The Ancients

Chapter 19

They woke after sunrise, Liam allowed everyone to get some extra sleep since he didn't know the last time Maddison had been able to rest. They rubbed sleep out of their eyes and started to gather the venison from the night before.

"Thank you," Maddison said dusting off her pants. "For everything, I really appreciate it."

"No problem," Ajlen said to her chipperly.

"I hope I see you all again."

"We are coming with you," Ryland told her in an assuring voice.

"You don't have to do that," she objected her eyes squarely on the Nix Elf.

"We don't," Ryland agreed. "But the road could be full of predators. Besides, we are a little undersupplied right now for our trip."

"You really don't need to do this, Bregg is much closer," she said to him.

Liam's lip curled down thinking of how close that meant they were to Azeal. And how long it would take them to make it to the Glaciese.

"We already decided we would go with you," Ryland insisted. "So, that's what we'll do. There's plenty of things out there that could hurt you. What's the point of feeding you if you're just going to feed something else?" Ryland smiled jokingly.

A real smile, it looked so foreign on his pale features that the rest of them weren't sure they weren't hallucinating. So strange that Vipin felt the wrinkle between her eyebrows dig into her skull as they furrowed together.

The mother's lips pulled into an uneasy smile, but she nodded anyway. "Okay," she whispered.

"Well," Ajlen started, lacing his fingers behind his head. "Let's get to it then!"

Ryland gathered the rest of the dried meat and placed it in his cloak, throwing it over his shoulder. Maddison tried to give Vipin back her cloak, but the half-elf told her to keep it. Looking at the mother's slim frame and still baggy eyes Vipin knew that Maddison needed it more she did.

It was past noon when the first words were spoken.

"So, what are elves doing this far from Arvirum?" Maddison asked.

She must have been too tired and too hungry last night to notice Liam's lack of pointed ears. He slowly lifted his hood.

Ryland swallowed hard, his ears pressing against his head. Of course she would think that he was a Sylvae Elf, no one had seen a Nixan Elf in Zherune for more than a millennium. Vipin noticed how nervous he looked, though his face was still it was rigid. Tightening, losing the slack it had when in Maddison's presence. As if he was worried that they might say something to contradict what the mother had said. Though Vipin was sure the woman didn't really understand the difference between Sylvain and Nixan Elves.

Vipin said nothing, her mouth parting for a response but none came to her.

Ajlen didn't miss a beat. "We heard about the dragon attacks," he started sympathetically. "We came to see if we could help."

"Aren't you all a little young to be fighting dragons?" Maddison asked.

They all looked at each other. Even though they were all decades older than her, they looked young. Their faces the equivalent of a mundane teenager. Yet she was right.

They were too young to be fighting dragons.

"We don't necessarily have to fight the dragons." Ryland spoke now, easing himself back into his composure. "We can start with helping people like you."