Far Away From Here

Take your journey into the wilderness

Deuteronomy 8:40

“Which way is Aresisia?” Sambeth called over her shoulder. 

The sun was rising higher in the sky now. The air was dense and rich. The light shone pinkish across the sky. Sem glanced at the sun and twisted back to look at the direction of Tetrahin, falling further and further behind them. 

“Look!” Sambeth cried. 

Sem followed the direction of her arm and spotted a familiar greyish-brindle shape slipping through the trees and out into an open stretch. 

“Agnor!” 

Sambeth flinched at the loud bellow blasting next to her ear but she saw the dog start and look around. 

“Can we–?” Sem began.

“Yes,” she answered. 

Without prompting, Pip slowed drastically and slipped down low to skim slowly across the ground. Sem called out again to the giant hound. Agnor saw his beloved master and stopped, peering uncertainly but he trusted Sem and held his ground.

As the shimerith passed Sem called, “Now Agnor.” 

The dog raced and sprang as Sem leaned far over. He hooked an arm around the dog’s neck and drew his head up on his lap at the same time he swung Agnor’s body behind him. There he was, in one neat move, sitting behind Sem with his head still tucked under his master’s arm.

The shimerith climbed steeply, levelling off as he surpassed the tree tops. Sambeth was concentrating on keeping a tight grip.

“Did you get him?” she called back.

She heard Sem say yes but she couldn’t quite believe it until she looked around and saw for herself. 

There that dog lay, leaning in tightly, curving around his master’s back, head poking through the crook of his arm. Her eyes met Sem’s, eyebrows raised. 

“How did you do that?”  

“He often leaps up behind me on the horse,” Sem explained, “he’s done it ever since he was a young pup and got tired on the hunt. We can even gallop like this.”  

She turned back around and leaned over Pip’s shoulder, laying along the long neck, “Fly, Pip. Fly. Take us far from here. Proximus is out there somewhere and he’ll be back.”