"Reunited..." - Chapter Fifty-Six

Reunited...

Chapter Fifty-Six

By Douglas E. Gogerty

The storm raged for most of the day, and Prince William could do nothing about it. He sat in his suncar and worried. He was in the middle of a war zone, and all he could do was sit in his vehicle and wait.

With the limited amount of sun that made it through the storm clouds, his suncar batteries were getting some charge. However, he would not be able to go far. Further, if he found that he had to get away fast, he would lose the distance he could travel. On days like this, he wished that he had another form of transportation. For now, all he could do was sit and worry.

With every clap of thunder, he jumped. Every crackle and boom he thought was gunfire or worse. It was just the storm, but he could not relax. He fidgeted and squirmed in his seat until the storm passed. It seemed that the storm raged and then went away. The sun began to peak through the clouds. He could go farther down the road, but it would not be worth it. So, he decided to set up his tent in the same place he had the previous night.

When he went to the ravine, it was now full of water. The once dry ravine was now a babbling brook. Unless the Prince wanted to camp in the middle of a stream and get soaking wet, he was not going to be able to set up his tent in the same spot. Hidden in the ravine was such a good spot, but it was not going to happen this night. His tent was likely to be much more visible now.

A little way off there was a clump of trees. They were on a bit of a rise, so the ground would be moderately dry around them. He would have to find a suitably flat spot that the trees shielded from the road. That was a bit of a problem. In many places, the tree roots were exposed. The Prince did not want to lie on the exposed roots. On the other hand, if he moved far enough from the trees, he lost his cover. He had a decision to make.

He decided that he would not sleep much in either instance, so he found as flat a surface as he could near the trees. The Prince gathered up some grass and leaves to cushion the ground a bit. He felt that cover was more important that comfort. Thus, his spot was chosen to be mostly invisible to the road. He grabbed some underbrush to hide his tent even more. When his camp was set up, he was satisfied that it would not be spotted from the road.

Despite the clearing clouds, some light showers fell upon him. The sun was shining, but he was still getting rained upon. He felt that was just his luck.

Also from the wet of the rain, he walked around the damp ground. Thus, when his camp was finished, he longed to be dry. He grumbled at the situation, but what was done was done. Nonetheless, it meant he wanted to start a fire. It would dry him out.

Away from his tent and away from the suncar, he found a spot to build the fire. There was plenty of wood around, so he gathered quite a bit. It was still early evening, and he would not be getting into his tent for several more hours. He also thought a warm meal would be good.

Some of the wood was wet, but it was not long before there was a big hot fire. He used the fire to dry out some of the wood before placing it on the fire. It was larger than he wanted, but it felt too good to contain it.

It was still light out, so it would not be noticed from afar, the Prince reasoned.

Thus, he did not attempt to keep it contained. He dried his clothes as he stood around the fire in some undergarments. He was warm and getting dry and it felt great.

He cooked his meal over the fire, and he kept putting more and more wood into it. The Prince kept it contained with some rocks, so there was no worry about setting the place on fire. Thus, he did not worry about how big it got. He planned on letting it die down as soon as it began to get dark.

As the sun went down, Prince William was still enjoying the fire. It could be seen for miles. It was burning too brightly by the time he realized what he had done. He put some damp grass and leaves onto it in an attempt to put it out. All it did was put out a large cloud of smoke. The smoke turned bright white against the twilight. It was even more obvious than the fire.

Further, there was no wind, so the cloud of smoke hung over his camp. It practically pointed right to him. He smacked himself in the head for being so dumb. He ran up to the road to check it out. In the distance, he could not see anything. He listened for any sound. He stood there for several minutes, but all was silent.

He sniffed the air, but all he could smell was burning damp grass. That did not make him happy. However, he did not know what he was attempting to get from smelling the air.

All signs led him to believe that he did not attract any attention. He let out a big sigh. He decided to completely put out his fire. He gathered up more leaves and grass to help smother the fire. Then he realized there was plenty of water in the ravine. He grabbed a bucked from his supplies and collected some water.

After putting more leaves and grass on the fire, he poured the water slowly onto the fire. It hissed and steamed. He gathered another bucket and made sure the fire was completely out. The big fire pit might be noticeable, but not more so than his suncar. He was confident his tent was well hidden, so he was not concerned about the situation.

It was now quite dark. The sun was completely down. He was going to check the road one more time, but when he turned there was a man all in black standing behind him.

"Aaaaaahhhh!" he yelled instinctively.

The man rushed him, and tackled him to the ground. Before the Prince could utter another sound, the man covered the Prince's mouth.