As the group reached the cave where James and Lina had led them, they noticed that a faint light could be seen dimly shining through the mouth of the cave.
James carried Elena into the cave first, and Mikaya followed close behind with some blankets.
Then, Lina entered, carrying several fish that hung from a piece of rope she'd used to tie their tails together.
Danny offered to tie the horses next to two others tethered nearby, and Yevad joined him.
One was a big, cart horse, and the other was a chubby pony. The three horses led by Danny shook involuntarily and became skittish whenever he tried to touch them.
Danny made soothing noises. Then, he took a piece of cloth from a small sack hung on the side of one horse and wet it using water from a water skin. Carefully, he washed the sweat off the horses' backs and hummed a calming tune.
Yevad tied the reins firmly to some trees close to their guides' horses. Then he looked at his own trembling hands and realized that something was wrong with him. Could it be that he'd been as badly shaken as these poor, pathetic animals? He swallowed with some trouble and drew in a long, slow breath before sighing heavily.
Danny turned from comforting the horses and looked at Yevad through the misty, dim night air. He could not see that the man's head was drenched in sweat despite the fact that Yevad was not currently wearing his helmet.
"Are you alright?" he asked, concerned.
"I'm fine," Yevad responded, not too convincingly. "I need to go piss," he added before walking away toward some brush.
Danny took the water skins and went into the cave with the others.
They had set the blankets out around the small fire, which had been left burning when Lina and James had heard the screeching Fairies attacking at the Fairy Pond and run out to see what had happened. Although they had been about ten minutes' run away, the shrill sound had startled the pair with its intensity. So they followed it to the Fairy Pond and arrived just in time to save the four people they'd been tracking.
"Where's Yevad?" Mikaya asked.
"He's taking a leak," Danny responded. "I tethered the horses to the trees outside," Danny said as he entered the cave. "They were really terrified. It took a long time to calm them down, but they finally stopped flinching and shaking. I guess being around your horses helped some." He was talking to James and his mysterious friend.
James nodded. "It's a shame you lost one," he said to Danny.
He remembered what they'd seen after the fight, when the group had gone back to the Fairy Pond to retrieve the stunned and hysterical horses from where they'd been tied for the night before the travelers had been attacked.
The poor creatures had gone mad with terror, still pulling and bucking against their reins. With their blinders, they couldn't see anything around them, but the flashes of light and sounds of battle nearby had been frightening enough, not to mention the shrieking of the Fairies. Upon hearing that, one horse had snapped the rope that held it and run away whinnying in panic through the woods, never to be seen again. The others, unable to escape, had voided their bowels and bladders, completely petrified.
The lost horse had belonged to Mikaya. She had silently prayed for the creature's safety and sighed deeply before joining her companions in their attempts to calm the remaining horses. That had been when Lina had decided to go fishing, taking advantage of the fact that no Fairies were guarding the pond at that moment.
"Yeah, but it could have been a lot worse if you guys hadn't shown up to help us," Danny replied.
"Ah," James acknowledged as he took the fish from Lina. "We could use some more firewood. Would you mind?"
"Sure," Danny replied, a little bit annoyed at having to go out again.
He had been hoping to learn more about their two new companions. Still, he felt obliged to do his part. After all, the others had fought very hard this night, and Danny hadn't been much help.
Mikaya watched the boy leave the cave again. The fire had dwindled down, the dim light of the dancing, short flames barely illuminated the space immediately around the three sitting around it.
Elena lay on a blanket to Mikaya's right, and Mikaya arose from her seat and went over to check on her friend.
She touched Elena's forehead, finding her skin cold and a bit clammy. Pulling another blanket up to cover the unconscious woman's shoulders, Mikaya tugged its edges under her friend to help her conserve heat.
As Mikaya resumed her seat on her own blanket, she turned to face James and watched him give a skewered fish to Lina.
Lina held the fish over the flames and stared at it expectantly.
"So, when are you two going to tell us why you just happened to be here tonight?" Mikaya asked, bluntly revealing what had been on her mind since the pair had appeared and rescued them.
James lifted his face and looked Mikaya in the eyes from across the fire, smiling handsomely. "I don't know. When are you going to thank us for saving you?" he asked, teasingly. His dark eyes glinted briefly in the firelight, and she found herself speechlessly lost in their depths for several moments before blinking and looking away.
Mikaya blushed, embarrassed by her own rudeness. "Thank you," she said sincerely.
As he also took his own seat again, James responded to Mikaya's question, "Well, not everyone is here right now. . . . Don't want to have to repeat the whole story again . . . It's kind of long."
"Then give me the short version," Mikaya insisted.
James sighed, shaking his head slowly from side to side before opening his mouth to reply to the request. Looking at Mikaya again, he hesitated, noting her serious expression.
She would not take no for an answer.
James took another fish and started to rub off its scales with his knife. "The short version . . . okay. We tracked you into the woods. After the incident at the inn, we went to where the Harvest Lands should have been and found that the rumors of its mysterious disappearance were actually valid. That's when we happened to see you all again, so we followed you. Only, since you came into the woods before us, we lost you. We planned to start tracking you again in the morning, that is, until we heard . . . those things yelling."
James shuddered at the memory.