Talk To Dragons

It had been a couple days on the road and the two little travelers had no idea how much distance they had left to go. Becky seemed to have an easy time navigating the road on her own, leaving Violet and Engel to lay in the wagon. The idle staring at the clouds between the branches above them was relaxing, if a bit boring.

"This is taking a long time," Engel said, yawning deeply. "Is this really faster than walking?"

"It's a lot faster than walking," Violet replied. "And we don't have to exhaust ourselves with the journey. It just leaves us with nothing to do."

"It would have been more interested if you could talk to the horse as well. But then maybe she would only be complaining about how she has to pull us around."

"Yeah, I know I'd be complaining if I were her," Violet said, yawning deep.

The wagon continued to trot along without bother and the subtle rocking of the road put the two little ones to sleep. It wasn't until much later in the day that they awoke, hungry and disoriented. Becky had stopped to rest on the side of the road under the shade, but it wasn't the only reason she halted their progress.

Violet and Engel sat up with groggy eyes and saw the source of Becky's caution. Ahead of them a short distance in the middle of the road was an abandoned carriage. There were no horses and one of the front wheels had fallen into a deep hole. The doors were left open and there was quite a bit of activity to the dirt on the road. It wasn't a fancy-looking vehicle, only fashioned from wood with no paint or special designs.

"What do you think happened?" Engel questioned. "It doesn't look like it's been here long."

"No, this is recent," Violent replied. "It's been abandoned. Either the people in the carriage sat on the horses and rode off or something criminal happened."

As Violet finished her thought, an arrow flew by her head and struck the tree truck next to them. They snapped their gaze to see an archer among the trees across the road, aiming another arrow in their direction. Another man stood next to him with a sly smile and his hand on his sword hilt. Both were dressed in dirty garb that told that they were living in the forest.

"That's a warning," the swordsman said. "My buddy won't miss again. You can be on your way but we'll be having that horse and wagon."

Violet stared at the men for a moment without answer.

"What do we do?" Engel questioned. "We can't let them have Becky."

"Duck in the wagon," Violet quietly replied. "Yah!"

Hearing the witch's command, Becky began to pull them forward quickly. In retaliation, the archer let loose an arrow towards them and it met with Violet's hand. The metal head of the projectile immediately melted away against the witch's power, leaving the wooden shaft to hit blunt and fall away.

"Ow, damn it!" Violet cursed at her injured hand. "Yah, Becky! Go!"

Becky quickly got them up to a run and Violet stood in the wagon to defiantly watch the men on the road behind them.

"We should have asked for weapons from Jack," Violet said.

"Or shields," Engel replied.