Mystic

Chapter 2

It took some effort, but after helping him onto his feet, Neve was able to have Andre lean onto her for support while they slowly walked back to camp. Zeph walked next to Taryn, silently thinking to himself as tears glossed over his eyes, but yet he still didn't cry.

Neve set Andre down in her tent and got him some water before going into Taryn's tent to sleep for the night.

After some convincing, Taryn was able to get Zeph to go to sleep with Andre. After he disappeared into Neve's tent, Taryn went into her own tent and laid down next to Neve.

"Who are they?" Neve asked.

Taryn shrugged. "Not sure. I went hunting, and when I came back, there they were... but I think we need to start heading further north."

"How come?"

"We're close to the Southern border, troops and cities are becoming denser. We can't risk getting caught right now, especially with these two now," Of course, Taryn had other reasons as well, but she didn't feel the need to share them here.

"Alright. Where we are going then?"

Taryn thought about it for a moment. "We haven't been back to your home in a while, why don't we go there?"

"That's a long ways away," Neve said.

"You have a better idea?" Taryn asked.

Neve didn't answer.

"If you don't want to go, it's fine, I just thought--"

"No, it's fine. Besides, it's time I visited my family again. Goodnight Taryn," Neve said, turning onto her other side.

"Goodnight," Taryn said, staring up at the roof of her tent. Ignoring her thoughts, she closed her eyes and drifted into a dreamless sleep.

Taryn and Neve had gotten up early the next morning, checking to made sure Andre and Zeph were still in their tent. Sure enough, they were.

Taryn threw together what little food they had and opened the flap to their tent. "I brought breakfast." She said.

Zeph reached out and took one of the bowls.

"Andre?" Zeph asked.

"No, no, you eat it." Andre muttered.

"I brought some for both of you."

Andre blinked a bit, showing he was awake. Slowly, he pressed his palms against the ground and sat up, wincing in pain as he did so. Taryn reached out and handed him the bowl.

"Have you already eaten?" Andre asked.

"It's alright, you need it more than I do."

Andre opened his mouth to speak, but realized it wasn't worth it to to try and fight her. It looked like he hadn't had a decent meal in a while.

"Where did you guys come from?" Taryn asked.

"You mean where were we born, or how did we end up in the woods?"

"We've got some time, tell me both." Taryn said, adjusting her position to sit more comfortably.

"We're originally from the south." Andre said slowly, probably trying to gage how to Taryn would react to the news. She didn't move an inch. After all, she was a Southerner herself, and anything she had done was far worse than whatever they had done.

"Continue," Taryn said.

"Right, uh, we grew up in a poorer area of the kingdom, our mom wasn't around much, I never really knew my dad and neither did Zeph. But when our mom passed I decided I didn't want Zeph growing up there, so we escaped across the border to the Northern Kingdom. We traveled for some time before we got held up in a Southerner controlled town. I said some things against the guards there and ended up like this. I'm honestly surprised I didn't--" Andre stopped himself as he glanced towards Zeph. "You get the idea." He finished. "Somehow though we managed to escape and I must've passed out in the woods, I don't remember everything that happened exactly, my memory's a little clouded."