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Chapter. 55

There’s a splash. She’s in the river, just on the other side of the thin water curtain. The woman giggles and screams, and a man’s laugh follows. There are two of them – a vampire couple that will happily turn me into their drink for the evening.

My shaking fingers struggle to find the handle of the sword in my backpack. I have to press one hand against the wet rock to keep myself steady. They haven’t seen me. I need to keep my nerves under control and slip away without being noticed.

Finally finding the sword’s hilt, I pull it out the bag and step back the way I came.

The splashing grows louder. They’re close.

I near the edge of the water curtain and prepare to make a dash toward the trees.

Two figures jump out from behind the boulder, and my heart leaps out of my chest. It’s a human woman – a naked human woman. A laughing man shoots out behind her and wraps his arms around her middle. One look at him shows that he is just as human as her, and just as lacking in clothes.

At the same moment, their eyes land on me, and their bodies go rigid. The woman screams and bolts back into the river, and the man hurries after her. There’s a wild splashing as they race away from me.

The woman has tanned skin – the same as some of the Farian traders that would occasionally pass through our village. Jacob insisted that I memorize directions to reach Fekby, but the path started in my village and involved following a series of roads and landmarks, none of which are anywhere close to where I am now. These people are Farians. They can guide me to Fekby.

I step out after them. “Wait,” I call. They probably think I’m trying to ambush them since they found me hiding away with this sword.

They scramble onto the shore and rush to a third man with a black beard, tanned skin and a large frame. The bearded man reaches behind his back and grabs a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other.

They think I’m a threat – possibly even a vampire with this suit. Not wanting to get any closer to the bowman, my feet stay planted on the boulder.

I slide my sword back into the bag on my back to show I don’t intent to attack them. “I’m not one of them,” I begin, “Listen to what I have to say.”

The nude pair are haphazardly digging through a bag. The bearded man has an arrow nocked, but it’s pointed at the ground. Taking that as a sign that he’s not outright ready to murder me, I step off the boulder and onto the riverbank.

The first man stands beside the bowman with his own sword, making no effort to cover his God-given sword. The woman positions herself beside him with a sling in her hand, seeming to have the same lack of modesty as the man.

Despite the urge to grab my sword again, my hands rest uneasily at my sides. I focus my eyes on the bearded bowman, as he appears to be the most levelheaded. The bowman and the woman’s tanned skin along with his red, yellow and blue checkered robe are just like the Farian traders which I remember. These people know their way around Faria, and they probably have food. A few weeks ago, I would have run like a mouse when encountering a group of armed strangers, but compared to vampires, these three aren’t so intimidating.

“Are you headed back to Faria?” I ask.

Coming to the sensible conclusion that I have no plans of singlehandedly robbing the three of them by myself, the bowman’s eyes leave my frame, opting to scan the surrounding trees instead.

Less sensibly, the nude man spits his answer back at me while keeping his sword drawn. “Get lost, Northerner.”

Northerner. They have to be from Faria. I can’t imagine the invading vampires wanting anything other than servitude from any human they encounter, so these three must be returning home.

“Do you know the village of Fekby?” I ask.

“I said get lost!” The wild man steps closer with his sword pointed at me.

I step back in sync and grab the hilt of the sword on my back. The bowman’s eyes return to me. I’m not a trained fighter by any measure, but wielding a sword may make the man think twice about charging me.

He stops.

My hand remains on my weapon, but I keep it on my back. “I need escort to Fekby of Faria,” I say loud enough to make sure they all hear.

“We have no time for charity, Northerner,” the man spits. “Leave.”

Despite his quick temper, he’s deduced that I’m a refugee fleeing from the vampire army. The invasion is probably the reason their group is trekking through the woods instead of following a road.

I glance at the vegetation behind me to confirm that I have an escape route if this situation explodes. “I can pay with gold,” I say.

His eyes move up and down my frame, and he chuckles. He doesn’t believe someone like me could have anything of value.

“I have it with me.”

“Show us!” the woman shouts. They’re traders, and by their lack of a wagon I assume that the invasion made their journey into my country less than profitable. They need this gold just as much as I need them.

“I will,” I say. While the wild man’s lack of red eyes assures me that I can ward him off, turning my back and digging in my bag for the doorknob may be the catalyst that gives him the confidence to strike at me. They need my gold, which means I have some bargaining power. “Over dinner, after you put your weapons away,” I add.

The man glances at his companions, and the woman gives him a sharp look, as if commanding him not to oppose her. She’s a little taller than me, and she shares the same black hair as the other two.

“It’s a trick for a free meal,” he grunts.

“It wouldn’t be a loss,” the bowman says, “We are overstocked.”

The wild man maneuvers his sword as if it was an extended finger pointing at me. “Don’t hope to deceive us,” he says, “I will not hesitate to cast you out.”

I let my hand fall back to my side, away from my sword.

Resting his blade sideways over his bare shoulder, he turns his butt to me and walks away. The man and the women drop their weapons beside the bearded bowman and begin getting dressed.

I avert my eyes to the river, but my ears remain alert.

The man takes the woman’s hand, and they sit together on a rock bordering the flowing water. Their sword and sling rest beside them, no further than an arm’s reach away. They still suspect me, which I suppose is a reasonable response to a stranger that they stumbled into in the middle of the woods.

The large bowman begins unpacking a set of pots in a grassy clearing. This is where they’re setting up camp, and more importantly, where they’re cooking dinner.

I approach the bowman, stopping a small distance away on the opposite side of his pots so that he doesn’t have to worry about me.

“What’s your name?” I ask.

“I am Aled of Sharlo,” he says. There was a giant stone near my home village called Aled rock. This man shares not just the name of a boulder, but also its size. He’s large enough to pass for a vampire soldier.

He points to the couple. “and that is Ina of Sharlo and Bevin of Calden.”

Bevin takes a giggling Ina in his arms, and they share a kiss. It’s a pleasant moment with joyful lovers, one I’m not used to seeing after spending so much time traveling with bloodthirsty vampire soldiers.

“And you?” Aled asks, drawing my attention back to his eyes.

“I’m Julia of… Heldana.” The last word sticks to my tongue, like I hadn’t committed to saying it.

His brows draw together at my pause. “I do not walk beside liars.”

“It was not a lie. I just don’t travel often.” Heldana was my home a month ago, and it’s not like people there would refer to one another with an ‘of Heldana’.

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