The package is on its way, in case we lose one of them he can serve as a reasonable substitute.

Message received at the Jengai Pass fortress.

Jonah threw himself to the side. He cried out in pain, his ankle twisted, caught as it was in the bark. The animal that had lunged at him groaned displeasure, having missed its target. No sooner had it touched Jonah's old spot than it leapt towards him.

Jonah weaved the increase, breaking the bark that was holding him back with force. Rolling on himself Jonah tried to avoid the beast's second attack, fortunately, he was positioned on the length, otherwise, he would have fallen from the tree. As the animal fell on him Jonah threw a punch.

He managed to hit the beast's head, but its weight was such that it fell heavily on Jonah, taking his breath away. His blow had stunned the animal, and before it could regain its senses Jonah pushed it forcefully, sending it tumbling off his tree branch.

As he caught his breath Jonah could hear the animal's distressed whimper as it fell from the tree. Then the silence. He hadn't even heard it hit the ground.

Getting up, limping, he moved closer to where he had slept, with a sigh of relief he retrieved his Svärdstav, fortunately, they had not touched it during their brief struggle, causing it to fall.

Remorseful of his excessive caution Jonah carefully moved his ankle, it didn't seem to be weakened. It had always been strong, and since his presence in the Emerald Kingdom, it had only gotten stronger. He was relieved not to have the handicap of a broken ankle.

Glancing at the squirrel family's nest and seeing it empty, Jonah thought the little animals had shown more intelligence than he had. He should have known better than to assume that the treetops were a safe place.

As he pondered what to do with the rest of the night, the forest shook. A huge roar of pain and rage was heard. The sounds of the forest stopped.

Jonah heard the sound of breaking bark, some of the leaves above him fell, something huge was climbing the tree he had chosen as a refuge.

Cold sweat soaked Jonah's back, without a moment's hesitation he started to run, upwards. He climbed. For the first time in his adventure in the forest, he regretted having chosen such a cumbersome weapon. His Svärdstav was slowing him down, hindering him as he climbed from branch to branch. Yet he didn't give a single thought to his abandonment, he might need it soon.

A roar sounded, so loud that it shook the branches around Jonah. Loud enough that the noise knocked him off balance. Catching himself he continued, searching, watching.

The monster roaring again, closer, Jonah heard the sound of breaking branches, he had already reached the top of the tree. Panic threatened to overwhelm him, Jonah controlled it violently, he couldn't afford to let the fear dictate his conduct.

Finally, he saw it, his salvation. Without hesitation, Jonah ran to the branch. Branches of wood, pieces of bark flew around him. He could hear a low rumble just below him. Jonah didn't even glance at it as he concentrated on his goal. Weaving the increase, even beyond what his body could contain, he also wove the air around him, trying to create wind.

The tree branch he was standing on shook, a roar sounded, the noise so loud that Jonah felt himself being pushed forward, his ears protected by the weave around his head. Good. With a mighty blow, Jonah used this aid to leap forward with all his might.

He jumped, using the wind he had prepared to push himself further. Weaving to relieve the air pressure in front of him Jonah flew. The experience would have been one he would enjoy if he wasn't running for his life.

Misjudging the force of his jump, Jonah overshot his target, the branch of the tree he targeted passing underneath him. Falling on a higher branch, against the bark, he heard a sickening crack in his torso, he felt a liquid flow. With his feet in the air, he quickly climbed up the tree branch, feeling no pain as the adrenaline kicked in.

Before he could check where he had been injured there was a deafening noise. Glancing towards its source Jonah's eyes widened in horror. A huge shadow was coming towards him. The monster had followed him.

Thinking no further, Jonah ran back, more and more desperate. The tree shook, the monster had arrived. Heavier than him, it had fallen much lower than him, but still much too close for Jonah.

Again Jonah went in search of a tree branch to jump off. There. This time Jonah reached his target without the monster-catching him, he jumped. Landing heavily on the tree branch, he barely had time to touch his side where the liquid had flowed. Still running, he brought his hand back in front of him. It was hard to tell because of the shadow of the forest, but passing over a corner of the tree where the moon had managed to get through the thick foliage he saw no blood. If he still had the breath for it Jonah would have sighed with relief, it must have been his gourd that had broken.

A new creak in his back told him that his pursuer wanted a piece of him. As he approached his next objective Jonah felt himself being lifted by the force of the monster's arrival. The roar was physically painful, but ignoring it Jonah caught himself on a branch with his left hand before pushing forward with force. Once his foot was on the bark he jumped again.

As he flew through the sky, the moonlight witnessing his desperate effort, Jonah thought to himself that he could not go on much longer. If there wasn't a tree branch far enough away for him to jump to another tree, he would be dead. If the monster caught him, he would be dead. If he continued, his Prism would no longer be able to give him the energy to weave, and he would be dead. As Jonah landed again, several scenarios ran through his mind, all ending in his death.

He had to find a viable solution. And if he couldn't... Jonah refused to die while he was running, if it came to that then he would fight the beast. It would probably be very short, but Jonah was determined to choose how he would die.

Then a crazy idea crossed his mind, swallowing the lump in his throat, he took a few seconds he couldn't afford to lose to slice his left hand with his Svärdstav. As he ran he used his blood to create a rune on his chest, the only available surface in his situation. As he jumped, the breath of the beast uncomfortably hot on his back he infused the rune with the energy that made up his prism.

Jonah felt a resistance, which he broke with force, suddenly the energy began to flow, the rune he had crudely drawn on his chest glowed, before burning. A smell of burning leather reached Jonah's nostrils. The rune glowed for half a second, before fading away.

Jonah, still moving, waited for something to happen. Only the sounds of their running could be heard, and as Jonah ducked to avoid a broken branch that flew towards him, he had to face the fact that nothing happened.

Had he failed? Perhaps the rune was badly drawn, or perhaps there was no one to answer. According to the book he had read, the rune was like a bell to attract the attention of certain conscious beings. But it didn't mean that they had to answer.

As he jumped towards a new tree, Jonah was mentally preparing himself. With no immediate solution left, he prepared to die. On his terms.

If he could have prepared he was sure he could have put things in place that would have saved him. With just a little time he could create a Virendi smoothing that would have been devastating enough that if it hadn't killed the beast, it would have hurt it enough to make a fairer account for him.

Landing on the tree branch as he rolled, Jonah began to look for a place to make his last stand. Ideally, he would wait for the beast to land in the tree and then jump on it. If he could repeat what he had done with the wyvern, riding on its back, maybe he had a chance.

Finding nothing for his needs Jonah turned around. He wanted to get a look at the beast. It came, so large that its shape obscured the moon. As the monster fell, Jonah met its hateful gaze. The monster was so dark that it was difficult to see in the night. As the beast was about to land and Jonah prepared to jump on it, a shadow almost as big collided with it.

The impact was titanic, breaking the branch where Jonah was standing. As he fell, Jonah could hear two monsters roar, one with a low, unknown roar and the other with the fiery roar of his pursuer. Both monsters were falling.

Not believing his luck, Jonah caught a still-whole branch before running again. He heard the beasts land on the ground, from the roar that followed they must have survived and been fighting.

Indifferent to who would win this fight Jonah set off, jumping from tree to tree, getting as far away from the battle area as possible. After more than an hour of running, Jonah came down and tore the bark off a tree before rubbing it all over his body. He didn't know if the monster would be able to find him by his scent, but if it did, he preferred to make it as difficult as possible to find. After coating himself with enough resin to make himself sticky, Jonah set off again.

He didn't stop until the first light of day hit the forest, and several times he thought he was going to die, either by falling out of a tree or by attracting the attention of another beast in the night. Yet he did not stop until he saw the first light. Only then did he let himself collapse from exhaustion. Before sinking into unconsciousness he dug a hole in the bark of the tree, deep enough for him to sit down and contort his body. He struggled to get his Svärdstav in, but deciding that it would never leave his hand again he dug a little longer with it so that it could enter the hole with him. Once the hole was made, with the help of the weaving, he used the remains of the bark he had dug to close off part of the cavity, leaving just enough space for air to pass through. Only then did he fall unconscious.

Jonah woke up in a panic, he didn't know where he was, he couldn't move. He coughed, his lungs aching, only then did he remember where he was. Slowly he moved.

The position he had assumed was painful, his body was so stiff that he could not move. For a brief moment of panic, he wondered if he was going to be stuck like this until he died of thirst. He pulled himself together to dislodge the bark that he had clumsily closed. After nearly ten stifling and slightly claustrophobic minutes Jonah managed to get out of the hole he had dug himself.

Taking a deep breath of fresh air, he looked up at the sky and was unable to see the sun, hidden as it was by the foliage. Nevertheless, from the brightness that came through the canopy, he assumed it was shortly after mid-afternoon. He must have managed to get some sleep.

Shivering as he thought about the previous night Jonah found it difficult to settle on an idea of what to do next. Letting his thoughts drift for a few minutes while enjoying the pleasant temperature of the forest Jonah finally decided on what to do.

Deciding to continue with his plan from the day before he began to climb higher into the tree. Once he reached the top of the tree he looked around again. He had come closer to the mountains. The frantic run of the previous night had taken him far off course.

Still tired but not letting this news demotivate him, Jonah took an hour to weave enough water for himself to quench his thirst and have enough to fill his new canteen.

The light was already starting to fade and Jonah hesitated to go straight back, perhaps looking for an animal to hunt or to reach the next day. One thing worried him, he was unable to remember the direction he had taken yesterday, yet he wanted to avoid the territory of the beast whose cub he had probably killed. He didn't know if he had survived his fight with the other beast, but if he did he hoped to be as far away as possible from his previous location. Unfortunately, he would not know if the direction he was going to take would bring him closer to the beast's territory until it was too late.

Sitting on the highest branch of the tree capable of supporting his weight Jonah ate the few berries that had survived his frantic run. Some of his pockets were sticky with crushed berries, mixed with dust and bark. Yet he didn't let that stop him, and he ate all he could, his body searching for energy.

As he watched the sunset behind the mountains to the west he thought about planning protection for the night. He was not yet skilled enough in external weaving to weave permanent weaves, but he knew the principle. And his latest worries motivated him enough to try again. At least to create an alarm that would warn him of any approaching beast.

The problem was that he was only able to weave together basic weaves, and what he had in mind required a complexity he was not yet able to do. Although Lenael told him that he was capable of weaving that would normally take the Eldar years to learn, Jonah found himself too slow to learn. After several unsuccessful attempts, he had to face the fact that he was not yet able to weave anything other than the basic weaves.

However, he was happy with what he had done. Already he was faster at weaving, it took less effort for more results. It was becoming instinctive for him, and if he already felt like a superman with the internal weaving, he felt that there was much more potential in the external weaving. External weaving was supposed to have insurmountable limits, but from where he was Jonah was unable to see them. Was he too inexperienced, and therefore not yet able to see the walls that were coming at him? Or was the special situation he was in, with his extended prism allowing him more than the Eldar?

Jonah wasn't arrogant enough to think he could discover weavings that millennia of Weavers had not found before him, but perhaps some of their most powerful knowledge was hidden, given only to those who were worthy or who would serve a specific Eldar purpose. Jonah thought he was capable of discovering these secrets. Perhaps after his mission to the Towers, before leaving for Tyrlaon, he would go west to Teclera to the towers of the Star Thinkers. They were the home of the greatest Weavers, and where the greatest Weaver academies were built.

Jonah realised how far ahead of himself he was getting, but he couldn't help it. The Weaving had opened doors for him that he was not about to close.

Rising to his feet, Jonah resigned himself to spending another night in the cavity he had carved in the tree's bark. Cautiously descending, he advanced between the branches, the night walking with him he finally arrived when the sun was hidden by the mountains. Deciding not to relive the experience of his earlier awakening he took the time to crudely create hinges in the wood, making a crude door in the tree.

Satisfied he entered his little house, wedged his Svärdstav in the place provided for it, and closed the door. If one day an Eldar adventurer were to climb this tree he would have a strange surprise when he found a door up there.

Once again sleeping very badly Jonah woke up a little before dawn very stiff. Deciding not to wait for sunrise he competently climbed down the tree. At least this adventure had given him some real climbing experience.

Once he reached the forest floor the day had dawned. Heading in the direction of the landmark he had set for himself, towards the north, he kept an eye on his surroundings to avoid encountering a dangerous monster, and to look for the game he could hunt. He was not lucky in this respect. He did notice animal tracks here and there but he was not a good enough tracker to follow them. Not that he would have taken that risk, he didn't want to get lost again and have to take several hours to climb a tree again to find the right direction. At this rate, it would take him several weeks to find a civilised area.

As he was not lucky enough to find a hare running in front of him as he had on the first day in this forest Jonah contented himself with replenishing the few berries he could find on his journey, taking the ones he had been offered on their journey from Irvanon to Tuanon. He wasn't desperate enough to use the fruits that were unknown to him. Remembering the plant with the deliciously attractive fruit he strengthened his resolve.

As the day wore on he began to get some experience in spotting the monsters that regularly crossed his path. He had to run a few times to avoid some particularly aggressive beasts whose territory he had entered, but they were content to ignore him once they were away.

But if on his third day in the forest, Jonah had not yet encountered a beast whose appetite he would have triggered, he was certain that it was only a matter of time.