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which she lay. Bracing her feet, she straightened her knees. There was resistance at her back where Madog had packed earth and dead leaves around her, but several strong pushes with legs made very powerful by years of coursing game forced the blockage aside. Rhiannon's head and shoulders emerged from the hollow. |
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It was extremely difficult, Rhiannon found, to balance when one's feet were tied together and one's hands were bound. She had discovered this while she was levering herself upright against a tree. Having spared a moment to listen and be assured that no one had noticed her partial escape, she chose a level spot and jumped. Landing safely but painfully on her turned ankle, she balanced herself, looked for another spot, and jumped again. |
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At first her eagerness and anxiety grew with each foot of progress. Because success seemed within her grasp, she feared more acutely that her abductor would return to snatch it away from her. She began to choose landing places farther and farther apart. At last she overestimated her ability and fell. The bruises were painful, the disappointment and effort needed to regain her feet more so. It was clearly impossible for her to get far enough away to elude pursuers in this manner. Moreover, she was leaving a trail that a blind man could follow. Thus, it would be better to find a sharp or rough enough rock on which she could rub her hands free. |
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This was less easily done than said. The soil of the forest was rocky enough, but years of blown soil and fallen leaves obscured any but the largest stones. These, moreover, were smoothed by millennia of wind and rain. The only place a sharp-edged rock might be found was in a stream, where the freshets of spring tumbled stones over each other so hard that they cracked or tore rough rocks from the earth of the banks. |
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