Elly walked over, leading the stable-boy by the hand. He looked at her, and she gave him an encouraging smile, then turned to Gideon and Jet. “He wants to come with us.”

Jet threw up his hands. “Why not. Women, children, let’s just bring the whole town.”

“Vetoed. This town sucks,” Gideon said.

“It’s called exaggeration,” Jet snapped.

“Hey, I don’t know your life, alright?” Gideon said, shrugging.

Elly smiled at them. “He can help with the horses. Now that there’s more of us, we could use a pageboy, isn’t that right?”

The stable boy nodded aggressively.

“What about his parents?” Jet asked.

The stable boy looked at his feet. He shook his head.

Elly turned sad eyes on Jet. “He’s an orphan. Turned up a year or two ago. No one knows where he came from. One of the shepherds found on the edges of the fields one day, dirty and injured, and brought him in. They’ve asked in all the towns around here, but no one knows him. And he can’t speak, either, so he hasn’t been able to explain himself.”

She leaned in toward Jet and Gideon, raising her hand as she whispered, “I personally think he’s a refugee from the war to the east. The border’s pretty far from here, but it isn’t impossibly far.”

Jet frowned, crossing his arms. “A refugee…” It’s not impossible. The two countries to our east have been at war forever. Refugees turn up on the eastern border all the time. You rarely find one this far inside the country, but it’s possible.

Giving her best puppy-eyes, Elly pouted at Jet. “Please? Just to the next town, at least. Without me here, I don’t know how they’ll treat him. You can’t abandon a kid, can you?”

Gideon shrugged. He tipped his head back and forth, then nodded.

The stable boy’s face fell.

Jet rubbed his forehead, feeling a new headache coming on. We don’t need to involve children in this… but if it’s just to the next town over, and Elly’s coming anyways… “Alright, fine. But only to the next town.”

The stable boy’s eyes lit up. He nodded until it looked like his head was about to fall off.

“What’s your name? Er… What’s his name?” Jet asked, turning to Elly halfway through as he remembered the stable boy couldn’t talk.

The stable boy crouched in the dirt and very slowly spelled out L E O with his finger.

Elly nodded gently at the stable boy. “I think you’ll find he can express himself.”

Jet rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “Ah… right. My bad.”

“Yeah, how could you, Jet. Completely ignoring the poor stable boy,” Gideon said, giving Jet a disapproving frown. He slung an arm around Leo’s shoulders and looked at the boy. “Honestly, Leo, can you believe he’d dismiss you like that?”

Leo shrugged. His expression was neutral, and he waved a hand, indicating he didn’t care.

“Jet, you must feel so bad about yourself right now, treating Leo like he’s not even human. I can’t believe you,” Gideon said.

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Leo shook his head harder and waved both hands. He gave Jet a pleading look and shook his head again.

“Tch tch, to think I was travelling with such an inhuman—ow!” Gideon jolted back, a hand on his collar.

Jet sighed and dropped the pendant. “Enough of that nonsense. Who was going to abandon him ten seconds ago?”

“I would. I own that statement. Because I see him as an equal human being, Jet. Equally capable of surviving on his own and expressing his needs and wants in his own unique ways,” Gideon said, looking Jet in the eyes.

Taking a deep breath, Jet ignored Gideon, though it took some effort. He nodded at Elly, then Leo. “If there’s anything you want to take with you, now’s the time.”

Leo glanced around, then shook his head. Elly put a hand on the side of her face. After a moment, her eyes lit up. “Oh! There are a few things. Shall we go back to the church?”

Jet nodded. “Would you mind if we stayed the night in the church? I don’t think we should stay in town right now.”

Elly shook her head. “No, no, definitely not. No, come along. There’s rooms in the back. You’ll have to share, but… it’ll be better than sleeping out in the rain! Or getting stabbed in the tavern.”

“Ominous thing to say,” Jet muttered.

Smile turning stiff, Elly nodded. “I do see the future. Sometimes. A future, anyways. Possibilities.”

Gideon leaned in to Jet. “Does she creep you out a little, or is it just me?”

Jet shoved him away without answering.

The four of them started the trek back up the hill. Leo wandered ahead, occasionally pausing to kneel and inspect something in the grass before he continued. He ran off at the sight of the wyverns and peered over them, closely inspecting their bodies.

“See if any of them would make good eating!” Gideon called after Leo.

The boy jolted and looked at Gideon with dinner-plate eyes.

Jet elbowed Gideon.

“What? I’m hungry. Wyverns are basically just big chickens,” Gideon muttered.

A cough sounded from behind them. Jet whirled, hand on his sword. Gideon half-turned, reaching for his tome.

Tom stood behind them, an arm over his son’s shoulders. He gave them a frown, then looked at Eric and nudged him. “Tell them, son.”

Eric scowled at the ground. He muttered something under his breath.

“Louder,” Tom ordered.

Eric’s scowl deepened into a grimace. He looked up, meeting their eyes, a ferocious anger hidden in his. Half-shouting, he snapped, “I’m sorry!”

Tom patted him on the back and released him. Eric stomped off, turning his back to the group.

Quietly, Tom leaned toward them. “Let’s put everything to rest between us. Eric… hasn’t been quite right since his mom died. Full of anger. I think he blames himself, though there’s nothing anyone could do… wasting sickness, you know? I deal with it with humor, which… doesn’t work for everyone. He’s got too much of his mom in him to appreciate it.” Tom shook his head. “Just wanted you folks to know he’s sorry.”

Gideon held out his hand, making a grasping motion. “And?”

Jet elbowed him out of the conversation before he could escalate things once more. “You understand that what your son did, inciting dragons to attack a person, is a serious crime.”

“I know,” Tom said, hanging his head. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Keep an eye on him, alright? Don’t let it happen again.” Jet clapped him on the shoulder and tossed him a nod. He turned away, gently pushing the others to move again. Although everyone else went back into motion, Gideon refused to budge, still holding his hand out, his brows furrowed furiously. He made the grasping gesture at Jet.

Tom looked up. His eyes shone, and he nodded. “Understood. Oh, and Jet? Here.”

Jet turned. Something flew at him. Startled, he reached out and caught a small bundle as it plummeted toward his chest. The bundle jangled, a little cloth-wrapped parcel. Jet opened it up and peered inside.

Gold and copper gleamed back at him.

Jet held it out. “I couldn’t possibly—”

Tom shook his head. “Keep it. After everything that’s happened, you deserve it.” Refusing to acknowledge any other action Jet made, he turned and walked away.

Gideon peered over his shoulder. “Ooh! My earnings!”

Before he could grab it, Jet tucked it away. “Where’d you get that gold in the first place, anyways? The gold you anted with?”

“Huh? Oh, the gold I bid with? I dunno. It just appeared in my pocket, I…”

Jet held up the pendant.

“…remember suddenly! There was change from when I paid for the robes. I forgot to hand it back to you, and then I found it in my pocket and I thought, well, this is in my pocket, it must be my gold… and, uh, the bandits we killed, they had some gold in their pockets, so I thought—”

Jet pushed the pendant.

“Ow! Hey, I told you what you wanted to know!” Gideon said, clasping his hand to his throat.

Shaking his head, Jet walked after the others. I think I understand why none of the noble or mage factions ever bothered to recruit this guy, now.

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