Infinitesimal: A Tale of Dragons and Daring Deeds

Chapter 5: Forest Sprites

Lou gathered up all her things and tossed them over Cookie's rear. She stood proud in front of the horse. She almost thought that Cookie was mocking her. Cael shuffled over and Lou was certain that they both had something against her.

It was impressive to her, even if she could tell that they were both mocking her.

Lou leaped onto Cookie's back and pulled Cael up behind her. He grumbled something about how he definitely can do this by himself. He wobbled on Cookie's back and wrapped his arms around Lou's waist as quick as humanly possible.

If Cael was mocking Lou earlier, he must have regretted it. The things that Lou could have said.

Lou grinned. She had definitely won. Cookie seemed to laugh at her and Cael. Silly humans, when do I get my next meal?

The horse trotted over an even path. The quiet town quickly turned into a quiet forest. Trees whisked by and Cael still hadn't let go of Lou's waist.

Early morning turned to noon and Lou felt a pang of hunger in her side. However much food she packed at the beginning of her journey wasn't going to be nearly enough for her and Cael. She eyed the rabbits and deer as they pranced around the forest. She begged for her stomach to not growl louder than a bear.

Cael managed to spin around on Cookie's back and inspected Lou's scythe. His back was pressed against her's and he stared hard at all the lines in her weapon. She was a little worried that he might ridicule her for having such a huge weapon and not even use it on Cael, but in her defense, it's hard to grab your massive weapon when there's a thief jumping on you.

All he did was mumble some words of praise on how well-kept it was. That shocked her

He flicked a piece of dirt off the scythe and sat up straight. "Say, Lou, shouldn't we eat?"

Lou pulled on the reigns of Cookie and stopped her short. She gulped. "Yes."

The two of the clambered off of Cookie. Lou walked over and tied the horse to a tree and pulled her bag off her. She tossed it at Cael and he rummaged through it while she walked over. He gave her a very unamused look as she sat down next to him.

"What is it?"

He showed her the bag. Inside of it was loaves of bread and some fruit.

"Yes..?"

"Are you stupid? This isn't enough for either of us! And we don't have any meat." Cael stood up and started to pace around.

"Just go get some meat then. There's tons of animals in the forest." Lou said.

Cael groaned and ran up to her, his face right in her's. "Do you think you can just take the lives of the things in this forest? Do they mean nothing to you? Just food for you or some other animal? They don't have lives of their own?"

Lou tumbled to the ground. "I-I'm sorry, I.."

Cael crouched down in front of her. "Do you know where we are?"

"In the forest below the mountains, a short ride away from Dragon Valley. If I remember right, these are the Dragon's Peaks." Lou said. Her heart hammered. She's never been so embarrassed in her life.

"Yes. You're right." Cael sat down. "But not entirely so."

"What do you mean?"

"My mother told me, long ago, there was a clan of elves that lived here. They wandered around in these woods and more like it all over the country, but as the world has progressed and the air become nasty with smoke from smiths. So they fled through the portal us humans came through, trying to find a land void of temptation and destruction." Cael started spinning a story, and Lou, curious as she was, listened intently.