Sirius cursed as he tripped over a particularly well concealed root which had managed to work it’s way out of the ground. Anyone who was was watching him could easily tell that he was more accustomed to sitting on his behind and telling people what to do. Not hiking through miles of remote forest. No one was ever watching though. Apart from the two bodyguards but they weren’t paid to think. Unfortunatly for Sirius, this year there was something watching.
For the past eighteen years he had clawed his way through these damned forests, and for the thirty seven years before that his Great Uncle had done the same. Always the same routine - two guards, who usually disappeared mysteriously or died in the most obscure ways shortly after the expedition, accompanied the Director of Paragon Industries on a journey that involved walking the best part of one hundred miles through “uncharted territory”. They weren’t in Elafos anymore, in fact the last remnants of Elafosian civilisation were the twenty Aquitanian border guards about two hundred miles away, who had to be paid obscene amounts of money to forget about Sirius’ little mission. It was all worth it though.
The rules were strange. Always three people, maximum. They could travel most of the way however they wanted (helicopter on this occasion) but had to land at a designated place and walk the rest of the way. The rules had been broken once, by his Great Uncle who returned home alone with one hand less than he had gone with. How they knew that the rules were broken was beyond the current Director.
The forests were literally empty apart from some wildlife, nothing dangerous though. Never anyone else there, apart from the one they were going to meet with. The destination was always the same place, some sort of ruins which Sirius would swear seemed to rearrange itself annually. Just being in the place gave him headache and thinking about it seemed to cause physical discomfort. On more than one occasion one of his guards had wandered off and simply disappeared.
“Just up ahead. Stay close. I need someone to pilot the helicopter.” Sirius stumbled through the undergrowth, having sped up after glancing at his GPS.
“How do you know…? Sir, your GPS is… It’s stopped working!”
Sirius turned and smiled. “Exactly!”