Hunter, Juggernaut, Assassin, Warrior (DNF)

Drowns' Bridge

Escaping the village was quick and easy, he left the hunters in his dust. The only problem was, the hunter's dog had kept fair pace with Dream. At first he thought it was funny, George couldn't keep track of his own dog. But as time drew on and by the time the sun was setting, Dog still hadn't left, Dream became kind of uncomfortable. 

The dog wasn't attacking, nor was she showing any signs of aggression, she was just there. Dream tried to ignore her, he tried shooing her away. But alas she remained. Dream was now attempting to losing the dog in the brush, but that ended up failing as well. Why wasn't she leaving? Surely she knew Dream was the prey here? Right?

Regardless of the trailing pooch, Dream continued on his merry way. For the first time he felt truly confident. He actually had a plan. For the past five years he had really been playing it by ear. Of course he had been in contact with Soot and his family but he hadn't physically seen them in years. Dream always walked a fine line, one misstep and he'd be imprisoned or straight-up killed in the streets. 

He was glad to be returning to the Fifth Kingdom after all this time. They'd keep him safe until it was go time. The only thing stopping him from getting there was the dangerous path he took, and the four men following. 

Dream walked with light feet as he trotted down the forest path, the only thing that called attention to him, was Dog and her sloppy footing. Dream grew impatient now, he quickly snapped around and stared at the rusted-furred dog. 

"Why are you here?" He demanded. "Go! Shoo!" Dream made a motion of swiping with his hands. Dog stopped in her tracks and looked up at Dream with a curious looked. "Go home, please." Dream sighed. 

But she didn't move, she continued to stare at Dream. Clearly, nothing was going on behind her green-ish eyes. Frustration bubbled in his skin as he looked at the animal. He stifled in a deep breath as he pulled his fingers to his temples. 

"Why?" Dream grumbled. He dropped his hand from his face and tucked his legs underneath him, he collapsed to a sitting position. "You have to know you're supposed to be against me." Dream outreached his gloved hand, and patted the dog on the head. Her tail picked up speed as she got petted. "You know I'm more of a cat person myself." Dream grinned. 

Dog started to shake her leg with joy as Dream scratched behind her floppy ears. With the two souls finally standing still, Dream listened to the sounds of the forest. Sounds of distance wood-peckers and birds filled the air, as well as a very distance sounds of rushing water. He was close to the Drowns' Bridge. 

He wondered what to do from there. He couldn't bring Dog across that bridge, it was already dangerous as it was. Dream stared into Dog's leafy-green gaze and narrowed his eyes.

"Your George's dog... You where there when he saved me..." He finally out the two together. Dog woofed softly, wagging her tail. She looked stupid. "You're clever... Very very clever." He rose to his feet, his gaze locked into the animal. "Alright, c'mon. No doubt you'll owner will be on our trail." Dream pulled his hand up to his face and rested it in his chin. "I look forward to it..." He grinned to himself.

Dream spun around, heading down the same path he had been going previous. Dog leapt to her feet and bounded after him blindly. They two kept a decent pace, keeping in line with each other fairly well. At this point, he was so focused on heading forward, he forgot to look back. For the first time in five years, he wasn't on his toes.

He failed to see the four ever looming shadows.

Each stride he took, the confident grew warmer and warmer in his blood. The forest suddenly dropped off as they came to the bridge. The river itself was several hundred feet below the old stone and moss bridge, in a canyon carved from centuries of erosion. The currents underneath were strong and ravenous with intense hunger. The violent rapids could be heard even from the cliff side.