Passenger

Chapter 8

The next morning, Neb was up first, shaking Krys awake. "come on, little buddy, sun's up." He said, as the Avian roused. "time to get a move on. It's still a day's walk until we reach Cassion."

"alright, I'm ready." Krys gave the Gnoll back his blanket and to his feet, pulling a blade of grass out of his hair. Neb handed him some breakfast, mainly comprised of a piece of bread and an apple.

And so, the two started walking again, and I floated along with them. One thing I started to notice is that Krys started to walk on his toes more than the rest of his feet, seemingly uncomfortable. "your feet starting to hurt, buddy?" I questioned, floating alongside him. Krys nodded. "I figured. Not used to this much walking, huh? Guess you're more used to flying around."

"well, not exactly. It's just...there usually isn't a chance to do this much walking." Krys explained. "the islands are smaller than the continents, so...when we do walk, it usually isn't very far. And not like this."

"really?" I raised an eyebrow. "so no island takes longer than...what, two or three days to traverse? I thought there were some bigger than that."

"no, there are some very big ones. But...I've never been to any of them." Krys shrugged, looking sheepish. "and, yeah, we do fly a lot more than we walk. It's usually faster."

I nodded, filing away the information for a later date. Never know when something like that can come in handy. As our conversation ended, however, Neb struck up one of his own with Krys. "so, little buddy, what do you think of the surface so far? To your liking at all?"

Krys nodded. "I do like it. It's...different than the islands." He responded, smiling. "I've never seen so much open land – or an ocean. It's nice."

"an ocean?" Neb looked curious. "well, I didn't see any ocean with you. When did that happen?"

"when I first...got here. I was on the beach, by the ocean. It's called a beach still, right?" Neb and I both nodded. "well, that's where Leif found me and let me stay at his home. After that –"

He faltered as Neb held up a clawed hand. "whoa, hold on a second, little buddy. When you say Leif...do you mean prince Leif?" realizing what he had said, Krys nodded. "well, I'll be. And he didn't turn you in?"

I couldn't help but roll my eyes at that. "of course he didn't. Leif can barely eat meat without feeling bad for whatever animal it used to be." I muttered with a shake of my head.

Krys was answering Neb's question. "no, he was really nice, actually." He replied. "but he didn't want me to leave – I only left once Sarah arrived to look for me. I think Leif was trying to protect me."

"wow. The prince working against the queen – never would have expected that. I mean, I knew he went into hermitage and all, but...I didn't realize he'd pull something like that. Sounds like you got real lucky, little buddy."

The Avian just nodded, then glanced at me. "yeah. I guess so." He replied, giving me a slight smile.

I looked back at him. "yeah, stuck with the ghost of a murdered princess. Sounds real lucky to me." I remarked dryly. Krys just grinned a little wider.

Then, abruptly, Neb stopped. "wait a minute." He said quietly, putting a hand on Krys' shoulder to stop him. The Gnoll had raised his head and was sniffing the air, eyes narrowed. "I smell something."

Krys and I both looked around, but saw nothing. "what is it?" Krys questioned, looking back at Neb.

"not sure, but it's not supposed to be in the forest." Neb took another long sniff of the air. "whatever it is, it seems like they've tried to mask their scent with some stuff, but not enough. And...it's close."