Jyri and Faye woke up the next morning. After one last sweep around the lake, they began their walk back to the city they started in.
They hadn’t been walking for more than five minutes, when something large and dark charged towards them. The creature nearly knocked Jyri over.
“Holger!” Faye shouted.
Holger wagged his tail, letting out gurgling sound. But the noise was muffled by something long and thin dangling out his mouth. Jyri grabbed one end of the object; it felt like some sort of fabric. Holger wouldn’t let go.
“Drop it!” Jyri yanked the fabric, Holger yanked back. After a game of tug-of-war, Jyri freed it. Holger took a few steps backwards.
Upon inspection, the fabric turned out being a torn up pair of trousers. Those strange blue ones only seen in Oliver’s world. Jeans, Jyri believed they were called.
“Doesn’t Shawn wear those?” Faye asked.
Jyri could only manage a nod as he remembered Shawn’s dropped wallet. He couldn’t recall ever seeing Oliver wearing jeans. And Jessica never wore trousers, because she hated how they felt on her legs. These torn up pair of jeans could only be Shawn’s. Things were looking worse. Was Shawn even alive? And what about Jessica and Oliver?
Holger buried his nose in the jeans, letting out a whine. He sniffed at the ground, and bounded up the trail. Then, ran back to Jyri. He pawed at the jeans, then took a few steps back.
“Does he want us to follow him?” Faye asked.
“I think so.” Jyri had heard tales of estins tracking lost people down. Holger had certainly done a good job of tracking him and Faye down. “Maybe he can lead us to Shawn, Oliver, and Jessica.”
“We should do that now,” Faye said. “The others can wait.”
Jyri and Faye climbed on Holger, and he walked back in the direction of the lake, pausing every so often to sniff at the ground.
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After some time, Holger had led Jyri and Faye into a small village. Up ahead was a food stall.
“I’m starving,” Faye said. “We should get something to eat.”
Jyri’s stomach had been rumbling for some time now. “Good idea.”
Without having to command Holger, Holger went straight to a food stall selling pastries. The woman at the stall took one look at them and said, “Don’t even think of begging for freebies. 3 loti each.”
Jyri scoffed. As if he would ever beg for food. Though, he figured spending the night sleeping in dirt didn’t help his appearance.
“I’d steal before I’d beg,” Faye said, head held high. She pulled her wallet out of her pocket, counting out nine loti. “We’ll take three.”
The woman took the money. “Sorry for that. Yesterday I had two men begging for food. One wasn’t even wearing trousers.” She shook her head. “Saddest thing I’d ever seen.”
No trousers? Could that have been Shawn? Forced to wander around in his underwear? Jyri suppressed a grin. “Did you happen to catch where they were going?”
“They didn’t say where. But they walked that way.” The woman pointed to the left. “Why? Do you know them?”
“Kind of,” Jyri mumbled.
“We’re tracking them down because they owe us money,” Faye said.
“I can believe it.” The woman handed them their pastries. “Good luck finding them.”
“They didn’t happen to have a woman with them, did they?” Jyri asked.
“If they did, I didn’t see her.”
Jyri and Faye thanked the woman, then continued their way through the village.
“At least we know Holger’s leading us in the right direction.” Faye gave Holger one of the pastries. Holger gulped it down. “And that Shawn’s not dead. He just somehow managed to lose his trousers.”
What chain of events happened that led to such a thing? Given how close Shawn and Oliver were, maybe Jyri didn’t want to know. “I hope Jessica’s okay. It sounds like they might have gotten split up.”
“Maybe she never made it out of the city with them, and Corvin’s already found her,” Faye said.
Jyri nodded. “I hope you’re right.”
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Holger led them through a meadow, stopping to smell a cluster of boulders.
“What is it, boy?” Jyri asked. “Were they here?”
Holger let out a gurgling noise as he continued sniffing. A lizard bolted out from the rocks. Holger made a move to chase it, but Jyri yanked on the reigns. “Leave it.”
Holger whined and flopped to his stomach. Jyri flicked the reigns, but he wouldn’t budge.
Faye climbed off of Holger. “I think he needs to rest.”
“Fine. But only for a few minutes.” Jyri followed Faye to the boulders and sat. It wasn’t long before he heard the clopping of hooves. He looked up as a man on a brown horse walked by.
“Excuse me,” Faye said to him.
The man pulled the reigns of the horse to stop. “What?”
“Have you seen two strange men anywhere?” Jyri asked. “Possibly with a woman?”
“I see strange men all over the place. You’ll have to be more specific.”
“One with short black hair, the other with long brown hair.”
The man rubbed his chin, frowning. “And you said there was a woman with them?”
“We’re not sure,” Jyri said. “But she was with them at one point.”
“It just so happens, I did see two men with that description. And a woman!”
Jyri’s heart raced at the news. So Jessica was okay, and still with them. “Where-”
“She stole my Petunia!”
“Uhh…”
“My horse.” The man patted the neck of it. “I’d been looking everywhere for her. And then I saw those two men tying her to a post, outside the library. I accused them of stealing her, and they swore they didn’t. And then this woman shows up, and they start saying she’s the one who stole my Petunia. But she swears she didn’t. I don’t believe any of them. But, I got my Petunia back and that’s all that matters now.” The man continued rubbing the horse’s neck, making cooing noises at her.
Jyri and Faye shared a look. It sounded like something that would happen with those three journeying together. Typical of Oliver and Shawn, to blame their thievery on Jessica. “Where was this in?”
“Ordinia.” The man pointed in the direction he came from. “Your estin will get you there in no time.”
That city sounded familiar to Jyri, but he couldn’t remember why. The two thanked the man as he walked away. Once the man was out of sight, Holger lifted his snout, sniffing the air.
“What is it?” Jyri asked him.
Holger responded by leaping to his feet and running away.
“Holger!” Faye and Jyri jumped up to follow, but he was already gone.
Faye swore. “That dumb mutt!”
“We know where he’s headed though.” Or so Jyri hoped.
“Ordinia?” Faye ran her fingers through her hair. “I’ve never heard of that place.”
“I have, but I don’t remember where or why.”
Not knowing what else to do, the two headed towards the direction the man had pointed them in. After a few minutes of walking, it hit Jyri. He’d learned of it through his studies, back when he was learning all he could about nonhumans. “Oh no.”
“What?”
“I remember why I know about Ordinia.” Jyri took a deep breath, not wanting to scare Faye, but not wanting to keep such vital information from her. “It’s a place swarming with vampires.”
Faye’s hand flew over her mouth. “Oh my God!”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGMYmv1f4Ih
Oh my God? Jyri couldn’t help but smile at the expletive. “You really have picked up on that slang.”
“Vampires though. Don’t they suck people’s blood? And then kill them? Should we really be going there?”
“Vampires can’t go out during the day. Sunlight burns them. So, as long as we’re not stuck there after sunset, we’ll be okay. I think they even have a curfew there.”
“I hope you’re right.” Faye looked up at the afternoon sun. "We better hurry. Just being near that town could be dangerous."
With that, the two broke into a jog.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaxRKZp6Wvr
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