Brugo rose with the sun, yawning and stretching before looking around the small clearing. He gave a grunt of acknowledgement to Anaya as he noticed her leaned up against a tree examining something in her hands. When she realized he was awake, she gave a start and tucked the object way quickly.

But it was the other sleeping form that caught Brugo’s eye. He snorted in amusement as he got to his feet, trudging over to where the little mage lay. Placing the toe of his boot firmly against the mage’s leg, he gave him a gentle nudge.

“Wake up, it’s time to be going.”

Harpyn sat up, yelping with surprise as his eyes traced their way up Brugo’s enormous leg to his broad shoulders and then to the man’s tusked face. Scrambling back, Harpyn stammered an apology for oversleeping and quickly rubbed the fatigue from his face.

“I see you found some extra time in your travel schedule,” Brugo said wryly, checking his belt and axe as he prepared for the day.

Harpyn set about shaking the leaves from his robe, pointedly avoiding Brugo’s accusation.

“The more the merrier, I say.” Anaya joined the two men, cheerful despite having been up for several hours already.

Before long, the three of them were making their way through the woods, headed for the high road. They wasted no time finding a narrow path leading down to the road’s edge and they spared only a moment looking at Torg Uyen’s locked gate before turning away and beginning their journey.

For a long while, they walked in silence. Brugo set a quick pace and the other two were forced to keep up. Occasionally Anaya would fall behind, but then she would jog up alongside him, her smile unwavering. Harpyn, on the other hand, began to flag, and was quick to let Brugo know that he was dissatisfied with his leadership.

Brugo ignored the mage’s whining, intent on making good progress while the sun was still pleasantly light in the sky. As they rounded a bend, there was a strange sound and Harpyn appeared suddenly in front of Brugo, making him stumble to a stop.

“I said, would you mind slowing down? Some of us were not bred by giants. We have short legs.”

Brugo looked down at the mage, his brows drawing together in consternation. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?” Harpyn asked, disappearing and reappearing a few feet further ahead on the path.

“That! I don’t like it.”

Harpyn crossed his arms over his chest petulantly. “Fine. If you will walk at a fair pace, I won’t be forced to use my magic to keep up. But if you start racing ahead again, I won’t have any choice, you know?”

Brugo blew out a little huff of air between his tusks and trudged past the little mage. It wasn’t that he hated magic itself. It was simply that magic had not been seen in Sariza for centuries. It was an unnatural sort of thing that the Sarizians warned their children about, a kind of boogeyman that tormented the people of far away lands. Brugo had never imagined himself traveling to those far away lands when he was younger, but now that he was in Andrysfal himself, he wanted to give magic a wide berth. He was here on business. That is, the business of saving his skin. And he did not want to get tangled up in any kind of nonsense with mages. Why couldn’t the mage just act… normal?

“Right then. Thank you for your understanding,” Harpyn called sarcastically after him.

Behind him, he could hear Anaya chatting amiably with Harpyn. At least as long as they kept each other entertained, Brugo could focus on getting them to Yaal safely.

And that was the problem.

They’d only been walking on the high road for a few hours, but already he suspected that they were being followed. The other two members of his party remained oblivious, of course, but Brugo was sure he had seen a pair of men on the road behind them. Each time they reached the bottom of a hill, he looked back curiously over his shoulder. Twice he’d seen the men cresting the hill in their wake, and while he couldn’t be certain, they looked like they were wearing the armor of the king’s guard.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

But then, at some point, the men had disappeared. Brugo supposed it was possible that they had stopped for a rest, or perhaps turned back toward Torg Uyen if they were out for a patrol. Yet some sneaking suspicion kept eating at him. What if the men realized they would be spotted and left the road? What if they were closing the distance at that very moment?

Brugo hiked his bag up higher on his shoulder and picked up his speed once more. He wasn’t going to let his companions slow him down any more than necessary. If they couldn’t keep up, he would simply have to leave them behind. That really would be best, he told himself.

Mabel emerged from the pouch of his apron and climbed up onto his shoulder.

“What say you, friend?” Brugo murmured, handing her a bit of fruit that he’d been saving since breakfast.

She nibbled and watched, curious eyes darting around as always.

Brugo was having a perfectly friendly conversation with Mabel when Harpyn popped into existence directly ahead of him again.

“You’re doing it again,” Harpyn scolded.

Brugo’s hand went to his axe at the same moment that Harpyn’s eyes landed on Mabel. The mage gave a squeal and tripped backward, falling onto his rump.

“That’s a mouse,” he said dumbly, pointing at Brugo’s shoulder.

Brugo looked at Mabel and back to the mage. “So it is.” He took a step closer.

Harpyn scrambled backward, horror marring his face. Brugo smiled to himself.

“I didn’t realize such a powerful mage would be scared of little old Mabel,” he said, holding his hand up to his shoulder and letting Mabel climb into it. With another step, he lowered the mouse toward Harpyn.

Harpyn was nearly shaking with fear as he stared at the tiny creature. Mabel, as if on cue, turned her beady little eyes and stared directly back at Harpyn, twitching her nose just once. Harpyn squealed again in fright and Brugo let out a hearty laugh before straightening and putting Mabel back on his shoulder.

“It’s worse than I thought, then,” he remarked. “Get off the ground. We have a long way to go, and it’s clear that I can’t be leaving you behind. You’d be dead by nightfall on your own.”

Anaya, who had watched the whole thing unfold, came up beside Harpyn and helped him to his feet. It appeared that she was struggling to contain her own laughter, but a few giggles still managed to escape.

“Isn’t she cute?” She asked. “I wish I had a mouse.”

Harpyn gaped at her. “Are you crazy? They carry diseases, and, and-”

“Oh, nonsense,” Anaya said. “That’s rats you’re thinking of. Not little mice.”

Harpyn’s brow creased as he shook his head. “I don’t see much of a difference, honestly.”

“Come on. We better keep up or old Brugo will get grumpy.” She said this with a mocking tone, but she gave Brugo an apologetic smile all the same.

Brugo rolled his eyes and turned back toward the path. For better or worse, he was stuck with these two, and he knew his conscience would not allow him to abandon them out here on the open road. They were young, inexperienced, and yes, very annoying. But he was an honorable man, and he would not let anything bad befall them.

When they stopped for lunch, they sat in a loose circle at the side of the road, nibbling on a bit of the bread and fruit they’d taken from the wagons. Harpyn kept a respectful distance from Brugo and Mabel, but he seemed unable to tear his eyes away from the pair of them. At last, he perked up a little.

“So Mabel is your familiar then?”

“Hm?”

“You know, a familiar?” Harpyn said. “Many famous wizards and warlocks have them. Usually they are cats or bats or something, but I suppose a mouse works all the same. An animal that does your bidding and all that.”

Brugo shrugged. “Mabel is just a friend.”

“If you say so. But I can see the intelligence in her eyes. Maybe you have a bit of wizardry in you, too.”

Brugo grunted, put off by the very idea of it, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, his eyes went to a place far behind Harpyn, along a shadowy part of the road bordered by trees. Something had moved back there. For a second, he’d caught a glimmer of light in the darkness. A reflection?

“Let’s go,” he said abruptly, stuffing the last bit of his bread into his mouth and getting to his feet.

“But we’ve only just sat down,” Harpyn complained.

Brugo shot him a sharp look and the mage quieted down. Anaya was already up, looking around curiously. If she suspected something, she didn’t ask. Instead she said, “Brugo’s right. The faster we get on with this, the sooner we’ll be in Yaal, and then we can get a proper rest in an inn. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

She wasted very little time before walking up alongside Brugo.

“There’s someone back there, isn’t there?”

His eyes shifted to her and he pressed his lips into a thin line, giving only a subtle nod of confirmation. She glanced back at Harpyn and sighed.

“I’ll hurry him along. Just warn me before anything bad happens, okay?”

Brugo gave another brief nod and Anaya fell back to rejoin Harpyn. He heard her strike up a lively conversation and Harpyn seemed content to keep her pace as long as she was being friendly. For now, that was the best Brugo could hope for. Maybe the girl wasn’t so clueless after all.