“So going back on what you said dad, this journey is a gonna be a massive pain in the ass, and we’ll be camping under the stars every night.” Ralk stated matter-of-factly.

“Yes, it will be an arduous journey, but we should be able to get to the marshlands before the first snow fall.” the old man elaborated.

“Righhttt… Winter is coming up… Completely forgot about that… Welp, nothing to do about it now, let’s hope we don’t have an early winter this year.” Ralk said as he shrugged.

“Yes, let us hope.” Raouk agreed.

“Uhm…” Nogh spoke up, curiosity twinkling in his eyes.

“Go ahead, boy, ask your question.” Raouk encouraged him.

The boy nodded once before swallowing his mouthful of meat.

“Could I learn some of your skills as we travel? That way I could be more than simple deadweight…” he mumbled, his head drooping lower and lower as he spoke.

It almost seemed as if he was ashamed of his lack of experience.

The two men looked at the boy, perturbed, before getting up and moving closer to him.

“Don’t feel bad about not knowing much, Nogh… You’re still a boy, it’s normal and if you really wish it I will gladly teach you magic, it will also help you when you need to control the flame in your lantern. So don’t worry, we never considered you to be deadweight.” The old man said, consoling the 10-year-old boy.

“Yea! I’ll teach you all about tracking and hunting! We’ll even be learning in the field together, I’ll teach you everything I know, starting with using a bow, alright?” Ralk excitedly chipped in, smacking his chest proudly. Doing his best to ease Nogh’s fears.

The boy lifted his head up and looked at the two older men and nodded excitedly a few times.

“Yes! I’ll learn everything I can!” the boy cheerfully declared.

“Of course you will.” said the both of them as they kept kneeling at Nogh’s height.

Perry watched the interaction between them with little interest, returning to munching on a meat skewer.

Once they finished their breakfast, the kobolds began equipping their various tools, weapons, and armour that they found useful. They then separated the loot as in the food, money, water, and the other more useful things they found in the cave between themselves. Nogh and Perry carried the least of the baggage, since they were the youngest and weakest amongst them. Ralk shouldered most of the heavy supplies and Raouk had the rest in his bag.

Ready to depart, they put out the fire and started walking down the mountain, passing through their village. They gave a final goodbye to their relatives and ancestors in the graveyard, and before long they departed for their long trek to the North.

During the first day of their journey not much happened, at dinner time, Ralk showed Nogh the type of sticks they should use for arrows, he also showed him how to prepare them and fletch them. Nogh attempted to follow his example, but it wasn’t a task one could learn in a few minutes. He was also taught the proper way to create a camp fire in case he couldn't use magic or his lantern. And his first successful attempt became the fire they cooked their dinner on.

Their dinner was quite simple, once again meat and mushroom kebabs, even though they tasted quite good they were still simple dishes with minimal seasoning. Nogh played with Perry after dinner, the young dragon eagerly chased the boy around mostly for the meat that he had hidden on himself.

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The two older men observed the children as they played together. A gentle smile forming on their faces.

A few minutes later the group packed up and set out once again, Raouk planned to set up camp near the lake tonight, so they can catch fresh fish for supper. He also planned to have some of it salted and preserved for the rest of the trip. The walk to the lake was calm and eventless, Raouk taught the boy about different plants and mushrooms along the way, pointing out the edible and poisonous ones. He also explained their effects and uses in both medicine and poison. The child was eager to learn and tried his best to memorize everything he could, but most of it went over his head.

As the day went on, they finally made it to the lake and began setting up camp, Ralk got busy making simple fish traps along with a few wooden fishing spears. He was hoping to catch fish that would typically hide in the thick muck at night, trapping them for breakfast. As he went about this task, he made sure to show as much as possible to Nogh, so he could learn. Meanwhile, Perry assisted Raouk in making a campfire by gathering twigs and branches for the old man. They were in the process of creating a campfire when Nogh and Ralk returned with some fish they caught using the spears. It was about an hour away from turning dark now as they enjoyed their fish skewers.

Once they were done with their supper, Ralk went about setting up an alarm system, using rope to form a perimeter in case something tripped on it while approaching their camp. Raouk with the help of Nogh and Perry set up a small tent to serve as their lodging for the night.

As the darkness crept in, Ralk returned to the group and made sure to extinguish the fire properly. As they didn’t particularly need light to see in the dark, it would do them no good to expose their location to a potential foe.

Ralk and Raouk decided to switch watch every 2 hours during the night, as they weren’t sure whether the 2 kids could fill such a crucial role properly. Ralk went first to allow his elderly father to catch some rest, and so the night was quiet and mostly uneventful.

Nocturnal animals prowled around hunting and gathering whatever it is they ate and none seemed to be interested in their dark little camp. It had been almost 5 hours since they had started to sleep when the alarm was triggered by something. Ralk had immediately noticed when the rope pulled on the bush near the camp, pointing towards the south-east.

He then gently woke up his father, keeping a hand over his mouth to prevent unnecessary noise. Once Raouk awoke, he quietly pointed towards the direction the system got triggered, and he started moving up with his bow drawn. Raouk made sure to pick up his staff and stay in the tent, keeping close guard on the still sleeping kids.

Ralk slowly and carefully made his way south-east, keeping his wits as sharp as he could, doing his best to not give himself away. He steadily snuck up on the tripwires position, not making a single sound as he advanced.

As he encroached on the wire, he could hear light whimpering, it was the whimpering of an injured animal. Since he can see in the dark, he could tell that it was a fox entangled and exhausted, laying on the ground. It had dropped a bloody chicken next to where it laid down. Ralk inspected the scene suspiciously, not daring to approach the creature, seeing how it had multiple arrows sticking out of it. Of course, he knew what the arrows in the creature meant, however it did take a precious few seconds for it to sink in. And when his realization sunk in, he started running back towards their camp, uncaring about the traces he left as he ran.

According to his knowledge of the land, there was a newly founded little village in the area which was populated by humans, the village was smaller than their own, so they never had issues with them as a whole. But now that their village was a smouldering ruin, it was a different matter entirely. The once reluctantly peaceful villagers might not act the same anymore. As soon as he got to camp, he hurriedly picked up his backpack and told Raouk that they needed to leave immediately.

The old man didn’t need to be told twice, instantly jumping into action, waking up the kids and picking up his bag. Before he could even explain the situation to the kids, they heard the distant barking of a pack of hunting dogs. No doubt chasing after the thieving fox that they peppered with arrows. The dogs would inevitably pick up on their scent, and they could only pray that they don’t lead the humans to them.

Nogh being the smart boy he was didn’t require any explanations once he heard the dogs, grabbing his lantern and his bag in one go and making a beeline out of the tent. Once he was out, Ralk gestured to him to follow, and simultaneously making sure everybody was ready to go as they quickly left the camp.

The group ran most of the night, doing their best to lose the hunting dogs, thankfully their human owners were less keen on finding them than their 4 legged companions. Especially after they found the fox they were hunting in the first place, unfortunately not all the hunting dogs followed commands and chased after them uncaring of their owners commands. A few well-placed arrows by both Nogh and Ralk slowed the pups down, Raouk also managed to stop one of the dogs by compelling the roots of nearby trees to grab its paws.

Their actions reduced their pursuers by 4 leaving only one last hunting dog, it managed to dodge their attacks and catch up to Raouk who was at the back of the group. As the dog prepared to pounce on his prey, a scaly tail whipped out of a bush, smacking the hound on the nose. The hound took a few seconds to recover from this surprise attack. Once shaken out of his daze, he was met with a low grumble, a pair of glowing eyes in the bush, the scaled tail that was slightly poking out from the vegetation and the unmistakable scent of reptiles.

The hound's tail instantly drooped, and it began to slowly back away, the young pup didn’t know what it was, but it knew that it wasn’t its match. And as if on cue, Perry marched out of his bush standing as tall as it could, albeit he wasn’t much bigger than the dog, he was nevertheless proudly displaying his scales.

As his show of force was coming to an end, Perry stared down the hound his hostility was palpable and his hunger unmistakable, Perry was curious… Would this furry creature fit his taste buds? Would this creature appease his hunger? Would this creature help him grow stronger?

These were the questions floating about in his head as he stared at the hound.

During this tense moment, Nogh took the opportunity to sneak up to them, but ultimately failed as a dead branch snapped under his foot. The snap was all it took for the hound to cower and begin running back to his owners, yelping all the way.

Feeling ashamed that he failed in such a classic manner, Nogh hung his head low and stared at the broken branch, pouting as a child should. They however didn’t have the luxury of time to allow his childish disposition to run its course, as he was picked up and carried off by Ralk.