Nomad of Nowhere Story :p

Chapter 5

Skout rid all night to find Toth and the others after dropping the nomad of at her place. For now she just had to hope that he could stay hidden until she came back. When the sun started rising, she found the camp that the Dandy Lions had set up for the night. She arrived and got of her horse. Everyone was sleeping except for Null who was on guard duty. He looked up at the sudden noise of Skouts arrival and got out his gun.
"It's just me! Don't shoot!" The spittoon girl exclaimed.
"Where were you? Toth has been acting weird since you disappeared. She's not happy with you!" He spat at her.
"Sorry I-" "What's going on here. It's-" Toth screamed as she stepped out of the tent. If she had been angry before she was even angrier now for being woken by a ruckus outside her tent.  When she saw Skout she stopped abruptly.
"Sorry for disappearing like that. I found the nomad and got carried away. I thought if I brought him back, well... I don't know what I was thinking. Sorry. I know you're probably furious." She apologized. She closed her eyes, waiting for Toth to start screaming at her, but she didn't. Toth didn't say anything. When Skout dared to open her eyes againToth was still standing in front of her. It took another few seconds for the woman to snap out of it. Toth hugged Skout tightly.
"Don't ever do that again. I was worried." She whispered into the shorter girls ear, so only she could hear it. Skout hugged back.
"Have I mentioned I know where the Nomad is?" She asked when Toth let go of her. Toth eyes shut up and Skout knew she said the right thing to change subjects.
"Everyone wake up! Were leavening in fifteen minutes!" Toth woke the whole camp up with her powerful voice. She turned back to Skout.
"How far is he?"
"I saw him running into a cave half an hour from here by horse. He was quite tired out after I chased him around all night. I don't think he has the energy to do anything anymore. He's probably sleeping now."
"Good work Skout."
They all got ready and went back on their horses. The ride there was short, but Skout was still falling asleep in her saddle, after all she hadn't slept all night. Toth noticed that and started to worry for the girl.
"You look like you could use a break."
"I haven't slept at all last night and I've been riding for the last 24 hours."
"Impressive."
"Thanks I guess." She replied her eyes failing to stay open for more than two seconds a time.
Skout led the group in the opposite direction of Bliss Hill and kept riding for half an hour before starting to look out for any caves. Lucky for her few time passed before she spotted a cave that fit the profile.
"There!" She pointed at the Cave.
They followed her to the cave.
"This is the cave he went into!" She said while pointing into the large, no enormous cave. The Dandy Lions looked at Toth for a head nod. She confirmed what Skout said with a nod and they started walking towards the cave. Until Red decided to speak up.
"Why should we trust the Spittoon girl on where the nomad, who might Red Manuel ad, she openly defended?" He asked with his usual arrogance seeping from his voice. Skout growled to herself and gave him a look that said: Why can't you just shut up for once?
"You can trust what she said." Toth defended Skout once again. "Now split up and find me that nomad. If you find him sound alarm." She ordered and the Dandy Lions followed her command immediately.
Skout and Toth walked together through the tunnels. Skout stumbling from time to time over her own feet.
"You should go back to the horses and take a nap. You won't be any help half asleep."
Skout nodded and accepted Toth's offer. She took a torch out of her bag and lit it with Toth's. She would need the light to find her way back to the horses. Halfway back she stepped back and opened her backpack. She got out a stone and placed on the ground. It slowly opened its eyes and looked up at her. She had asked the nomad to animate it for her on the way to her place yesterday and now she would use it for her plan.
"Make sure she sees you." She told it and it ran off to find Toth. If she saw it, Skout was sure she would think the nomad was here. Skout felt like a genius for coming up with that idea. She closed her bag again and was about to stand up again when a scream, probably Toth's reaction to the stone, startled her and she fell backward down a slippery slope. It was not a long way down, but it was enough to knock her out on impact. The world turned black when her head hit the ground.

She felt like she was floating. All she could hear was her own heartbeat in the darkness. She opened her eyes to see nothing but a black void stretching out into infinity. Where am I? The last thing she remembered was falling backward and then what?
'Skout!' She heard a familiar voice call out her name. 'Skout!' She recognized it. How could this be? She couldn't be here. She was dead and Skout would never hear her voice again and still, there she was. Calling out to her from inside the shadows.
'Gran?' She asked the black space around her. 'Gran where are you?' She asked again. Panic rising in her voice as she spoke. She started running, desperately searching for the source of the call.

'Here. I'm right here child.' The voice called out to her. She stopped and turned around. There she was, the old woman she called grandmother, stood before her. Freil, pale, vulnerable just like the day she died.

'How are you here?' Skout asked her calmly.

'Don't ask me, girl. This is your head.'

'My head?'

'Yes, girl.'

'What happened?'

'You fell and hit your head.'

Skout nodded.

'I can't do this anymore.' She told the old woman.

'Do what?'

'Pretend to want to hunt down the Nomad, lie to Toth, help the person I'm supposed to hate. I want to bring him in to make Toth proud, but I can't. There is something, I don't know what, but it's holding me back. I feel the need to trust him and help him. Why?'

'You're just protecting your family girl. There is nothing wrong with that.' Gran answered her question with a soft smile.

'Family?' Skout asked confused. Gran didn't answer. She turned around and walked away. Skout wanted to call out for her but before she could, flames surrounded her, engulfing her completely.