I stepped out of the tent, clutching my sword nervously. I peered over the left side of the tent. Nothing on that side, I thought, as I switched my gaze over to the other side. When I didn't see anything, not even a tree, I knew that something was up. I tiptoed over the side to look at the hind end of the tent, and also to survey the sides, to broaden my view, so to say. I finally reached the area behind the tent, when I realized that there was nothing there.

I started to walk back towards the front of the tent, looking on the other side, when I stepped on something. I looked downwards, and spotted something. I knelt down and grabbed at the object, looked at the sky, and decided that it'd be better to look at it inside of the tent. I scurried back into the tent, and sat back down on my bed roll. Anca looked back towards me and tensed up. "What was it? Was it something big and scary?" I shook my head, and handed her the object. She grabbed it, and surveyed it for a second.

She rubbed her chin, and rubbed the curious object a little bit. "Hmm, I'm not sure what this is. It looks interesting though, with the... you know, logo, and uh... stuff." She handed it back to me, and I decided to view it closer. It appeared to be an old coin, but I have no idea what kind of coin it could be. And I still had no idea where the coin even came from. It's possible someone threw it at the tent for whatever reason, but there's still no clue from me. Anca looked at me worriedly, and said, "Maybe it's just best to get some rest for tonight." I nodded, and then laid the coin down next to my bed roll. As I drifted asleep, I could hear whimpering from Anca, but I was too tired to effectively do anything.

As I awoke, I looked over at Anca immediately. She was still awake, studying the coin intently. I murmured, "Hey," and made her jump. She looked back towards me, and then giggled nervously. "Oh, hey, uh, yeah." I asked her, "Did you stay up all night?"

She shook her head. "No, I got a few hours of sleep in. I'm pretty tired, still. But look at this," She held the coin up. "It looks like this is an official Southern Isles coin... thingy. You know, designates who officials are there, and whatnot. I'm not sure how it ended up here, but it sure is interesting to look at." She pulled it back up to her, and fawned over it a bit more.

I peeked out of the tent folds. The sky was dyed a mixture of blue and orange, giving me a nostalgic feeling of sunrise. I stopped for a moment to admire it. A few seconds later, I turned towards Anca again and muttered to her, "Sunrise, better get going." She nodded, shoved the coin in her pocket, and then rolled up her bedroll. "Back in your knapsack, right?" I nodded. She rolled up the tent as well, and before long, we were ready to go.

Before we left, I looked at the sky again. My stomach felt a pit in it. My family, Norma... I wonder if they're alright. I was still nervous, but the calmness of the sky seemed to tell me that they were fine, that nothing was wrong. I believed the sky, looked to Anca, and asked her her opinion on where to go. She looked around, and then shrugged, "Eh, you know, I don't know. My gut's telling me to go that way," She pointed to a location that was north of us, "but my gut's told me to do horrible things before."

I raised an eyebrow, "Horrible things?" She nodded, and then continued, "Yup, like that one time I decided to try raw moose. That was... not a good idea on my part, really." We both laughed about it, as we started to head north.

"So, uh, what did happen to those mutton chops of yours?" Anca asked me. I laughed, "You're not going to give up until you get an answer will you? Okay, fine. I'll tell you." She made a victory arm pull, and then stood closer to me. "Well, as you probably know, word traveled fast to Weselton, so when we arrived, we had a whole group of people just taking the piss out of us, you know? We were hated, so I grabbed my family, and, you know, fled!" She nodded.

"Well, soon, we decided to go to Corona to visit my uncle, who lived there with my cousin. Stopping at some inns, it was difficult, since people recognized me by my mutton chops. I finally decided to, you know, shave it off. Believe me, it was tough, but I think it's better to not have mutton chops, you know?" She nodded, and asked, "How did you shave anyways, if you weren't able to get to an inn?"

I chortled and told her, "I found a sharp rock near a river and used that and my sword to, you know, slice it off. Soon after, I grew a beard, you know? My wife likes my beard anyways." Anca looked up at me, and then at the wooded area surrounding us. "Well, tell me about your wife and kids, while we're, you know, bonding." I laughed again. "My wife, her name is Norma. We met during a dance, when I was stationed up in Weselton as a castle guard. I met her, and it was pretty much love at first sight. I used to be a real charmer, let me tell you. 10 years later, it still feels like just yesterday. My children, Jorge and Belinde. I love them both. Jorge is defending the house as I'm gone, but he always has my uncle, who I mentioned earlier, across the street." Anca seemed interested, as we continued walking.

"But wait, where do you reside now? Weselton?" I shook my head and scoffed, "No, we ran to Corona, met my uncle and cousin there, and then..." I paused for a second, knowing that I would have to tell her about Rej, "Well, it's a bit tough to explain, but I got into trouble with some guys on the road to Corona, and the leader threatened to kill me. His name was Wolf, I guess my uncle was friends with him. I still remember, the Wolf was holding a knife to my throat, as I held my arms up. My cousin rushed in with an axe he found in the yard, and..." I paused, as Anca gulped, "Well, the Wolf heard him coming, and stabbed Rej right into the stomach. At that point, Uncle Jer just lost control and... you know, killed... Wolf..."

Anca looked devastated. "Oh my, that's horrible! I'm really sorry you had to go through that." I thanked her for the sympathy, and continued. "Well, Jer and I decided that our best course of action was to visit Denmark, to see my father. He lived in Blavand, like I did in my childhood." Anca interrupted, "What happened to your mother?"

I replied quickly, "Oh, uh, she died when I was a teenager. Tragic, really." Anca cringed, and let me continue. "Anyways, while Jer, Norma, and the kids all sped up to the first town in Denmark, I decided to visit Weselton, grab some valuables we used to own, and then continue. We ended up coming to Blavand, met with my father, who apologized for my rough childhood, and then, a few days later, he died, some illness that was unknown. Of course, my heart was absolutely crushed within those few weeks, so it really took me some courage to, you know, come here." Anca nodded. "That's really rough. I can't even begin to know how you feel."

Anca had a worried look on her face. "As I told you before, I haven't ever had anything devastating happen in my life. I mean, the most crushing thing is that my mother told me I couldn't play violin for a living. Never really any... death. Though, I guess that Adgar and Idunn's deaths were pretty horrible. It's not like I knew them personally, though. I guess, well, you know what I mean." I nodded. She continued, "I'm guessing I'm going to see something horrible on the way up here, aren't I?" I hesitated, then nodded and let out an exasperated, "Most likely."

Anca looked down, and moved a bit away from me. I put my arm around her and said, "Don't worry. You're with me, an army veteran, and a former guard of the Duke of Weselton. I'll never let you be in danger, and if you are, I'll protect you, understand?" She nodded, and then tried to lay her head on my shoulder. After a couple of minutes, she whispered, "Oh, this wouldn't work," and then straightened herself out.

We walked a bit longer, until we reached a small building. It seemed to be abandoned. I looked it over, and then said to Anca, "I'm sure we could stay in here for the night, but we should be careful." She nodded, and then gave me a thumbs up. I waved her into the building, as I scoped the surroundings. There was nothing of note around, but I looked for landmarks. There was a large rock nearby the building, that I stored in my memory for when we were heading back.

I looked back up at the sky. It was painted a wonderful shade of navy blue, with specks of white thrown on. I admired the sky once again, for a second, but stepped into the building. Anca had already set up the bed rolls for the night, and then looked at me for the fire. I nodded, and reached into my knapsack for logs. I couldn't find one, but I found my matches. I whispered to Anca, "If there's one thing that every building has, it's spare wood. Let me check downstairs, keep my sword." I grabbed my sword out of my pocket, and set it on the ground next to her. She was shivering, and she whispered, "Please hurry back."

This confused me, it wasn't necessarily cold outside, so why she would be shivering is a reason unbeknownst to me. I lifted up the hatch to the basement, and then lit a match, I scoped the dark room closely, when I finally found a few logs. They were a bit damp, but having fire on there should easily dry them up. I grabbed about 7, threw them in my knapsack, lit another match, and then went back up the ladder. I closed the hatch, and then looked back to Anca. She was still in the same spot.

I set a few logs down onto the ground in front of her. Remembering the dampness, I told her to wait, and then stepped outside to grab some kindling. I made a pile underneath the logs, and then lit those on fire. Before long, the logs became aflame, as the fire danced to life. I took off my coat, and set it around Anca's shoulders. She gladly took the coat, and held it to her shoulders. She whispered, "Thank you."

I nodded in acknowledgement, and then laid down on my own bed roll to sleep. Anca repeated, "Thank you," under her breath, until finally lying down, herself. I finally drifted off to sleep, when I was awoken by a terrifying sound, that rattled my bones. I sat up and looked.

It was a scream.

And it was from Anca.