The group walked in silence. For half an hour they ascended, crisscrossing over the two streams. The march up the mountain had been slow and dangerous. The rain had fallen the day before the group arrived, and now the soil was waterlogged, giving their boots no purchase in the slippery mud.
Carefully, they hopped over a deep rift one by one. The last of their number slipped on the bank and lost their footing. The mud, dragging them into the rift. They grabbed at the roots of short trees and bushes. But their muddy hands could not hold on tightly.
ns 15.158.61.203da2
