Home is a Treasure Beyond Price

Chapter 12

Nick hurried through the deepening dusk, ignoring the ache in his side, and the ache in his arm from carrying his bags. At least the exertion helped ward of the unseasonal chill in the air. He should have left the tavern sooner, but it was the first time Theo, Antonio, Chris, and he had managed to sit down together in far too long.
They'd passed the time reminiscing and catching up on each other's i and ribbing Nick about being a dragon's helper. Nick couldn't remember the last time he'd laughed so much. But then Ruiz had walked in with Gomez and a few more of Gordon's men. It had taken a lot of furious whispering on Antonio and Chris's part to convince Theo and him to remain in their seats. And from the smug look on Ruiz's face, that bastard had known how much both of them had wanted a fight.
In the end, what stopped them was knowing that Chris and Antonio would get dragged into it, and they had families and jobs at risk. It was only when Ruiz and his friends left that they were able to relax again.
He squinted at his surroundings. Trees loomed to his left, skeletal branches almost bare of leaves, while on the right, he was hemmed in by the rocky outcrop that ran along the right-hand side of the path. Was it because he'd never walked this path in the dark that he couldn't shake a sense of foreboding? It was like an ice-cold finger drawn down the back of his neck.
The fading light reflected off the light gray stone of the outcrop, giving it an eerie glow. It rose like a sheer wall only to end after roughly a hundred feet, as though a giant had taken a sword, sheared the rock in two, and then carted away the other half. This was the halfway point in the hour-long journey between the cave and the village.
Not even sure what he was looking for, he paused to check his surroundings again, feeling vaguely embarrassed by his jumpiness. He shifted his bags to his left hand just in case—he didn't want the wall of stone on his right to hamper his swing. Then, with careful, quiet steps, he continued walking.
He was almost at the spot the outcrop ended when something flickered in the corner of his eye. He swung hard, trying to hit whatever hid around the corner. The basket collided with a solid thunk. He heard a muffled exclamation and the patter of his packages hitting the ground before he was shoved hard, knocking him off his feet. He was mid-shout when a sack was roughly pulled over his head.
Not again, he thought. And that was the last thing he remembered before his head exploded with pain and the world flashed red.