Riet smiled to himself. There, on the horizon, was the tell-tale dust cloud that signified the movement of the giants. They had taken the bait. "Bingo," he thought. Now the only problem was, how to escape them unharmed? Riet debated leading them as far away as could be managed, but decided that, now that the giants were too far north to intercept Silis, it would be better to simply lose them. He would light a few more fires heading west, then strike south. With any luck, the Giants would continue west while he gradually turned east. Perhaps he could even catch up with Silis before he reached wherever the Ipetians had decided to settle.
~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~
Pijl looked uncomfortably over at the mad Nietzsche, who was picking up pebbles and studying at the ground beneath them. He had been following the army traveling west from a distance. Leaning over to his older brother and officer Snel, he whispered "Why in Fenneth's name did we have to bring him along on this expedition?"
Snel glanced over at the Ipetian in question, and sighed. "Well, he wanted to come so badly, the only way to stop him would be to tie him up. He's not really hurting anybody, poor fellow, though he is a little annoying."
"And a little creepy," replied Pijl, watching Nietzsche begin to converse with the ground under the rocks.
Snel chuckled, "So the mad always seem, for they remind us how precious our minds really are." Smiling and nodding in Nietzsche's direction, he questioned, "Have you ever considered the possibility that he may be the sane one, and we the insane?"
Pijl looked at his brother, cocked an eybrow, and said, "If he's sane, I'd rather be mad." Nietzsche picked up a bug and began inspecting its underside. "Definitely would prefer madness to that sanity."
They both broke out in laughter. Snel took out his wineskin. "A toast to sanity!" Pijl followed suit, and both drank deeply. They would begin moving again in the morning.
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