Falling Feathers Book I - Rogue Without Fear

Chapter XX

>>> Autumn Rose <<<
I had no idea how far into the woods I'd gotten.  I knew I was probably a decent way away from Shepherd's Rest, and from the the placement of the sun, I knew I was going South.  It had to be past noon by now.  The sun, while it was still high in the sky, had started its decent to the horizon.
To much of my frustration, every time I thought I was getting close to the bird, it flew to another tree.  It called only when I thought I'd lost it, and only flew when I was close.  It's playing with me.  It's all a game to it, I realized. Yet, despite knowing this, I still ran after that stupid bird. Even though my stamina was much higher than an ordinary human's, I still got tired. I looked around briefly for somewhere to rest.
    The forest seemed so ominous. The only sound I heard was the wind in the leaves, and my panting. The sun in this part of the forest was hard to see. The leaves and branches of the trees had all but made it disappear. I looked around my immediate surroundings for a fallen tree, or a rock to sit on, but I didn't see any. After widening my search, I found a mossy and rotting log. It was up ahead, about halfway between me and the raven. That'll do, I figured to myself. The bird, who was sitting in the branch of a maple tree, began to groom its feathers again. After huffing to myself, I began walking to the log. My legs began to ache, and the closer I got the more they hurt. Once I was only a few paces away, I thought I was going to collapse. To much of my satisfaction and relief, I did make it to the log without falling. I sat down, took a deep breath, and blinked.

    When I opened my eyes, I found myself somewhere else.  There was a hill covered in grass with rocks on top of it.  It was in a forest that looked much like the one I was in now.  The leaves were falling, most already on the ground.  It must've been late Autumn.  The slow breeze chilled the air, the many clouds seeming not to move at all.  There were two people who looked oddly familiar.  One had red hair, and one had brown hair.  They were sitting on the ground, at the bottom of the hill, talking to each other.
    "You know it's dangerous for us to meet here," the woman said to the man.
    "It's dangerous for us to meet anywhere,"  the man grumbled.
    "We can always leave.  There are lots of places we could go to."
    "I can't abandon them, they're my kin."
    "Then what does that make me?"
    "You're also my kin, but I'm their leader."
    "Just as I am leader to my kin!" She sighed.  There was silence for a few moments.
    "I think that fellow Daniel is aware of our meetings."  The man broke the silence at last.  Danny?
    "I'm sure he is,"  the woman replied.  "He's cunning and smart."
    "You know that if he did know, he'd turn both of our own against us,"  the man muttered with a low tone.
"I know."  The woman replied solemnly.  "That's why we have to go!  It's not worth the risk."
    "I can't leave them, S-"  The sound of leaves crunching interrupted their conversation.  It came from atop the hill.  Both leapt to their feet, and faced the top of the hill.  No one could be seen.  Everything went silent.  The breeze that blew through the leaves stopped.  I could barely hear the two people breathing.  It was as if the whole world had stopped in that moment.
    Suddenly, there was the sound of rocks shifting.  All eyes turned upwards to the stones, just above where the two were standing.  They had shifted closer to the edge.  The couple exchanged looks, and right as they did, the rocks came falling down the hill.  Both ran in the opposite direction, without making  so much as a gasp.  The rocks fell, resting neatly against the hillside.  One person stood on top of the hill, with his arms crossed and a frown on his face.  It took me a moment, but I eventually recognized him.  Danny.

With a jolt, I found myself on the log again.  Strange, I thought to myself.  Danny I recognized, and those other two seemed familiar as well. I remembered what the stranger had told me about my parents. Perhaps that was them, I figured. They were meeting in secret, talking about running away. Who else could it be? I blinked slowly, and let my mind wander.
When I opened my eyes, and looked to my right, I saw a hill, with rocks on one side.