“So. You are all hikers?” came from the woman hiding under the log earlier, Cynthia as the menu had told him.

“I’m not sure, what’s a hiker?” Adam responded honestly as the other two hesitated to answer.

“Hikers are the only ones with the rectangles on their wrists like that right? Thank you for saving me. I can’t believe you managed killing a hound.”

Adam decided to lay low for now, he wasn’t sure exactly what she knew or what the consequences would be if he was completely honest about their origins.

“Oh right, we don’t call them hikers in our village, we aren’t from around here.” His heart fluttered, feeling pressure about what the people of this world would think of them. She seemed to accept it without much questioning.

“Did you come to worship Oak?” She said with a wishful glance towards the direction of the great tree that filled out the backdrop for the entire area.

“Certainly, to see it at least, we have been in awe from the moment we could spot it.” Adam responded carefully, he didn’t want to trap himself too deep into a web of lies.

“We don’t get many travellers in Oak anymore. It’s a shame you didn’t get to see it before what happened recently to our beloved Oak. I suppose it’s best to see it before it gets even worse.” Cynthia continued.

“We heard something about it but not in much detail at all, what happened” Adam probed, Matilda giving him a look like she was judging him for being sly.

“Oh it is so terrible! Since last years rainy season, it seems, that Oak is sick. We have always known Oak as the constant source of strength for our Kingdom, this is the first time in history there has been any sign of weakness or sickness. They still don’t know the cause, or haven’t told the lowly commoners about the cause yet anyway.” She explained, brushing her long golden curls out of her eyes. “Your friend there needs help, I can do something very basic to buy a little more time but we need to get him into the walls of Oak to get him properly healed up. There’s a hiker just like you, who is a very powerful healer. He visited a long time ago and never left.” Adam wanted to ask her about seventeen different questions but just come out with “Thank you” as she grabbed her satchel and bandaged up his wounds to stop the deadly levels of blood loss Brian was experiencing.

“We need to get back inside the city walls if we have any hope of saving your friends’ life” Matilda stated as she packed her things away. Adam didn’t have the courage, no, perhaps more accurately, was too scared of possible repercussions to tell her they had only known each other for a few hours, they had to use this chance to firstly, save the life of Brian and secondly, to move forward in their objective, they were made no guarantees about resources, status or power.

“So, there’s another Hiker in the city but only the one?” he asked as he picked up Brian around the armpits to drag him along the ground.

“Vincent has been around since I was a kid. He was always by himself, until he met his wife, but I don’t see much of her either. He never talked about it much as far as I was ever told. Why, would you expect more?” she seemed quite interested herself in the ‘hikers’ as she called them.

“Sometimes, not sure yet.” He said without elaboration.

“Well, just so you know, well, I’m sure you already know, a lot of people don’t like hikers, are afraid of them. But I’m not one of them, Vincent is amazing and the three of you just saved my life. Thank you again.” Adam watched as she spoke nervously with interest.

“Yeah of course, no problem. Are there a lot of those hounds around?”

“Of course not! We have only had a few recently from around the same time Oak got sick.” She exclaimed.

They all continued down, from the larger clearing area, down another cleared out path towards the city, Adam was really struggling to keep up while dragging Brian’s body along, but found a good method to have the psychokinesis help him, dragging and then pushing with his mind, alternating between each to give his body a break and keep up with the others. It seemed to get a little easier the longer he did it.

“There aren’t any other hikers in the city right now that I know of, but whenever we get any, Vincent is very interested so I’m sure he will want to have a chat with all of you.”

“I would love to chat with him as well, I’m not sure if I should tell you this, but we are very new hikers. This is the beginning of our journey.”

“Interesting, another thing a lot of people here think is that hikers are compulsive and excellent liars.” She said with a straight face looking back at Adam.

“Well I’m not, I’m frankly quite bad at lying and deception and those kind of things, as much as it could benefit me.” He returned with a grin to her.

“It sounds interesting, I’m sure you’d love to tell me more but, too bad it’s forbidden, well that’s what Vincent said anyway, can you?”

“Yeah of course, can’t get into the details.” Adam said, ironically having to lie to her since he had no idea if there was actually anything against speaking about the Refined, their menu system, their powers, they certainly didn’t mention anything like that in the ship.

They found themselves on a dirt path now, coming out of the cleared forest area.

“This road leads straight to the city gates, hopefully we can get to Vincent in time” Cynthia said to all of them.

They continued down the road for a while, Cynthia filled them in on some of the history of the nation, the city, the people.

“The government says they are trying to heal Oak of it’s sickness as their absolute top priority, but I don’t know if I believe that, there’s something weird going on with this whole Oak sickness thing I think”

“The government is not to be trusted?” He prodded for as much information he could get.

“It’s not that, everyone thinks the government is great, they have provided us a great life here for over two hundred years and we have been prospering greatly, people don’t really see that many great faults in our government, I just have some weird gut feeling, I’m probably wrong.” Adam could see the self-doubt on her facial expression.

“Who is that coming towards us?” Matilda interjected into their conversation, she had not been speaking as much as Adam but tried contributing where she could.

“The city patrol, great, they must have caught wind of some commotion, or we are just really unlucky.”

“We haven’t done anything, I don’t see how they would know anything. Should we be worried Cynthia?” Adam started getting a fearful feeling in his gut.

“It should be fine but let me do most of the talking, I don’t want anything to explode out of proportion for no reason, they probably come down because they could see us coming dragging a body with us from the viewers”. Adam didn’t bother questioning what a viewer was right now.

The squad of soldiers approached closely now, four of them dressed in red and black coats, they seemed more decorative than for combat. Leading the pack was another soldier dressed in finer detail, with different stitching and crests on his clothing.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Patrol Captain Tob” Cynthia said loudly in a respectful tone. She definitely knew this guy.

“Cynthia, I advise you return to your father at The Cat’s Cradle right now.” The captain said sternly, glaring at Matilda.

“Dark skin, I suppose we have a hiker here?”

Matilda stammered “That’s not what this is”

He laughed haughtily “I’d love to hear some explanation but don’t worry about it, I already know with certainty what you are.” Matilda looked down dejected.

Tob looked at Adam, making strong eye contact.

“What say you… friend” he smirked right after the last word left his lips.

“My friend here is dying, we need to see Vincent. That’s all.” Adam was trying to keep his cool, but the bandages around Brians’ wounds were completely soaked through

“Oh I see, I see, so you know your fellow Hiker Vincent do ya?”

“Cynthia does. Can we get going now or is there an issue?”

“There always could be, I’d recommend playing nice.” Adam definitely did not like this guy very much.

“Fine by me, can we get our friend some help, Cynthia insists Vincent is the only one that can help”. He had to play diplomatic now before he got into a bad situation.

“We will never turn down helping an injured person, we will lead the way back to the city and have a guard take you all to Vincent to keep an eye on you, he stays at The Cats’ Cradle anyway so I’m sure Cynthia will be able to help you out.”

Cynthia made a sideways glance at Adam.

Tob picked up on the awkwardness after a few moments

“She didn’t tell you yet, I see. So you don’t know each other too well, I suppose that adds up. Her father is Yaul, he owns the largest local inn. Vincent stays there so I guess that all works out super nicely doesn’t it. Anyway, let’s go, I’m keeping an eye on all of you, let me make that clear.”

They headed towards the city gates, only a few minutes travel away at this point.

“I’m uhh, sorry I didn’t tell you about my dad” she muttered as they walked behind Patrol Captain Tob, out of earshot.

“What are you sorry for, how do you know this guy, seems like you let his words affect you very heavily.”

“It’s a long story, but I guess you are right. Thanks.”

As they entered the city, through the open city gates and into a sprawling, bustling town square, Adam felt quite the culture shock, the way the people were dressed was quite regal and formal for just everyday walks around the city. All the stares didn’t help, between him dragging someones wounded body and being escorted by the Patrol Captain. He was still mesmerised by the giant crystalline purple tree every time he looked up. They walked past more guards on the way in and then after a few more minutes of walking, were going past markets with merchants selling food, clothing and more. Adam was fascinated and he saw Matilda soaking it all in, though something looked a bit off with her too. It was quite a positive vibe in the air as they saw entertainers telling jokes on the side of the street with large crowds gathered around all laughing together, another performer doing something that looked like juggling but with fancy dancing and tricks added into it, who definitely slowed down and put a pause on his performance to eye Tob leading the group with the wounded body being dragged along. Adam kept up his rhythm of psychokinesis to help drag the body, but at this point was feeling both physically and mentally exhausted.

“Here we are, The Cat’s Cradle, remember what I said, always keeping an eye on you.” Tob said, and then with a dramatic lowering of his voice so that no one around them could possibly hear “Hikers.” He then left them at the door to the large two storey stone building positioned just outside of the town square they were in as he headed back towards the gates.

Cynthia led them into the building, Adam dragging Brian with him still.

“Hey Cynthia, you brought some friends this time?” the bartender called out with a raised eyebrow. She was a plump woman, fitting in with the pale complexion that everyone else in the city had, they even made Adam seem pretty tan, though he never considered himself as such.

The inn was quite busy, Adam counted at least twenty patrons, men and women, a few children. People seem quite relaxed and intimate with each other, sitting in small groups spread across the lower floor of the building. It seemed everything for the interior was made with the same oak wood from the trees they had walked past.

“Hi Irip, yeah we need Vincent now. Brian here is in really bad shape.” Cynthia said glancing back at Adam and the near-dead friend he was holding. Irips’ eyes widened.

“Oh of course, I’m sure he is still upstairs.”

“Why hello there Cynthia!” came from a man walking down the stairs. He had a large black beard speckled with grey throughout, long enough to go past the top of his stomach, Adam noticed he had quite defined features, with a long, pointed nose and large, sharp eyes, he seemed to take in the whole room and the situation all at once.

“Vincent, you came at the perfect time, quickly please, Brian here might already be dead” Cynthia blurted out, seeming surprised herself at what she said. She paused as if she had something to say but couldn’t find the words.

“Don’t fret my dear, Brian here is still alive, people will always be surprised at what a person can take… and what they can’t take.” He said turning for an effect of dramatic pause between his statements as well as a chuckle to himself as he crouched down next to Brian, guiding Adam to lay him down on the floor of the tavern on the wooden plank flooring. He felt his chest and the area surrounding his wound.

“Okay then friends, we still have a little time so let’s bring him upstairs to my chambers. I’ll head up and get everything prepared now” he said gently to the group.

Adam found him a little strange but shrugged and grabbed Brian around the armpits again to drag him up the stairs of the inn that Vincent was beginning to climb.

“Your kinesis technique there is pretty neat for a beginner, you figure that out on the fly young man?” Vincent asked out loud without even looking back as he climbed the flight of stairs.

Adam hesitated for a moment, his mind racing, this guy was a healer and could also detect the use of his technique, the way he was using it, no one should have been able to tell, even if they were looking at him let alone facing the other way. What else could this guy do? What else could he tell about the lot of them? How could this guy help them on their mission, how did this hiking business work?

“A real thinker I see, most would call you an over thinker you know, for now it’s probably a good thing though.” He gave the exact same chuckle to himself as before as they got up to the top of the stairs.

Could this guy read his mind too? Or was it just obvious based on his delay in a response?

“Yeah, I thought of the technique to be able to drag Brian quite a distance without running out of stamina.”

“Mmm” is all Adam got as a response.