We rode in silence for several days. Green rolling hills and the occasional rabbit were all that could be seen. The Sapphire Mountains grew larger in the distance. Slowly towering over more of the landscape. It was terrifying. I couldn’t stand to look at them, but there wasn’t much else to look at. Greenspring’s wolf ran ahead of us, sticking close to the scent of the harska.

We camped that night under some oak trees that the wolf led us to. The trees were riddled with holes from various vermin. Since we had left, the three of us had alternated on who had to cook. Nia and I had both done it, and now it was Greenspring’s turn. He looked down at the food in our packs, wondering what to do.

“My father taught me a bit about cooking, perhaps I can guess my way through the rest,” said Greenspring, pulling out an iron cooking pot.

As Greenspring pulled out the ingredients, I got about making a fire. Nia had packed some flint and a steel fire starter, so I used that and some dry leaves I found. My first attempt was a failure. No matter how hard I smashed the flint against the steel there were no sparks. Hiding a smile, Nia took the flint from my hands and lit the fire with one clean strike.

The fire quickly burned through the leaves, so I threw some sticks on top of the fire. There weren’t many trees around, so sticks were the best we were going to get. Nia and I gathered some stones and placed them around the fire in a circle. With that, we had a nice base to put the pot on.

Using some water we had brought with us from town, we filled the pot. Greenspring cut up pieces of beef, onions, potatoes, carrots, and some odd-looking mushrooms. The mushrooms did not look edible. They were thin with round protrusions leading up the base. He whistled to himself as he threw all the ingredients into the pot. Once the stew started to boil, Greenspring threw in some bread crumbs.

As the water of the stew thickened into a broth, we took off the pot and placed it to the side. We had already got out our bowls and utensils, so we dove into the meal. My mouth watered as the smell of the dish reached my nose. It had a warm, comforting smell, like my own mother’s cooking. I blew on my spoon to cool the stew and took my first bite.

It was bland. Not just bland, revolting would have been a better word to describe it. The meat was still raw, though I noticed that Greenspring had no trouble enjoying the dish. The vegetables were still hard, cracking my teeth with every bite. As for the broth, it was like a thick sludge that slid down the throat. Nia made no signs that she disliked the meal, but she also didn’t show any signs that she liked it.

“You could have cooked it better, Greenspring,” said Nia, as she took another bite.

Greenspring laughed. “Ah, yes, I suppose my father’s cooking is not for everyone’s taste.”

“You meant to cook it like that?” I asked, spitting a hard carrot out.

“Oh yes!” Greenspring said happily. “My father always said, ‘Food should have a bite.’ A lesson I will never forget.”

Stunned, I looked over to Nia for support. She nodded her head as she took another bite. A loud crunch came from both the muscled warrior and the dirty hermit. I looked down at the rest of my food, looking for some living thing to help me.

“I don’t mind food with a bite, but this might bite us back,” said Nia. She flung some food at Greenspring as she pointed with her spoon.

“Something I will have to keep in mind,” replied Greenspring.

Even with my discomfort about the dish, the three of us managed to finish it all. After we were done, I was tasked with cleaning all the dishes. Magic made it easy. Soon, it was time to decide the schedule for our watch. 

We sat around the dying embers of the fire. There had been a full moon a couple of nights ago, so we had plenty of light to see each other. Nia pulled out some sticks and the three of us took turns choosing them. I pulled the short stick, so I had the first watch.

As Nia and Greenspring settled in for the night, I walked a good distance away from the camp. Looking around, I managed to find a fallen tree to sit on. There was no way I was going to stand for the next four hours, or even squat for that much time. I wrapped my cloak around myself to keep warm, but it didn’t help much. The cold night air still slashed at my exposed skin. Snuggling into my cloak, I settled in for a long, cold watch.

My little spot by the tree gave me enough of a field of view of our camp to make me comfortable. I could see the unmoving shapes of my companions as they slept in the distance. In a couple of hours, I would wake Nia for her watch. With nothing to do but look around, I counted the stars for fun.

In the back of my mind, I made a plan for rescuing Tamara, Henry, and Arienne. We would sneak into the lair of the harska, whether it was a ruined castle or some deep dark cave. Monsters in stories always lived in something like that. Once inside, the three of us would locate our friends and family and help them sneak out. The hidden knife in my boot could be used if they were bound in any way. My only concern was that the others wouldn’t know how to sneak around.

Nia was loud and large. It would take enormous luck for her to go anywhere unnoticed. Greenspring could go into his wolf form to sneak, but that would make him a larger target to be spotted. Henry could be stealthy and so could Arienne, but she could be too loud if she got excited. I had no idea if Tamara could be sneaky. To be fair, I had no idea if any of them could sneak around. I had only met these people the other day.

I used my arms as a pillow, settling my back into the bark of the tree. Here I was on some grand adventure with strangers. We were delving into the unknown and risking our lives to save our friends and family. I hoped Henry and Arienne were with Tamara. Maybe they could find comfort with each other.

A dark shadow flashed across the sky, blocking out the light from several stars. I sat up and tried to locate the shadow, but the sky looked as peaceful as it had been before. The leaves on the tree waved in the wind, which blew silently across the plain. I shrugged, probably a bat or some nighttime bird of prey.

The stars blinked out again, this time a much bigger shadow flashed across the sky. I crouched from where I was sitting and snuck back to the camp. There wasn’t a lot of other noise to hide my movement, so I tested each spot before taking a step. About ten feet from Greenspring, I picked up my pace.

I heard a loud woosh from above me, but I kept moving forward. Once I reached Greenspring, I reached out to wake him. Before I could, he turned toward me, his eyes illuminated by the moonlight. He moved his finger to his mouth, then looked over to Nia. I nodded and made my way to her.

Nia was also awake and turned into a crouched position as I got closer. She looked at me and gestured to the tree. We both made our way over. We walked slowly, trying to keep to the more shaded parts of the campsite. At the tree’s base, I turned my back and looked outward, keeping my eyes on the sky. Nia joined me, pulling out a small knife from her side as she did. I began to pull out my knife from my boot.

Three shapes now flew across the night sky. They zipped across the sky so fast that I couldn’t make out their shapes. I only moved my eyes as I watched them, making sure to limit the amount of head movement that I did. One of the shapes flew downwards and landed near our fire.

The figure had large wings that it used to flutter down to the ground. Large claws dug into the dirt as it landed, its humanoid body only shown by the dim light of the moon. The strange figure had the head of an owl, swiveling around on its neck. Black eyes caught us, with the head focusing in after. It was a harpy.

The harpy laughed a sickening laugh. “Oy! Look what we got here. Two little bugs hiding under the leaves.” The other two harpies flew down after him, laughing as well.

A smaller harpy jumped up and down with excitement as he landed. “What do you think Handley? Are they tasty bugs? Delicious bugs?”

The harpy, who seemed to be named Handley, stepped forward again. “Won’t know till we take a bite, now will we? Watch out for the wolf now, Kerle.”

The largest of the three harpies flapped his wings to gain some height, before turning to the right. He thrust forward with his claw and caught onto Greenspring in wolf form. Greenspring struggled to get free of the iron grip as the harpy bashed his body against the ground. When that didn’t work the first time, Kerle did it again, and again till Greenspring lay motionless on the ground. A liquid, which I only saw from the moon reflecting off it, leaked from his head.

Kerle dropped the lifeless body and took his place behind his two allies. I watched as they stepped closer and closer to me and Nia. She got ready to strike as soon as they got near enough, while I struggled with my boot. Once I got my knife out of my boot, I held it out toward the three harpies. 

“What business do you have with three simple travelers?” I asked, my voice shaking from fear.

Handley stopped the other two harpies with his massive wings. His eyes squinted as he focused on me. My hand quivered as I held the dagger. Handley called out in response, “Three simple travelers, huh? I should ask you why you’re in our territory?”

“We didn’t know this was your territory,” I answered. “If you’ll let us, we’ll be on our way out of here.”

The harpy chuckled. “You honestly think that I’ll let you go, bugs? You must be a special kind of stupid. No, I think we’ll take our due payment and be on our way.”

“If it’s money you want, we have it! Name a gold price and we’ll pay it.”

That made the harpy stop. He turned to his companions and whispered to the large harpy named Kerle. Kerle glanced over at us before whispering something back to Handley. Handley laughed again, turning back to us. “Fine then, bug, empty your pockets.”

I reached inside my pocket, pulling out a bag of gold. It wasn’t everything that I had, that was with the horses. They didn’t need to know about that. If they decided to look there, I could make up an excuse about not being able to go and get it. Nia had no pockets on her night clothes, so she didn’t move. She never took her eyes off the harpy in the center.

A light flashed in the corner of my eye. I looked to Nia to see her arm outstretched, her knife nowhere to be seen. Handley fell to the ground, the knife stuck into his forehead. Suddenly, Greenspring sprang up from the ground and tackled the largest harpy. He dragged him to the ground, ripping off his wings. Blood splattered across the field.

The smallest harpy tried to run, only to be grabbed by Nia. She wrapped her arms around the creature. I ran back to the campsite to grab some rope. The harpies’ claws slashed the air wildly. He cried out, “Bugs! Stupid bugs! Let me go you stupid bugs!”

Nia tightened her grip on the harpy. “Ya better shut up, I ain’t got much patience left.”

The smaller harpy stopped his flailing. He looked around at his companions, his head swiveling around as best it could with Nia’s grip on him. I returned from the camp with some rope and, with Nia’s help, managed to tie him up. We looked at our handy work with pride. The harpies’ wings were tied, as well as his claws. The rope dragged through his beak, keeping him from making noise.

Greenspring walked forward, leaning on his staff. He put his hand on my shoulder, smiling in the moonlight. The top of his head was covered in blood but otherwise looked clear of injuries. I stared in amazement at the hermit. He must have noticed my expression because he chuckled to himself.

“Surprised?” he asked.

“I thought he cracked your skull? Blood dripped from your head,” I said, exasperated.

Nia placed the harpy by the horses, tying him to the tree. Once she was done, she walked backward to keep an eye on him. Even when she got back to the tree we hid by, she still glanced at him. “You gotta teach me how you survived that,” said Nia.

Greenspring pulled out his necklace. “Another feature of my totem. It possesses some healing properties, though I have to be conscious to activate them. I almost lost it, but when I thought of you two falling as well… It kept my blood flowing.”

“Well, you can thank Nia for giving you the opening. That was the quickest throw I’ve ever seen, and deadly too!” I exclaimed, slapping Nia’s back.

Nia blushed. “You think so?”

“A master class effort,” said Greenspring. I nodded as well.

“I could teach you if you want.”

“Yeah I’d like that,” I replied.

Greenspring waved his necklace, shaking his head. “I will stick to the ancient arts, thank you very much.”

Since it was my shift when we were attacked, Nia took over for the next watch. Greenspring and I laid down by the empty fireplace. The harpy fell asleep hours before I did, and Greenspring’s calm breathing told me he did as well. I watched as Nia moved silently around the camp, only able to see her massive silhouette. So, she could sneak around after all.