The World of The Winged

Goodbye Friend.

Chapter 21:

It's slowly becoming darker and Lucien and I are still sitting in the middle of nowhere. "We should probably go back before we make the others worry." Lucien says and I nod in agreement. Both of our horses stayed close to us, thankfully. Sam is still happily playing around with a small light blue and purple butterfly.

Lucien stands up and sticks his hand out for me to help me up. I grab hold of it and he pulls me up, yet I was coming up at the same time so we just end up bumping into each other. We both laugh awkwardly and he scratches the back of his neck, like he always does when he feels uncomfortable. Yeah, I've noticed.

We saddle out horses again and I call Sam over to me, who comes running to me, looking as excited as ever. I take her up in my arms and put her on Silver's back before I climb on myself. Lucien climbs up on his own pitch black horse with small dark blue glowing spots on it. The animal was gorgeous and looked very strong. We start riding back to camp and just chat on the way there, nothing too deep. I was ready to get into deep conversations again once we arrived back at the camp, near Gure's grave.

We arrive and Luke immediately comes running up to me. "Amelia! Thank goodness you're back. I was so worried." He pulls me into a caring hug. I'm surprised by his actions, he has never shown a lot of worry, only at crucial moments. But when I just go out for a bit and come back late? Never. It probably has to do with Gure's death. He just doesn't want to lose me too, I'm guessing.

I hug him back awkwardly since my arms are trapped under his. I can hear Lucien growl behind me and turn look at him in surprise. What is up with these two? They haven't been this protective ever since this all started. I don't understand guys anyway so I shrug it off as one of those 'guy things'.

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The next morning we all start packing and take Gure's horse with us to sell it in the next town or maybe salesmen on the road to Undercave Mountain. This way I will also be able to pay Zilanna back for, you know, not killing me.

I stroke Gure's horse on his nose and he whinnies with a bit of a sad look. Like he knows what happened to his owner. I hug the animal and he pushes his head into my back, trying to hug me back.

On the way to Undercave Mountain, we'll pass by one last town in which we won't be staying if everything goes alright. Luke and Lucien ride next to each other behind me and Zero and Zilanna behind them. Ryan is riding next to me and I feel fine like this. I don't need small talk, trying to lift up the mood and he understands that.

We pass by some salesmen on the way to the last town but they all have too little money for Gure's mount so we just keep him with us until we finally reach town. When we reach the outskirts of the town, we see a small house with loads of stables next to it. "A breeder," Ryan says next to me, "We could try there?" I nod. "As long as we find him a good home. I don't want him sold to a butcher or anything like that." I say and Ryan agrees.

We deviate from our original path and start walking towards to breeder's house. We all get off our horses once we get there and knock on his door. A small old lady opens the door and gives us a warm smile. "Hello there youngsters, my my, what a strange group this is. All kinds of races joined together. What can I do to help you?" She says and we explain our situation with Gure's horse.

She walks over to him and takes a good look at him, sometimes feeling his legs and neck. She asks about his character and we explain that he was probably bred as well, since it was a count's horse. She smiles and nods with a content look on her face. "I'll give you 300 gold pieces for this beauty." My mouth falls open at the amount she's willing to pay.

With that kind of money, we'd be able to easily pay Zilanna off. I smile at the old lady and nod. She quickly goes inside and grabs three small bags of money. Each with 100 gold coins. I throw one of the bags towards Zilanna and she catches it. Looking quite confused however. "For not killing me." I explain and she nods, still frowning.