After the men came back from supply run, Xion announced some bad news, “Adam is one paranoid man. Now, the city’s full of soldiers too. When we’re leaving tomorrow, I guess it’ll be with hundreds of people.”Keith rubbed his beard tiredly, which he started grew a month ago, “Great. Be careful not to lose each other, or even worse, lose our money.” They could see the kids were nervous, but there’s nothing they could do about it. Sierra nodded; she already walked with refugees hundreds of times, but this time, with the kids along, she felt uneasy too.She exhaled and announced, “Time to sleep. We’ll need that energy tomorrow to walk with the crowds.”Everyone agreed with her, and they entered their own rooms. Leon with Gray, Keith with Xion, and Sierra alone.“Hey, Gray,” Leon laid down on his bed, staring at the ceiling.“Hm? What’s wrong, Leon?” The other murmured quietly.“Now that you’re stronger, you should be able to protect Sierra, right?”Gray chuckled, still half asleep, “I hop
No one dared to let down their guard even for a second. Sierra was tense, she couldn’t stop herself from pacing back and forth in the damp cave. The smoke still rose above and they knew, morning would come soon since the sky was getting clearer and stars were already gone.Gray was worried sick about Leon. How could the other just leave without waking him up? What’s on his clever mind? In front of the kid, Keith stood close the fire, realizing the tense situation, he spoke, “Don’t worry too much. If Xion said he’d come, he’s going to be here.”Sierra suddenly heard a crack of twig; thus, she quickly raised her bow to the sound. Keith also drew out his sword. The black silhouette turned out to be someone they familiar with. However, he was alone.“Xion,” Gray gasped when he saw the handsome man covered with dirt and blood. He stumbled along, and Keith quickly aided his friend. “Where’s Leon?” Sierra trembled a little when she asked the man.Xion shook his head, then when he sat down, h
“Huh,”Sierra pondered as she stopped at the alleyway. Watching some drawings on the wall that usually would catch the attentions of those bounty hunters. “What?” Xion noticed that the woman suddenly stood silently, then he walked to her.Naturally, his line of sight also fell to the drawings. “Damn it,” He cursed. Sierra turned to him as she grinned, “Your first time become criminal?”Xion cleared his throat as he felt his cheeks flushed red. Then he stammered, “Of course, it is!” Looking at her calm face, Xion suddenly got it, “Wait. You ever became criminal too?”“Yeah, so many times actually.” Sierra suddenly smiled fondly, as if she was reminiscing something. “I was part of Habelon Liberation Army. In case you don’t know, it’s—”“What?! Are you serious?” Xion cut her fast. Eyes sparkled with stars in the night. It was his first time became so excited over something in a long time. “That’s the 10 years of war, Habelon vs. Beilgadi! It’s happened two hundred years ago; you’re telli
“Apparently, Fallton already pledged their loyalty to Kingdom of Bealaris a week ago.”Xion furrowed his eyebrows as he watched the map on his hand. Being fugitives, the group couldn’t rent an inn on every town they reached. Thus, they had to make a camp outside in the woods, which really annoyed Sierra.“How many cities or towns left?” Keith asked the other as he added another X mark to Fallton.“Probably eight. But they’re not strong enough to hold on their own if Bealaris decided to attack. And, we don’t have time and energy to travel to those places.”Sierra crossed her arms as she peeked at the map. “Huh,” She muttered.“What?” Xion asked her.“Here,” She pointed at a town, “Iris.”“Yeah?”“Let’s go there,” She looked up to stare at Xion. The handsome man was confused, “There’s nothing in Iris, Sierra.”“There is,” She raised her eyebrows, clearly ready for an argument. Xion was tired as he rubbed his eyes, “How could you know about it?”“Let’s say that I have a good intuition,”
Gray wasn’t the only one who thought that Sierra was going to put them into troubles.Stammering, Keith stepped forward, “Sir, I’m so sorry. She didn’t mean to call you a kid. We-uh-she-uh… Xion, a little help here!” The last sentence came as a whisper to his friend. Unfortunately, Xion didn’t know what to do. He just stared at the woman with amusement and also confusion along with the rest of guards and maids in the hall.Their face showed so many different expressions; they might be better dead right now.Instead, Sierra shook her head, and she pulled Keith back by the collar, “Stupid, bear.”The mayor still walked shakily towards her. It was clear that sooner or later, he couldn’t walk anymore. Then, Sierra stepped fast, but steady to the man. With a smile, the old man opened his arms and the woman fell into the warm hug.“Oh my god! She’s Mary?” Gray heard the nearest maids gossiping. “Wasn’t she supposed to be 90 years old? How come she still pretty and young?”“She’s Mary? Mayor
“Here you go,” Xion suddenly handed Sierra two pieces of small candies. He just came back from a long travel, but his first thought was to find the woman and gave her this little gifts.“What is this?” She raised her eyebrows, clearly amused by this behaviour. “A candy from South City,” The handsome man shrugged as he watched the soldiers that were marching passed them.They had spent almost a month in Iris, helping the mayor to find more allies. After Xion came back to the city, it was Keith and Gray’s turn to depart to a small island east of Iris. Sierra was reluctant to let the kid go without her, but instead, Gray insisted to travel with Keith. He said that he needed to train with him.“They’re going to be fine,” Xion blurted out before he thought about it. “I mean, Keith can be annoying, but he is really responsible, especially knowing that you’ll burn him alive if something happened to Gray.”She snorted, unconsciously peeling off the paper that held the candy and stuffed it int
Sierra smile defeatedly by Gray’s innocence and persistence. “What can I say, he’s a young leaf,” She whispered it to the other two men as they built their tents.Keith also laughed fondly, “He really has an insane amount of hopes; really reminding me of a certain person.”“Who?” Sierra curiously questioned.“Just somebody who came from a small village,” Keith answered it ambiguously while grinning at Xion. The handsome man only shook his head, “Shut up and go search for the kid. He’s been gone for too long.”“Huh, maybe he has to dump the big thing,” Keith shrugged his shoulders carelessly. Sierra tapped his wide back and said, “Well, there’s nothing wrong with checking.”Keith grunted as he walked away. Xion rolled his eyes, “He always acts like a big baby when it’s not a life-threatening situation.”Sierra raised her eyebrows, “But you’re putting up with his acts, you know that right?”Xion chuckled, “Yeah, he’s the only one who can put up with my stubbornness,” Then he stared at t
The next morning, they suddenly became a show for the villagers. From the bushes and trees, they could see people from various ages, mostly small kids, were peeping at them.“It must be their first-time seeing people from outside!” Gray stood behind the bars and he smiled gently to the curious kids. Sometimes, he even waved at them. The warriors nearby didn’t tell him to stop, so he felt happy.“Right,” Keith agreed, before he mumbled, “Geez, we left our bags at the tents, and now I’m starving.”“H-hey, when will you let us outside?” Keith called the warriors, “I’m freaking hungry!”“Keith, don’t embarrass us, dude,” Xion smacked his head from behind. Not long after that, suddenly a kid ran quickly to the cage. The warriors didn’t stop him because that kid came along with her grandmother.She shyly held a white rose and handed it to Sierra. “Miss, are you a goddess?”Sierra was startled, but didn’t have the heart to reject the rose. After taking it, she said to the little girl, “No, I