Aftermath

If it isn't one thing it's another for our heroes. - Daily Flash Fiction Entry.

The tunnel spat them out onto a mossy hillside just as the first light of dawn cracked through the trees. Water dripped from their soaked clothes, their breath heavy from the sprint through darkness, magic, and the near death experience of dodging a smoke dragon and a river snake in the same hour.

Darius stood slowly, scanning the horizon.

But what met his eyes was not the familiar ruins they expected. The clearing where the outpost once stood was in shambles. The stone watchtower had crumbled, black scorch marks covered the earth, and the signal mirror they'd left behind was cracked in two.

Smoke still curled faintly from the remains of a wooden barricade.

Elara joined him, her eyes narrowing. “This isn’t right.”

Darius took a slow step forward, his boots squelching in the wet earth. The silence was thick; too still for morning, too quiet for a place that should have had allies waiting.

Then he saw it: a broken banner trampled into the mud the crest of the Eagle Parrot, their crew’s symbol, singed at the edges.

“What happened here?” he said aloud, mostly to himself.

Elara crouched, fingers brushing over a shattered compass half buried in ash. “There was a fight. And it wasn’t long ago.”

They turned in unison at the sudden creak of wood. From behind a fallen tree, a figure emerged limping, bloodied, but alive. It was Kale, the youngest scout from their crew.

He raised a hand weakly. “They came...Drakon soldiers...and someone else. They were looking for you.”

Darius and Elara exchanged a glance.

Trouble had followed them. And it wasn’t finished yet.