Minnie Wickett walked down the main road, leading out from Windbrook. It was quiet in the evening and the only thing she could hear was the sound of her own footsteps and the whistling of the wind.

A torch flickered in the evening, sending out a beacon of light for Minnie to follow. By the light, two guards stood watch, making sure no one would sneak through the gate at night. When they saw Minnie’s figure walking calmly down the road, the guards looked at each other in disbelief.

One guard took a step forward, his hand on a bow thrown over his shoulder and his sword resting undisturbed in its sheath. He put up a hand toward Minnie and when she didn’t stop; he narrowed his eyes at her.

“Stop,” he said. “You’re not allowed to be here.”

Minnie didn’t listen. She kept walking toward the guards, her hands holding a wicker basket with a piece of cloth draped over the top. She finally got close to them and the soldier, who was holding up his hand, staggered back when he saw Minnie’s face.

“Miss Wickett,” the guard said. “What are you doing here?”

Minnie stretched out the basket for the guard and put a warm smile over her face.

“I brought you cookies from Mrs. Hallden’s inn,” Minnie said. “It must be hard working this late at night with no breaks. I thought maybe you would like to step away from the job for just a minute or two. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

Minnie saw their faces now and recognized both guards as two boys a couple of years older than her. She thought the one in the back was called Bo and the one closest to her was definitely John.

Bo stepped up to Minnie and took the basket from her hands. He lifted the piece of cloth, protecting the cookies, and a hungry expression appeared on his face.

“That’s so nice of you, Minnie,” Bo said.

“Yes, really nice,” John said. “We’ll gladly accept the cookies, but unfortunately, we can’t take a break. The gate will not watch itself.”

“But no one really comes here at night anyway,” Minnie said. “It doesn’t really matter if you take five minutes off, does it?”

“No, not really,” Bo said.

He grabbed a cookie and bit off half of it. John snatched the rest of the cookies from Bo’s hand and looked at him with daggers in his eyes.

“Yes, it would matter,” John said. “We’re on duty and we can’t leave our watch for even five minutes.”

He put the rest of Bo’s cookie into his mouth and chewed it slowly. Minnie looked back down the road to the edge of the forest, where she saw the thin outlines of Marcus and Mel, waiting to sneak past the gate when she had distracted the guards. Only Minnie hadn’t distracted them. She’d just fed them, apparently.

Minnie needed to come up with a more enticing lure for the guards to swallow her hook.

“My father needs you to go to town hall,” Minnie said. “Take the cookies with you and go as fast as you can. He doesn’t like to be kept waiting, you should know that.”

“What?” John said, looking at Minnie with wide eyes.

“Yes,” Minnie said. “My father is furious at you. He thinks you’re lazy and insubordinate. He needs you and Bo for a special mission and if you aren’t at town hall in five minutes, he’s going to…”

Minnie thought for a second, what would be an appropriate threat to her lie. She didn't know. None of this sounded real or like her father at all. She was certain John and Bo would see right through her any second now.

Minnie swallowed hard and continued, despite her feeling of being caught.

“... fire you,” Minnie said.

“Fire us?” Bo said. “No, that can’t happen. Mother is so proud of me for getting this job. I can’t lose it now.”

John looked at Bo and then back at Minnie. He seemed to think over what she’d said, and Minnie feared he would see the glaring holes in her little lie. He would surely report her to her father when he found out the truth.

“Thank you, Minnie,” John said. “Do you mind watching the gate until we get back? Just in case?”

“Yeah, sure,” Minnie said, not really believing this had worked.

John grabbed Bo by the arm and they jogged away from the gate with the basket of cookies under Bo’s arm. Minnie stood, staring at them, not sure if her lie had worked or if they were just running for reinforcements. But she couldn’t think of a reason they would get reinforcements for her presence.

Marcus and Mel crept out of the darkness after John and Bo had passed them. They snuck up to where Minnie was standing with happy expressions on their faces.

“I can’t believe that worked,” Minnie said. “What a couple of idiots.”

“Thank you Minnie,” Mel said. “I know that must have been hard. You did great.”

A stone sank in Minnie’s stomach. Oh no, she was the idiot. She hadn’t realized until now that whether they had bought her lie or not, they would eventually find out the truth and rat her out to her father. Minnie was going to get caught, no matter how stupid Bo and John were.

“Yeah,” Minnie said. “You better get going. Before they come back with my father and the rest of the guards.”

“Is it okay that we just leave you like this?” Marcus asked.

“This was the plan all along,” Minnie said. “This is what we agreed upon. To help Mel.”

“I’m sorry, I got you into trouble,” Mel said.

Minnie turned and caught Mel’s gaze. “Don’t worry about me. Now, promise me you’ll be safe and don’t run away from Marcus, okay? He’ll protect you out there and may the dragons watch over you both.”

“I won’t run away from him,” Mel said. “Thank you Minnie, for everything.”

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They embraced in a quick hug before Minnie pulled back.

She felt hot tears sting at the corners of her eyes and her heart felt filled to the brim with emotion. She didn’t want Mel to leave, but she couldn’t ask her to stay either. Not when she knew Mel’s destiny was waiting for her out there.

#

Mel and Marcus continued down the road after the gate, leaving Windbrook behind. Forest crept up around the road and the gate stood tall behind them, a thin line of wall stretching out to either side.

The gate wasn’t built to keep an army out. It could barely protect against a band of bandits. It was more a warning for anyone who came near Windbrook, that this was not a place to steal, trick or kill in. This place was guarded and had a wall, not some place without consequences.

Mel stopped a small distance from the gate and looked back over her shoulder. She had never been this far away from her parent’s house, her father’s forge or from Andrew. Guilt pained her for not saying a proper goodbye to anyone except for Minnie.

Marcus put his hand on her shoulder, seeming to feel her hesitation.

“We need to get a move on if we’re going to reach Dragon Lake by morning,” he said.

Mel turned her back to Windbrook, to her old life, and grabbed Marcus’s hand. Together, they walked side by side down the road toward the western ferry landing. Mel squeezed her friend's hand tight and Marcus squeezed back. It felt nice not being alone out here in the darkness.

Every now and then small sounds came from the forest on either side of them, a howling of a wolf or a rustle of twigs from a couple of rabbits. And every time it happened, Mel jumped.

She wasn’t used to this fear of walking outside at night, but now it seemed like all the stories she had heard growing up, of what was lurking outside of Windbrook, came back to her.

They haunted her mind and conjured stories of bears ripping her body to pieces in a matter of minutes, or a flock of wild boars stabbing her with one of their tusks. It was uncle Joe’s stories mostly, the ones he would usually tell her when he came over to their house for dinner.

He always brought stories home with him after his travels to and from Auburn Hills. There was usually always some poor man lost in the woods or walking alone at night on the road between the cities who got jumped by animals.

Mel felt that maybe she hadn’t understood Joe’s stories until now. Maybe he had been trying to warn her about traveling by night on the roads outside of Windbrook. She squeezed Marcus’s hand tighter, and he looked at her.

“Is everything okay?” Marcus said.

“I’m just scared,” Mel said. “You know, my uncle Joe usually comes to our home and tells us stories about this road and the people who get killed traveling down it.”

“Oh, really?” Marcus said. “Well, no offense, but everyone knows Joe is a bit of a liar.”

“What?” Mel said. “No, he isn’t.”

“Yeah, he kind of is,” Marcus said. “Do you remember that time when he got home from a trip to Auburn Hills and his leg was all damaged? He had to be looked at by the priests in the chapel. They thought he might have gotten stabbed in the leg by a knife. But when he was all fixed up, he told everyone a story of some mystical wild beast jumping him on the road to the east ferry landing. He even made it sound like it was not some regular animal, but a beast from beyond the mountain.”

“Yeah,” Mel said.

“So, you do know then?” Marcus said.

“Well, no,” Mel said. “Of course, I don’t think the beast was from beyond the mountain. That might have been an exaggeration. But clearly he was jumped by maybe a wild boar or a moose or something.”

“A moose?” Marcus said and chuckled. “Do you know how big they are? If he was jumped by a moose, he’d be dead. No, I and the rest of the town believe he got into some trouble in Auburn Hills. Maybe he gambled and couldn’t pay or he slept with the wrong person and got stabbed by their husband. I’m not sure, but I do know the cut wasn’t from an animal.”

Mel looked off into the distance, seeing the first rays of sun hit something shiny in the distance, a body of water. They were getting close now. They would soon arrive at Dragon Lake. Mel’s heart sped up, and a feeling of relief flooded her body.

“Well, okay,” Mel said. “Maybe that is true. Maybe uncle Joe is a bit of a liar. But don’t you think it can be dangerous to travel these roads by night?”

“Maybe,” Marcus said. “But I don’t think it’s this road we have to be careful on. I think it’s the roads on the east side of Dragon Lake we should be wary of. They have merchants from all over the valley, maybe even some from Aldrion. It’s not supposed to be like Windbrook, protected and safe. Out there, it’s supposed to be dangerous.”

“Yeah,” Mel said. “But we don’t even know that. All we know is what uncle Joe and the leaders of the cult tell us. All we know are lies.”

Marcus looked out into the distance, not saying anything more on the matter. Mel thought perhaps he believed some stories, the ones the priests told them, but not the ones uncle Joe iterated. Mel had a hard time knowing what was true and what was lies. Maybe Marcus felt the same way. They couldn’t be sure of anything.

The sun rose in the sky, throwing light across the horizon. The body of water in front of them shimmered in golden tones, and Mel blew out a quiet whistle. She had seen nothing so beautiful as Dragon Lake before. She wondered why her parents had never taken her here. It was only half a day away from Windbrook, after all. Maybe they believed it was too dangerous.

Mel dropped Marcus’s hand, and it fell to his side. She shielded herself from the sun and saw a small house in the distance. A tiny bridge and a square platform floating in the lake by the bridge. A man walked out of the house with a lantern held in his hand. He placed it on a hook by the door and blew his breath into his hands.

Smoke rose from his fingers and Mel felt the cold creep in under her jacket. She hadn’t noticed it before, too focused on being afraid of the dark. She had forgotten things like cold and hunger. But now they came flooding back to her. Her stomach growled and her body shivered.

Marcus put an arm around her and together they walked down to the ferry landing. The man noticed them almost immediately and gave out a startled little laugh.

“Good morning, strangers,” he said. “What are you doing out here so early?”

He looked at Marcus with his hand around Mel and then he focused on Mel’s face. His eyes were wide and his mouth drawn into a thin line. Did this stranger recognize her?

Mel didn’t know what he would recognize her as. She wasn’t famous or anything. Especially not outside of Windbrook, and she had never seen this man before. So he couldn’t possibly know who she was.

“Good morning,” Marcus said. “We’re looking to cross the lake.”

“Cross the lake?” the man asked. “Who are you?”

“We’re just normal people,” Marcus said. “Marcus and Melissa are our names and we want to travel to Auburn Hills.”

“A newly married couple, are you?” the man asked.

“Yes,” Mel said.

Marcus pulled Mel closer into his embrace, and they both gave the ferryman a big smile.

“Awfully unusual for people to travel to Auburn Hills this early in the morning,” he said. “You must have traveled all night. Where did you say you came from?”

Mel shifted her weight to one foot and took in a deep, calming breath.

“We’re from Bardeen,” Mel said. “And we started traveling yesterday morning. It’s just a long way here, as you probably know.”

“Bardeen,” the man said, a quizzical look on his face. “The little farming community south of Windbrook, not many people from there go on my ferry.”

Mel swallowed hard and looked at the man while he scratched his chin.

“Well, I suppose that’s possible,” the man said. “I’m Leigh and welcome to my ferry, Leigh’s ferry. The only ferry across Dragon Lake and the best, if I may say so myself.”

“Thank you,” Marcus said. “Shall we just climb on right away?”

“No, no,” Leigh said. “I don’t take a half full ferry across when I know there will be more people arriving soon. You have to wait until midday or so when the rest arrive. Then we will sail across the lake and you can make your way to Auburn Hills.”

“Oh,” Mel said. “It’s not possible to go sooner if we pay you double?”

Leigh shook his head. “Only fools or people fleeing from something would pay double to travel a couple of hours earlier.”

Mel swallowed hard and stared at Leigh. Did he know who they were?

“Of course,” Marcus said, and let out a tense chuckle. “My wife is just eager to get there and start our new lives. But we’ll wait until midday. Thank you.”