taxing, overwhelming them. Only the shallow sound of of stomach grumbling came from her, reminding him of his little harvest.
He awkwardly crammed his bag forth, taking out two handful of nuts, still in their shell.
"Want some?" he asked sarcastically, already handing her a freed piece.
"You sure? I bet you did not eat anything yourself." She wanted to decline.
"Had some overripe Berries on my way, that should suffice. Despite, some of them will land in my belly."
She still hesitated, but gratefully accepted some of the nuts. He cracked them by pressing two shells on each other, making use of the weak spot on them.
'Another little thing Father taught me.' He remembered.
Minutes passing, the soft sound of chewing only heard by Mikael.
When the nuts where consumed, filling their stomachs ever so slightly, their minds drifted away.
The weariness fading, they soon slept side by side, leaning on each other in this little spot.
The next day, they awoke very early, Mikael a bit sooner than Nina, but not wanting to disturb her.
When she also awoke, the did not talk, just looked in each others eyes.
First rays of sunlight broke through the crones, and the dew made the surrounding grass sparkle.
But when exiting the tree, the cold morning air made them shiver.
"Ouch, my body hurts." Mikael exclaimed on the side. Wordless, Nina approved, stretching her limbs a bit to lessen the pain.
A day into the escape, they felt a bit safer. The pursuers should have delved deeper, searching there for escapees.
"They should have fanned out a lot to find them. Our chances of getting away increasing." She said, also hoping it would make their life easier.
'Or increasing the risk of one of them finding us.' he added in his mind, not voicing it out.
He took the lead, explaining to her while carefully walking towards the stream his intentions.
Nina approved.
"Makes sense. Never tho expected you to come up with an idea like that.
"Why? Isn't it logical?"
"Nevermind." she waved.
When he could see the stream from a distance, he changed direction, walking again side to side downwards.
As they walked, the sun rose, and the vegetation grew denser and denser, together with the sound of rushing water.
They were forced to walk closer to the stream, and the sound increased in intensity.
Soon, they found themselves by wet rocks, covering the side of the stream. From time, they were polished and slippery, a possible danger to fall.
Soon, they came across another water source, fusing into the stream.
And so the torrent was even more violent, and continuing was out of question.
Fighting through the woods would be possible, but takes up a lot of energy and time, of which they both didn't have.
"What now." She asked, hoping he would come with an idea.
'Good question...' He contemplated.
While thinking, something caught his attention. Searching for a solution, vague images appeared upstream, walking towards them at a leisure pace.
"Oh no!" Mikael said in frustration.