Ghelfunn slid back into the darkness of the fallen tree trunk, the men outside resting near the hidden entrance to his hiding place. He was lying on his back, feet pointed toward the entrance, hands at his side. He listened as men's voices filled the inner chamber in which he was entombed, their laughter echoing off the slick walls inside the wooden stump. The tree trunk was rotted, hollowed out by years of decay. Luckily, it was a large enough for a man to use as shelter against the seasonal elements.
He had been in worse situations but at the moment Ghelfunn couldn’t remember when. This is not good, he sighed. It’s going to be a long night. Why had the assassins stopped? Had they lost his trail? More than likely they wanted to sleep. Even the queen's henchmen needed sleep. Ghelfunn estimated twelve men were just outside the entrance to his temporary new tree house. He realized he was living inside this grounded tree house, not nestled outside among tree limbs and leaves up high in the air. Perhaps hiding inside a tree sprawled out on the ground was an advantage, not a liability. The thick walls of the tree trunk should prevent the assassins from hearing him, but he was taking no chances. He tried his best to remain still, making no noise. How long were these men were going to be in camp? That was anyone's guess.
Ghelfunn’s mind wandered, listing those moments in his life when death seemed a real possibility. It was a long list, to be sure. His thoughts of the past slid past him in a blurring of images, feelings, regrets. The death of his father and the subsequent run for his own life still haunted him. He was just a child then. It seemed ages ago, not just a few years. How did he survive? Udan, of course, had saved him. Where is Udan now? Is he alive? Ghelfunn had last seen his friend in battle minutes before the king died. Udan was standing over a bleeding Nprudi, removing his knife, when Ghelfunn left his side to assist the king.
The king’s honor guard trained relentlessly to anticipate threats to the Royal and his family, using their skills to protect them. Where was our training when the king was slain yesterday? Ghelfunn understood that training and skill were effective only to a degree. Even with his experience as a king’s guard, Ghelfunn could not remember anything like this, ominously stuck inside a tree trunk with a dozen assassins a few feet away. He felt like laughing at the absurdity of it but declined to take this predicament lightly. One wrong move would mean certain death. If Udan hears about this, he’ll never let me forget it, he thought.
Inside the decaying tree it was warm enough. Ghelfunn wouldn’t freeze to death. Although wet with rotten leaves and debris, the floor and walls provided shelter against the cool winds outside. The odor reminded him of moist leaves and dung laced with a putrid scent of dying flesh. Ghelfunn was familiar with the smell of dying flesh and he smelled it now. Had other men or animals used this tree trunk to escape the elements? Ghelfunn considered it likely. All creatures used the death and decay of other living things for survival, he thought. That's the way of things. The Royals used armies and war to protect themselves, didn't they? The death and destruction of their enemies were necessary for the survival of the kingdom. Ghelfunn felt it was certain this hollowed out rotten tree trunk, lying on its side in the middle of this forsaken and darkened forest, had for decades saved the lives countless creatures.
Holding his breath, Ghelfunn quietly reached behind him, stretching out from his current reclining position, hoping to find a second opening further down the length of the trunk. He wanted an escape route in case an assassin decided to poke his head inside the entrance. The tree trunk lying on its side made Ghelfunn feel like he was in a kind of strange tunnel or elongated cave. Although he was lying down with his feet near the entrance, he had plenty of head room and could change direction to escape if necessary. As he reached backward into the darkness using his right hand, he felt something move.
