Lannah and I started out slowly following Blink. It wasn’t the fastest that I had moved, but luckily the concussion only made me throw up a few times, which was all at the start of the trip. As the night wore on, my debuffs went away, and some of hers must of as well because we picked up a little speed.

I spoke to her in a hushed voice as we traveled. “I have some food with me if you want it while we move.”

“Yes, please. It has been long enough that I am not recovering any health.”

“Hope jerky will be enough for right now. When we get back I can get you a better meal.”

“Thank you,” she said as she took the food.

I couldn’t tell much about her as we went. While the moons were out, giving us enough light to move by, they didn’t do much to let us see each other. The shadows were too deep, and the silver light messed with the colors.

I could tell that she had dark hair, and it looked like she stood about 5 foot 2, so she was a bit shorter than the average girl back home. Also, the dress she had on was ragged. It was obvious that she had been in it for a long time as the skirt was ripped and she only had one sleeve.

As we went, I noticed that she had a permanent scowl, which might be in part due to the lack of shoes and the rough terrain. She seemed to move through the forest like someone born to the city. Her steps were not smooth or quiet but seemed to find every stick that could be broken.

It was about two hours into the hike that she stopped.

“I need a break,” She gasped out.

“Okay, we can stop for a bit. But, we need to make it short. No telling when they will figure out that you are gone or if they already have.” I replied.

I passed her the water and more jerky, and I started to look around. I could almost tell where we were, but I was still a little lost. I knew we were going in the right direction, but we weren’t on the trail, so travel slowed.

I wasn’t sure why we hadn’t hit the trail yet. It might just have been the angle we were moving at, or Blink was taking us around something. She was out scouting now. I could feel her location as she circled behind us.

“How much further do we have to go?” Lannah asked me as she passed me my waterskin.

“About half way I think. I am pretty sure, we are getting close to the trail that I used to find you. If so than we could start to move a bit faster.” I replied.

She got back to her feet, “Okay, I guess I am ready then.”

We started off in the direction we had been going as I felt Blink move from behind us to in front of us. Once she got there, we started to angle toward my right. It wasn’t long before the trail showed up.

As we came to the trail, I looked both ways on it. I was happy we had the trail but worried that it almost led right back to my home, and I now had someone else with me. If we left an easy trail, then the rescue would be for naught.

“Do you know how to hide your trail as you walk?” I asked

“No, I was never much of a forest person. I spent most of my life in caravans and cities. So I never needed to learn about hiding a trail.”

“Well, to start with try to step on large stones and don’t let your dress snag on anything. That will have to be enough for now. If we have the time I will try to brush out some of the tracks and we can hope for the best.”

We headed up the trail, and whenever we got to a hard-packed area or large rocks, we took the time to move across those places. Finally, after about half an hour, I stopped and backtracked, brushing out a large area of our tracks. I needed to give Lannah another break, and I was hoping that the goblins were bad trackers and didn’t know we headed upriver.

It was a dumb thing I did rescuing Lannah, but it was the right thing to do. I just hoped that it wouldn’t be one of the last things I did. I was already on the radar of the goblins to some extent with killing a number of them, and now I stole their food.

It was well past midnight when we made it back to my lean-to. I had stopped at every junction and swept out our trail or made us go in a loop. When we got to the river, I had us go downriver a half-mile or so and then walk in the water back upriver about a mile. It was hard, and we were both sore and cold by the time we got back past where we first met the river.

I lead Lannah to my field of traps and to my home. We were both worn out and hadn’t said much to each other on the hike. Part of it was the nerves of the goblins, and part of it was just a feeling that you shouldn’t talk if you traveled by moonlight.

“Watch yourself as we go through here. I have trapped the next quarter mile or so of the river so follow me.”

“The whole place?”

“Yup, we are almost there, and I wanted to be able to sleep without too much worry.”

“Okay, I am right behind you. Should I hold your hand?”

“Yeah, that would be a good thing.”

She reached out and put her hand lightly in my hand as we started to move through the field of traps. I had made it, so there wasn’t a straight line through, and I knew where the traps were, but it was kind of nerve-racking. It was hard to see where everything was, so I had to move slowly.

We made it through, and I was kind of liking her hand in mine. We had made it through the traps and were now at the base of the cliffs, so it would be just a little bit longer until we got to the end of our trip.

“We have just a little bit of a climb here and then we are done for the night.” I said.

“That might be a bit hard for me. I can’t climb in what I am wearing.” She replied.

I couldn’t tell if she was blushing or not when she spoke to me, but she looked down and then looked at our hands. Then, she slowly let go of my hand and looked up at the cliff.

“Is there another way to your home?” She asked, almost pleading in tone.

“No, it is either up here or go back around to the ridge trail and then eight feet of a climb down.”

Even in the dim light, I saw her tense up, and so I rushed out, “But, this isn’t that bad. The highest wall you need to climb is about ten feet, and I have a ladder. I can help you up here; you will just need a boost, and then I can get you to the next one as well. Even, Blink can make this climb.”

With thinking about Blink, I felt the bond tell me that she was coming back up the river again. She had ranged back toward the goblins a few times, and I felt peace coming across the bond. Almost a smugness that I would feel from her after she either scared me or got a good meal.

“Okay how do we do get up?” Lannah asked.

“Right here on the wall I can boost you up the first ledge and then I can do the same for the next big one. Just put your foot in my hand and I will lift you up.”

I pressed my left shoulder against the rock face and cupped my hands together to make a step for her, and waited. Then, finally, I slowly turned my head towards her when I had waited for over a minute.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, just as confused as I could be.

“You’ll see my leg,” she said flatly to me.

“What?”

“I said that you will see my leg and while I might not look like much right now I am not that kind of girl.”

“Whaaat??” I asked with my eyes scrunched up.

“No man has seen me since I was a child.”

I rolled my eyes. I must be dealing with a rich snob or something. I didn’t think what type of person I was trying to save, only that I could likely save one of them, and she was the one I could. So now, this girl thinks I am trying to take advantage of her in the middle of the night while we are trying to get safely hidden.

“If I close my eyes will that make it better?”

“Yes… That… should work, I think,” She answered where I could just almost not hear her.

I made my hands into a toe hold again and set my legs, and closed my eyes. I heard her moving her dress, and she adjusted herself, and then I felt the weight in my hand. She shifted toward the wall, and I felt her start to try to pull herself up. I straightened my legs and back to give her the last bit of boost needed for the short 6-foot wall.

As I did, I heard the dress tear; she gasped and felt her wobble in my hands, and she began to fall backwards. I did the only reasonable thing I could think of and opened my eyes and moved my right hand up to her butt.