Universal Workshop
books etc. by
Guy Ottewell
Early morning. He went out onto the moist grass, threw a colored stone,
and walked after it into a woodland, using a stick to beat nettles and
brambles aside. The baleful plants grew tall and tried to fall back on
him; he slashed them aside the more savagely. His path curved among the
trees. Its shape pleased him. The path curved, was out of sight of the
camp, and now out of sound. He became scared and turned back. That was
enough for the day. The road followed his path.
In the evenings the roadbuilders sat around their fire to eat and talk.
Days later, the boy had to push ahead again.
He came to something reddish, half buried in undergrowth. It was an old
wall. The wall was decayed and low, and he climbed over it. He found his
way among a few other ruined structures. In one of them a girl was hiding.
The girl was not killed but taken into the camp, and she became the
boy's companion.