Mystic

Chapter 4

"Thanks for all the help, by the way," Andre said as they walked.

"Of course," Taryn said, giving a polite smile.

"And I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, asking about your time in the army. I know it was a while ago, I just wanted to apologize... again."

"It's alright. You were curious, I can't get mad at that. And you didn't know. How's Zeph doing? You said he kept waking you up last night?"

Andre rubbed his head. "He kept having bad dreams, but he wouldn't tell me what they were about, so I couldn't help him. Then I'd finally fall back asleep and he'd wake me up again saying he had the same dream."

"Huh," Taryn said, glancing around at the forest.

They walked in silence, but Taryn didn't mind. With everything that had been going on between the Queen, and seeing Mattias in the town yesterday, and dreaming about Ophelia, she appreciated the moment of quiet. A soft breeze blew through the pine needles, rustling Taryn's perfectly straight hair and blowing Andre's curly hair into his face. He brushed it out of his way, his amber eyes gleaming in the early morning sunlight.

The sky above them was beginning to fade from a citrus orange to a pale blue as the sun continued to rise. Clouds were sparse, which was a relief considering the past few days of heavy rain that had drastically changed the speed of their travels.

"How much longer are you and Zeph planning on staying with me and Neve?" Taryn asked.

Andre opened his mouth to speak but closed it again, contemplating his words. He did that a lot, carefully choosing his words before he spoke. "I don't know," He finally said.

Taryn knew he was getting better, and soon enough he would be able to get back to taking care of Zeph himself, and Taryn and Neve could go back to raiding Southern villages. They both had other plans and other places they could be, if not now, soon. But Andre didn't want to leave just yet, and Taryn didn't want him to leave either. It was a mutual agreement they had both made in that moment. As long as things were going well, as long as the four of them could take care of each other, no one was leaving. The thought made Taryn smile, but she tried to not so show it. Though guessing by Andre's smiling face as well, she could imagine that she hadn't hidden it very well.

It seemed weird to think about. It had been a few weeks, at most, since she had first found Andre and Zeph unconscious in the forest. Yet here they stood now. Andre was almost completely healed of his injuries, and there was a newfound peacefulness between the two. Taryn looked back up at the sky, watching as the final stretches of orange faded from the early morning sky as daylight shook the world awake.

Something rustled behind one of the trees. Both Taryn and Andre stopped walking, diverting their attention to the new sound. Andre gripped tighter onto Taryn's sword, carefully moving towards the sound. He put one foot in front of the other, slowly but surely. He walked carefully, making sure to not make a sound as he went. Taryn wanted to shout at him to be careful, but she kept herself quiet.

Andre swung through the air only to find nothing there.

"Must've been the wind," Taryn said.

Andre didn't turn back to face her. He continued to stare at the area.

"Andre?" Taryn asked. He still didn't move. She walked towards him, peeking over his shoulder. There were large tracks in front of them, pressed into the earth.

"What do you think it's from?" Taryn asked.

Andre didn't answer. He followed the tracks, moving carefully beside them. Large trees had been bent in half and in some places completely knocked over. Whatever had been here wasn't something to mess with. They kept walking when the tracks and destruction suddenly stopped. Andre looked around for more clues, but couldn't find any. Taryn gazed to her left, something shining against the sun catching her eye.