“We’re sitting ducks out here!” Maug yelled as they ran.

“Just keep running,” Del panted and veered hard to the left as an arrow buried itself in the ground in front of her.

But he was right. From the high walls of the town they would stand out in the fields. When she dared a look back, she saw guards pouring from the door they had just left. Ahead was nothing but more fields. Some had grain tall enough to hide them, but not for long.

“There,” she pointed toward a leaning barn to their right, sitting in the middle of a field of something tall enough to hide them for a few seconds at least. Without waiting for their answer, she ran straight for it.

The small door facing them was closed and latched from the outside when they came to the rundown building. It was two stories of rough timber and obviously aged past its prime. Del ran to the side away from the town and to the back. To her relief, one of the huge doors there was open. She ran in and stopped, panting and then coughing furiously in the dust and heat of the closed space.

“We can not stay here…” Albaran was staring at her and, although breathing hard, he showed no other signs of having just made a mad dash for his life.

“Obviously,” she panted. But at least they can’t shoot us here. “It will give us a chance to decide what to do.”

“Better think quick,” Maug said. He was holding his sides and leaning against one wall. “There aren’t many places to hide out here. Those guards will be here soon.”

Del pursed her lips, trying to see out the doors. Hoping to see other buildings or trees, anything that would hide them.

“Hey, you can’t be here.” All three jumped when a boy emerged from the shadows of the barn. He was young, ten or eleven maybe, with tangled golden hair and big blue eyes. He was wearing dirty, rough spun overalls and carrying a pitchfork that was considerably taller than him. “Farmer don’t like folk messin’...” He stopped and looked at something behind Del, his eyes going wide. “What are you?”

Del turned to see Albaran, his hood still down, staring back at the boy quizzically.

“He’s a Velli. A dark elf from the Silent Forest.” Del said quickly, hoping to distract the boy or frighten him long enough for them to flee. He narrowed his large blue eyes at her.

“You lyin’”?”

“No,” she tried to look as open and honest as she could. The boy had lowered the pitchfork at them. She didn’t relish having to take it from him if he tried anything.

“What ya doin’ in here, then?” He gestured around the hot, dusty barn.

“We’re on a mission,” Maug stood up straight and swept his hat off, bowing to the boy. “I am Maugrian and this is Al.” The ranger curled his lip but remained silent. “He is indeed a Velli, and we are on an important mission. You may be able to help.”

The boy looked at him with open amazement. He had probably seen as many Larchpaw elves as Velli. Then he looked at Del, and his eyes narrowed again.

“What kinda mission?”

“Dragon hunting.” Maug said seriously. Del tried to keep her face neutral, but she silently thought he had lost his damn mind.

“You’re puttin’ one on me.” The boy raised the pitchfork a little higher.

“No,” Maug raised his hands and stepped up behind Del. “Promise. What’s your name?” The boy thought for a moment before answering.

“Caleb. Caleb Walls.”

“Well Caleb, I can prove it. We have a dragon.” Caleb looked at him with obvious disbelief. “A baby one,” he blurted. “Do you want to see it?”

The boy looked torn. He obviously very much wanted to believe them, but he was no fool, either. Del respected his clear head at such a young age. Finally, he nodded but didn’t lower the pitch fork. Maug gently tugged at Del’s hood and produced a drowsy Tafa in his hand. He held her up for the boy to see.

Caleb gasped and dropped the pitchfork. Outside, they heard shouts. Distant, but not that distant. Del stepped closer to the boy, speaking urgently.

“We are trying to get the dragon to the Silent Forest. There are other dragons there that can raise her. But the guards found out and they want to take her away.”

“Are they going to hurt her?” He hadn’t taken his deep blue eyes from Tafa since Maug had produced her.

“I am afraid so, yes.” She felt a pang of guilt for the lie, but these were desperate times. The shouts came again, closer this time.

“I want…,” the boy started. “I mean, do you…name em’? The dragons?”

“I…well, yes.” Del wasn’t sure where the kid was going. He thought about her answer and nodded.

“I want to name her.” He pointed at Tafa.

“Name…,” Del looked back at Maug, but he just shrugged. “Ok, you can name her.”

“Up there,” the boy pointed to the loft above them. He walked over and pulled on a cleverly hidden rope ladder that tumbled down. Maug shoved Tafa back into Del’s hood and they all made the awkward climb. The loft was stuffed with loose hay and dust. Del tried to breathe shallowly as she shimmied into one pile, the others doing the same on either side of her.

It was less than a minute before they heard heavy footfalls outside the open barn door. Then raised voices.

“Here! This is open,” one of them said. And a few seconds later, “hey you, boy,” a gruff voice yelled. Del held her breath. “You see anybody come in here?” The guard asked roughly, obviously trying to scare the child.

“Nah,” was all he answered. They could hear the steady ‘swish, swish’ of his pitchfork in the loose hay down below.

“You sure?” the guard growled. Del considered what she would do if they tried to hurt the child. Jumping out now would mean almost certain capture, and the boy would probably meet a bad fate either way. She closed her eyes and tried to silently will the boy to be smart, to stay quiet.

“Yeah, I’m sure. Been right here gatherin’ hay for the horses all afternoon. Would’ve seen somebody in here.” There was some muttered grumbling.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Maybe they are still in the fields,” one of them said.

“You, boy,” the gruff one said again. “Anybody else out in the fields there?”

“Just the farmer. Farmer Davis. He’s over in the fourth row. All his beans is dyin’ and he went to look at em again.”

“You see anybody ain’t supposed to be, you give a shout, you hear? You give a shout or I’ll have your head.”

“You could just close up the door and lock it from the outside if ya worried,” the boy said tightly. “There’s a big ol’ bar out there for it. Ain’t nobody gettin’ in then.”

“Yeah, and you ain’t gettin’ out either.”

“That’s fine,” Del heard the boys shrug. “Farmer will come lookin’ for me at dark anyway. I don’t want no villains sneakin’ up on me.” The guard laughed harshly.

“All right then, ya little coward.”

She heard the heavy door close and a bang as a metal bar fell against it and sighed. The boy had put them in an even worse position. But she couldn’t be mad. He had done his best, and they had a chance at least because of him. She made her way out of the scratchy hay and moved to the edge of the loft.

Below, she saw Caleb staring up at them, grinning. He motioned for them to come down.

“Well,” he said when they had all climbed down, “I helped good, didn’t I?”

“I cannot see how this is helping,” Albaran grumbled, straw littering his long hair. “We are now locked in the barn.”

“No, you ain’t,” Caleb answered, his initial awe of the Velli wearing off, it seemed. “There’s a window to open right up there.” He pointed to the wall on one side of the loft. They could just see the outline of an opening there, tall enough for one person to fit. “I go out there sometimes when the farmer forgets and locks me in.”

Albaran grumbled again, but remained silent. Maug started up at the window.

“It’ll be dark soon,” he said. “We can move through the fields a little more safely, but we’ll risk stumbling on a patrol in the open.”

Del only nodded. She didn’t see they had much other choice.

“You could go to old man Westerly’s farm,” Caleb suggested. “He went to his son’s a month back cause all his lambs died. Ain’t nobody there. It’s all boarded up.”

“Is it far?”

“Nah. From the window, just go east until you hit a dead bean field, then turn south. Can’t miss it. You can see the old woods from his place.”

“Alright, we’ll go there.” Del said.

“Why?” Albaran asked. “A house we can’t get into is not a help to us.”

“He’s got a barn too,” Caleb said, as if it should have been obvious. Del smiled at him but answered the ranger.

“It will at least give us a place to stop for a moment and plan. We don’t have anything better at the moment.” She turned to the boy. “What is the name, Caleb?”

“Margret,” he said, suddenly shy. Maug smiled at him and held out a hand for the boy to shake. The boy looked weary, but finally took it.

“That is an excellent name for a dragon.” Maug told him.

“Thanks. It was my ma’s.” His cheeks turned pink, but he looked at them with steel in his eyes. Daring them to make fun of him.

“Those guards were wrong, Caleb,” Del said solemnly. “You are not a coward at all. In fact, you are very brave.”

The Westerly farm was easy to find. The squat dark house sat alone in a small open space, surrounded by corrals and pens, all empty now. Near one of the fields that bordered it, there was a barn. They stopped at the edge of the house and watched the little barn.

They’d heard guards as they’d made their way. They were yelling back and forth to each other and announcing where they had been and what they had found. It’d been quite easy to avoid them. But they weren’t willing to rest on their stupidity extending to not leaving a guard on an empty barn. After ten minutes, though, they had seen no one.

At first the barn looked as shut tight as the house, but they found a door in the back missing a hinge and slightly ajar. Del motioned the other two to stay outside and pushed her way into the thin opening. The interior was dark, the evening light that made it through the slatted walls only deepened the shadows.

“Here I am,” she said to the shadows. “Safe and sound away from those scary guards. All alone.” She watched, turning in circles. After a minute, she returned to the door and motioned for the others to join her.

“Ok, now what?” Maug asked.

“We’ll have to move on quickly,” she said. “We were lucky there weren’t more guards in Kimes, but more could come anytime.”

“We can not lose more time.” Albaran said. He was still standing at the door.

“Can you see a clear path to the trees?” She had seen the ‘old wood’ Caleb had mentioned when they rounded the barn, but it was too dark for her to see more than a dark patch against the horizon. Maug and Albaran would be able to see more.

“I can’t see anyone between us and the treeline,” the ranger shook his head. “But there are fields high enough to hide a person.”

“It will be dark soon. We can make a run for it then.” Del said.

“Sounds delightful,” Maug murmured as he crouched against a wall. “You know that boy is going to be very disappointed if he ever goes looking for the dragons of Bellon?”

“Yeah,” Del smiled sadly. “I imagine if he ever makes it all the way to the silent forest, that won’t be the only disappointment.”

Once full night fell, they made their way through the remaining south fields. The intention was to go slow, to avoid stumbling on a random patrol. But the longer they went without hearing or seeing anyone, the faster they went. It was too much on the nerves to remain in the open, even for Albaran. By the time they made it to the trees, they were running outright.

The dense darkness of the forest was unexpected. They had wanted away from people, but she didn’t think there was a place this far away left in Aurelia. A heavy canopy of leaves above them completely obscured the little light cast by the sickle moon. After hours stumbling over roots and into briers, everyone was scraped, hot, and irritable. She knew neither Maug nor Albaran would call a halt to their slow march. Their pissing match had gone too far for that. To show even the slightest weakness now would be to admit defeat. With an annoyed huff, she stopped and called out, both elves too far ahead now for her to make out more than outlines.

“Probably best we stop for the night, don’t you think?” Both slowed, but neither turned back. Rolling her eyes, she continued with a sarcastic bite. “Before someone breaks a leg or falls over a cliff, perhaps?”

Reluctantly, they started back to her. Albaran got to her first but waited until Maug had joined them to speak.

“If you require rest, I can find a suitable place for camp.” She knew the courtesy had nothing to do with her comfort and everything to do with wanting to make sure Maug knew he could go on.

“That would be…”

“I already saw a suitable spot. We passed it not ten minutes ago. Nice little clearing. Did you not see it?” Maug asked the ranger innocently. Albaran scowled and opened his mouth to retort.

“I did not,” Del interrupted loudly. There was only so much more of this she could take. “Lead the way.” When he didn’t immediately start walking, she huffed. "Please." He begrudgingly turned back the way they had come.

It took them at least twenty minutes to find Maug’s clearing. The ranger began mumbling under his breath about unreliable vision. Del was starting to agree when they pushed through the underbrush into a small clearing surrounded by shadowy tree trunks. Del dropped her pack near one tree before sagging against it.

“You get some sleep. I’ll keep watch,” Maug said.

“No need. I will keep the watch. You are both in need of rest,” Albaran countered. “I am more used to these types of treks than either of you.” Maug made a strangled sound between disbelief and indigence.

“I highly doubt you have half the experience in real ‘treks’”.

“I am a ranger of Bellon…” the dark elf began.

“Ahhh…” Del yelled suddenly and grabbed her leg. “Something's got me.” She fell to her side.

“Del,” Maug rushed over, followed closely by Albaran, their argument forgotten. They knelt beside her, trying to determine what was causing the pain.

“Tell us what it is,” the ranger's dark face was troubled, and he began patting at her leg gingerly.

She stilled suddenly and looked up at them.

“Nothing is wrong. I just wanted the two of you to shut up.” They both looked at her in surprise. “Now, I’m tired of walking and your bickering, so I’m going to sleep. And since it seems neither of you is at all tired, there will be no need to wake me for my turn at watch.” She took Tafa from her hood, set her on the forest floor, pulled her bag under her head, and rolled over.

She woke to screaming.