Reblogged from The Story Reading Ape, a guest post from Jemima Pett:

Welcome back to episode three of my Saga of the Adventurers (working title), sees us back with Talbot, the fox-rabbit we met in January.

Just a reminder, every second Sunday of the month I’m doing a serial with an original illustration from the wonderful Dani English, who also does my book covers. If you missed the previous months, here is January, and here February.

Now read on…

The Reality of Adventuring

Talbot Ponsonby-Booth whimpered in his sleep.

Maybe it was the cold rain, his sore feet, or just some dream born of the dangers of the forest. Nothing had changed. He’d been whimpering before he even fell asleep.

~

Two days of bounding along the sunlit forest paths had been replaced by a day of walking through dark firs that reached to the sky in serried ranks, leaving no space for light to penetrate. He searched the ground, but there was nothing he could eat below them. His tummy rumbled, and he hushed it, looking around fearfully. There was nowhere to go but onwards, hoping for a stream to wet his lips, some grass at the edge, some nuts fallen from a stray oak.

By the time he reached the trees at the edge of the cliff his hope had disappeared.

Continue reading at The Story Reading Ape