He knows she won't like his answer, but he doesn't see that they have a choice. "We'll have to follow the river south," he says.
She shakes her head and points back toward from where they came. "The men."
"Well, the mountains are to the north. We can't cross those, much less live on them. The forest goes to the east and west, but nothing's there. Our only option is to follow the river south, where there are people."
"Your people," she says with a scowl.
Asher clasps his hands behind his head, trying to puzzle out their best course. "If we follow the stream, though, it'll eventually take us to the Nintu. Is there any chance you could find your people there?"
May shakes her head. "No."
"Why not?" he asks, but she only shakes her head again and remains silent. After a moment, he continues, "Well, wouldn't you prefer to at least go back to your river?"
May's expression is unreadable; she looks down at the leaves around their feet. "Nintu's embrace holds no comfort now," she says.
Asher looks at her sadly, then at the trees around them. He knows they can't survive long in the forest; he grew up on a farm, his family trading for what they needed in town. Suddenly, his heart lightens. "May," he says, "what do your people eat?"
YOU ARE READING
The Unending Epic Written to Appease a Friend, Tell a Tale, an...
FantasyEach day, the story grows. The tale begins when two lives are suddenly and irrevocably twined together, and a boy from a lonely farm and a girl without a people find themselves each other's only friend. Little by little the fabric of their lives wea...
