"Run!" the now distorted face of the groomsman yelled.

I turned and started pumping my legs as fast as I could. I began to run back towards where Valk and my mother had been talking.

The roar of the groomsman had drawn their attention. Both Valk and my mother started making a beeline towards me. Valk, with his longer legs, reached me first. He didn't stop, but rather blew right past me, sword drawn.

"Keep moving!" he shouted as he ran past.

Once my mother reached me, she scooped me up in a protective embrace and turned to run in the opposite direction.

From what I could see from my mother's shoulder, Valk had gotten to the carriage and was trying to beat back some sort of ferocious animal. Hortim the groomsman was nowhere to be seen.

My mother continued running. Suddenly, we were on the bridge and crossing the river. My mother stopped and put me down on the far side.

"Honey, you see that pile of boulders over there?" She asked.

A ways down the road, there was a cluster of massive stones that littered the field. I nodded, acknowledging that I saw them.

"Keep running until you reach them. Once you do, hide as best as you can."

"You're not coming?" I asked.

"I'll be along in a few minutes." My mother said as she removed her cloak and set it on stone of the bridge. "I have to go help out Mr. Valk. Stay hiding until we come and get you ok?"

"Yes Mommy."

My mother pulled a short sword from a scabbard that sat on her hip. I stood staring. I had never seen my mother hold a weapon before.

"Go!" my mother said. She started running back towards Valk and the carriage.

I turned, and ran as fast as I could towards the rocks.

***

The stones were the remnants of some sort of ancient construction.

Even as a young as I was, I could could tell that they had once been purposefully placed in a pattern. Specifically what that pattern was, what the purpose would be, evaded me completely.

I found a spot where a few of the stones had toppled onto each other, creating a small gap that I could squeeze into. I pulled myself inside and twisted myself about so I could see the road.

From this angle, I could only see a small section of road. I wasn't able to even see the bridge that I had left only a few minutes ago. I waited for what seemed like an eternity.

Finally, I heard the sound of hoofbeats approaching. It had to be the sound of my mother with the carriage coming to find me.

I was just about to pull myself out of the ruins to go and greet her, when something deep inside told me to wait.

A figure on horseback came into view. They had approached from the opposite direction of where the bridge was. Bright green robes decorated their body.

In their right hand they grasped a golden amulet that hung from their neck. Their left arm was outstretched in the in the air, the palm of the hand facing outward. The hand was slowly moved in this direction and that, like it was seeking something.

The figure then quickly turned, their palm facing exactly in the direction of where I was hiding.

The rider dismounted. Still holding the amulet, they began walking towards the ruin.

I did my best to slide backwards into the limited space that I was hiding in. I scrunched myself down, trying to remain unseen.

I could see the figure was a man. He stepped closer and closer to the ruins. Then he stopped.

He seemed confused. He attempted to step forward again, but he found himself sliding backwards. He held out his free hand as far as he could, but try as he might, he could not push it past a certain point. I heard him curse.

He suddenly looked startled. He turned and bolted back to his mount. He spun his horse around and galloped in the other direction.

Moments later, I heard the sound of more hoofbeats. This time it was coming from the direction of the bridge. I stayed in my hidey hole and waited.

I saw the familiar carriage roll into view. My mother was at the reins. Valk sat next to her, several dents in his armor, and a bloody bandage on his right arm.

"Samantha?" my mother called. She handed the reins to Valk and dismounted. She looked around the ruins, "Samantha? It's safe to come out honey."

I pulled myself out of my hiding spot and ran towards her.

"Mommy!"

My mother bent down and I ran into her arms. She embraced me and kissed me on the forehead. "You did what I told you! Good girl!"

"Milady," Valk said. He motioned to the roadway. "Tracks. Fresh ones."

My mother brushed back some of my hair. She looked me in the eyes. "Honey, did you see anything while you were hiding?"

"I saw a man in green robes." I said. "I think he was trying to find me, but I hid!" I don't know why, but I made no mention of the stranger's weird encounter at the edge of the ruins.

With the mention of the man, my mother went pale and gave a look to Valk. "Good job honey. Now we have to keep moving."

She opened the door to the carriage and I stepped aboard. I waited for her to join me.

"Valk got a little hurt, so I'm going to stay up front with him OK?"

I nodded.

"Mommy, where is Hortim?" I wondered what happened to the groomsman who had been so kind to me.

"Hortim is... gone honey."

With that she closed the door, and I was alone inside the carriage. With a sudden jerk that almost knocked me off my feet, we started moving.

I sat down on one of the benches. Aside from the sound of hooves plodding along the dirt road and the creaking of the carriage, it was dead silent. My mind switched from face of the kind man that held me up to pet the horses, to the horrible visage with black eyes and sharp teeth. These images would haunt me for years.

***

Following fresh horseshit inevitably lead us to the horse that made it.

More accurately, it led us to a pair of horses that had been tied off on the side of a trail. A Vardo, or wagon house, was parked nearby. From this distance, we could see number of people milling about a small fire. The smell of breakfast was heavy in the cool morning air.

The sun was just coming up over the horizon. One of the people near the fire saw us and waved us over.

As we approached, we could see that the group of travelers appeared to be a small family that consisted of a man, a woman, two young boys who looked to be about 4 and 5 respectively, and an elderly woman.

"You're tall," said the smaller of the boys looking up at Eplash as we drew near. He had to strain his neck to look up at her. Contented with stating his astute observation, the boy turn and ran over to his older brother who was inspecting an anthill.

The woman, whom we assumed to be the boy's mother stood and wiped her hands on an apron. She looked to Eplash, "Sorry, he's at that age where anything might come out of his mouth."

"It's alright," Eplash said. "I stand out."

"Where are you folks coming from?" the man asked as he poked at whatever meat he was frying over the fire.

I wasn't sure how to respond. I couldn't just tell them I was being pursued by cultists... oh and there was a dragon after me as well.

"Hunting," Eplash said motioning to the large bow that was strung over her back. "Showing my apprentice the ropes."

A lie with just enough of the truth thrown in. This wasn't Eplash's first time using subterfuge.

"We don't see many Giantkin over this way," the man observed. "The hunting bad back home?"

"I hunt the same prey all winter over the mountains. It is nice to change things up."

The man nodded, seeming to accept this. The roads could be dangerous, but they could also be very lonely. Talking to another traveler might be the only news that you got for days. Sometimes you had to size someone up a little before getting too friendly.

"We're just about to have breakfast," he said as he turned a few pieces of meat over in the pan. "You're welcome to join us if you wish."

My stomach growled. It had been quite a while since I had a proper meal.

I was about to speak up and accept the kind offer, but then realized that Eplash had appointed me the role of apprentice.

If I accepted the invitation before my "master', it might dispel the glamour that Eplash's lie had created.

"That would be nice," Eplash said. "We've been walking all night."

The man introduced himself as Garet. The woman was his wife Joyet, and his two sons were named Dewt and Ledt. The woman was his mother-in-law, Kamet.

The hard T's at the end of the names indicated that the family was probably from the northern regions.

"What brings you folk to the road?" I asked as I was handed a plate full of hot steaming food. Beans, sausage, eggs, and a biscuit. I was in heaven.

"I'm a tinker." Garet said. "During the spring and summer months we go from town to town and I repair pots, pans, and the like."

"See anything strange on the road lately?" Eplash asked. Both the plate and fork looked tiny in her large hands.

"We've heard some weird screeching for the last couple of nights," Joyet said. "Given the children some terrible nightmares."

"Dragon," The old woman interjected. "I've been telling ye it's been a dragon."

"Oh mother!" Joyet sighed. "Don't go putting things into the kid's imagination."

The kids, having wolfed down their breakfast at a frightful speed, were now off to the side chasing a frog. They weren't exactly in on the conversation.

"It's weird though. It doesn't stick around very long." Kamet continued. "Screeches and flaps around for a bit, then moves on. Not like any dragon I've ever heard."

"Dragon or not, I hope we're out of its territory soon. The horses have been super skittish since it showed up," Garet said as he dumped another scoop of beans into my plate.

I felt bad. The kids nightmares, the scared horses, it was all my fault. The dragon had started hunting me shortly after my mother and I had been driven out of our home following the assassination attempt in Elkshire. The cultists and the dragon had to be connected. One hunted me by day, and the other at night.

"Have you happened to run across an elf in your travels?" Eplash changed the conversation topic.

"An elf? No can't say that we have." Garet raised an eyebrown. "What would you two be doing looking for an elf?"

"Old friend," Eplash said.

Garet thought for a moment. "Come to think of it, last year while traveling near Boatswin, I remember the villagers talking about a hermit that lived some ways away from the settlement. There was rumor that he was some of exiled Elvish royal. Never gave it much thought myself, every town seems to have some sort of strange character like that."

I looked to Eplash, who nodded. "Thank you, that helps a great deal." She turned to me. "Time to go."

We gave back our empty plates and said our goodbyes to the travelers. Eplash offered some coin (the very same coin that she had liberated from the body of the cultist) in exchange for the hospitality. She was politely turned down.

"Just do a kindness to someone you meet on your travels, then ask them to do the same afterwards." Garet said. "Those of us that live on the road try to keep the good will flowing."

"A fine philosophy," Eplash said. Philosophy was not a word that I had ever expected to come out of the large woman's mouth.