The three of them had been running away from the mining village for the better part of an hour. They ran until their lungs dried up, and their legs couldn't follow their brains commands. They had to keep running, if they didn't want to be discovered by some overly lucky passerby that happened to see them fleeing with a girl covered in ash. The stunt Asher had pulled off somehow managed to work, idiotic though it may had been. And after a brief exchange of words, they took to running as far away as they could.
After Dave made sure they weren't being followed, he picked the most densely forested area he could find, and led the three of them to seek cover there. They were all completely out of breath, and their mouths seemed to have turned to dust from thirst. Eddie and Asher collapsed from their exhaustion, and Dave wasn't in a much better situation. He barely managed to drag them to an area that would be free from prying eyes, and fell asleep on the ground, with only his coat as his cover.
Eddie was the first to wake up, still sore and thirsty from all that running. He was in no mood to enjoy the beautiful view of the sunset amid the heavy, green curtain of the branches and the leaves. He immediately set out to find flowing water, a creek or a small river would do the trick. Luckily for him, he could already hear the burbling sound of running water.
He proceeded to wake the other two, and inform them of his discovery. After consuming a small barrel's worth of the creek's water each, they decided to start the introductions.
"My name is Asher. Thank you for putting your lives at stake for me", she said, only barely being able to conceal her horror of what she had witnessed a few hours prior.
"I'm Eddie, good to meet you", a slight, welcoming smile on his face.
The contrast between Eddie's calm aura, and Dave's whining frown was like night and day, seeing as he only managed to mutter "Dave", followed by a deliberately audible sigh.
An awkward silence followed, for several seconds, until Eddie managed to somehow break it.
"Don't worry, he's just grumpy, we did everything without a plan" he said in a happy, dismissive tone.
"Whatever, we're all gonna need to wash off, we all stink of sweat, and you look like you were dug out of the earth" said Dave, before mentioning that she actually was dug out of the earth.
And with that, they proceeded to bathe in the crystal waters of the creek (although Eddie and Dave were too embarrassed to look, so they waited until Asher was done to bathe for themselves).
Asher, after removing days worth of grime, sweat and a bit of blood, revealed a completely different girl, one with hair the colour of chestnuts and blue eyes. By no means a beauty she was short and scrawny, seeing as she hadn't eaten properly in years, her hands were callous from years of work in the mines, and her hair was still scruffy, as she probably hadn't seen a comb in her life. Despite having her spirit broken by working for so long in the claustrophobic conditions of the mines, she had been invigorated by the little taste of freedom she just got, and now wore a steeled look in her eyes.
It was time to decide the next order of business, and for Asher to decide what to do with her newfound freedom.
"You have two choices now that you're free. Either follow us toward Duinford, and your choices will be open from there, or you can draw up your own plans. I'd recommend the first, I don't assume you know how to hunt anything, and you probably have no place to go", Dave said, having made his peace with the fact that the girl would now probably be part of their merry band.
"I'll stay with the both of you, of course. I have nowhere better to be", said Asher, with a resolution in her face.
"Then lose the hair. It looks like a big ferret made it it's permanent residence for God's sake, and it's probably full of lice", Dave immediately responded, pulling out his hunting knife and dangerously encroaching on her hair.
After countless protests and pleading, Asher decided to part with her not-so-fair hair.
"We leave for Duinford today, after a short meal then. We can blend in with the crowds there, and noone will recognize two escaped slaves, or the man who helped them escape. We should be there in about a week of walking", said Dave.
"Wait, were you also a-?", Asher asked him, flabbergasted.
"I was. I worked in some fields in the Dukedom Over the Woodlands, until Dave helped me escape", Eddie interrupted her.
Asher got over the clearly non-mutual respect she had for Dave pretty quick, with his grumpiness not helping any. They all had a quick meal of bread and jerky out of the stash he had refilled in the village.
After that, they started the week-long road to Duinfor. They always tried to trek near the forest, so as to not be recognised, and they tried to avoid human settlements as much as they could. The journey was as mundane as it was tiring. The neverending greenery, stretching in all directions became boring by the first hour, and the trees of the forest provided no break for their boredom. Eddie and Asher got along great, having somewhat of a shared past, with their desire to keep their freedom and spread it to other oppressed being a shared goal. Dave, for his part, got over his grumpiness, and started to get Eddie's and Asher's goal of spreading their newfound freedom to others. After all, the reason he had helped his friend escape was because he truly thought that the oppression Eddie witnessed was something that should be snuffed out of that world.
He remained mostly silent the rest of the journey, his view about the world had slowly changed, with the other two, and he had a lot to think about. When they finally reached the walls of the Great city, a solid ideal had been set in his head.