Long Arrow and the Lost Amulet

When something goes wrong do you try and escape by fantasizing you're someone else? This morning I got home and couldn't find my keys in my pocket.I was going to have to backtrack and try and find it. So .. this is my tale.

Long Arrow sighed with relief as he arrived at the camp. He reached down to touch his amulet for reassurance ...what? Where was his amulet. With a sinking heart he remembered the clinking sound along the trail some miles back .. could he have dropped it?

He was cold and hungry .. but without the amulet, he could not enter his camp that was magically sealed against intruders not bearing one of the amulets.

Steeling his will for the long discouraging journey back, he stripped his gear down to the essentials to make for a lighter trip. He unloaded the goods that he had brought back to the camp and put down the tools and gear he would not need for this trip. Speed was of the essence, lest another warrior or demon spirit come across the amulet and pick it up.

Swiftly but carefully retracing his path, he started his relaxed, ground-eating lope. He tried to visualize where he had heard that sound ..was it where the path approached the Dundas rock?

The miles faded into a blur but With a sinking heart he was fast approaching the Dundas rock and had not yet come across the amulet. He would have to continue his journey further, all the way to the trading post. Perhaps he had dropped it there before loading up for the trip back.

Grimly he tried not to think of the consequences if he could not recover the amulet. Without the amulet, he would have to try and survive until another warrior returned to the camp with an amulet. But all the warriors had left for the day and would not return until nightfall.

The trading post appeared around the bend, and he ran inside. The proprieter asked him "Back again Long Arrow .. did you forget something?"

"I've lost my spirit amulet .. has anyone turned it in?"

"Sorry, we don't have it"

Suddenly Long Arrow felt something brush against his thigh. His amulet! It was caught on a thread from his jersey. Feeling a little foolish he stuffed it into his pocket and prepared for the trip home, but much more lighthearted. The trip would be easy knowing that he would be able to enter the camp at the end.

(although I felt pretty dumb then)