The Side Character's Apprentice

A NEW PRESENCE

We went through the pass to enter a village that I wasn't sure of its name. Neither were the other three.

"Where is this?" I asked Sayla.

Instead, she pointed at two horses not far from us and exclaimed, "Horse!"

Without saying another word, she ran towards them and hopped on one in an instant. In an instant, she was off. I looked to the other three. Who was going to follow her? I prayed silently that I would not be forced to, but luck was not on my side, as it always never was. And once again, we made a decision without uttering a single word. Our glares pointed fingers at me once again. What a day I was having.

Quickly, I hopped on the horse and was went after her as quickly as I could. It had been ages since I last rode one, so I was a bit rusty.

"Sorry, I just need this for a few minutes!" I exclaimed, but that didn't stop the rest of the guards from chasing me. Sayla's little escapade actually helped to divide the attention that was fixed on me. A girl stealing a horse was a strange sight, and even stranger was a little bear. Many of the villagers were astounded by the sight of a bear on a horse, but I could feel the unfriendly stares that were directed at me as well. What was this village?

Sayla was off to a good start. She got a horse before I did and was already at full throttle. But I was better than she was. It showed rather quickly even though I was rusty. In no time, I had caught up to her she was and was threatening to overtake her at any moment. It was a battle between Sayla and me as we completely ignored our pursuers. Evading them was easy. The only problem was that I didn't know the village as they did, so we made a few mistakes on the way. But we were still too deft with our horses to be caught. It was a show for the people who ran out of their shops and houses to get a better view.

Sayla and I galloped at full throttle and we were long past whatever goal Sayla had in mind. I was fairly certain about that. But we couldn't stop just yet. The guards were very close on our tail. We could have simply stopped and explained to them what happened, but we were carried away by the thrill of the race.

Sayla wiped off whatever regret was starting to stain her thrilled heart as she wallowed in the joy of the free breeze. I on the other hand was grinning hard that I won, but now we were in trouble. It was different from back at Airen. This felt a lot more fun because the danger was real. It was exhilarating.

Sayla and I later decided to ditch the horses in a crowded area. They should let them go if we did. So, once we found a suitable place, we mounted our horses and ran into the market. We didn't wait to find out if the guards were still on our tail. The guards had long forgotten the reason they were chasing Sayla and me. But because the market was crowded, they had to mount from their horses or they risked losing us. At this time, some of the guards started to pull away from the chase. It probable was too exhausting for them. Sayla and I looked like

One by one, the guards gave up on the chase. Sayla and I were used to mischief. And I was the king of escaping. However, there was one of the guards still on our tail. Sayla and I knew we couldn't remain on the streets like that. We had to find solace somewhere. But who would help us, a stranger and a bear against the guards?

Beside us was a small blacksmith shop. The blacksmith there looked around the same age as me. Surely, he'd listen to our plea, as unreasonable as it was. We ran into his shop without a moment's hesitation. At first, he ignored our presence. Either he was too engulfed in his work to notice us or he just didn't care about our presence. But when the guard's voice got louder, his attention was drawn to us finally. They were running grin the guards.

"Please could you let us stay here until the guards leave?" I asked.

Get out of my shack this instance!" the blacksmith bellowed.

I was taken aback by his hoarse response. I didn't expect him to be friendly though, but it annoyed me to see Sayla's vibrant energy gradually disappear.

"Come on, let's go. It doesn't look like he'll change his mind," I said. The blacksmith's frown only intensified the longer we stayed. He really did see us as nuisances.

But as I looked closely, I saw something else. I could feel the pain that stemmed from his voice. His eyes said as much as well. His anger didn't feel baseless. "We're sorry for the trouble," I said as we ran out of the blacksmith's shack.

However, something shocking happened. When we came out of the blacksmith's shack, we were back at the beginning of the village. Right in front of us were Eric, Ara and Anak. Almost as if they did not move a single step.

"What is this?" Eric asked.

"I could ask you the same. We were in a shack and then---"

"We went into the market as well. All of a sudden, we were back here," Eric added.

Instinctively, we all looked toward Sayla. She was the one that brought us there. We could see that there was clearly something to investigate, but perhaps she understood what was happening there as well. News of a place like this could spread as much panic as in the time of the war. I knew that. More than anything, I prayed that it had nothing to do with the legendary beasts that ravaged the Kraken empire.

"Lan... ken..." she said.