A Sleepy Game of Cards with Monsters

Gonyaul was fast to fall asleep when Voah took the first watch, blanketed by a glorious feeling of peace that had been denied to their circumstances on many an occasion during their trek across the desert. It wasn't just the camouflage idea with the reeds that had him feeling at ease, but the supportive presence of the river itself. A river runs to and fro, and it connected their final destination will a real permanence that was now feasible to obtain. It also sparked the hope that should they ever wish to return east, not through the unforgiving desert would they need to travel, but instead the same river would lend a hand back again. It was a source of life sustaining fluids, a place to wash the toils of a hard day away from clothes and body alike, and it filled the immediate vicinity with a slight hint of moisture in the air that had been painfully lacking to the skin and facial orifices. In other words, Gonyaul slept peacefully with a smile on his face because he had two friends by his side; a best friend in Voah and a new friend in the River.

It came as no surprise that his relaxed state led to dreams of the most agreeable sort. He lucidly could feel control of his wondrous environment and actions. It was all very silly, and should he have been able to remember it when he woke it would have been quite the tall tale that either would have others laughing in amusement or questioning his sanity.

Come to think of it, Gonyaul would end up remembering one small instance from the dream. It was a game of cards, a game which he was not particularly skilled at to begin with, against a giant desert scorpion and monstrous mountain ape. He was definitely losing, they were keeping track by using acorns and pebbles as collateral, while the scorpion was presently in the lead. It mattered not to Gonyaul, content to simply be their enjoying the game itself with these two other players and not at all bothered by the competition they bested him with. The mountain ape was not as keen in attitude and had occasionally flared up in tantrum to the stoic demeanor and frequent winnings of the scorpion. It was all in good fun, ending in Gonyaul sharing newly baked bread covered in fresh butter and a hint of cinnamon to all present. He didn't know if these two ate such things, but in his dream they were most grateful to partake in it. Just before he awoke, they had moved on to have a discourse of important matters. The scorpion was just about to explain the importance of all existence, the mountain ape smirking knowingly that such information would change someone's perspective of all reality forever, but alas he just missed hearing it because his eyes opened.

He slowly sat up. He could tell, having gone through this routine many times now with Voah, that based on his senses of observation, he had overslept. Voah would have been just at the inside entrance of their tent, keeping out of the sun as much as possible and occasionally doing a small round about the camp before retreating back to shade. Grateful for the extra rest and looking forward to relieving her so she may do the same, he was amiss when he noticed her absent. Not to worry, he thought, she was just outside no doubt.

Gonyaul did not find her about the camp either. Nor did his loud calls of her name suddenly produce the woman of his heart's desire on the scene. His worries were given a place to take root. Where was she? What happened? Was she safe or in danger? He searched and searched, putting all his tracking skills to the limits. To his best judgement, he deduced she had been at the edge of the river last. But there was no sign of her there now, nor where she could have gone to.

Had one of the creatures from the river ambushed her and carried her off as a new tenant of its belly? No, he thought, there would have been sounds of struggle and signs of it as well on the rivers edge. Had she gone for a swim and lost to a tyrannical current closer to the center, where the moving water didn't have to cling to the edges? No, that would have been negligent of her responsibility to keep watch.

He went through what felt like more possible scenarios then there were reeds along the river, and each one of them he could logically dismiss. He suddenly came to the realization, if all logical explanations have been used up perhaps it was an illogical reason that was the truth. But what might that be? Those possibilities could be infinitely variable. He frowned in dismay and tried to come up with a stratagem for this terribly scary predicament, doing his thinking back inside the tent.

Not long after, he emerged dressed and ready to go searching. He thought it unlikely that she had been stolen away or abandoned him on her own accord; however, he could at least do his due diligence and check. The plan was to travel far enough down the river towards their final destination to also be able to turn around and return to their campsite. He would leave the camp and only take what was necessary for his individual survival, just incase she returned to the camp from another direction. He left a marker to indicate where he had gone inside the tent, it was abstractly showing that he indeed had gone in the direction west with the river. And with a plan and a hopeful heart that he would find her, Gonyaul went searching. Should he fail, he had a backup reserve of hope whispering that she would be waiting for him at the camp when he returned.