Encounter

Late autumn, 6 AT (After Twilight of the Gods)

It was windy as they stood on a hill, looking down at the village.

"It will be the last one before we arrive."

' The last bed before we have to camp again' , he silently added.

Behind the houses one could see a forest connecting to the horizon. And their destination was somewhere on the other side, too far to make it through in one day.

The small girl in his arms, nearly asleep, shivered.

"We should be going"

So he began climbing down the stairs that were half carved into the surface half build out of added stone or wood. Close behind a teenage girl followed him silently.

Isla was a strange companion. Never spoke

much.

He found her around three years ago. Or maybe she found him? And since then she accompanied them without ever fully warming like a half stray cat. Nevertheless his Sister really liked her.

As they got to the end of the stairs they had a close up look of the village.

An intact city wall, old houses and somewhat empty. It looked like it never got stormed by beasts or soldiers but surely had its own trouble.

No person could be seen as they entered through the half opened gate. No person as they walked on the broadest road hoping it would lead them to the marked place with an inn.

All of a sudden angry shouting resounded and mixed with the clacking sound of footsteps.

"Stop you cheeky bastard! Harold run faster we're loosing him!"

"We'll get you! Just wait for a beating"

Before they could even react, a teenage boy ran right through their little group, an apple in his mouth and some vegetables rolled up in his shirt. For a short moment he locked eyes with Isla giving her a cheeky grin before looking back and clearly panicking at the sight of a stomping group of upset adults chasing after him. Speeding up he vanished into a side street.

"Isla can you take Lumi and look for a place to sleep? I want to find out what's happening."

Dawn gave her the sleeping child and went after the group.

---

It didn't take him long to find a person to question. After the first turn he nearly bumped into short man with a potbelly, snapping for air.

" Excuse me sir, Could you tell me what this commotion is all about?"

"Huh..h..You're not from here, aren't ya boy? I'm Bruckman, a local Merchant. And the one you just met is Flint...Tin.. can't remember his last name. You could say, he likes to cause trouble for us merchants. Huff..."

"So.. this isn't the first time?"

The man paused shortly to inhale and exhale deeply before answering Dawn's question.

"Hehehe. I wish it was. He normally attracts potential buyers for us, but every few weeks he just takes some of our merchandise . And then he scares of all customers until we let him work again!"

- cough, cough -

"If it wasn't for his aunt, this old dragon, we would have beaten him half dead long ago! Pah.."

At this point his head already turned bright red, fuming with rage.

(Or maybe the cause was lack of oxygen?)

"Thank you for the... interesting information. Just call me Dawn. I don't plan to stay for long but maybe we'll meet again."

" Dawn... that rings a bell. Aren't you the.."

He stopped noticing he was the only one in the alleyway.

Then he mumbled:

" The guys won't believe who I just met."

--

After an hour passed the village returned to it's quiet self.

"Stupid merchants", he cursed as he got out of his hiding place.

The redheaded boy turned around and haltet. A slim tall figure stood right before him.

"Found you."