Passenger

Chapter 6

 Neb shook Krys' hand heartily as they finished off their food. "well, we can leave for Cassion as soon as you think you're ready." The Gnoll said with a grin. "We don't have any horses, but it's only a few days of travel from here, and I've got packs of food with me at all times. Oh, and another thing..."

Krys nodded with a smile of his own. I groaned and facepalmed in despair. "idiot." I muttered. What was the point of taking this risk? We didn't know what this Gnoll's intentions were – yet Krys was just going to trust him? "you're going to die. You're going to die, and I'm not going to feel bad."

Neb was still talking, but I was done listening. I floated away from the table to pass through the wall to the outside, folding my arms with a huff.

"he's an idiot." I growled, shaking my head. "absolute idiot. If a meal and some nice words is all it takes to win him over, he's not going to last very long down here..."

I trailed off in my grumblings as I heard a faint noise – hoofbeats. Frowning, I turned towards the street to see a jet-black stallion cantering through the middle of the road, the crowd parting around it. And seated on top of it – yep, you guessed it – was my old friend Sarah, axes on her belt and armor donned, scanning the crowds intently.

Internally, I cursed. Of course Sarah would come here if she was looking for Krys! It was the closest town to Leif's house, so he'd probably go here. And of course she was looking for Krys, because my own mother was probably telling her to catch him and drag him to the capital! Cursing aloud, I flew back into the restaurant and back to the table.

"Krys! We've got company again!" surprised, Krys looked over at me, surprising Neb as he had seemingly turned towards nothing. "Sarah's here. She's in the street looking for you, and my bet is that she'll start looking through buildings soon enough. We've got to get you out of here!"

Krys' eyes widened in surprise; then they grew serious, and nodded. "Neb, is there a back exit from this restaurant?" he asked quickly.

"uh, yeah, I think so. Why?" the Gnoll frowned, cocking his head to the side. "something up?"

Krys nodded, already getting to his feet, darting towards the back. Neb did his best to follow, but the Avian was much quicker and nimbler than him, ducking past other customers and a waitress as he made for the door. Being a ghost, I was easily able to follow after Krys, just floating through the tables and other people in the way.

Krys found the door and ran out, with me floating above him. We emerged out onto a backstreet that ran along the main road, only a single set of buildings separating the two roads. "go further down this way!" I told him, pointing down the street. "Sarah's on the main road. We've got to keep out of her way."

As Krys darted down the street, Neb was rushing after him. "hey, wait up!" he shouted, hustling behind the Avian. "what's going on, buddy? Why are we running?"

"just shut up and run." I grumbled at the Gnoll, knowing he couldn't hear me. Krys glanced back at Neb, hurriedly gesturing for him to keep following. I took a moment to look down a side alley towards the main road, looking for Sarah, but I couldn't spot her. She was riding a horse – she shouldn't be that hard to spot, even with everyone milling about –

Whump. I heard Krys suddenly slam into something in front of me, yelping in surprise. Quickly I whirled around to see that Krys had fallen to the ground, rubbing his forehead. Neb stopped in his tracks as we all looked at the armored figure he had run into.

"ah, crap." I whispered, as Sarah loomed over Krys, arms folded. At some point, she must have ditched her horse, because it was nowhere in sight. "Krys, just stay calm, alright? Don't overreact."