Law of Evolution: The Fifth Clan

Song of Fire

We begun walking slowly but steadily on the wet stone road of the town, passing through the market district. It was still early in the morning, the sun had climbed up in the blue sky and shone it's bright light upon those miserable wooden houses of this town. "This smell is horrible!" Maria exclaimed, referring to the wreaking smell of dead fish of the morning market. The town's fishermen had brought the first load of their night catch and their weary wives had gone out to sell them for a copper coin or two.

"Hey the smell is two hundred times stronger for us!" Nick complained, making Maria go silent as she understood her mistake. Me and Nick truly had noses more sensitive to scents and this one was killing me internally. I could already feel the urge to run as far as I could from it but manners and the risk of being revealed kept me from acting in any irrational way. I went close to Maria and whispered in her ear, hoping that Nick would not hear me. "Do not worry, he is not usually like this".

She glanced at me under her hood and then a tiny, innocent smile was formed in her lips as a thanks. I smiled back and  went back to Nick's side who hopefully had not understood a single thing of what I had told to Maria. It was not anything of significance but I had the feeling that he would not appreciate talking about him to someone else. "How long do we need until we exit the city?" Maria asked, in a desperate yet brave attempt to forget the horrible stench of fish and mold.

"No longer than ten minutes, it is a small town" Nick said while looking scanning our surroundings wit his eyes for any possible dangers. I did not remember seeing Nick so cautious the previous days and to be absolutely honest with myself it was sad to see him doing this. I had found a liking in the free Nick, the one that did not care about restrictions and did what he saw fitting for the situation. "Nick are you alright? I see you are worried" I finally said, not being able to keep myself from doing so.

His ears twitched underneath his black hood and he sighed as he slightly turned his head to glance at me with only one of his green eyes. "Nothing happened really, I am fine" He said and returned his to the surrounding environment as if he was seeking a distraction. Maria signaled me with a nod to not worry about him, I supposed that she would inform me later about Nick's problem. I just then realized that he had trusted someone who he had just met, instead of me who he knew at least two days more!

I would have to swallow my pride until we had exited the town and we had made it into the forest, then Nick would have some explaining to do to say the least. "Guards.... don't act suspiciously" Nick said and started trying to walk more like a Human. Most could not notice the difference but our knees were bent and we could not form an exact straight line with our feet like the humans could do. That was a sign that little could see but it would be foolish of us to ignore that detail.

"Nick what about your tail?" I asked worryingly when I saw his tail wagging slowly from his anxiety. "Oh shit!" He exclaimed and tried to keep it still. Only some meters away stood three guards in armor with the blue crest of the Shepherds. Their armor plates did not shine and there was an exhaustion in their eyes. They tried so hard to look imposing in their weaponry but not even them could see themselves that way, the crest had lost it's importance on these people. "What is wrong with them?" Nick asked.

"No idea, but keep your eyes on them" I warned him and followed my own advice. The shaking in Maria's hands was visible. She was afraid and even if I wanted to claim I was not, I could not do so. "Do not worry, they will not do anything" I told her, trying to calm her down. Anxiety would only do harm to us in right now. "Thanks" She said lowly and fell into silence. The guards walked past us but only one of them thought of looking at us. Thankfully the hoods did their job and covered us but that did not stop the guard.

"Halt! You three there" He commanded us and we stopped walking. Me heart started beating faster as his fellow soldiers stopped and looked examined us with their eyes. Their hands on the grip of their swords, ready for a fight. I was not a man of action myself but I could see it in their eyes, they had that anticipation for a fight, I guessed that they wanted us to be troublemakers. "Who are you three and where are you heading?" The lead guard asked and stood above Nick imposingly, casting his shadow over him.