How was everything here so gorgeous? Was all of nature this gorgeous and she just hadn’t noticed until now because she lived in the city, or was this place special? It was special to her, no matter what. If she hadn’t turned her phone off to conserve the battery, she probably would have the entire memory card full of pictures right now. The camera thankfully had an amazing battery, but she was going to have to be more careful with it too.

Not that the woods like this could really prove anything when they got home, but it was just so beautiful.

A pang hit her. She probably should have texted her mom before jumping through that portal after Sen. But she hadn’t really had time to think, which should have made her feel better but didn’t. Not that she could just say ‘hey Mom, jumping through a portal after a weird girl in strange clothes, don’t worry, I’ll be back when I get back.’ She snorted. That would have gone over well. But maybe she would have been able to come up with something so her mom didn’t worry.

Did time work the same here as it did at home? In movies it almost always didn’t. But, movies weren’t real and this so totally was. She might have to pinch herself again just to prove it one more time, but this was totally real.

They’d been following this road forever. At least most of the day. The chill factor was starting to rise as darkness slowly descended. They needed to find somewhere to spend the night soon. But that wasn’t her problem. Somehow Sen always just seemed to know what to do, to know where to go. This was her land, sure, but did that mean she knew every inch of it? Meri knew how to get to Wal-Mart, the local coffee shop all the students loved, and the mall, but that was it. And there were even signs at home!

Sen’s brutal pace was slowly settling into a nicer walk. She was clutching at her ribs a bit again, whenever she didn’t think Meri was looking. If she even so much as saw Meri’s head start to turn that way, she dropped her arm and straightened her spine and continued on. As much as Meri would have liked to believe the slowed pace was for her, she knew it was actually because of whatever was going on with Sen.

A couple of times Sen had seemed to get dizzy. Meri had pretended not to notice, because that just seemed like the right thing to do, but it was worrisome. Even if she didn’t care about Sen at all as a person, which she did, she had to worry about something happening to her.

If something was wrong with Sen, Meri would be in big trouble.

A thundering sound, low on the breeze, caught her attention. But it continued too long to be thunder, and it was getting louder.

“Horses!” Sen hissed, then took off for the trees. Meri ran after her, jumping behind a towering giant just before the first of the group barreled around a curve in the road.

Silver flashed in the growing dark. Men yelled to each other, but Meri couldn’t make out what they were saying. A team thundered by, pulling a huge wagon. It slid around in the mud. The horses grunted in exertion, heat steaming from their bodies. Where were these guys going in such a hurry? At least they were headed in the direction their little band had come from.

It took a minute for them to pass by. Meri lost count at fifty-seven men, but it was difficult to tell in the growing dark.

Sen kept them there in silence for several minutes after the group had passed. Then she motioned for Meri to stay put and moved out onto the road, carefully checking both directions before waving her out to join her.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“What are those guys after in such a hurry?” Meri asked.

Sen’s face went even more closed off than ever, but she didn’t answer. The twitch near her right eye gave her away though. They were after her, just like the men at the temple. Which brought back the very interesting question, why? Why were all of these guys hunting one girl?

It was kind of freaky. Okay, seriously freaky. One, because what happened if she was caught with her, and two, what had she done in the first place? Maybe it was time she found someone else, someone that could help her back to the portal. Why had Sen warned her against talking with anyone? Surely she had something to hide if she wouldn’t even let her strike up a basic conversation.

Something to hide other than the fact that she was from a different world, of course. Maybe it was a common thing here, but back at home if anyone knew they’d had a visitor from another world, Sen wouldn’t be able to move an inch without everyone on the entire planet knowing about it.

Sen started back down the road. Meri followed. Until something better came along, Sen was the only thing keeping her warm and fed. And therefore, alive. She’d have to keep trusting her for now, though maybe a little more cautiously than before.

It didn’t take long from when the sun started to set for it to disappear. The temperature plummeted as soon as the sun was gone. Funny how it was impossible to notice the warmth of the sun when it was this cold out, until the sun was gone. Meri huddled into her heated cloak, trying to keep her face somewhat covered. This thing was totally going home with her.

The mud along the road started to freeze, becoming even harder to walk in now than it was before. It squelched at her boots, doing its best to rip them off her feet. “Not today you won’t,” she muttered. “At least I thought ahead far enough to wear boots.”

Not that she’d known when she put them on that she’d be wading around in snow that same day, but she’d been prepared for the swamp.

Another group of soldiers went by. Sen heard the riders far in advance and had Meri hidden.

So many soldiers, and Sen hadn’t said a thing about why she didn’t want to be seen by them. Back to the whole bracelet thing. What did it do? Or what was it for? Asking why she wanted it off so bad would just be stupid, the thing had to hurt, digging into her flesh like that.

Meri adjusted her cloak, pulling it in as tightly as possible. They had better find shelter soon, or she was going fall over dead. So much walking. She puffed out some air, still fascinated that she could see her breath in the cold.

What would she even ask someone from this world anyway? Why her friend had a scary bracelet on? Nah. But it might look weird if everyone else was talking and she just sat there, silent.

Meri looked up, dragging herself from her thoughts. Light! A few small lights, like maybe houses. She jogged to catch up with Sen, rubbing her hands together. “Is that a town?” she asked when she was close enough she didn’t have to raise her voice.

“Hopefully,” was all Sen said back. Surprising though, with as much as Sen was trying to fly under the radar that she would want to find a town.

Sen seemed to feel the surprise coming off Meri. “You wouldn’t last the night out here without shelter and a place to build a fire. Dry wood is hard to find after a snow like the one last night, and I don’t think we’re going to be lucky enough to come across another hunter’s shack like yesterday. If you can follow the rules, we’ll be fine here. Just keep quiet and let me handle everything.”

Meri nodded that she understood.

“Wait, so we’ll be going to like a tavern or something?” Meri asked.

Sen sighed. She was doing that a lot lately. “Hopefully. We need food. Otherwise we’ll find someone’s barn to sleep in. The animals let off a lot of heat and we may be able to find a hen still laying.”

“Eww, gross, raw eggs?” Meri said.

Sen didn’t even dignify that with a response. She just marched forward, slightly faster.

“Let’s hope for an inn, then!” Meri said cheerfully. Warmth and food, amazing things that she would never take for granted again. And the chance to actually meet other people from here, to see if they were like Sen or not, to watch the culture. Amazing. If only there was a way to film the entire interaction without anyone noticing.

Record! On her phone. She slipped her hand into her pocket and found the power button, but paused before pressing it. Battery. Had to save that battery. Waiting until something interesting actually happened would be a better plan.

She had a feeling that she’d need every moment she could eke out of the battery. She was about to visit an actual medieval town.