"Enough about lost language, where headed boy?" She glances around as if suggesting there is nowhere of supposed interest nearby.
"First my name is Emyr not boy, and we were travelling but I have forgotten the direction and the name of the city we were heading to, could I ask nicely for you to show us the way?" I try to ask in an innocent manner.
She frowns at me for a moment as if trying to understand me or my intentions.
"Fine but you shall walk in front of the cart and we have no food to spare. The travel is only another day and a half in this direction." She says as she points at what I believe to be east.
"Not get stabbed by the monsters that might jump out at you." she directs at me mockingly in her broken english.
"I know how to fight..." I try to comment before she waves me off with a hand gesturing towards the front of the cart where the horses are currently being given drinks. I walk over obediently and for the rest of the day while carrying Elyn on my back, we walk due east.
Following the path eventually the forest gets larger in the distance, the vivid red leaves laying on the path showing off their deep colours the closer I look with their mixes of reds and browns dancing differently on each leaf. The weather being mild but a bit dry, the driver of the cart offered me a pouch of water as he saw us not carrying much and the fact that Elyn started coughing slightly making him take pity on her. I of course check the water by drinking some myself first but Elyn seemed happy after having had something to stop her cough.
The wildness of the grass dies down the further we go and eventually we reach a clearing on the south side of the road as it grows darker for night time, almost as if they scripted the whole thing, each warrior takes up their role in setting up camp before a few mutters as they seem to decide who stays awake and when.
Watching them set up a patrol starts to worry me, I don't believe they will do anything bad to us since their employer is passive towards us, but I don't plan on getting any sleep tonight even though my arms and legs are tired from walking for hours while carrying Elyn. I'm still not sure I trust them.
A cry in the night makes me jump awake, I hurriedly look around confused at where I am before remembering and noticing Elyn sleeping against me fast asleep, stirring from the yell. She wakes up and looks at me and then our surroundings, I give her a hug before walking out of the tent they set up for us with Elyn hanging off my arm.
Through the opening of the tent the yells are getting more frequent and louder, a few sounds of swords being swung and people sounding like they are hurt, I pat Elyn to comfort myself and to get her attention.
"Ellie, I want you to be a good girl and stay here for a second, Big brothers gonna go check what is happening, can you promise me to say silent?" She nods in her half asleep state so I help her lie back down in the back of the tent, before peeking outside.
I'm met by tragedy, some of the fighters who were guarding the cart yesterday are on the ground bleeding out from their broken limbs and smashed in helmets while the rest are fighting a large shadow which is running at each small group of guards angrily killing them on sight, the wounds glinting in the moonlight as the creature is lit by the moon from behind it lets out a cry followed by warnings yelled by the guards at my direction, the alertness and panic in their voices as it charges in my direction, straight at the tent where Elyn is sleeping.
Written almost immediately after publishing the first chapter, although it took me a week to be happy with publishing the first one.
I will try and write a few chapters a week, at minimum one a week to keep the project alive and the story moving.
And again, thank you for putting up with me having no editor and being bad at proof reading.
My writing goal is a minimum of 600 words to make the chapters worth something but most of the chapters will be finished the day I start them.