The branch that snapped in the distance drew the mercenary's attention in the opposite direction away from their hiding spot. A bird even took flight from where it had been hiding in the brush drawing the mercinaries eyes away and upwards as it flew off though the canopy. He felt Aliya flinch in front of him but she was able to stay quiet. The men looked at each other then using hand motions one of them, presumably the leader, motioned them forwards. Almost silently they disappeared down the road.
Thank goodness for whatever animal had snapped that branch. Long moments passed after they had gone out of sight. He eventually allowed himself to take a deep breath and relax marginally.
Aliya remained stiff as a board in front of him. He shook her slightly, "relax," he whispered. "Just keep your voice down for a while but we should be okay now unless the double back."
She nodded but didn't relax.
His mind raced trying to figure out what his next step should be. In this quiet forest, noise was muffled in some places, and in other places sound carried and echoed far. He decided the best option was to dismount Benny and lead the horses and Aliya on foot off-road.
He let himself out of the saddle slowly so his feet would hit the ground softly. He then lifted a confused Aliya down beside him. "We are going to go on foot for a while so stay close beside me. I'm going to lead the horses so if the way is narrow get between me and the animals and grab the end of my coat." He whispered.
She nodded.
They moved out again and he led them across the road and into the thicket on the other side. According to the map he'd memorized it should be possible to meet up with the road if they went straight in about two days.
====
The next two days were long and arduous. There were no good places to rest and they were stiff from all the bending and weaving they'd had to do around thickets. Tate didn't want to admit it but despite his best efforts, he was a little turned around. With the horses trailing behind them they had not always been able to squeeze through the most straightforward route. Instead, he'd had to forge his way around many briars, thickets, bushes, and trees.
Aliya had remained fairly quiet since they had gone off-road. He could tell that her fear was growing. He felt bad for her because he understood that her life had not only changed dramatically in such a short span of time, but now she had the added pressure of knowing people wanted her dead. To help ease her stress he'd even let her take Kilnik out of the basket as long as he agreed to ride either on one of their shoulders or on the back of one of the horses. He didn't want the little dragonling to slip ahead of them and get lost.
Aliya had argued that she could use their telepathy to find him but he had set her straight on this matter. Telepathy with a dragon did not allow you to know their location. If the dragon didn't know where they were, they would not be able to help you find them easily. Also, there was a range of how far the telepathy could reach when the dragon was so young. It was only when they reached full maturity that the distance increased to something around a two-mile radius. It could be developed into a longer range but that took time and practice.
Thankfully, they had found a stream halfway through the second day and were able to refill their waterskins but after that, there was not much to see. All the wildlife seemed to be avoiding them.
Currently, Kilnik was riding on Tate's shoulders since Aliya's neck had begun to get sore from the weight. It had been a long time since a dragonling had wrapped itself around his neck like this, and it filled him with nostalgia. It was not the same as it was when he was little and Aquana had been the one doing it. Kilnik was not affectionate to him but he was careful with his claws and respectful, meaning that he didn't dislike Tate. Tate had seen what happened to people that a dragon or dragonling didn't like and it wasn't pretty.
"Where is your dragon?" Aliya asked looking up at the two of them.
He sighed, she'd sort of asked this before but he'd changed the subject then. Now he supposed she deserved to know. "She's dead."
Aliya stopped in her tracks, it forced him to stop too and he turned to see her stunned little face.
"It happened a long time ago." He said to her and then he turned and kept walking.
She was silent for a little while. "I know It's rude to ask, but what happened."
He shrugged, he didn't want to let himself feel too much about it at the moment. "Someone killed her."
"Who!"
"I don't know, I didn't see them."
She looked at him expectantly but when he didn't say anything else she said. "Were you riding her?"
"Yes."
"And you didn't die!" She almost yelled breaking her near silent streak.
"Shhh, no, but I almost did, or so they tell me."
She shook her head amazed. She bit her lip and seemed to be thinking if she should say more after such a deep and dark revelation. After a moment it seemed that she couldn't hold it in. "What was her name?"
"Aquana, she was a blue dragon, water type."
"That's a beautiful name," she murmured, "What is water type?"
"Water type is a dragon that in addition to breathing fire, can manipulate water to some extent. She was very good at making steam attacks by picking up water from lakes or steams and then superheating it to the point she could drop it on the enemy like a blanket. When it was done right the enemies in the direct range would have their skin melt off."
She shuddered. "Tha-that's horrific."
He shrugged, he was used to it, "That was war."
"You were in the war?" She seemed astounded. "I was a tiny kid so I don't remember it, but you were in it, how old were you?"
"Young." He answered vaguely.
She seemed to catch on that he didn't want to talk about it because she changed the subject to asking him questions about the surrounding forest and how much longer it would take. He was beginning to appreciate her ability, even as a child, to read a situation. She quietly talked about random things and asked random questions for a long time.
"How old are you?" She finally asked.
He chuckled, "How old do you think I am, I'm curious."
She looked at him thoughtfully. "Hummmm, I don't think I'm good at these kinds of guesses, but you look all grown up so, are you forty?"
He almost tripped her answer was so unexpected. "Forty!? Is grown-up forty to you?"
She shrugged. "Well no, I think if you are over fifteen you're pretty old. I mean the girls I've known that turned fifteen suddenly began acting all boring and mature."
He was still insulted but he smiled a little bit. "I'm Twenty-One."
She nodded. "Well, that's not as old as I thought but you're still pretty ancient."
"How old are you?" He asked. He had guessed eight before and wanted to know if he was right.
"I'm eleven."
He was definitely surprised by this, she looked a lot younger to him. Maybe it had something to do with the environment she grew up in. Curious he decided to probe her about herself more than he had to this point.
"Where did you live before you touched Kilnik's egg?"
"In the alleyway."
Her answer was so blunt that it was clear she didn't think that answer strange at all. "He cleared his throat. "I know you said you didn't have a family to contact, but I know you've talked about your mother. Where is she?"
She took a deep breath. "She's dead." Again with the blunt answer, well he supposed he had answered in much the same way when she was asking about Aqua.
"How did she die?"
"I don't know I just woke up one morning and she was cold all over. I tried to get help but no one would come and when I came back to her..." She trailed off and when he glanced back at her she saw that her face had gone white.
"You don't have to tell me anymore if you don't want to." She nodded and he could see her throat work. It was obviously a very traumatic experience even though she'd tried to be tough about it before.
For a while they were silent, he didn't know what to say. Although they had been getting along in an easy way, the bottom line was that he had more experience with dragons than with people. Most of his human literacy had been gained in the last few years of being home and speaking to humans exclusively, but none of that had included comforting a little girl.
He decided to change the subject. "Do you want to learn a little about the different kinds of dragons while we keep going?"
She nodded and he began to talk hoping to erase that look of unease and horrible memories from her face.