Young Writers Society

Word Count: 1310

Chapter 2.3

Lorne had just stepped out of the building when an eerie scream echoed through the village. He froze up, then slowly turned to glance down the road. He couldn't see any of the others and he certainly couldn't see Sage. Lorne frowned and drew a dagger, hesitating for a moment before he started down the street.

"Come on," he muttered, scanning the street as he moved. "Come on, where are you?"

The scream had already faded into nothing, which left Lorne without much to go on. He eyed the spot where he'd last seen Vena and Emrys, then glanced down the other street when he reached the crossroads. Something was very, very wrong...and Lorne didn't like it.

He didn't like it at all.

Lorne kept moving, refusing to stay still for more than a few minutes. He had a feeling that if he stopped, he'd be attacked. It was a bone deep, gut feeling that he couldn't shake. And he really didn't like those kinds of feelings.

So he was being cautious, careful to avoid staying in one place for too long or getting too close to the shadows and dark doorways. At least he had a torch he could use, though it wasn't casting much light.

"Where in the hells are you all?" he muttered, flipping the dagger so it pointed down and rounding the corner of another building. "Come on, Sage..." He wanted to know where the others were, too, but Sage was their main worry at the moment.

Lorne glanced back over his shoulder and turned a corner. He yelped when he walked into something, turning back to find Sage staring at him. He stared at Sage for a long moment then backed off a step and scowled at him.

"We've been looking for you," Lorne accussed, gaze narrowing. "Where in the hells were you?"

"Bathing," Sage said, frowning. "What do you think I was doing?"

Lorne took a closer look at him in the flickering torchlight. The dragon's human form did, indeed, look like he'd recently bathed--his hair was soaking wet and his clothes were partially wet. "So you did. What took you so long?"

The dragon frowned at him. "What do you mean? I've been gone maybe an hour." He tilted his head, frown deepening. "How long do you think I've been gone?"

"Nearly two hours, Sage."

"Fuck," Sage muttered, looking even more confused. "That's... odd..."

"You think?" Lorne muttered, shaking his head. "Regardless, we need to find Emrys and Alvena."

The dragon hummed thoughtfully and carefully took the torch from him. "Then we had best find them, shouldn't we?"

~*~*~*~

"You know," Lorne said casually, nearly an hour later as they made their way back through the village towards the camp. "Alvena thought you'd gone to take a piss." He shrugged and met the sharp look Sage sent him. "What?"

"I would not have taken over an hour to do that," Sage said, tone flat. "Honestly, you were not very creative with that, were you?"

Lorne snorted. "You can blame Vena for that one."

"The elf thinks she knows everything." Sage exhaled and glanced towards him. "She does not, Lorne. And she will learn that soon enough."

He hummed thoughtfully, turning to look through a darkened doorway as they passed it. "She's an elf. What do you expect?"

"What was that about being an elf?"

Lorne stopped short and turned to look behind them, startled by the sudden appearance of Vena's voice. Sage had also stopped and turned to look. He stared at her and she stared back.

"Um..."

"It is fine," she said, waving a hand. "I am not offended. Elves have a bit of a reputation, to be honest. I try very hard not to follow that reputation very closely, to be honest."

"What reputation?" Sage asked, amused. "That you are all arrogant bastards?"

Vena snorted. "I could say the same of dragons."

Sage blinked at her. Lorne stared. He hadn't mentioned that to her. How had she figured it out? Vena blinked at them, taking a step closer.

"What?" she asked, tilting her head. "You act like I did not know about him." Here, she looked at Sage. "My apologies, Sage. I did not realise what you were until recently."

Lorne huffed out a nervous laugh. "So you knew?"

"When we started searching for him? Yes."

He sighed and shook his head, turning to look beyond her. "Where's Emrys?"

Alvena glanced behind her and then frowned. "He was behind me just a moment ago."

"That's weird," Lorne muttered, squinting into the shadows down the street behind the elf. "It's not like there's many places he can get to, is there?"

"No," she confirmed, sounding a little confused. "No, there is not."

"We should look for him," Sage said carefully and Lorne hummed in agreement.

"Yeah," he said carefully, giving each of them a look. "But maybe let's stick together?"

"Good idea," the dragon said, nodding. "Less chance of losing someone else, correct?"

~*~*~*~

They searched the village for hours, checking every street and alley and building until they'd searched almost all of them and the sun was starting to come up. Lorne was starting to feel like they'd never find Emrys. They'd stayed together, of course, and kept close. Well within eyesight of each other. Which was definitely good, as they didn't lose each other again.

Now that the sun was coming up, Lorne could see a little better, especially with the torchlight. He eyed the flames thoughtfully for a moment then focused on Vena and Sage again. They were peering into a half-collapsed, burnt out building. Lorne moved to join them.

"See anything?"

"Not yet," Sage said, stepping back and meeting Lorne's gaze. "Perhaps in the next one?"

"Perhaps," Vena added thoughtfully. "Let's check the next one."

"Yes, let's."

Together, they moved towards the next building while Lorne trailed after them. They were deep in discussion, heads tilted together as they passed another tiny alley. Lorne just happened to glance down it as he passed and paused. He blinked, trying to focus past the shadows. He squinted and swung the torch around, lifting it slightly. He could see something in the alleyway, about halfway down.

"Wait," Lorne called. "I see something."

He heard them pause and come back towards them. "What do you see?" Vena asked from beside him. Lorne didn't look away, frownnig down the alley. "Lorne?"

"I'm not sure yet."

"We are right behind you," Sage said, gently touching Lorne's shoulder.

He nodded and started down the alley carefully, keeping his dagger out. He couldn't be too prepared, could he? Anything could happen, could jump out at them. And Lorne knew what kind of horrors he'd find in the village if he looked too hard. Was it another body? A monster of some kind? Was is Emrys? Lorne couldn't be sure.

As he got closer, Lorne could see a little clearer. It was a body, and it was a familiar one. He blinked and finally reached the body, crouching beside it. It was Emrys. Lorne swore.

"It's Emrys," he said, jamming the torch into the ground and sheathing his dagger. Lorne learned over him, gently tapping at the other man's cheek. He could see blood on Emrys's face, along his hairline above his left eye. "Fuck."

"He's breathing?"

"Yeah, he is," Lorne told them, moving to check if Emrys was injured elsewhere. He couldn't really see or find any other injuries other than the head one, but that didn't mean Emrys wasn't hurt in other ways. "I think he's alright...just been hit over the head."

"You think there is someone else here, in the village?" Vena asked, lowly. "Should we search for others?"

Lorne shook his head. "No. I imagine they'd be long gone by now." He sighed and started inspecting the head wound properly in the flickering firelight of the torch. "Best to just get Emrys back to camp since we've found what we were looking for in the first place."

Sage snorted. "Yes, you have, indeed, found your wayward dragon, have you not?"

"Let's go back to camp," Vena said, as if that ended the conversation. Lorne figured that it kinda did.