I walked through the woods all night. I heard no pursuers and saw nobody within my radius. Then again, I would hear them before they got that close. After a few hours, I felt the warmth of the sunrise and realized how long I had been awake. Twenty-four hours of walking and with nobody in sight. I needed to stop somewhere and sleep.

I found a clearing up ahead and jogged over to it. Once I entered it, I whistled and saw nothing else in the clearing except a flowing creek and some small rodents. I walked over to the creek, running my hands through the tall grass that grew in the clearing, and got down on all fours to drink. The water was cold, flowed quickly, and tasted crisp and refreshing after walking for so long.

Once I had my fill, I crossed the creek and found a nice flat spot in the clearing. I stomped my foot, and a two-by-two-meter square of earth and stone rose under me, bringing me two meters off the ground. I removed my pack and pulled out a strip of my smoked meats. Happily eating the salted meat. Then I slapped my hand on my stone pillar, made a small pointer that pointed north, lay back on my pack, and closed my eyes. Slowly blocking out my senses until I fell asleep.

***

I woke up a few hours later, the heat from the afternoon spring sun burning my face. I wrinkled my nose, and my skin felt dry, and it hurt a lot. I slowly regained my awareness of my surroundings as I do every time I wake up. The grass rustled gently in the wind, rodents scurrying around and eating insects, and a massive furred animal with horns drank from the creek behind me … WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!!? I jumped to my feet and turned to face the beast.

It was huge! It was covered from head to toe in thick fur and bulging muscles. A long snout with jowls and two sharp horns protruded from its head. It doesn’t seem to have noticed me yet. I gently pick up my pack and put it on. I stepped back and turned north. Then I slowly climbed down from my safe stone pillar. But I was too short to reach the ground. Damn it!! I knew my height would be a problem. I braced myself and dropped to the ground, the coins and jewelry in my pack rattling and making me wince.

The beast’s head shot up, and a growl escaped its lips as it turned around to search for the source of the noise. I wasted no time and channeled my air affinity to escape the beast. I ignored the sound of the jewelry and coins rattling and refused to turn around as the beast left my sphere of sight and just kept running. I quickly got to the forest’s edge just as I heard a roar behind me, revealing the beast running toward me.

I didn’t stop and just kept running. The beast was swift and quickly got to the mouth of the forest, smashing through trees to get to me. If it got within six meters of me, I would have to fight, but luckily the trees were slowing it down enough for me to keep ahead of it. I could hear it smashing through trees fifteen meters behind me, and I was moving just fast enough to keep fifteen meters ahead of it. At this rate, I would be exhausted and have to stop and rest. If that happens, then I’m dead.

I clicked my tongue to see further ahead, extending my sight by another three meters for a split second, and saw nothing but trees and other animals running away from the beast chasing me. I then made a sharp whistle and extended my sight by another five meters for a split second. At the edge of my sight, I think I saw a glimpse of some people ahead.

At the rate I was running, I quickly saw them in my sphere and heard a man at the front of the group exclaim, “Who goes there!?”

I quickly closed the distance and grabbed the man’s arm. He was taller than me by half a meter and wore light armor with a sword on his waist. There were four other people with him, two women and two men. One of the men was my height and scrawny, with several daggers on his person and a big backpack. The other man was at least two and a half meters tall with heavy arm, a tower shield, and a battle axe. The women were also my height and a little shorter. The short one wore a robe and held a long staff, while the other had a quiver of arrows, a bow slung over her shoulder, and pointed ears.

With only a second to take all this in, I furiously pulled on the man’s sleeve, trying to get him to move, but he didn’t budge. “Miss, are you all right? Please let go of me!” the man asked, refusing to move from his spot and trying to free himself from my iron grip. I pulled one last when the group tensed as the sound of crashing trees reached their ears.

I released the man and saw the beast get within ten meters of us, then nine, eight, seven. We were out of time and now had to fight. “What is that?!” the big man asked in a deep rumbling voice.

“That’s a good question,” the first man said, drawing his sword and facing the beast’s direction, “Would you mind filling us in, miss?!”

I shook my head and dropped into my fighting stance. I spread my legs shoulder-width apart and raised my fists to my temples. The rest of the group got ready, dropping their packs and drawing their weapons. The beast was soon within their sight as it got within three meters, and the pointy-eared girl yelled, “Spear-Bear! Spread out!” The group jumped to either side, leaving me alone in the middle.

The beast broke through the last tree, and I rolled to the right as the tree fell toward me. The beast roared and swiped its massive claws at me. I raised my fists over my head, and a half dome of earth formed around me, stopping the attack before it hit me.

Then the short-robed girl behind me yelled, “Mizzena Kirrta!” and waved her staff. An arc of water formed at the tip of her staff and shot at the beast. It roared as the water blade cut a large gash into its chest. The first man took the opportunity to charge forward and cut off the front left paw, causing the beast to roar in pain again.

The beast rose to its hind legs and roared again. “Get back!” the first man yelled as he jumped back. I couldn’t see what they were running from, but I could hear a low hum building above the beast’s head.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Farg jiuum!” the big man yelled, and an explosion went off below his feet as he ran forward. Then he yelled, “Brrel hwil!” A stone wall formed in his path, and he turned to run into it with his shoulder. Hitting the wall with a loud crash, he hefted his shield just as the beast released whatever attack it was building up. A loud hum filled the area and rang against the big man’s shield as he grunted from the force of the attack.

I couldn’t just stand by and watch anymore. I lept over the wall I created and stomped my foot on the ground. The beast’s left hind leg fell into a hole I created and fell over, hitting the ground with a loud boom. I stomped the ground again and swung my fists in a circle creating stone arches that covered the beast and restrained it.

The beast roared in anger and tried to get back to its feet but couldn’t get any leverage from within my restraints. The first man charged forward again and swung his sword cutting off the beast’s head and ending the fight.

The man breathed a sigh of relief, “And that’s over. Is everyone all right?”

“Yeah,” said the scrawny guy who sounded like a child.

“I’m good!” the short woman answered, her voice high and sweet.

“All good here,” the pointy-eared woman said.

“I think I dislocated my shoulder with that last attack, but other than that, I’m good,” the big man rumbled.

“And I’m uninjured. Snow, patch up the Mountain. Hawks, Felix, we will ask the young miss a few things,” the first man said.

“Understood,” the pointy-eared woman and the short woman said simultaneously while the scrawny guy nodded.

Then the short woman approached the big man and said, “You big dummy, now I got to heal you. You need to stop injuring yourself.”

“Where would be the fun in that? Besides, you know I like it when you care for me,” the big man said. This little interaction helped put some names to some faces. The big guy was Mountain, and the short woman was Snow, so that meant the pointy-eared woman was Hawks, and the scrawny guy must be Felix, I guess.

Hawks was the first to get to me, and she grabbed my wrist and dragged me in the opposite direction of the beast corps. I didn’t struggle, I didn’t see the need to, but I would if it became necessary. She pushed me down onto a rock and waited for Felix and the first man, who quickly shared glances with each other before approaching.

Once they got to where I sat next to Hawks, the first man said, “Do you mind if I ask you some questions?”

I shook my head.

“If you would please use your words, things would go much faster,” the first man sighed, clearly not in the mood.

I bit my lip nervously and turned to pick up a small stick that was behind me. I then used it to write in the dirt upside down and backward so he could read it, writing, “I can’t. I am mute.”

The man straightened after reading that and asked, “Oh, well, how did that happen?”

“Born that way.”

“Oh, well, this just got harder. Umm, what is your name?”

Right before I wrote my name, I hesitated. What if they heard about my running away from home, they might force me to go back. I need a new name. Or maybe just a shorter one. My mother’s name was Rose, and that’s my middle name now. So I wrote “Rose” in the dirt.

“Rose, eh?” the man said, looking at Felix, who shrugged. The man sighed, “Fine. Miss Rose, what are you doing all the way out here?”

“Traveling to Crible.”

“Why?”

Now it was my turn to sigh as I erased the words I’d already written. “I want to be an adventurer and travel the world,” I wrote.

“Why?”

I scowled, “Is why the only word you know?”

The man scoffed and said, “Fair enough. Don’t answer that one, then. But I still have to know how you got so far off the path to begin with?”

“I’m walking north until I find Crible,” I wrote and pointed north.

The man looked that way and raised an eyebrow, “That’s west,” he then adjusted where I was pointing behind me and said, “That’s north.”

I felt my cheeks heat up, and I erased the writing again. “I’m lost then.”

“How can you get lost?” Hawks asked, “It’s easy to find north just by looking at the sky.”

And that pissed me off. I stood and stepped onto the rock to be at eye-level with Hawks. I then brushed back my bangs which covered my white unseeing eyes.

Hawks gasped and stepped back, looking surprised and a little ashamed. “Y-your blind? But how? And how can you fight like that if you’re blind?”

I sat down on the rock and wrote, “Born that way too. And years of practice.”

The man rubbed his stubbled chin, making a slight grinding sound as he did so. Then he said, “Well, we were heading to Crible anyways. Why don’t you travel with us?”

I looked up at the man skeptically and wrote, “Why?”

“Well, can’t let someone as defenseless as you wondering through the forest by yourself. After all, it is our—AHH!” I cut off the man before his speech could get going by dragging my foot back, pulling the earth toward me, and creating a shallow hole behind him. The man fell backward into the hole and hit the ground with a soft “Ooof.”

I chuckled silently and wrote, “I am not helpless. But I will be happy to travel with you all.” Hawks read it aloud for the man as he got back to his feet.

As the man brushed off his butt, he said, “Well, it will be nice to travel with you.”

“Yes. What is everyone’s name?” I asked.

The man read it and cleared his throat, “Very well, I will introduce our party to you,” then he gestured to the scrawny guy behind me, “This is Felix. He’s the youngest of our party and our thief. Next to you is Ivory ‘Hawks’ Sucrose. Our ranger.” Then he turned and pointed at Mountain and Snow, “And over there is Don ‘Mountain’ Fletcher and his wife, Shawna ‘Snow’ Fletcher. Don is our Paladin, and Shawna is our healer. And finally, me, the leader of our party. I’m John the windblade swordmaster.”

I nodded and wrote, “Nice to meet you all.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Felix said, then added, “We should butcher the Spear-Bear before it gets dark.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” John agreed, then began giving orders, “Hawks, find us a place to make camp. Felix, you and I will butcher that thing. Mountain! Snow! How’s the healing coming?!”

“A few more minutes, leader!” Snow answered.

“Good. Come on, Felix, let’s get to work,” John said, and the two of them went over to the corps to start cleaning it. Hawks slung her bow over her shoulder and walked north of everyone else. Having nothing better to do, I stood and followed Hawks. If I was going to tag along with them, I might as well try and make myself useful and find a place to make camp.

***