Time passed as the three rode their horses through the rolling hills, not stopping until they were sure they were far away from danger. The green dunes stretched for as far as the eye could see. Animals here ran to their heart’s content while small forest patches provided shelter. Rivers filled with fish cut through the grassy slopes providing freshwater with the sun reflecting off of it like dew glistening in the morning. A variety of birds flew up high as some chipped in their lush trees.

The horses slowed down after running for so long, Nia decided it’d be best to let them rest and eat near the river. They came to a halt next to an enormous boulder that was sticking out of the ground, letting the horses relax along with themselves in the shade. Once off the stead, Sebastian felt the weight of what had transpired build up in him like a mountain falling on him.

“Damn it!” Sebastian shouted as he banged his fist once on the rock, “What the hell are we supposed to do?”

Nia sat on a fallen old log near the water, trying to suppress her anger as she bit her lower lip, “I don’t know, but now that we are out of there, we have to think of something we can do.”

“There isn’t much we CAN do. People that we lived along with have either been kidnapped to who knows where or been killed.” Camila kicked a rock that made a splash in the water, anger coursing through her, “I want to learn who sent them to our village. Once I know the name of that bastard, I’ll hunt them down and kill them myself.”

Sebastian, sensing the fury in Camila swell up, felt the same desire rise, “I agree, but we need a plan. We can’t just make things up as we go.” As he talked, he remembered the three people he witnessed that night before they left for the woods. “Also, there is something I need to say before anything else-” His palms grew sweaty as he began forming the sentence in his head, “- the night before leaving for Willbury Woods, I saw three of the thieves lurking above the houses before running into the trees…”

Camila sharply turned around and stomped her way toward him, “And you didn’t mention this to us... why?” She reached out at him to grab his shirt, pulling him closer to her.

The sudden turn against him caused fear to flush onto him, “I-I didn’t know this was going to happen! There was a guard there and told me it was fine!”

“And you believed him?!” Camila shoved Sebastian back, causing him to stumble and fall next to where Nia sat. “Damn it, Sebastian! What the hell is wrong with you? You know the guards can barely be trusted! The only reason they listened to my family is because the council paid them, but their allegiance isn’t with us, it’s with Eth’Lance City!” The rage inside subsided, her shoulders slumped down as her expression turned to sorrow, “I thought-” Tears formed in her eyes, “- you would always tell me everything. I could have saved them…”

Sebastian picked himself up and raised his hand forward, “Camila, if-”

“Save it.” Camila walked away from both of them, crossing to the other side of the river.

A moment passed, then Nia wiped a tear on her cheek, “She has a point Sebastian, but if you had told us, we might have gotten hurt.” She stood up from the log and placed her hand on his shoulder, “Thank you for not telling us.”

Giving in to his grief, Sebastian fell onto his knees, letting it out as Nia hugged him, crying beside him. “Why did this have to happen?” A tightness swelled up in his chest, his heart ached for his family and how he may not see them again. He ripped grass off the ground, trying to dig out his frustration.

The sunny sky transformed to dark, the ebony ceiling looming over them like a black cloud. Before nightfall, Nia and Sebastian caught fish from the water using their weapons. They built a campfire near the water using sticks and dry leaves they found up top a hill inside a patch of woodland. Sebastian beheaded and gutted the fish along with removing the bones to place them on the spit they created. Their food cooked until the scales turned a nice dark brown with pure white insides, filling the air with the savory odor. Plates weren’t something they planned on bringing, so the food had to be served on long flat rocks that were on the river bed after heating them with the fire to kill any bacteria.

Sebastian had not seen Camila gather food for herself, so before eating his own, he brought a fish to her. Aware she would not talk to him, he placed it near where her belongings were so she would see it. Returning to his side of the stream, Sebastian discussed a plan with Nia about what they could do to locate the kidnapped villagers. They spent an hour brainstorming ideas, but each one was useless, like the last since each one would be the death of them. They called it a night, seeing as they weren’t getting anywhere. Nia took it upon herself to be the first to take first watch for the night. Sebastian got little sleep, guilt consuming him from the inside.

Taking over the shift later, Sebastian sat in the dark on the top of the hill. All was silent around him besides the running water. Looking down at his camp, he could see Nia was at least sleeping soundly. What she said put some ease in him; if he had told them, they’d probably be dead, but then again, Camila may have been able to save her family. He hated himself for not telling them and yet, feels grateful that he didn’t. He kept replaying what Camila and Nia said repeatedly like a never-ending loop in his head, conflicted by what he should have done. His head felt like it was going to split in two, causing him to lie down and close his eyes. Relaxing his mind, he told himself everything was going to be okay.

As the unwanted thoughts slipped out of his head, a light sobbing arose. Sebastian sat up and peered across the water, seeing Camila near her fire curled up. It pained him dearly to see her like this and he really wanted to go over to her, but with how their last conversation went, she would not let him near her. There was nothing he could do to help her, making his chest feel as if it were being squeezed.

Leaves crunching behind him startled him, making him turn to where it came from. “Crap, I must have dozed off for a little too long!” Taking out his katana from its sheath, Sebastian made his way to a tree near him to hide behind. More rustling emerged close to where he was making his pulse race.

Sebastian hastily appeared out of his hiding spot and pointed his weapon at the intruder, “Don’t move!”

“Whoa wha, easy thare laddie! I’m not here to hurt a’body!” A semi-deep brogue, rhotic voice said out loud, the tall man holding his hands up above his dark brown shoulder-length hair in the shadows.

“Yeah? Then what are you doing here?” Sebastian put the tip of his blade close to his neck, “Have you been stalking us?”

“Stalking ye? A’m juist s-saw a fire ‘n’ ah think ah heard crying-” The man’s voice shook a little as he spoke, “- ah swear ah mean na harm!”

Sebastian heard the wavering, confirming he wasn’t lying. He lowered the weapon down and stepped back, still taking precaution since he couldn’t see in the dark, “What do you want then?”

The man sighed, still shaken up but a lot calmer, “I know it’s not my place since I’m ah stranger, but ah wanted to see if a’ body needed help.”

With that, Sebastian sheathed his katana back, “There’s nothing you can do to help us unfortunately…”

“On the contrary-” The man finally stepped out where the light from the campfire below the hill could hit him, “- mibbie there is something ah ciud do as a wey to apologize fur scaring ye.”

“How can we trust you?” Sebastian looked at the man with caution, noticing his robust physique and a small scar on his cheek. His dark green, wrinkled tunic went down to his knees with a brown leather vest, complimenting his belt. A mocha-colored linen slacks matched the worn-out leather boots that he must have used on plenty of his journeys.

“To begin wi’, they ca’ me Aiden Agnew, ‘n’ yer?” Aiden stretched out his hand for a handshake as his thin lips twitched behind his long scruffy beard.

Sebastian took a second before answering to understand his intentions. With hesitation, he took Aiden’s hand and shook it, “My name is Sebastian Martinez.”

Both Sebastian and Aiden climbed down to the campfire below them. Sebastian shook Nia’s arm to awaken her. She opened her eyes to see that it was still night and a man standing right next to Sebastian with a goofy grin. Nia jumped onto her feet and grabbed her bow next to her, but when she tried to grab an arrow from her quiver, all the projectiles spilled to the floor.

“Sebastian, who is that?!” Nia rubbed her eyes, still groggy from waking up early, but alert at the man.

Using his hand to calm her down, Sebastian moved some arrows that had spilled to the side with his foot, “Don’t worry, he’s no harm. His name is Aiden, says he just wants to help.”

“Can he be trusted after what happened to us?!” Nia’s eyesight was finally correcting itself to see Aiden’s long nose pointed to her.

“He doesn’t seem to be with them-” Sebastian looked at Aiden, towering over him with, now noticing a large iron war hammer behind him, “- at least I think he’s not.”

“Ah don’t kno wha ye guys ur talking aboot, but ah am not wi’ a’body. I’m only accompanied by Titan!” Aiden wore a stern face, booming his voice to make sure they heard him.

Nia looked at Sebastian confused as he did to her, “Titan? What’s-”

The trees above the hill shook violently followed by the ground beneath them vibrating as if massive stones were falling from a landslide. A loud growl sent shivers down Sebastian, Nia, and from the other position of the river, Camila’s spine who had been listening into the conversation. Thump after thump, the sensation grew closer and faster until a massive bear appeared, running down the hill Sebastian had been on. Sebastian and Nia stood with their eyes wide open, paralyzed by the gigantic brown bear coming down at them. It soon stopped next to Aiden, lowering its head as he scratched it like a tamed dog.

“This is Titan, mah Dire Bear ‘n’ she is a beautiful creature, aren’t ye, Titan?” Aiden petted Titan as she made low whimpering sounds.

“THAT’S a Dire Bear?! I didn’t think they were-” Nia blinked, unable to comprehend the size of it. As it stood on all fours, she could estimate it around six feet tall so she could only imagine how it’d look standing on its hind legs, “- this big!”

Amazed by the animal, Sebastian’s mouth dropped, “Well, I can now say for sure; if you wanted to hurt us, you would have done it by now.”

Aiden laughed as he brushed the thick fur on Titan’s neck, “Lik’ ah said, I’m ‘ere to help!”

Nia nodded in agreement and extended her arm, “You’re right. My name is Nia, nice to meet you.”

Aiden shook her hand with a smile, “Nice to mak yer acquaintance, lassie.” He looked on over to the other side of the stream, “How aboot them over there?”

“That’s Camila, she-” Not wanting to give too much information, Sebastian exhaled, “- she’s with us.”

Camila didn’t answer, although she heard every word they spoke. Instead, she turned her body toward the fire so the heat warmed her front half.

The half-moon hung three-quarters of the way, dawn approaching within a few hours. After a few small chats with Aiden, they sat around the campfire to warm up. Aiden took out some bread from the bag he carried and shared it with the rest of the group. As Nia ate it, she felt the fluffy texture and the sweetness of the raisins in it added more flavor to it, which made it a wonderful treat.

“Wow, what’s in this, Aiden? This tastes fantastic!” Nia stuffed more of it in her mouth in high spirits.

“Thare are some raisins, sugar, ‘n’ a bit of rum!” Aiden laughed and ate some bread.

Sebastian drank some water from the water skin he had, then kept eating the bread, “Rum? Well, it tastes delicious.”

“Yup, juist don’t git addicted or you’ll git a gut!”

Aiden let out a boisterous howl, holding onto his stomach, “By th’ wey, whaur are ye three headed?”

Nia gulped some water down as she spoke, “We are traveling to the town that’s southeast from here.”

“Ah, you’re aff to toun Northwich, same as me then. I’ll assist ye on yer journey to git thare then as a sorry fur tonight.” Aiden rested his back on Titan’s side, making her move her head to him.

“Do you know how long it’ll take us to get there?” Fiddling with his katana next to him, Sebastian downed the last bite of the bread.

There was a slight pause as Aiden thought, “From whaur we are noo, it’ll probably tak’ a day to turn up at Kyndra River. Then, ah do hope it’ll be anither three or four days to finally reach toun.”

“A few more days then…” Using the scabbard, Sebastian doodled on the dirt aimlessly.

“Mah ah ask how come you’re aff to Northwich?” Aiden asked as he threw in a stick in the fire.

Nia recounted to Aiden what had happened to their village and how they wanted to help the ones that are captured. Aiden listened intently to the story and stroked his beard. After the report was over, Aiden groaned deeply with sadness and understood why he had heard crying before as the first light in the sky hit the group.

“A’m very sorry to hear this -” Aiden picked up a leaf off the ground, stared at it for a second, then discarded it into the flames, “- Ah wish ah knew what more ah cuid do to hulp ye.”

“Well, if you might have any clue who these people might be, that’s more than enough.” Nia stood up and stretched her limbs.

With the tale fresh in head, Aiden rubbed his eyes, “Weel ah might have an idea, bit i’m not sure.” Titan made a low huff below Aiden, causing the fire to dance around, “Easy girl-” Using his hand, he petted her head, “- anyway, the people yer looking fur is most likely a group cawin themselves The Whisper. Besides thair name, ah don’t know anythin’ else aboot thaim.”

Camila shifted her head around when the name reached her ears.

“The Whisper…” Sebastian gripped the handle tightly on his weapon.

“I’ve never heard of them, but-” An incensed voice came from Nia, “- now we have something to go on at least.”

With morning finally on them, the campfires sizzled out of existence as they poured water on them. They stuffed their belongings into bags, with Camila being the first to finish. After proceeding to cross the river, Aiden attempted to introduce himself, however all she settled on was waving at him as she leaped onto Masskara. Sebastian saw a quick glare from Camila to both him and Nia while the horse climbed the hill.

“Does she have something against ye twa?” Aiden asked, picking up his bag from the floor.

“It’s… complicated.” Sebastian’s shoulders slumped, feeling as if a mountain was on him.

Looking around him, Aiden snapped his fingers, “Ah shoot, ah forgot Titan’s saddle uptop!” As he ran up the slope, he slipped on the dewy grass, splatting forward with a grunt then sliding back down to where the other two were, “Sometimes, ah hate bein’ bulky.”

After returning from his small trip to the top, Aiden strapped the saddle that looked very similar to a horses’ on Titan. The only big differences were that it had four straps; two of which went around her stomach and the others in front of the front legs, close to its neck. Hanging off on its sides were leather bags, which Aiden remarked contained his supplies for himself and Titan.

Once all were ready, they departed east to reach the adjacent stream. It took them half a day to reach the upper bend of the Kyndra River from having to ride their steeds over the green mounds. Once at their stop, they allowed their mounts to rest from their long journey. Taking the opportunity, the group set up camp next to the water for the day while Camila took her spot inside a woodland patch. Dinner had been captured as it was the previous day and before long, everyone was feeding on the meal. As Sebastian was about to take Camila her food, Aiden intercepted him.

“I’ll do it, that way you don’t feel uncomfortable around her.” Aiden grasped the flat stone with food on it.

Sebastian looked at Aiden as he let go of Camila’s supper, “Are you sure? You really don’t have to.”

“Yeah, besides-” Aiden held on to the rock to make sure it did not fall, “- maybe with this I can introduce myself for real this time.” He chuckled with a smile as he walked to the wooded area.

Aiden approached the campsite Camila had set up under the trees. A crackling fire stood up with leaves pushed away and rocks placed around the rising flames. Masskara took a place near soft grass, laying down on it to sleep peacefully. On the ground hunched sat Camila, reading a small cherry book.

“Hey there, ah brought ye some food. Best eat up tae have strength fur th’morra.” Aiden placed the meal close to the fire to keep it warm.

“Thank you, you didn’t have to bring it to me.” Camila put the novel down on the ground.

Surprised by hearing her finally, a small smile shot up, “It’s th’ least ah kin do tae hulp.” Right when Aiden was about to turn back to the group, he heard a whimper from the girl’s lips. “Ye okay?”

Camila shook her head and buried her face in her hands, releasing a sigh, “Not really.”

Taking a seat next to Camila, he placed a hand on her back, “Ah was told whit happened to yer village. A’m sorry, it’s horrible whit thay did.”

“Yeah…-” A small tear ran down Camila’s cheek, followed by a small sniff. “- It’s too much for me to handle along with what Sebastian did… or rather, didn’t do.”

“Ah may be a stranger, bit if ye wish to tell me, I’m a’ ears.” Aiden formed a comforting smile, trying to reassure her she could trust him.

With a small sob, Camila wiped her tears, “The night prior before leaving into the woods, he said he witnessed three of the thieves on rooftops, but decided not to tell us. According to him, he didn’t know who they were, and it was best this way because if we hadn’t left, we would have been captured or killed ourselves.”

Aiden’s smile turned to a concerned frown, “Ah see-”. He took a moment to reflect on what he should say. “- Ah don’t think thare cuid have bin a guid solution in this situation, both lead to ill paths. If ah wur in yer bits, I’d be mad at him as weel, though a’m feelin’ he must feel guilty right noo.”

“I suppose so…-” Camila took a deep breath to calm down, “- I’ll think about it. Thank you for talking to me, you’re not so bad… Aiden, I believe it was?”

“Aye it’s, ‘n’ yours wis Camila, correct?” Aiden extended his hand to her.

Camila took his hand and shook it with a small smile on her face, “Yeah, nice to meet you.”

The following morning, everyone was once again on route, their direction now south. Hours passed, going up, down, and around the grassy mounds, taking brief breaks here and there. The group arrived at a narrow, stone bridge that connected two steep hills together with the racing waters from the Kyndra River flowing beneath it. In the middle of the bridge seemed to be an old, wooden caravan stuck with its owner trying to push the horse strapped to it. Since the overpass appeared too thin, the best way to cross it would be to take it slow. Reaching halfway, they could hear the grunts of the man from the opposite side of the caravan. Seeing as there was no other way around, the band got off their mounts.

Sebastian leaned from the side of the bridge to take a better look at what was going on. “Hello? Are you okay over there?”

“Huh? Oh sorry, my horse just doesn’t seem to want to move!” The man released an enormous sigh, wiping sweat from his brow, looking over to where he heard the voice.

Aiden let out a hoot and peered over to see what the situation was, “Horse problems, huh? Let me see whit ah kin do aboot that.”

Carefully, Aiden vaulted over the edge of the bridge’s ledge, grabbing from the rim. Both Nia and Sebastian thought he would fall off, but surprised by how dexterous the big guy was, scooching gradually from where they were to where the man was. Once on the other side, Aiden lifted himself up and over, finally standing where the man is, finally seeing that it’s an older man with a short, white beard. His clothes were pretty dirty and torn up a little.

“A’richt, let me see with ah kin do.” Raising his hand about to put it on the horse, he stopped and turned back to the man, “May ah?”

“S-Sure, be my guest. Though it’s not my fault if she kicks you,has a bit of a temper.”

With the man’s approval, Aiden put his tremendous hands on the horse gently, petting its neck. He closed his eyes and began experiencing, on his right foot, an unpleasant feeling that turned into a stinging sensation. Aiden let go of the horse and opened his eyes, the horse now looking right at him. With the bottom of his foot still upsetting him, he pounded his toes on the ground to release the pain.

“Weel ah found the problem-” Aiden walked to the rear of the horse and lifted its right back leg to unveil some bruising on the underside.

The raggedy man sighed while shaking his head, “I should have known. We passed some rocks a while ago, and since then, she’s been running weirdly. Thank you for your help-” He took a step forward to pet the horse’s head, “- but now we’re stuck in the midst of the bridge.”

“Don’t worry aboot that. Unstrap yer horse from the caravan ‘n’ leid it to the other side. I’ll tak’ care o’ the caravan from the back.”

“You’ll push it? How are you going to manage that?” One of the man’s eyebrows shot up as he turned to look at Aiden.

“Ah have a tough friend back thare, he kin be unBEARable sometimes though.” As Aiden retreated to the others, he howled with laughter.

From the rear side, Nia chuckled a little then stopped when Sebastian peeked at her, “What? It was a good pun!”

A short time passed from the man slowly helping his horse to the grassy field, to Aiden having Titan push the caravan to the end of the bridge. Once everyone walked the remaining length, the man thanked Aiden for his help by awarding him twenty silver coins. After saying their farewells to the man, the group rode off with Sebastian approaching Aiden while traveling.

“How were you able to know what was wrong with the horse?” Sebastian asked, gripping Standout’s reins tightly.

With a smile on his face, Aiden kissed Titan’s head as she kept running, “It’s something that’s bin passed doon from mah fowk. It’s how ah wis able to befriend Titan whin she wis a young cub!”

“Your… folks? You mean, your people?” It was then it struck Sebastian, a question he had not asked during the days he has traveled with him, “Aiden, where are you from?”

Aiden took in a deep breath, fulling his lungs with crisp cold air and then exhaled, “Not from aroond ‘ere.”

The conversation came to a stop, leaving Sebastian still wondering where Aiden came from. He seems to be a good person, so instead of insisting on the question, Sebastian let it go, feeling as if he continued, Aiden would leave them. It was better this way since they needed all the help they could get to find out where the kidnapped people were.

Naturally, the day ended with the group setting up camp for the night, but unlike other days where they were right next to the river, this time they were all in a wooded patch. It seemed like these hills would never end to Sebastian, they just kept going and going with no end. His legs ended up sore every night from all the riding they do each day, not knowing how much more he could take. Northwich had to be near now, otherwise they are just wasting time.

Before they knew it, it was daytime once more. More slopes is all Sebastian could see before them. Just the mere thought of them made him anxious. He could see that Nia was also showing a gloom face as they traveled, while Camila had an agitated expression every time he glanced at her. The only one out of all of them that wasn’t in a foul mood was Aiden, who might just be used to traveling this long.

The sky above them rolled in dark and heavy clouds over a couple of hours, indicating to them that a minor storm was about to hit them. “Hopefully, the storm won’t be that bad and we can keep riding.” Sebastian thought to himself. Right as they made it over a small incline, Aiden made Titan come to a full stop and retreated, signaling to the rest to not come up.

“What’s wron-” Nia wanted to ask, but the sudden harsh shush from Aiden silenced her.

With some hesitation, Sebastian got off Standout to walk on over to where Aiden was. “Do you see something?” He silently whispered while approaching him, now off Titan.

With a hard pull, Aiden made Sebastian get down to the ground where he landed with a thump. “There're some soldiers just on th’ other side o’ this hill.”

“Soldiers?” Nia unmounted Saturday to get closer to the point of the slope. Sure enough, when she peeked over the grass, she saw a group of them with tents already propped up. A small fire was being constructed near the middle of the site while the rest of the guards were counting rations or resting.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Camila joined them to see the infantry. She squinted her eyes to get a better look at them to realize she knew some of them, “These are the guards that left our village!”

“What?!” Sebastian peeked over the mound to see it was true what she said. He recognized a few of them, especially the one that was making a campfire. Sebastian silently shouted with a seething tone, “That guy right there, making the fire, he’s the one who told me not to worry the night before we left for the woods!”

Camila, trying to contain her anger, punched the ground with a thump, “We should kill them-” Clenching her teeth, she reached for one of her daggers, “- they played a part in all of this, I know it!”

Aiden noticed Camila inches away from her weapon and quickly put his hand on her shoulder, “Don’t do it. If whit ye say is true, then goin’ doon there to fight is an ill idea. They wid overwhelm us in seconds.”

After thinking for a second, Nia spoke up, “What we need to do is go around them so they don’t spot us.”

“And what if they see and kill us on the spot? Did you think of that?!” Camila snapped at the suggestion. She let go of the dagger’s handle and stared at Nia, fuming.

A deep feeling of dread came over Nia as Camila looked at her. In a silent, trembling voice, the only words she could speak were, “I-I… I don’t know.” What was this feeling? She had never felt this fearful from anyone, especially Camila.

“Awright awright! Now’s not th’ time to be fightin’ wi’ each other, we need to do something or they’ll fin’ us!” Aiden’s harsh statement rose above the others, letting Camila’s shoulder.

Sebastian thought for a minute, weighing out the pros and cons of each option. It was either to charge down and get revenge or to take the safe way and go around them. He had to consider how everyone felt, otherwise everything would end poorly. Whatever choice he decides on, someone will not like it, but he knew which one is the safest option.

“It’s better to go around so we can fight another day.”

“You’re siding with her?!” Camila looked as though she would explode.

“No, I’m siding with life here! If we go down there, it’ll end up like Aiden said it would. Just think about it-” He saw Camila, who was getting ready to strangle him so he turned away, “- we have no plan, no suitable weapons, and we are outnumbered. There looks to be at least thirty of them down there!”

With a loud snarl, Camila turned away from him, letting out a sharp, “Fine.”

The group remounted to ride down the hill and pass the camp area. Sebastian knew Camila was still furious with him and as much as he wanted to fix the situation, now was not the time to do so. With the clouds now overhead, a light shower fell onto them, and every gallop became damper with every passing second. Hopefully, the rain could mask them passing the campsite.

Just as they thought they would make it past them, a bellowing resounding horn emanated from behind, followed by five guards rushing on horseback towards their location. Sebastian looked at Nia, who was looking terrified that the plan had failed. He gestured to her as if to ask, “What do we do?” feeling that the worst could happen. As she thought, her eyes darted left and right, trying to come up with a solution. With some hesitation, she put her hand up, signaling to stop so the soldiers could catch up.

“Are you serious?!” Camila yelled, almost inaudible from all the splashes caused by treading.

Still shaken from before, Nia’s words wavered, “I-If we run, they will think we are running from them, m-making them want to hurt us even more!”

“I swear if you get us killed-” With a stare that could pierce metal, Camila made eye contact with Nia, “- I’ll kill you.”

The threat made no sense to Nia, but didn’t waste seconds pondering it, seeing as time was of the essence. Looking back at Sebastian, who was still debating on it, she waved her hand to catch his attention. With that, he gave the thumbs up, then signaled Aiden next to him by nodding. Aiden made a slight groan of discomfort but agreed. Now that everyone in agreement, they all slowed down and halted. Sebastian’s heart was racing. There was no way of knowing what they could do or if they would recognize them since there are lots of people in the village. The infantry’s horses neighed as they came to a stop, all five of them surrounding the group, each one’s shiny armor having the crest of the king, a black bear with a yellow shield behind it.

“You lot ran pretty far even after we blew the horn, you in a hurry somewhere?” One of the men with heavier armor and a yellow cape that went down to his shins approached them. His shoulder pads were bulky, notably the one on his left side that contrasted from the rest of the armor, which was smooth to a more cumbersome defense. The helmet covered his face unlike the others, which only covered their heads down to their cheeks.

Unsure of what to say, Nia spat out the first thing that entered her mind, “We uh… we don’t quite hear it over the sounds of the splashes our horses made.”

“Yeah-” Sebastian followed her lead, “- we were traveling pretty fast too so the wind blowing against us made it impossible to hear.” He could see him looking right at him so with all his might, Sebastian held still, hoping he wouldn’t know who he was. This man was no ordinary soldier from what he could see, this was a knight.

“Quite so, or-” The monstrous armor clunked with each other. Then, with a swift swing, the knight pulled out his sword from its sheath on his hip, letting out a swish. He directed it right at Sebastian’s face with only inches away from his nose, “- you are prisoners, escaping from where you belong.”

The tip of the sword felt like ice, even though Sebastian was inches apart. Sweat poured down violently, drenching his shirt as if he had just gotten out of a lake. As he grew pale, his mind overfilled with memories from his youth to his young adult life, hindering his thoughts. Seconds felt like hours and for all he knew, they could have been standing here for days already. Could this be his end?

“No, we aren’t prisoners!” Camila shouted out, now getting off of Masskara with her hands up. “Do we even look like some? Just look at our clothes!”

Sebastian’s eyebrows shot up at the sound of her voice. With all the caution in the world, he looked behind the knight only to see Camila no longer holding hate. A tear ran down to her chin, falling to her shirt. Distress masked her, an emotion he had never seen to this extent. Just seeing her, right now, made him almost break down.

“S-She’s right! We are only traveling to Northwich from-” Thinking quickly, Nia tried to remember the names of the towns in Nuria, “- from Howahkan, northeast from here!”

Moving his weapon ever so slightly forward, a condescending question arose from the helmet, “Oh really, is that the story you want to go along with?”

“We swear!” Are the only words that could come out of Sebastian’s mouth, his vision becoming tunneled.

A deep sigh emerged from the knight’s helm as he lowered his sword, “Alright come with us, the Lieutenant will need to have a word with you all. She’s checking everyone that passes by here.”

Just as they withdrew the blade from Sebastian, he felt a surge of life rush back to him like being hit by a flood of incoming water. It was then he realized his lungs felt like dried plums, so he took in a long brisk breath. Each raindrop that landed on him felt somewhat therapeutic, no longer on the brink of death. He hadn’t noticed before, but from his peripheral he could see Aiden had turned Titan toward the knight, ready to storm forward. A sense of ease grew in him knowing that even though they had just met, Aiden would defend him.

There was no time for thanking as the guards escorted the group to their camp immediately. Once inside the perimeter, the footmen scattered to make room for them, leading up to the main pavilion and paying no attention to who they were. After unmounting, the knight opened the flap, telling them to wait inside while he went to search for the Lieutenant. Finally, the four of them were alone inside with a desk full of papers, a map on a small table to the left of it, and a chair to the right side of the tent’s fabric.

Taking two long strides, Camila stood in front of Sebastian and hugged him tightly, “Just because I’m mad at you, doesn’t mean I won’t worry about you. After all, you are still my boyfriend.”

“Thank you, and I’m-”

“Still-” Cutting off Sebastian, she pulled away from him, “- This doesn’t mean I forgive you, understand that?”

The only word that Sebastian could stutter was, “Y-Yeah…”

“As for you-” Turning away from her Sebastian, Camila looked dead straight at Nia in the eyes, “- you better thank our gods that we aren’t dead.”

Still feeling insecure, Nia was reluctant to talk back, but she had endured enough of her attitude, “Me?! Your plan would have definitely killed us! This at least has us all alive AND we might get out of it!”

“Only because I had to intervene in the mess YOU got us in!” Camila stepped up, blocking Nia’s path.

Dumbfounded, Nia looked right up at Camila, “How is any of this my fault?! How was anyone supposed to know they would charge at us like that? You’re delusional!”

Finally, Sebastian got between them to push them aside, “This is not the time for any of this! We need to come up with-”

An opened letter had caught Sebastian’s eye, making him stop mid-sentence. It lay on the desk, upside down to him, but he could still read one word clear as day. Written right in the heart of the short message was “Pueblanto”. Sebastian walked over to it and held it up to read it to himself as he heard the two girls arguing again with Aiden trying to break it up. He quickly studied the note while blocking out the exchange happening behind him. After scanning it, he saw a signature at the bottom right.

“Hey-” The noisy squabble continued as Sebastian struggled to get a word in. Annoyed, he tried again, but with more energy, “Hey! You two, stop fighting for a second!”

The argument halted abruptly, letting Aiden’s voice to inquire, “Did ye fin’ something on that letter, laddie?”

“I think I did, I-”

A guard outside let out a loud command, “WELCOME, LIEUTENANT MEDINA!”

With no time to spare, Sebastian put the letter back how it was and stood next to the others who had quit disputing. Metallic footsteps approached the entrance, each one resonated like metal tools hitting the bare ground with a soft ring afterward. The tent flaps receded inwards once more with the group stepping aside to make way for whoever opened it. A piece of finely made armor walked in with them; the gleaming silver chest plate slim to allow smoother movement, fitted leggings, sabatons with greaves that pointed up to the knees, and heavy pauldrons connected with each other by a small bright chain hanging near the chest area. To top it off, they lined every part with shining gold that if hit with the right light could blind a person. The only piece not being worn was the helmet which was being carried next to their hip. Its visor had only two holes so the one wearing it could see out, but what stood out the most were the “wings” on each side, stretching upwards as if to fly away with its sharp edges.

The Lieutenant moved past them, grabbed the chair that was nearby, and sat behind the desk with a hard clunk. She looked at them with her expressionless blue eyes and her blond hair draping down to her wide cheekbones. Sighing, she rolled her eyes, crumbling up the letter Sebastian had just read, “I told him not to bring every single person into camp, but he just doesn’t seem to listen.” She took out a quill and ink from inside a drawer. After dipping the pen inside the tiny bottle of black goop, she went ahead to scribble on a sheet of paper, “Alright, what are your names and why are you passing through here?”

All four glanced at each other and knew what they had in mind. If they were to reveal their actual names or even the purpose, they would no doubt be arrested on the spot. They surely must be looking for anyone that may have escaped, so they had to be careful.

“My name is Maya Hernandez-” Camila began, composing herself, “- and we are heading to Northwich for an errand.”

“And what might this errand be?” The woman asked, writing the fake name down on the parchment.

Imagining up a mislead, Camila fluttered her eyelids, looking down. If she took too long, the Lieutenant would suspect them, so she said the first thing that came to mind, “We head there to see if our order of iron is ready. Me and my husband-” She quickly interlocked her arm with Sebastian’s, “- are just opening a small Blacksmith.”

The sudden gesture and inclusion in her story of Sebastian being Camila’s husband made his heart skip a beat. He hadn’t thought of marriage before, causing him to turn red. Catching himself, he shook it off to look the part.

“That is correct, I wish to achieve my goal to become a master swordsmith in particular.” Sebastian added to make the lie more believable.

“If that’s true, where is your wagon? From what my knight told me, you all were on horses and… a bear?”

“Y-Yes, well, like I said, we are about to open so we don’t have one yet. We were planning to buy one in town. The bear and the big fella over here are our muscle in case we encounter thieves.” Camila began to tremble while holding up a smile.

“So what are the names of the other three here?” Putting down her quill, the lady sat up straight.

“W-Well-”

Sebastian quickly interrupted Camila, seeing her stuttering continue, “My name is Mateo Garcia, this here is Tala Cruz our navigator-” Pointing at Nia, “- and Brodric Grey, our hired bodyguard.”

Lieutenant Medina scanned them one by one, with one of her hands up to her chin. The muscles on Camila’s face were beginning to hurt from the fake smile while Sebastian’s back ached from his standing posture. Nia had been biting her inner lip, causing her eye to twitch as Aiden smelled food, causing his stomach to roar like a lion.

“Alright, well, I shouldn’t keep you all here for much longer. Off you go now, I have a lot of work to do.”

It was as though a boulder had cracked in two on their backs, freeing them to move on. With a small thank you, the group headed out of the pavilion, but kept up the act, seeing as they were still in camp. Like a magnet, they all gravitated behind Aiden to conceal their identity. “If any of the soldiers were to remember them, they’ll be done for.” Sebastian thought to himself as he hid his face with his hand, presuming that they hadn’t already when they came in on horses.

Once arriving at their mounts, Nia, Camila, and Sebastian walked alongside them so anyone that may know them, could not see who they were. Aiden, on the other hand, rode on top of Titan so all the attention would go to him instead. Walking as fast as they could without attracting awareness, they made their way to the exit of the site, facing away from any soldier that looked their way. Just as they were about to reach the way out, Camila bumped into a guard who was carrying a crate full of rations in bags, causing him to trip and spill the box’s contents.

“Hey, watch where you’re going!” Hastily, the man in armor scurried to pick up the fallen items.

Using her hair, she turned away from him, “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, you better-” Once the man looked up, his eyebrow shot up, “- hey I think I know you.”

A cold sweat fell over the group as Camila stood motionless like a statue, unable to respond correctly, “I-I believe you are mistaken.” She looked between her strands of hair who it was to see it was the man she had told off that night saying who her father was.

“I’m pretty sure you’re from-”

Aiden with Titan came forward in between the two, “She is juist mah boss fur noo, please excuse us as we are in a hurry.”

“Whatever, just don’t let this happen again.” The guard finished up gathering the remaining meals off the ground, then departed.

Camila wiped off a drop of sweat off her forehead with a low, “Thank you Aiden.”

After passing the main entrance, the band straddled their horses and took off, leaving the danger zone behind with the rain beating on them like drums. The storm was becoming too relentless to ride in, so everyone stopped inside a woodland area under the leaves of the trees. Raindrops still pierced in, but were greatly reduced from the foliage above them.

“Finally, we’re out of that mess.” Nia strained the bottom of her shirt along with her hair she had let loose from her usual ponytail.

Taking off his top, Sebastian twisted the fabric, letting the water drop to the ground, “We got lucky is all.”

“Yeah, but still-” A light breeze passed over, giving Nia an uncontrollable shiver, “- damn it’s freezing out here!”

“I’ll start a fire quickly, this cold wull cause us to git sick.” Aiden had also removed his tunic, revealing his gut along with a large, diagonal scar across his chest.

“Aiden, what happened-”

“Didn’t ye say ye found something at th’ tent?” Aiden cut off Sebastian, agitated.

The sudden interruption threw Sebastian off, but realized it must hold some kind of trauma so he let the question go. Remembering what the note said, Sebastian held the back of his neck, “Yeah I did, a note that said something about retreating from our village, but the detail that caught my eye was a name.”

“A name? What was the name?” Camila’s voice from behind a thick tree, getting rid of all the water soaked up by her blouse.

“It was, I think… Sephtis Marth?”