CHAPTER 7

The operative word here is "tried," as each of her senses was beginning to fail.

She could no longer hear the breeze rustling through the firs or the birds chirping in the trees; all she could hear was her labored breathing and the thunder of her blood in her ears. She erred in her assessment of the terrain due to her blurry sight. The earth appeared to quake. She then lost her balance.

She slashed and skinned her hands while grabbing onto bushes and brambles in an attempt to stop herself from falling down the steep hill. She first misplaced her hat, then her spectacles. One earring was scratched off by a branch, then the other. Every branch on her path was entangled in her hair, which was pulling at her scalp and causing the branches and twigs to release their grip as she rolled. Her entire body was crushed and wounded as she descended, pounding against rocks and tree stumps while gritting her teeth in discomfort.

She briefly fretted about the hideous disguise and the trail she had l