Taylen sees Asher come out of the trees and spurs the horse toward him. He stops about twenty feet away and eyes the trees warily, then dismounts. Asher runs up to him.
"Thank you so much," he says as Taylen unties the bag. "Was it hard?"
"Not terribly." Taylen lets the bag fall on the ground. "The hardest thing was getting Niku to leave me alone when I needed to come over."
Asher laughs. "How'd you manage that?"
"I told him I needed a red stone from the stream bed for a magic potion. He'll spend all morning looking for it." He looks over Asher's shoulder at the trees, and then drops his voice to a whisper. "Where is she?"
"The girl? Back in the trees." Asher cocks his head at Taylen's expression. "What is it?"
"I...I just overheard some men in the village," he says. "They were talking about her. I heard them say they were sure you were dead because she probably ate you."
Asher lets out a clipped laugh. "Eat me? Taylen, she's not a monster."
Taylen remains serious. "How sure are you?"
Asher's smile flows away. He puts a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I'm sure," he says. "She's safe. But we aren't, which is why I need to get her away from here. So, what did you bring?"
YOU ARE READING
The Unending Epic Written to Appease a Friend, Tell a Tale, an...
خيال (فانتازيا)Each 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...
