The Nøkken and the Huntress.

13.) Fleeing.

I made my way to the hut and I froze. There was a group of people were roaming around Eføy's hut. Some inside and some outside. A woman rushed quickly outside holding something in her hands. Two of the men outside ran to her. They observed what was being held and one of the men waved his arm in the air and the group gathered together and walked back to the village.

'Oh no.' My heart was racing as I watched the people move further and further down the shore and eventually turned to specs as they entered the village. I got up from my crouched position and ran down and into the hut.

I grabbed her tent and bow as well as a spare dress. I bundled it all in my arms and bolted back up into the forest.

When I returned to our temporary settlement Eføy was sitting patiently under a tree. She seemed to be lost in her thoughts as I drew closer to her. I knelt beside her and placed the items next to her. She finally snapped out of her trance and smiled at me. I sat down beside her and placed an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into me and closed her eyes. "I think we need to get further away Nøkken. For our own safety."

"I agree. I saw people searching for your place."

She looked up at me clearly concerned. "Did they take anything?"

"I think so, I saw a woman cupping something in her hands. She alerted the other people and they all left for the village."

"Well, that obviously isn't a good sign. Let's rest here a bit and then go somewhere alright?"

"Of course Eføy."

After Eføy went to sleep for about an hour I woke her up and she began to fold the tent to a square shape and handed it to me. She put on her cloak and fastened her quiver to her waist and bow over her shoulder. We were set all we needed to do was walk and never look back. I took my hand in her and we both gave the pond one last look over and we began our journey.

We didn't know exactly where to go but we walked in the opposite direction of the village. As we made our way through the forest we leaned further into each other. We were tired but we needed to put as much distance between us and them as we could so we supported our weight against us in an attempt to keep us awake.

We walked for two days taking rests in between. After the night fell the second day it was very dark from the more dense forest. We had the light from the moon to guide us and the light gave the forest a very eerie and gray looking wash. Judging by the way Eføy was alert I assumed her mental alarms were at their most high. That, of course, made me nervous. She is a hunter would know when something was around.

Eventually, we stopped by a huddle of brambles. Eføy pulled away from me and squatted down to get a closer look. I tilted my head. "What are you thinking of doing?"

"Well there's enough room to crawl under and these bushes will give us enough cover to be hidden from any who search. I'll go in first to check it out." She smiled up at me and then looked away to low crawl through.

I watched as she disappeared completely and heard her scoot around until she came back out without her cloak and stood. "There's a lot of room beer there. I placed my cloak down on the grass in there so it will be somewhat comfortable. You first."

I nodded and lowered myself to crawl in. I scowled as the brambles thorns snagged and broke off into my hair. Luckily the crawl wasn't that long so I was at least happy with that. I laid on my side and Eføy soon followed. She snuggled with her back to and I let her lay on my arm. The bushes have enough room to fit in moving but they were still semi cramped but to me, it added a sense of safety. Eføy's breathing began to deepen until she was lightly snoring.

I snuggled closer to her and rested my head against hers. She stirred a bit and made a sound of content. It wasn't long until I joined her in rest.

It was early dawn when I awoke to hear voices. I was about to raise my head to wake Eføy but her hands quickly moved to my mouth. 'Good she's already awake.' I assumed she thought I was going to speak. She and I just continued to watch the feet of people pace around. We both watched the bottom hems of white robes stop as a man began to speak.

"What does this bitch even look like?"

"She's a redhead with a scar on her face and carries a bow." A woman said.

"That's descriptive." Another man spoke.

"Well, that's the only thing we have to go on by." Said a woman with a gravely voice.

"From what the child said that saw her last he stated she was with the false god's brother. We have to watch out for that one. When we see them we need the steel nets out." I assumed this is the man in charge since we could both see the hem of another robe walking to the center of where the people stood. "For now let's regroup with the others and try to find out where they two will be heading." With that, the people began to walk out of view.

'This is the Odins Valda.' I was sure Eføy was thinking the same.

Even though we no longer heard the Valda we still laid still and quiet. Eføy removed her hand from my mouth and I settled back against her. I was scared and no doubt she was also. We didn't speak for the rest of that day. What was there to be spoken? We just laid there moving from time to time before resting again.

The times Eføy and I made eye contact I could see her thoughts. She was very likely thinking of what to do.

It was sunset when we decided to leave our little shelter. "Eføy." I began. She looked up at me from the stump she sat upon. I took a deep breath and exhaled. "Where do you want to go?"

Her head dropped. "I'm not sure. We just need to get as far away as we can. Lay low for as long as we need. Again, I'm not sure where we need to go Nøkken."

I knelt in front of her and clasped her hands and attempted to meet her gaze. "Look, I have an idea."

"What?"

"Well, there are plenty of nut trees around here. Their husks can be used to dye your hair. Maybe you'll be a little safer."

"That sounds like a good idea. Let's look for said husks."

I helped her to her feet and we started our search. I was surprised to find that the walnut husks were plenty nearby. That was a blessing I think. We gathered the more ripe husks and I sat Eføy down and began to massage her scalp with the juices. Soon enough her once red hair was now a very deep muddy brown.

She looked even more fine in my opinion from the change and smiled at her. "How does it look, love?"

"It looks lovely. When it dries it might lighten. Do you want to keep going?"

"It will be dark soon let's stay one more night and leave at first light."

"Alright. After you." I motioned to the location of the brambles.

She stood and walked ahead of me I closely following. We crawled inside and waited out the night.

Sorry if this chapter is lame.