As soon as Nite felt the cold steel of the pistol barrel touch her forehead, her stomach dropped. Her heart began racing, beating louder and louder, harder and harder, every second. Breaths weren't coming easy to her and suddenly she wanted to vomit.

But she did her best to remain calm. "How may I help you?" When she spoke, she tried to keep her voice low and even.

The woman holding the gun wore a smug smile on her lips. Behind her were the rest of the strangers from earlier. "From what I hear, this is the home of the river boat captain, yes?"

"Nite, what is going on?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Nite saw Bickum start to get out of bed. "Bickum..." she choked out in a panic, "stay-!"

She was cut off by the woman raising another weapon- where she got it from was a mystery- and pointing it at him. "I suggest you stay right there if you don't want things to get nasty. It would be a shame to have to kill you."

Bickum stopped in his tracks. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

A tall man with chiseled features, who appeared to be in his late forties, stepped past the woman. "We're your newest customers." His voice was calm and cool.

Nite struggled to choke out her words. "What?"

"Customers." The woman gestured with her hand, still holding the gun, to the group behind her. Although she was younger than most of the others in the group, she had the same aura of confidence as the first man. She was clearly at least partially in charge. The scars on her face also served to establish dominance.

Nite tried to step back so the pistol wouldn't be pressed against her head, but the woman took another step with her.

She gulped. "What are you doing here?"

The woman looked straight at her. In the dark lighting, her brown eyes appeared almost black. "We're your newest customers and we want a ride down the river."

"I have never had a customer hold a gun to my head."

Nite could feel the cold steel press harder against her skull as the woman sneered. "My, my, my. You sure are a witty girl. Well, witty girl, let me tell you this: we are soldiers of the Dahlarian army and we are on a mission from the king. You and the old man will be taking us on your boat and, in exchange, we won't kill you. Our mission is time sensitive, so of course we will be leaving tonight. Right now, if you don't mind."

The teenager felt her mouth drop open. "Are you serious? You want us to take you on the boat in the dead of night?"

"Yes." The man stepped forward and placed a hand on the shoulder of the woman wielding the guns. "Put up your weapons."

The woman grumbled, but listened. That confirmed who was the true leader of the group. She holstered her guns, but kept her cloak pushed back so that Nite could see the weapons.

All of the fear drained out of Nite, only to be replaced by anger. Her stubborn side was beginning to rear its ugly head and she was at the point of not caring if it got her shot. "I understand that you think you are very important, but you, like everyone else that we will be taking to Cantan, will have to wait two more days to leave."

The woman never lost her calm and cool demeanor. "You see, that's where you're wrong. You won't be taking us to Cantan. In fact, you won't be taking us north at all. We'll be going west."

"We won't be taking you anywhere."

Nite wanted to scream. She wanted to cry and run away. The strangers- especially the woman- were terrifying her to the point where it was a struggle for her to not pass out. Although the words that came from her mouth were defiant, inside she was a cowering, quivering mess that wanted to hide in a corner. Even then she refused to give the woman the satisfaction of seeing her fear.

Despite her best efforts, the man could see right through her. His tone, once somewhat nice, now took a deadlier tone. He took a step closer, invading Nite's personal space, and said, "You will be taking us to the jungle tonight or else you will have a bullet lodged in your skull."

"Nite." Bickum's words were shaky; he was doing nothing to mask his fear. "We will take them wherever they want." He made eye contact with the man. "We will take you wherever you want."

"Now that's more like it." With those words, the woman's entire personality changed. She instantly became more amicable and friendly. She extended a hand and said, with a smile, "I'm Endi. It's a pleasure to meet you. That's Craid. I'll introduce you to the rest of the group later."

Nite blatantly ignored her hand and turned to Bickum. "Shall I go get the horses to hook up the boat?" she growled through gritted teeth.

Bickum looked past her towards the group. "How quickly do you need to get to the jungle?"

"As soon as possible," said the man, Craid.

He looked back at Nite. "Going west is downstream, but I think it would be in our best interest to still use the horses. So yes, go get them."

Nite walked to the table and grabbed their lantern. She then went to the fire and took an unburnt stick, whose tip she lit on fire and used to light the wick. With it lit, she turned back to the door, where the group was blocking her way. She straightened her back and walked directly at them, refusing to waver. Much to her relief, all eight of them stepped aside.

She stepped into the cool night air. In the distance, she could hear the river rushing. At day the river was calm, but at night it had a mind of its own, as if it became a living being as soon as the moon rose. It would be dangerous to navigate it in the dark.

Before she could even round the side of the house, she heard the woman, Endi, call out. "Killer, go and assist the young lady in her task."

There was a grunt. "Yes."

Nite glanced behind her and groaned. The massive behemoth of a man that she had seen in the fight earlier was the one tasked with making sure she didn't try to escape. She was tempted to tell them that they didn't have to worry about her running away, but she knew it would be pointless.

The man followed quietly behind her. For such a massive, hulking beast, he was surprisingly light-footed. He was also not much of a talker, as he pointedly ignored Nite when she tried talking to him.

"So," she mused, "what are you and your cronies doing this far out in the kingdom?"

Silence from the man.

"Why are you bothering us this late in the night?"

Again, no words.

"Why are you called Killer?"

Nothing.

She gave up trying to get any information out of him and focused her attention on not tripping in the dark. She held the lantern as close to the ground as she could. The walk to the the pasture and stables seemed to take forever.

As soon as the stables came into view, Nite sighed and began to kick herself. She had forgotten to bring the horses in from the field and make sure they were securely into their stalls. Thankfully, the horses were smart and knew that at night they were supposed to go into the stables.

That was where Nite found them, the gates in the stalls were open, but the horses were patiently inside all of them- even fat, lazy, pregnant Marie.

"Hello, darlings," Nite cooed to them. She held the lantern up in the air as she passed them all, checking to make sure they were well. "How are we all doing?"

Sebastian, a black beauty, whinied as she passed.

"You sure are looking handsome today." She patted his snout.

The horse sneezed in her face.

Nite rolled her eyes and patted him again. "Let's go, dears!" she called to all the horses. With those words, she walked out of the stables.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Killer giving her a slightly baffled look. He appeared to be wondering why she was leaving the horses in the stables. "Just watch," she said with a smile and kept walking.

Like always, the horses followed her- except Marie, of course. It was rare that Nite ever had to physically pull the horses to get them to follow her. Whether it was because the breed was so intelligent or she was good with animals, she didn't know. Whatever the reason, she was grateful for the way they listened to her.

The horses knew the path down to the dock by heart. It was one they were all used to taking. Sebastian, seemingly excited to be going on the boat, surpassed Nite and reached the dock before she did. It didn't bother any of the horses that it was pitch-black outside.

Everybody was waiting at the dock. The strangers were huddled together, speaking quietly among themselves. Next to them were two full wagons, carrying what Nite could only assume were their supplies.

They looked up as Nite approached. Endi smiled at her, her beady eyes glinting under the moonlight. "Took you long enough. I was starting to think that you'd tried to run away."

Nite spat at her feet. "Go fall in a well and die."

The bitter retort earned her a sharp slap on the head from Killer. The hit caused spots to dance across her vision and she stumbled slightly.

Bickum, who was attempting to load the horses on the ship, saw her get hit. He ran towards her, crying out, "Stump!"

Endi pulled out both guns, pointing one at Bickum and one at Killer. She looked at Bickum on her right. "Old man, don't come any closer. Go back to the boat and load the horses on quickly. Do whatever you must, but hurry." She turned to Killer on her left. "And Killer, please don't harm our guests. It's rude." When both men nodded in agreement, she put up her weapons.

Nite pressed her hand against the back of her stinging head. She didn't feel any blood. "I'm fine." Her vision was still blurry. "Let me go help Bickum with the horses."

"Forgive Killer," Craid whispered as Nite passed. "He doesn't know his own strength."

"Go rot in hell," Nite spat back. She stumbled her way towards the dock, shoving past some of the strangers. She was so angry, so pissed off, that it must have shown in her face; nobody dared to get in her way.

Once on the boat, with her vision clearing up, she began assisting Bickum with the horses.

Their riverboat was unique in the sense that it was powered by oars and horses. Whereas most riverboats were powered either by sails harnessing the wind or men rowing oars, their boat used horses to turn the center crank, which in turn rotated the oars located at the rear of the boat. The horses, one of the strongest breeds, were able to swiftly propel them upstream without having to rely on such a tempermental thing as the wind. Although they normally didn't use the horses to go downstream, it seemed like their visitors were in a rush.

The crank was a massive device in the middle of the ship that resembled a tree stump. Long, thick, horizontal pegs stuck out of it equally spaced apart intervals. The horses were attached to the pegs and then walked in a circle. That caused the crank to turn and power the massive paddles. It was a brilliant design that allowed Nite and Bickum to travel upstream to places like Cantan in one or two days time, much quicker than boat captains who used other methods.

To connect them to the crank, the horses had to be harnessed in with wooden harnesses that were lowered onto their backs and over their heads, and attached with straps under their stomachs. It didn't strike Nite as the most comfortable arrangement, but the horses appeared not mind it, or at least be used to it.

Like always, Nite did a onceover on the horses once they were strapped. She went to each one, stroking and cooing at them. All three of the horses- Sebastian, Marcel, and Xavier- liked her immensely.

Once they were done with the horses, she and Bickum got off the boat and stood at the end of the dock. They spoke in low voices so that the strangers, who were busy talking amongst themselves, wouldn't hear them.

"You need to start being more compliant," Bickum said in a warning tone. "These people are dangerous. That woman with the gun will not hesitate to shoot if you so much as look at her wrong."

Nite snorted angrily and looked up at the sky. She struggled to rein in all of her wayward emotions. Finally, she looked back at bickum and sighed. "They have done nothing to earn my compliance."

Bickum stood on the tips of his toes and brought his face close to hers. "They do not expect to have to earn anything," he hissed with urgency. He continued on, pleading now, "My dear, they will shoot you. I do not know what they are after or where they want to go, but I know that they will do anything to get there."

"I don't care what they're after. Those stupid pricks think they own just because of their stupid mission from the king and their fancy clothes. If they want to hoot me, they can. I'm asking them to."

"And what am I going to do if you are shot, Stump? Did you think about that? I'm too old to manage this boat by myself. If you die, then I will follow close behind you once they realize that I am useless without you. Do not go getting yourself killed for the sake of being rebellious. I raised you to have more common sense than that."