“You don’t know that,” the man replies in a low whisper. “It’s dark. People can hide easily as long as they stay quiet!”
“Sorry.”
The two shapes start to move, but the man abruptly stops again. I watch his silhouette as he turns his head in our direction. He takes half a step forward, and I tense, ready to spring.
“Is someone there?” He moves off the path, closer to us. “I can see you up there! Show yourself!”
“Stay back,” I whisper to Aerin.
The man stands his ground, brandishing what appears to be a large club. In the dim light, I can’t see if the other person is armed or not, so I assume they are both carrying weapons. Knives in hand, I step away from the trees, prepared to fight.
“Talen? Is that you?”
I peer at the dark shape of the man, playing back his words in my head and listening closely to the voice.
“Samuel?” I move away from the trees and head down to the trail. When I get closer, I can make out the grey hair and beard of the potter who has made me so many items in the past in exchange for building materials. He leans heavily on a long walking stick, not a club as I had thought. “Samuel! You got out alive!”
“Just barely!” Samuel reaches out and clasps my hand. “Got my leg caught on a rock, and it’s pretty banged up. I’m so glad to see ya, Talen. It was a hell of a night.”
“Who’s this?” The young man behind Samuel looks at me suspiciously.
“This is Talen,” Samuel says. “He’s been in our area for years now. Helps out everyone, but he’s been missing a few weeks. Honestly, son, we all thought you were dead.”
“Not quite.”
“Talen, this is Will. He moved into town from Roundbottom not too long after you disappeared. He was helping me dig out clay in the river when the fires broke out.”
I offer my hand to the tall young man, but he doesn’t accept it. He glares at me and crosses his arms over his chest instead. I give him the friendliest smile I can muster under the circumstances, understanding his trepidation, but he just tosses a shock of brown hair off his forehead and continues to stare.
“Aerin, come on out!” I turn to call over my shoulder, and Aerin joins us, standing off to the side. “This is Aerin.”
Samuel nods his head and sighs deeply.
“Hello,” Aerin says with a tight-lipped smile.
“Aerin and I have been traveling together these past few weeks.” I don’t want to elaborate just yet, and if I say too much, Samuel will know Aerin isn’t from the valley.
“Oh,” Samuel says with a sly grin. “I see.”
I narrow my eyes at him, but he just keeps grinning.
“What happened down there?” I ask. “You were near the river when it started?”
“In the river, actually,” Samuel says. “That’s why we survived. The fires started on both sides at the same time, the bridges, too. The plastic burned so fast, we ended up swimming all the way down past the south bridge before we managed to get to shore. By then, there was nothing to see but flames. I thought Will was going to choke to death on the smoke before we got to shore. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Someone set those fires,” Will says.
“I agree.” I look from Will to Samuel. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me.”
“You aren’t our keeper, son,” Samuel says. “As much as you’ve always helped, you can’t stop all the bad things from happening.”
“I should have been there to help.”
“Let’s get somewhere safe,” Samuel says as he looks back down the trail. “I don’t like being out in the woods at night.”
“You’re safe with me.” I place my hand on his shoulder. “We have a camp up the hill.”
“We’d be grateful.”