Tales of An Escapade

Fifth Chapter

  Bel couldn't have been happier to see her husband was safe. The first following evening went slow and it was quite uncomfortable, too.
  "Will she come back?" asked Ane. Her voice was huskier than usual and she was somewhat afraid of asking about Daphne in the presence of their children, but they had to grow up later or sooner.
  "I hope not," replied Rok. He was staring outside the low, square platform of glass that served as a window. "Losing Korlos is a very big threat to the future. He is one of the four legendary warriors."
  "He was one of the four?" frowned Elliot, who raised his head immediately. "Who are the four legendary heroes?"
  Jarco gulped. He wanted so strangle Rok now. Never had Jarco spilt a word about the four legendary warriors to Elliot before. Not more than necessary, at least.
  "Korlos, the brain, Ghordo, the strength, Aris, the heart, and I, the fortune."
  Elliot's heart dropped, along with his jaw. His own mother? A silence passed and Rok casually glared outside the window while a branch in the fireplace snapped.
  "Aris... Why did she leave?"
  "For you," replied Rok whilst he turned to the young boy. "Your mother shall be heartbroken to hear about Korlos' loss."
  "I think we should go outside and do something else to keep our minds distracted," said Ane. She couldn't bare to hear more of this and she almost refused it, too. This was something which shouldn't be told by some semi-stranger — who just happened to have a true bond with one of your parents.
  "It is too dangerous outside," warned Bel.
  "Is it not always?" shrugged Ane. She appreciated Bel's caring behaviour, but she did not want to be bemothered right now. After all, a bond with the Queen she did not have.
  Ane took the cold knob of the door in her hand and she started to twist it. She yelled when a grating sound of clastic wood was followed by the tip of a blade just against her lips. The princess jolted back immediately, licked her lips and was happy to feel no pain, and then watched as the door opened.
  "Why?" was the only thing that Ane could utter before she felt her being dragged towards the horned. Daphne's hand around her neck somehow gripped all her veins and Ane felt a lot of struggle. Elliot, Bethil and the Dwarves all rose to their feet to rescue Ane, but Daphne just walked outside and she threw Ane on the floor there.
  Embarrassing, thought Ane. She looked in Daphne's ice cold eyes. Pure blankness was the only thing notable.
  "What do you want from me?" muttered Ane.
  "Don't listen to the Dwarves," hissed Daphne.
  The horned heard how Elliot and Bethil set steps outside and in what seemed like a split second, she held a blade against Ane's neck and she gripped Ane's wrists behind her back. The princess writhed and she gritted her teeth, trying to stay as quiet as possible as she felt the sharp metal against her skin.
  "Don't hurt her!" yelled Elliot.
  "So Mr. Brain is going to speak," taunted Daphne.
  "Why would you do this?" frowned Bethil, almost genuinely confused.
  "Get away from the Dwarf," ordered Daphne and she nudged her head towards the Dwarf leaving his house.
  "Why?" asked Elliot.
  Daphne groaned and Elliot and Bethil flew to the side, landing harshly on the bitter ground. Her magic sure was versatile.
  "Daffa—"
  "No, little Dwarf," interrupted Daphne. "You spill my secrets, I spill yours."
  He somehow was completely put checkmate as he was wise enough to shut his mouth. Ane frowned in pure confuse. What was Rok's secret? A wave of hesitation and sceptical behaviour flew through her, but she realised that it was still Daphne who was threatening her life
  "Let Ane go," said Rok calmly.
  "As you wish," smirked the Druid. She let Ane go, but that had been a mistake for Rok.
  Ane felt clearly how a salty, slicing pain ran through the veins of her wounded shoulder. Her skin popped open and released a pool of blood that dripped down her sleeve. She shrieked once again and fell flat on the ground, clutching her shoulder. Daphne raised her dagger towards Elliot and Bethil.
  "Livi and I will be available for answers at the oak pine tree," she said before she spread her wings and soared through the limitless skies, out of their view.
  Elliot hurried to Ane's aid. Bethil asked Rok where the oak pine tree was, and he just responded that it was right outside of the city where the woods started again. Rok mentioned that it was a rather dangerous place. Uncanny and mysterious. Any unexpected visitors would just be cursed by bad lack and face the consequences of it.
  "Should we go?" whispered Bethil, aimed towards Elliot who was helping Anevay up.
  "We shall discuss that later," muttered the young lad. Rok also came to aid.
  "You cannot trust that witch!" hissed Rok.
  Bel helped the tall, injured girl on the chair as she was clutching her bleeding shoulder. Bel helped Ane take off her thick coat and revealed her shoulder and bare arm. Thick, crimson liquid streamed out of the wound richly and slowly, tracing its way down her arm. In particularly elegant patterns, the messy redness came out quite pretty.
  "Royal blood really does look better," mumbled Bethil thoughtfully. Ane rolled her eyes.
  "The pain is not any less, though," she said. Rok handed Elliot a damp cloth and Elliot pressed it against the wound. Bethil helped Rok with the herbal stew and Bel brought the children upstairs.
  "I never could have imagined that shoulders hurt this much," uttered Ane whilst she gritted her teeth.
  "Do you consider going the oak pine tree?" asked Elliot quietly.
  "And get my other shoulder stabbed? Rather not," grimaced Ane. Elliot snickered slightly and he looked at the wound. The blood had rubbishy been wiped away and the wound now could clearly be seen as a perfectly straight gash of about two inches. Elliot hoped that the wound wouldn't be too deep.
  "Jesus," he began. "This is the cliché story, is it not? The princess needs the help of her best friend."
  Ane smiled softly, blushes slowly growing on her glowing cheeks. Her eyes drifted to Elliot's, who were focused on her shoulder. The princess looked away again and chuckled at her own silliness.
  "Enough romance," interrupted Bethil. He handed Elliot the bowl filled with a cream-like texture with a brownish colour. Lazily, the shapeshifter pointed at the wound and then he turned back around and helped Rok clean up.
  Elliot took some of the paste on his fingers and he carefully smudged it over the cut. Ane wanted to jolt back in pain but she clenched her teeth and just experienced the stinging pain of the herbs on her wound. Somehow, though, it was a relieving pain. A refreshing feeling that seemed to cover all the bits of previous hurt.
  "Is there something else I could do?" asked Rok.
  "Fresh water," ordered Ane. "A cup of fresh, clear water."
  "Not so greedy," muttered Elliot.
  "Wait until someone stabbed your damn shoulder," hissed Ane. Elliot just chuckled and he sat back on one of the chairs.
  "You should go and ask Daphne for answers," replied Bethil.
  "Do you want to push us deeper into danger?" scowled Elliot.
  "Excuse my rudeness, but we seriously don't know enough," Bethil replied calmly. "We don't know half of the things as to why we are here in the first place. I won't sit around and just travel to the mad oracles just for some answers that we may get halfway."
  The sharpness in his voice betrayed Bethil's impatience. Ane understood him, but she did not show her comprehension. They were on a quest and oblivious or full of knowledge, they had to pursue this mission. For the good of the world. Ane could nearly sense all the evil lurking underneath all the sheerest layers of the world. She knew that Bethil just wanted to figure out for whom they were doing this and why. He wanted to know what caused all this, who chose them. Ane wanted to know all of that too, and more than anyone else. Questions and questions and more questions just began to stack and no one of them could lower the pack of mysteries.
  Ane's mind wandered off in the meanwhile. She wondered what would have happened if she had married a gallant prince, his thick, curly hair in the wind. His golden suit decorated with the blue silver, the crown on this perfectly shaped face. An entire family full of beautiful yet pesky children and a wide kingdom with tons of flowers, loads of laughing gardeners and maids rushing to serve cakes and tea. How boring.
  "Ane."
  Anevay looked up and saw Elliot with the cup of fresh water.
 "Are you alright?"
  "Just dozed off," mumbled Ane as she pressed the cup against her lips. She wondered what would make her happier. A boring life were everything was served on golden plates or a life where you barely even knew the names of your enemies. Whilst she contemplated, she couldn't help but let her brain waver to the latter of the options.
  The night fell. Ane, whose shoulder was tightly wrapped up, sat in the kitchen. Her eyes glared through the sheer surface of glass keeping Ane away from the outside world. Elliot, who had joined her some time ago and who had served both of them a cup of tea looked outside as well. Glistening stars sparked upon the layer of sky and Ane's mind couldn't help but search its own journey inside her head.
  "You want to go and visit Daphne, do you not?" asked Elliot. Ane glared at Elliot and she nodded. Of course she did. Her best friend stood up and he went upstairs to go and get Bethil and Jarco. In the midst of the night, the four snook out and travelled to the oak pine tree.
  They tried to keep their voices down as they left Iccarslot. They barely managed, though. They left their horses — stupidly enough — and the southern luxury behind.
  "So you came," said Livi as soon as the redhead had noticed the company had arrived.
  "I want answers," nodded Ane rather impolitely.
  "Why else would you have come?" asked Livi with a very blank, obvious expression.
  The oak pine tree rose dozens of feet in the air and underneath it, six strangers to the country were discussing their matters.
  "Why us?" asked Ane.
  "Heart, wisdom, fortune and brute," responded Daphne. "Everything the perfect creature needs. A heart for compassion and hope, wisdom for intelligence and wits, fortune for faith and luck, and brute for strength and perseverance. The ideal image, right?"
  A bit lamely, the company agreed.
  "It seems that the oracle has found the four extremes in the four warriors, I suppose. The previous four warriors took their blessing for granted and fell to the hands of evil."
  "Did they die?" Elliot asked.
  "Not quite."
  "Who is the fourth warrior?" Ane asked impatiently.
  "You know it, Anevay. You can see the colours of the aura. You can see who the fourth one is," Daphne replied calmly.
  Ane sensed how her three friends glared at her, questioning. The princess took a deep breath. Daphne was right. She could see it perfectly. Sharp and clear, like a shard of the purest glass.
  "It is you," she sighed. "The grey brute."
  Daphne's lips merely curled into a somewhat relieved smile.
  Elliot remained speechless while Bethil casually greeted Daphne. Elliot was just plain confused.
  "How did you know that you were the last person we needed?" he asked.
  "I met my ancestor. He was a red brute, though. Lost in anger, fury and passion," Daphne said.
  "I assume you are headed west now, if you want to reach the east as safe as possible," Livi interrupted.
  "How can we trust you?" asked Jarco.
  "They are right," Ane said. "They are trustworthy."
  Once the four northern people had taken their horses and they were proceeding to leave Iccarslot, Bethil decided it'd be a good time to ask about the colour thing.
  "You are purple, Bethil," replied Ane. "Creative, mysterious, dignified and noble."
  "Noble?"
  "You are mystic and magical," snickered Ane, followed by a yawn. "Elliot is blue. Smart, empathic and a wave of good things, like reliable and honest."
  Elliot smiled briefly.
  "Daphne is grey. Neutral, elegant and dignified. Cold, though, but she has a trustworthy edge."
  "And you, princess? What is your aura like?" asked Jarco.
  Ane hummed for a second. "It is orange. Adventurous, ambitious and brave, I suppose. Energetic."
  "A ball of fierceness," added Livi. Ane softly snickered. She liked that. Livi was a gentle green. Except for Jarco, few people were green. Few people were so pure. Harmonic, balanced and eager to learn. Like a tiny, smart plant, ready to become a tall and mighty tree worshipped by many.
  "How do you know by those colours whether someone is sincere or not?" Elliot asked curiously.
  "You can feel it," said Ane. "The intensity of the colour. The brightness. You see, a sincere and vivid person has deep and lively colours, meanwhile a person who has sunken low has become nothing but a shred of sheer tint."
  Ane smiled with her explanation. Many people had low, nearly transparent colours. See-through, as if they were phantoms. Ane had to decide to actually see the colour of their flesh in order to be able to actually see them at all. The colour of the skin didn't reveal anything at all, though. It was truly what's inside that mattered. Whether they had porcelain skin that seemed to be so fragile yet beautiful, tanned skin with a hint of glowing amber, or dark skin which reminded you of the mysterious depths of the woods, who could truly identify their personalities through just that? It was like judging a person's gift from the wrapping paper. Gems could easily get lost that way.
  Ane subtly looked at the people next to her. Bethil was having a conversation with Daphne, who seemed surprisingly open for that. Livi and Jarco were getting all cosy, often letting out a flirty giggle. And next to her sat Elliot, loyal as always. Not because he was blue, or because Ane was a princess and it would benefit him, but because Ane knew that just like she loved him, he loved her too. Even if it wasn't romantic, she knew that Elliot wouldn't step away from her for anything in the entire world.
  Elliot caught Ane's glimpse and he managed to gently smile back for a split second. He wondered what was going through her head. His face was pointed back to the front and he saw how very slowly, the trees made space for a stronghold.
  "We can sleep here," Livi said. "The inn is cheap and people of all races are here, so nobody should feel left out."
  Elliot awkwardly smiled, but a supportive pat on his shoulder that which came from Anevay sent a confident smile to his mouth.
  The company entered the stronghold and were almost instantly greeted by the ruling scent of a farm. Livi explained that a local farm was around and the villagers used that as their main source of profit and food. The bunch of six headed to the inn, where a chubby, cute lady sat behind a high counter. The lady was rather small and she had her grey hair up in a bun, revealing her old and wrinkled, pointy ears.
  "How can I help you, my dear?" asked the lady.
  "Three rooms, please," Ane said.
  The lady gave Ane three keys in return for several coins. She glared at the thick horns of Daphne and you could almost hear her mutter "sheep" under her breath.
  Ane decided to share the room with Elliot, Jarco and Bethil also agreed to share a room and Daphne and Livi picked each other as roommates, too.
  "In the back of the building, you can have a drink and some food," informed the lady before the three pairs disappeared.
  Breakfast would be their first meal since they had left Iccarslot, and possibly it could have been lunch. Daphne was the first one awake, or so she had thought. She snook outside of the room after she refreshed herself and headed downstairs. She saw Bethil talk with a stranger. A redhead. Long, fiery hair fell down the man's shoulders.
  "Good morning," said Daphne.
  "It's noon," answered Bethil, "but good morning!"
  "Nice to meet you," said the redhead. His phrase may have shown a lot of excitement, but his voice lacked every ounce of sympathy. The cold-hearted welcome of the redhead didn't please Daphne, but she realised she was being hypocritical so she just sat down.
  "You should order the steak sandwiches with honey wine," advised Bethil. As soon as the waitress came, Daphne ordered just that.
  "So who is the new face?" asked Daphne. The new face was rather handsome too, with indulging, green eyes like Bethil's.
  "My name is Lewir. From the west," said Lewir.
  "Liar," Daphne mumbled. "With that accent there is no way you are from the west."
  Lewir spoke lightly, almost like Jarco. It was as melodious and wavering.
  He took a glance at the horns and realised that he couldn't really keep on lying. He eventually spilled that he was from the west, but he had been raised since he could talk by eastern foreigners. Bethil and Daphne shared a somewhat suspicious glare.
  "Your friend approached me," replied Lewir. "I absolutely mean no harm nor am I a traitor."
  "Please refrain from accusing yourself unnecessarily," said Daphne.
  Lewir remained in silence, and so did Bethil. Daphne got served her meal and she dashed straight into it.
  "Is it good?" asked Bethil.
  "It's great!" smiled the horned. Bethil hadn't seen her smile before and he was silenced by its prettiness. He avoided eye contact after that and began talking with Lewir again about the Western Bay.
  "So, what are you guys here for?" Lewir asked.
  "Why are you here?" asked Ane.
  Lewir, who seemed a bit taken aback by Ane's blunt response, awkwardly stared at her for a second before he tried to string a reply together.
  "Well," he began, "I'm travelling to the east to take revenge on those who took my horns."
  The others were at loss for words because they hadn't expected his brutal honesty."You should travel along with us," Ane decided. "We are also heading to the east. Not to kill people, but we need to go there for further travelling plans."
  "Can I know at least a bit of your motives? I won't tag along with any sole creature passing by," answered Lewir.
  "It involves reaching the core of the earth," Ane said with a low voice.
  "I shall join you until my destination in the Eastern Bay. I won't go further than that, though. You all should know the core is a very sacred place, but that also means that hell exists there just as much as heaven exists here."
  "Thank you," Ane said.
  "You shouldn't thank me," Lewir replied. "I could just be a useless weight to take with you."
  "Somebody who needs to take revenge," replied Jarco, "is never a useless addition to a team. Motivation is one thing, perseverance is another."
  Lewir's lips curled into a slight smirk. Jarco had an equally cheeky smile on his face. The others ignored the weird chemistry between them and Daphne just finished her food.
  "You should all try this meal," she said. "It's quite good."
  And that was how not much later, two of the tables were put together to support all of the seven plates with an abundance of nicely smelling food.
  A sort of group-feel had certainly been made then. They got to know Lewir, Daphne and Livi a bit better, too. They shared a tiny tad of their personal stories. They kept it superficial, of course, but at least they knew now that they were dealing with the real stuff, not just some random strangers you find on the streets.
  Ane watched the others as they were talking. Slowly, she had made peace with it. With her fellowship, her quest, her needed powers in this world. The hours went by rather fast as they finished eating, finished saddling their horses and as they went back on the road. With filled stomachs, the group headed deeper into the west.
  The second day after they had left the village, it all went down.
  Ane sat nearby the camp. The sun had painted orange waves through the sky, its tails touching the remaining blue and the cotton clouds. Warmth radiated from the disappearing sun, but it could've been the crackling camp fire. Its flames licked the hands of Elliot, whose hands were dangerously close to the fire.
  "Be careful," Bethil said.
  Elliot shrugged, as if he didn't feel the heat touch his fragile skin. He did, though. And he strangely enjoyed it. It wasn't pain that he felt. He never felt pain with fire.
  "Needn't worry about that," said Lewir. "Elliot has some deep waters that we don't know about."
  "I hope I can unravel it soon enough," the boy said.
  An empathic smile from Ane was following by a sudden quake. As the earth rumbled and the logs on the fire shook, the company stood up. Something had risen, but none of them knew what exactly.
  "What is happening?" asked Bethil, more curious than worried.
  "I think that something unpleasant has awakened," whispered Livi.
  And at that point, the earth cracked open as if somebody had cracked open an egg, releasing its insides. Except now, no yolk or egg-white was released. A vicious, large monster rose its paws that had been equipped with a set of five sharp nails that could rip your skin apart. A beak that seemed to be a mixture of a wolf and a bear - two animals that you'd rather not just meet randomly in the woods - and a body that certainly belonged to some type of mythical, feared beast in ancient legends.
  "What the hell is this?" hissed Ane. She was already about to call her dead slaves, before Livi stopped her.
  "It's something that you only anger more when you fight it. We've intruded his territory, so now we have to leave," she said.
  "Split up," Ane shouted. She and Elliot ran to the west, Daphne and Bethil rushed to the south and Jarco, Livi and Lewir escaped via the north. A loud growl could still be heard and Ane soon realised that it was chasing exactly them.
  "Raise your dead!" Elliot cried out.
  "I cannot do that when I am running," snarled Ane. Her legs could barely keep up with how quick she had wanted to run and it definitely couldn't carry her faster than the bear-monster that was mercilessly chasing them.
  "Do you think the others shall be okay?" Elliot asked.
  "I do not give a damn, Elliot!" exclaimed Ane.
  The earth underneath their feet suddenly seemed to climb up several feet before it launched the pair in the sky. Their yells spread through the sky before they harshly landed on the ground. Ane looked behind her, the adrenaline interfering with the pain she should've felt. The beast's paws were still on the earth, where he had planted them to send Ane and Elliot into the air. Elliot was writhing in pain, but the princess gave him a slap to send him back to proper consciousness.
  "Come on, hurry up," she said.
  Elliot groaned before he stood up. As the two ran again, the beast loudly let out a deafening roar.
  Bethil and Daphne heard it too. Out of breath, they stopped nearby a waterfall.
  "This isn't a good place to stop," said Bethil. "What if the beast runs our way? We won't survive this fall."
  The wild water made a fall from several feet high and it was dangerous enough to kill you when you hit the water in a wrong way.
  "The beast won't come to us," Daphne said firmly. "It's merely chasing us out of his habitat. I didn't know that menrocks lived here, though." She caressed her horns as a gesture to comfort herself. It was a thing she did when she was nervous or when she just felt as if something was wrong. She hadn't done that in a long time, she realised. The raw surface of the horns felt nice in her hands, though.
  "Menrocks?" asked Bethil.
  "The beast that you just saw. That was just a baby menrock," answered Daphne.
  "It was taller than Jarco and I combined," exclaimed Bethil.
  Daphne let out a relieved sigh.
  "You could've just transformed into a menrock," she said.
  "I can't transform into things that I've never seen before."
  "What's your favourite form, then?" Daphnelle asked.
  "A tiger," Bethil smiled. "I've seen tigers when I was eight. Ever since, they were my favourite animals."
  "Well," mumbled Daphne, "now you can take the shape of a menrock. Can you take its strength and all of that too?"
  Bethil nodded, proud of his ability.
  "I didn't know that shapeshifters were so versatile," said Daphne with a kind smile. Bethil took that as a compliment and he kindly smiled back.
  "Enough chitchat," said Daphne. "We should find the others before they reach Sharran's Valley."
  "Sharran's Valley?"
  "Yes, Bethil. It's where the bad horned resort," nodded the horned a tad cynically.
  Jarco and Lewir were trying to catch up with Livi, who ran faster than they had thought initially. They ran deeper into the forests, and that wasn't a good sign at all.
  "Let's rest," panted Lewir.
  Livi abruptly stopped running. "Sorry," she said, "I just like to get away from danger."
  "Needn't worry," Lewir replied. "What was that, though?"
  "A menrock," huffed Jarco.
  "That's a strange name," frowned the male redhead.
  "The beast got its name after we realised that the people it devours turn into stone, adding to its mass. What you just saw was just a baby menrock," Livi said.
  Jarco and Lewir both remained quiet and shared a worried glare.
  "Right," muttered Jarco.
  "No, we go left," said Livi.
  Jarco frowned as he was confused for a second, but he just decided to leave it and follow Livi.
  Ane sat bored on a flat rock. Her eyes slowly scanned Elliot, who was busy preparing some food with the foodstuff they still had. She watched his long fingers and his concentrated gaze. When Elliot quickly looked at her, Ane's eyes just slowly drifted to the fire. They hadn't slept yet and had lost a lot of materials after meeting the beast. They were the early hours now, and Ane felt tiredness creep over her. She still had to eat, though.
  "It is ready," said Elliot. He handed the improvised meal to Ane, who gladly took it.
  "What do we do now?" asked Ane.
  Elliot shrugged. "It was a good idea to split up. We could have all been heavily injured now if the beast would have chased all of us at once."
  "It was just an impulse," Ane mumbled. She swallowed the bit of meat and she felt it glide through her dry body.
  "Should we search the others or continue to the west on our own?" Elliot questioned aloud.
  "We should probably just continue to the west. Eventually, if the others are doing okay, we shall meet up with them at our destination. Of course I cannot control fate, but let us hope that things wrap up well," answered Ane thoughtfully. The dark dome of faint light shone upon the pair as they quietly ate. They didn't bother to say anything else but that, as both of them were tired, if not exhausted.
  Bethil leaned against the tree, his head resting on his knees. Daphne was sleeping on a flat surface somewhere between the woods. It was silent and the only thing that Bethil heard was the inevitable sound of owls who had awakened and occasional crickets letting others know they were alive. Bethil asked himself why exactly these crickets were making this annoying noise at night. Then again, it wasn't exactly 'night' anymore.
  "Can't you sleep?"
  Bethil's head shot up. "How did you know I wasn't asleep?"
  Daphne sat down next to him. She shrugged. "Wild guess," she smiled. The pointed at the pattern of stars spread all over the sky.
  "Are you going to hit me with the cheesy meaning of the stars?" asked Bethil.
  "Yes," answered Daphne. "Look."
  Bethil looked.
  "Those three stars up there in the west, they represent a triangle," said Daphne.
  "Wow, Daphne, I'm impressed," Bethil replied sarcastically.
  "And the triangle represents the shape of the heart of a tiger."
  Bethil frowned, and what Daphne did next was amazing. Her fingers seemed to paint on the canvas and she connected many stars into an intricate pattern of shapes and curved lines. The final result was a feisty tiger standing on all his four paws and his tail in the air, his head high and his beak wide open. The triangle was located in the middle of his chest.
  "What does the tiger mean?" asked Bethil.
  "Nothing," shrugged Daphne. "I just know that wherever a triangle is, there's a heart of an animal. I found the tiger to be an appropriate animal for now."
  "Can't you write something in the stars to message our friends?"
  "If only I could," sighed Daphne. "First of all, there's barely any chance that any of the stars form correct letters. And then again, if our friends can see it, so can our foes."
  "We don't really have any foes, though," replied Bethil thoughtfully.
  "Then you haven't been reading newspapers lately."
  "Well, I didn't really have any opportunity..."
  Daphne snickered as she just gazed up the heavens.
  "Look," said Livi. "Daphne and Bethil are fine."
  Jarco and Lewir followed Livi's finger that pointed at the tiger in the stars
  "Drawing in the stars?" frowned Jarco. "Isn't that...e
  "Isn't that what?" asked Lewir after Jarco spaced out.
  Flustered, Jarco just shook his head. "Nothing, sorry."
  Livi checked the foodstuff that she still had. Barely anything left, she noticed. Jarco nor Lewir still had an abundance of nutritious meals, so it was going to be scarce. Jarco had decided that it'd be better if they'd just try and reach the Western Bay in hopes of meeting up with the rest of the group as well. He knew that would be Ane's plan. At least, that is what he hoped.
  Interrupted in the middle of their chat, twigs behind them snapped under the pressure of heavy feet. Another menrock? thought Jarco alarmed, but as he turned around and saw two horned, he didn't really proceed to further actions.
  "Who are you?" asked Lewir, not necessarily kindly.
  The girl who replied had big, thick horns, twirling all the way inside. She had bouncy, blonde curls framing her round, cute face. "I am Marrie."
  "I am Hallan," added the man. He was tall, had a sharp face with a unique facial structure and long, blonde hair that caressed his shoulders every time the breeze would flow through the air. Both of them had eyes like emeralds, bright and vivid. It almost intimidated Lewir himself.
  "And what are you two?" asked Livi, nicer than Lewir.
  "I am a doomed," said the girl.
  "I am a Druid," replied the man.
  Silence. Speechless, aghast. A Druid? Nobody knew how to react, and it almost seemed as if Hallan himself wasn't sure how to react either. His horns were long and elegant and it should have been so obvious. Was he the last Druid? Jarco decided to ask that question.
  "I am not," answered Hallan. "There are still several Druid alive. We hoped that we'd find one of them here since somebody drew in the skies."
  Lewir's face turned to Jarco. Was that what Jarco had tried to say earlier? That only Druids could do that? Lewir stringed the answers together, and so did Jarco. Livi seemed nor upset nor surprised as she just casually shook Marrie's hand.
  "A pleasure to meet both of you. Where are you two heading?" she asked calmly.
  "Back to our habitat. The Western Bay," replied Marrie. Her voice was light and it was nearly sung.
  "We are heading there as well," nodded Hallan. "Shall we accompany you?"
  "How do we know if we can trust you?" asked Jarco before any decisions had been made.
  "There is literally nothing that we need from you," frowned Hallan. "What could we possibly do to you? It seems like you have all lost enough already. We're no monsters."
  Another silence fell. This time because they were struck by the brutal honesty of Hallan's words.
  "Well then," mumbled Jarco as he shook Hallan's hand. "Welcome."