The silence made it quite difficult for her to sleep, she did mao fade off eventually, though. In the m she awoke, unill by the sile least ba the vilge there were birds, and more is. But out here, it was far too quiet, a wrong.

  Shaking her head to banish the thoughts, Dawn slid out of her fortable furs, notig as she did so that Niphru was already awake. After petting him on the head, she slipped bato her robe, and stopped for a moment when she pulled the hood babsp; With the idea fresh in her mind, she picked up Niphru and tried to put him in the hood, succeeding on the sed attempt.

  With some adjustments, she found that he was quite snug there, and she was able to prop him up on her shoulder so he could see where she was going as well. After ensuring he was fortable, she began pag up her small camp, returning everything back to the cart.

  After double-cheg she had everything, Dawn verified the gear was all ba the cart before putting the belt ba and hooking herself up to the cart again, ready to head off again. Once again, nothing of i occurred and she simply plodded through the unending pins, occasionally talking to Niphru, until nightfall.

  Repeating her prior trick to clear a campsite with her magic, she begaing up camp again. This time, she remembered to grab everything for cooking on the first try, and began to make stew for the evening. This attempt, she used less water and preserved food, as st night was a bit too mud she still had some of the bread left.

  While feeding Niphru his portion, she noticed that he was beginning to have more trol of himself, swallowing much more smoothly and tilting his head. She had seen him move his head before, but it seemed much easier now, which she was happy to see. As he finished eating, she scratched behind his ears before stopping to eat her portion.

  Ohey had both fihey sat and watched the fire for a time before heading into the tent to get some rest. While the otal sileill bothered her, Dawn was getting used to it, and found it much easier to sleep this time.

  They woke up shortly before sunrise, and she began pag up the camp again. As she was hooking herself back to the cart, the sun rose, revealing several plumes of smoke in the distanbsp; She stroked Niphru’s head, remarking, “I suppose we might have something besides endless boredom today, huh?”

  As she walked down the road, the smoke slowly faded, signaling that the source was no longer burning. A few hours ter, she spotted someone ihered, dull-looking pte armor walk into the road ahead of her. When she approached closer, she called up a small ball of fme a orbitiaff. Seeing this, the figure lifted the visor of their helmet, and began walking forward to meet her.

  Before the person could get too close, she unhooked herself from the cart and walked forward as well. Stopping a short distance away, she was able to see the figure’s face was femihough the armor hid any characteristics of the body. As she looked, the person before her bowed slightly before beginning to speak, in a clearly female voice, “I greet you, honored mage. You seem a bit you—”

  Suddenly the woman lu her, smming into her side with immense force, hurling them both through the air. The force spuo the side of the woman even as she let out a deafening bellow of “KILL THEM!”

  Even as she was flying through the air, Dawn heard metal scraping aetal, and spotted two arrows skittering off the woman’s armor. At almost the same time, she noticed several other arrows flying over them iher dire. By the time she had begun to react, everything was already done, and she had smmed into the ground hard enough to knock the air from her chest, along with sending sharp pain all along her side.

  Two screams rang out as the woman shoved against the ground, throwing herself into the air and back to their feet. While letting loose a stream of shog profahe woma down and offered her hand to Dawn before apologizing to her, “I am most sorry for what just happened. There is a new band of murderous bastards who keep infiltrating roup here.”

  While rec from her daze, Dawn realized she had had Niphru sitting in the hood of her robe again, and frantically looked around for him, finding he had rolled a short distance away, but looked unharmed. Instead of accepting the woman’s hand, she scampered over to Niphru and began cheg him for any wounds. Only once she was sure he was safe did she return him to her hood and stand up.

  As she stood, she noticed the woman looking at her with a peculiar expression, as well as numerous people standing holding arrows o their bows off in the pins where she had not seen anyone before. Guessing what the woman was w about, she finally responded, “I am sorry, but my friend is important to me. He is Awakehough he is injured and uo do anything on his own. As long as you be certain nothing else will happen, I will accept your apology.”

  The woman once again slightly bowed to her while replying, “I ot be absolutely certain, but I will not allow harm to e to you. I am Leanna, former captain of the guard at Granitehill, presently leader of the Iron Quills. Who might I be speaking with? I was unaware of any mages so young.”

  Feeling a little more at ease, Dawn answered, “I am Dawn, daughter of Amilya, leader of Blightfall Vilge. And my friend here is Niphru, the Awakened fox.”

  “I see, it is eveer that I spotted those bastards in time then. If you are willing, we escort you to Granitehill, as we are headed in that dire ourselves, mainly to deal with the camp of those damn bastards that we finally found,” Leanna stated.

  Still feeling wary, Dawn replied, “I am not sure I am fortable with you all being around me, but I don’t mind following behind.”

  Leanna o her, remarking that such a thing was uandable. She then shouted to her people to prepare to resume travel, at which point they crouched down, vanishing from sight for a moment. When they reappeared, most were carrying rge backpacks, with a handful just carrying small ones.

  A few disturbances in the grass heralded the presence of a few carts that were pulled into the road. The archers formed up around the carts, those with smaller packs keeping their bows out and staying oskirts of the formation. As they kept a, Leanna moved to the front, and everyone began moving forward.

  Seeing them moving away without being threatening in any way, Dawhed a sigh of relief. Hearing that they wouldn’t cause any harm was ohing, but it was hard to believe when faced with that many armed people. She shook her head for a moment, a her thoughts wandering, then patted Niphru’s head, hooked herself back to her cart, and followed behind the band.