"They must have passed through here more than twelve hours ago," said a man, studying the footprint found among the leaves on forest floor.
"Twelve hours isn't too long, we still might be able to get them before sunrise," said another.
"Before sunrise, huh?" came a gruff voice. "Y'all just wish it was that easy." All the chatter suddenly ceased. Kursch stepped from the crowd, small puffs of smoke escaping his mouth as he smoked a pipe. He was the tallest among all the men, with arms the size of tree trunks. Not only was he the only man there to have ever served in a militant force, but he held the most human lives under his belt. He was therefore respected and feared for his experience.
"What are you saying?" piped a voice from silence.
"What I am saying is that we have only found the wolf boy's tracks, but he has Red with him now, doesn't he?" His question was yet again met with a silence. "Don't think wolves move as slow as humans. He's probably carrying her away right now."
"He's right," came a more calm voice from the crowd, "Chances are, they'll be in the next land by the end of tomorrow."
"No one asked you, Kai."
"Hold your tongue, Trevor," snapped Kursch, and the man sank back into the shadows. "It is true that their probable destination is the land beyond the Kingdom."
This caused a mutter to arise from the tense crowd. "How would they get past the knights? He is a wolf after all."
"Don't forget, he has a human with him, and a woman at that. They could slip by right under their noses."
"We cannot go that far! We are only villagers!"
"And by villagers do you also mean cowards?" Kursch shot a fierce glare at the crowd of men almost all of whom backed away.
"We are already well beyond the boundary of our village!" protested one of the men. "We're in danger as it is and we have families," his final words filled with sorrow.
Kursch's face seemed to twist with anger, his fists clenched tight and his eyes slowly closed. Everyone was in fear of what this hulk was about to do, but he drew in a breath and released it with a sigh. The anger from his face melted away and his fists unclenched. His eyes opened and a smile spread across his face. "Yes, you have families." Kursch chuckled to himself, shaking his head as if ashamed. With that he turned around and started to walk into the darkness.
"Where are you going?" called one of the men.
"Where do you think?" replied Kursch. "Those two aren't getting any closer to us than we are to them."
One again the party was left in silence as they watched Kursch's silhouette disappear into the shadows. The striking of flint against stone and the hiss of a torch being lit caught the attention of everyone. Kai's torch was burning brightly as he stepped forward.
"Are you going too, outsider?" spat another man.
"He'll kill someone if no one does," Kai replied and began to follow Kursch.
"Yeah, it'll be you if don't keep your trap shut!"
Another man left the crowd to follow Kai, and the other man burst out laughing. "You going too, ya drunkard?"
"Tell you what, Toomey, If you don't pipe down right now I'll break your jaw when I get back," the man smiled while shaking a fist at Toomey.
"If he goes, then I should go." Yet another man parted and followed the trio.
"They'll probably need help, right?" said Trevor, approaching Toomey.
"Not you too," chuckled Toomey, "I thought you'd be sharper than that!"
"Let's face it, we'll never have this much fun in a long time and it'll be interesting to watch," Trevor said with a mischievous grin. With that he turned and raced down the path.
"Wait up you idiots!" called Toomey and followed Trevor.
The rest of the men stood perplexed at what had happened. The sun was setting and a group of six men left to search for two runaways in a very dangerous part of the land. It seemed foolish to them, that a man such as Kursch would risk his life to bring two rebels to justice, and drag five other men to death along with him.
They all turned their backs and left for the village, their thoughts telling them that that would be their last sight of the six men.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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