16 Home

All that was left of the once roaring fire was embers. Less than half of the sun was visible as it disappeared into the western horizon. Ken and Thejn sat on the ground in front of the fire.

\"That about does it,\" Ken exhaled. He looked at Thejn and realized the boy was somehow fast asleep, sitting straight up.

\"Must be awful tired to fall asleep in that position,\" Ken thought.

Stealthily, Ken uncrossed his legs and stood up. He walked over to Thejn, bent down, and poked the boy's ribs. He didn't wake up, so Ken poked him more.

\"Wake up,\" Ken ordered, annoyed.

No response.

\"Shit... Is he dead?\"

Ken dropped to one knee and searched around the boy's neck, feeling for a pulse. He found it and sighed, relieved. He also noticed that Thejn's face was very pale, and assumed that he was just passed out due to a loss of blood. Ken felt the boy's face and noticed that it was cool to the touch.

He stood back up and walked to the west. Earlier, when the boy mentioned his village, he had looked in that direction. Sure enough, when Ken reached the edge of the hill, he could make out a couple of dozen huts half of a mile away. He turned back around and walked towards Thejn.

Ken figured that Thejn was around the age of a high school freshman and no more than 150 pounds. He wore his mid-length, blond hair in a high ponytail, secured by a blue ribbon. His wool shirt was in shreds, and his trousers stained various shades of crimson.

Ken dropped to his knees on pulled Thejn up off the ground. He then draped Thejn's torso over his shoulder and stood up. He planned on fireman carrying Thejn to his village.

Walking down the hill proved to be a challenge, especially in the slick mud. Ken's canvas shoes were effectively ruined, and he could already feel his ankles screaming in agony over the lack of support. He swore to himself he'd buy proper boots when he made it back to the city.

Ken luckily reached the bottom of the hill without dropping the boy. He knelt and slipped Thejn off his shoulders. He decided it would be best to take a rest for a couple of minutes. He was close to the village anyway, so he didn't see the rush.

After a minute resting, Ken felt a little better about walking the rest of the way. He lifted the boy onto his shoulders, then began walking towards the village.

By the time he made it to the village, the sky was littered with stars and the air in front of him was pitch black. Light crept from the cracks of a hut door. Ken lowered the boy to the ground in front of the door, rapped on the wood, and slipped away into the darkness.

Soon after Ken was in the shadows, he heard the door open. A couple of voices cut through the silence of the night, but Ken paid no attention. He kept walking in the direction he thought was towards Clarenburgh, guided by nothing but the light of the night sky.

Ken made an effort to stop looking up at the stars because every time he did, his eyes had to adjust to the light and it made it impossible to see anything when he tried to look forward. When his night vision was at its best, Ken felt that he could practically see in the dark. He never realized his night vision was so good. He found it entertaining that he was discovering new skills he never knew he had.

For one, he surprised himself by how effectively he handled himself in a fight. In this most recent skirmish with goblins, he escaped completely unscathed. He felt as though he found a new side of himself. A darker, more aggressive, yet calmer and more clever part of his psyche that only revealed itself when faced with a life-or-death scenario.

It wasn't that his mind was clear during a fight, instead he felt that it was more cluttered and chaotic. But he didn't mind the chaos. Conscious thought and instinct moved together as one, and he found himself moving almost exactly like he wanted to. Of course, he slipped up here and there, but perfection would come with practice.

Ken walked an hour away from the village when he realized it was too late to keep going on. He kept walking and examined his surroundings, looking for anything to use as shelter. Eventually, he came upon a thick coniferous tree, and at its base, a thick sheet of pine needles. Ken supposed pine needles would make good of a bed as anything else out in the forest. He found a suitable spot to lay and dropped his bag. He lowered his body onto the soft pine needles and lied on his back for all of a couple of seconds before he fell asleep. The smell of sap was thick and heavy in his nose as his consciousness drifted away into the night.