Lost in Eros
Book II: The Forest
Tracking Tascha
Don scrambled down the last gravelly decline and looked frantically about for any sign of Tascha. Now that he had finally managed to come down from the area that had been separated from the river by a steep cliff-face, Don found himself in a lightly forested, grassy hill country, through which the river ran rapidly. On the other side of the river, beyond a small, and empty, grass clearing, were more hills and a thicker forest. He, Nicole, Amy and Shelonda had followed the edge of the cliff, careful to keep an eye on the river below in case Tascha had managed to catch on to some outcropping or root. They had seen several cataracts – not too big, but large enough that anyone going over them would be plunged violently underwater. The last of those little waterfalls was only a dozen meters upriver from where Don stood now, making quite a bit of noise.
By the time the girls had caught up to him, Don was already moving downriver, hugging the waterside and looking frantically for evidence that Tascha had made it this far. It seemed that the river was gradually widening, and this meant that the current would ease up, so Don thought it was increasingly likely that Tascha would have been able to make it to shore. He thought he would probably find her waiting for them. He needed to remain convinced that he would find her impatient and wet. Still, not finding her at all was better than ... some alternatives.
After about ten minutes of his hurried chase down the river, he noticed that Nicole was trying to get his attention, calling, "Professor!"
Hoping she had spotted Tascha, he spun around, almost colliding with Shelonda, who had been trailing him closely.
"You better come look at this," Nicole said. She was looking out into the river. With a sinking heart, Don ran back to where Nicole and Amy stood.
"What is it?"
"There was something, or someone..." Nicole trailed off, staring intently at the water.
"I saw it too," Amy added.
"There!" Nicole pointed.
Sure enough, there was someone in the water. Moreover, this person seemed to be beckoning to them. Don moved closer, actually taking a few steps into the river. The beckoner disappeared under the water, only to resurface a few meters away from Don. He could now clearly see that it was a beautiful young woman with big eyes and long straight hair of dark, emerald green.
"Uh, hello," Don tried.
The green-haired young woman rose up out of the water, displaying pale, perfect breasts. She pointed upstream.
"Have you seen our friend?"
The woman repeated her gesture, more emphatically.
"Timmy's in the well?" Nicole smirked. Nobody laughed.
"I suppose she's saying we need to go back," Don said, stepping back on dry land.
"If she were here Tascha would say, 'You suppose?'" Amy said. She had already started heading back upriver.
Once they had backtracked to almost where they had finally reached the riverside, the woman in the water got their attention by splashing water at them. When they were looking, she pointed at a small clearing on the other side of the river, or at the trees beyond the clearing.
"Tascha went that way?" Don asked.
The woman nodded.
Without any hesitation, Don started into the water.
"Hold on a second, Professor!" Nicole said. When Don turned, impatience written clearly all over his face and posture, she said, "Maybe we should think about this for a minute."
"What? I can swim across that."
"Maybe," Nicole shrugged. "You don't know how fast the current is. But, that's not what I meant. We don't know anything about that woman," she nodded toward the green-haired stranger. "Maybe she's trying to lure you to a watery grave, or something. Maybe she did that to Tascha."
Getting into the spirit of things, Amy said, "And if Tascha got out of the river there, why didn't she stay there so we could find her?"
Don frowned at the girls. He knew they had good points, but he couldn't resist the conviction that Tascha could be in trouble and he had to do whatever he could to find her. Apparently he wasn't alone, because while he paused to consider Nicole and Amy's caution, Shelonda dove into the river and began crossing it, swimming a bit clumsily while holding onto her staff.
The green-haired woman watched Shelonda's progress with a smile, and made no move to interfere.
"Well, that's that," Don said, and promptly dove in after Shelonda. The current was strong, but not so strong that he couldn't compensate. After a couple of minutes, he was pulling himself out of the water. He smiled at Shelonda and said, "Thank you."
She just grinned back at him and shook the water out of her hair. Don found himself distracted by the way her tank top clung to her fit body and luscious tits. It had been an uncommonly long time since he'd had any release, after all. Shelonda broke his distracted train of thought by bending down to help Amy out of the river. Don turned to give Nicole a hand up onto the grassy bank. Once they were all on dry land, Don looked back ask the green-haired river maiden if she could give them any more information, but she was nowhere to be seen.
Don decided to reassert some direction, before the others started to succumb to the enflamed sex drive that was already making him painfully aware of the wet feminine bodies so near at hand. He said, "OK, well, if Tascha came up here, something must have made her leave. Otherwise, as Amy pointed out, she would be here waiting for us. So, let's look around and see if there's some kind of sign or evidence of ... something."
"There are animal tracks over here," Nicole said after a moment. The others gathered around a patch of dirt where a number of prints were clearly visible.
"Hoof prints," Don nodded. "Deer maybe... No, pigs, or goats maybe."
"Kind of big for goats, don't you think?" Nicole asked.
