Displaced

Chapter 11

Arlette Faredin stared out into the forest, keeping watch in the darkness for threats of every sort. Danger could come in many forms, emerging out of the blackness without warning. There were the bounty hunters, of course. Arlette wasn't expecting to see any of them tonight — they were likely still tearing the town apart looking for the three mercenaries. The hunters would catch on quick enough, though. Arlette and company had ditched the road rather soon after escaping Poniren and headed generally south, trying to put as much distance between them and their pursuers as possible while they still could.

That left the wildlife as the premier danger for the night. Arlette knew little about the animals up here. Like everybody, she knew about the jaglioths, but they were diurnal so she wasn't worried about those brutes. No, she had to be wary of everything else, nocturnal creatures she knew nothing about. Maybe there was little to be afraid of, or maybe the stories others told of the Kutrad nights were true. The possibility was enough to turn every sound into a potential threat, slowly eroding what little calm she still had after everything else that had happened the last few days. A branch snapped behind her and she whirled about, her weapon drawn and at the ready.

"Jumpin' a' every noise already, Letty?"

"Skies above, Jaquet, my heart nearly stopped. Is it your watch already?"

"Aye."

"Thanks. Sorry for overreacting."

"Eh, don' worry yerself. Rather ya be on yer toes. So I assume we're 'eadin' fer Stragma?"

"I don't know, isn't Stragma the predictable play?"

"It's tha predictable play because it's tha only play. Unless ya wanna try ta somehow cross tha Divide, get past Redwater Castle, an' 'ope tha' tha 'unters don' chase us into tha Empire."

"I guess we make for Stragma then."

"Aye. Get some sleep. Ya need it more than tha rest o' us."

Arlette head hung and she didn't move.

"Wha's wrong, Letty?"

"I see it. Every night. The rage... it's terrifying."

"Aye, tha's natural. I wouldn' wan' ta meet tha person who could live through tha' an' be fine. It'll pass."

"What... was that thing? Where did it come from? How could anything alive be so huge?"

Jaquet didn't answer immediately, pausing to consider his response.

"A god, I think," Jaquet finally said.

Arlette rocked back at his reply. "A god? Are you serious? Gods exist only in children's stories. There's never been any proof that they were real in all of recorded history."

"Tha' doesn' mean they can' be real."

"Well, with luck we'll never have to know the answer to that question. Goodnight, Jaquet."

"Aye, see ya in tha mornin'."

With a weary sigh, Arlette stood up and worked her way back to the others. She wasn't ready for a world where gods were more than something used to scare children into doing their chores, but her life had been a nonstop parade of life telling her it didn't care what she was ready for. After a few more steps, the forms of Basilli and Sofie came into view. She couldn't help but marvel at Sofie, her body sprawled out without a care in the world. She had no idea how the girl could sleep so soundly after how hard it had been for her to fall asleep in the first place. As if Arlette needed more evidence for her "locked up noble daughter" theory, Sofie seemed to think that every insect in the woods was out to kill and eat her. Squirming, shivering, twitching, and slapping at every touch, real or imagined, it was a marvel that Sofie wasn't still awake and complaining. Lying down beside Basilli, who had taken first watch, Arlette drifted back into the light sleep of the hunted.