On the other side of the prairie stood a dense copse of trees with a narrow trail running through the middle. More than a few cedar trees and even taller cottonwood trees towered over the smaller scrub oak, their slender trunks twisted and gnarled together in what seemed to be a giant knot. Dark green bushes and small dots of purple rested at the base of the tree trunks.
A flat-topped hill rose above the tree line, and they could see thin lines of pale gray layered through the packed red dirt. The plateau would provide good protection from the west.
As they made their way closer, the gurgling and trickling of water could be heard as it cascaded over and around small rocks layering the shallow bottom, and they caught several glimpses of the silvery liquid as it ran along the base of the p
