Echoes of Resistance-The Journey Begins

The moonlight shined down on me as I climbed the hillside, aiming towards the south-east as the map Uncle Sid had drawn instructed. I never met my uncle Sid, who was my father's uncle. He had been involved in a failed resistance against Hadrik the Sixth and after getting caught, had been pubically tortured before disappearing. A couple of years ago, when my curiosity had gotten the better of me, I'd decided to look through the trunk that we always used as a chair. The map had been buried beneath my mother's wedding dress, my father's books and several other mementos and curios that I'd put back. Without knowing, why, I'd decided to keep the map and was now using it to try an escape away from Hadrik.
I'd not told anyone, not wanting to risk anyone's life if someone decided to report my runaway status, so my family and friends would know in the morning. Not that I had any friends, except Lars. I tripped over a rock and focused my mind back on the trail taking caution as I went up. I frowned as Lars filtered back into my thoughts. He would be upset with me for running away without telling him, mostly because he enjoyed telling me all the harrowing things that might happen on a journey. Lars had an imagination that King Hadrik defintely would not approve of. When he told his stories, he got much too excited, something that concerned me. Lars was who I worried about the most, now that Anya was no longer alive. He would not have me to tell his stories to, so other's would see his excitment. I'd even seen him smile once when telling a story, a hanging offense.
Mama would cry when she found I had run away, but then, she always cried anyway. Papa wouldn't say anything, and if Krysta said anything at all, it would be something angry. I wondered how long it would take for the villagers to notice that Earl Swenson had run away. Probably a while. Most people didn't notice me very much anyway, and when they did it was only for a few minutes. I focused on the trail when once again, I tripped. The trudging continued up, up, up and then I reached the top of the first mountain, just as the moon disappeared behind a cloud. I began to go down, which took much faster. All night long, I went up hills and moutnains and down into valleys before I finally found a nice cave to rest in for the day.