Avoiding the ambush would add days to their journey.

Instead of following the main road that went straight to the north, Leon led his party northwest to another crossing point over the Red River. Hopefully, they wouldn't find any surprises there.

They had to put as much time between them and the ambush, so they departed as soon as Al explained what he and Summer had found.

Sooner or later the enemy would send a scouting party further away from the bridge to see if and when they were coming. So they avoided the well travelled paths and followed random trajectories.

The end of the day found them a safe distance away, only then did Leon breathe easily. The artifact was heavy in his pocket. All sorts of questions about who paid for the ambush to be set up came to mind. The fact that the northerners had their hands in it only made him more troubled.

He pushed all thoughts of it out of his head. His main focus now was to make it to the capital with his travel companions unharmed.

"So all you do is walk in the shadows?" Al arched his brow at Summer.

They were sitting by the small fire they built, the night thick and dark around them. Ida had asked Summer about how she could go almost invisible whenever she wanted.

"It's difficult to explain." Summer gnawed on her lip, struggling for words, "What senses do you use the most when you're observing your surroundings?"

"Sight and hearing, mainly," Ida replied.

"Exactly, so all you have to do to avoid detection is to fool those two senses. Basically, you have to become one with your surroundings.

"Ordinary people rely mostly on sight, so it's easier to fool them. Trained people, soldiers or hunters for example, instinctively know that they cannot trust only what they see. That's when hearing becomes important."

She held up one finger, "first, you have to be quiet. Not just quiet in the sense you tiptoe around and don't speak. You have to pay attention to the smallest sounds around you, to the tiniest sounds you make. Sounds you don't usually pay attention to. The sound of your breathing, the rustling of your clothes, every little detail. Your heartbeat has to be calm. Even your mind has to be quiet, no stray thoughts. Absolute silence inside and out."

Leon listened carefully, as fascinated as the rest. Even Al, who usually disliked everything Summer said or did, was listening with an enraptured expression. Summer held up a second finger.

"Second is sight. This one is trickier. You have to be acutely aware of your surroundings. That's why disappearing in an environment you know best is always easier. Or in a crowded place."

"So if we put you anywhere else other than a forest or a crowded market place, you will not be as unseeable," Al said.

Summer grinned, a flash of teeth. "Maybe."

Al grumbled. Ida shot him a quelling glare then looked back at Summer. "So how do you fool sight?"

"Stay in shadows, stay out of sight, and stay still. People notice the things that move. They also notice the things they're looking for the most."

"What do you mean?" Felix asked. He had abandoned his book and was now attentively listening to Summer as well.

"Close your eyes," Summer said. Felix did as told.

"Are there any white flowers around?" Summer asked.

"Uh," Felix hesitated, "I don't know."

"Open your eyes." Felix did and looked around.

"The first thing you're noticing right now is white flowers," Summer said.

Felix nodded slowly.

Summer smiled. "People don't usually pay attention to trivial details until they have to. If they're necessary to their survival, for example. That's why most people don't notice me. I know how to move to attract the least attention, and I'm small enough and bland enough to pass by unnoticed. For someone as big and threatening as Leon, it's going to be difficult to pull off. It's like ignoring a charging bull. Impossible."

"Did you just compare me to a chagrin bull?" Leon muttered.

Felix choked on his breath. Al and Ida looked suspiciously close to laughing. Now he was being compared to crazed animals.

Summer's grin was unrepentant. "Okay, that was rude. You're more like a bear, or a tiger. Yes, a tiger. That's more elegant than a bull, right?"

"More majestic," Al added. "More noble."

"Certainly more regal." Ida joined in on the fun.

Leon arched his brows. "By all means, go on."

Ida and Al had been with Leon long enough to know he wasn't one to be truly offended by her statement. Especially as they were all enjoying the joke. But Felix turned red in the face. He tried to change the subject. "So, Summer, why don't we talk about... something else other than bulls and tigers and...animals?"

Al cracked up. "Very subtle, Felix."

Over the following days, an easy atmosphere spread through their ranks. Even Al cracked a few jokes in Summer's presence, which he hadn't done since she joined them.

Leon wanted to remain cautious. He wanted to keep his guards up against her, but she was so fun and interesting to be around, so bright and warm it thawed his frosted walls.

The road they took was heavy with overgrowth at some places. The vegetation was thick and the trees were old and large enough for three people holding arms to surround them. This path was by far less traveled.

"It would have been easier to go through the damn ambush," Al said, cutting tree branches that hung low on the road and blocked the horses' way. The late afternoon sun barely made it through the thick canopy. Al's brown stallion neighed and moved forward with Al walking next to him, the others followed.

"Certainly not," Felix said, his medic's curiosity about the plants brightening his eyes. "At least trees and plants are harmless."

Al chuckled, glancing back at Felix. "So you really believe trees and plants are all that lives out here?"

Felix tensed. His horse, sensing the man's fear, shifted uneasily.

"Don't worry, Felix." Summer patted his back, riding behind him. "I got your back. If a wolf comes charging I'll throw myself in its way."

Felix gulped. "You guys are not as funny as you think."

"I think I'm hilarious." Al removed another hanging branch with a swipe of his sword.

"Come on, boys," Ida said behind Leon. "You can chit chat later. Move along. It's getting dark."

A scream tore through the air. A child's scream.

Leon and Summer jumped down the horses and ran.

"Leon!"

"Stay, Al!" Leon called.

"Damn it!"

Leon heard Al's curse, but the child's frightened voice was all that mattered. Another scream. This one of an enraged wild animal.

Summer blurred ahead of him. She was fast and used to run in the forest.

She glided around and over obstacles like a graceful dancer. Leon, on the other hand, charged with his massive body through the forest, tearing everything in his way. Just like a charging bull, Leon thought. He would have laughed if the child's terrified scream hadn't chilled his blood.

The heavy vegetation suddenly eased as he broke through to a clearing. Summer stood still, crouching in front of him. On the other side of the clearing, a man and a boy, around nine or ten, stood on one side, a black bear stood on the other, between them, a toddler sat down, his wide eyes terrified, fixed on the agitated bear.

"Dale," the adult man said in a calm tone, taking painfully slow steps towards the smaller boy. His other son stood paralyzed behind him. "Don't cry, big man."

The black bear bared its teeth. It stood on four paws, its body huge before the small human's. The father was too far away, Leon realized. If the bear charged, the baby would be gone before he could reach him.

"Sir," Leon said in a calm tone designed to carry over the clearing as he and Summer stepped closer, step by cautious step. "Stay still and keep the other boy safe."

The man didn't glance at Leon. "My son," he choked.

"Trust me, stay still," Leon said. "Summer, when I say go, run as fast as you can and grab the baby."

"Don't kill the bear," she said. "She's afraid for her cubs, that's why she's attacking."

"I'll try. But the safety of the children is my priority," he took a deep breath. "Now."

Summer zipped across the clearing like a cat. Leon bellowed to the top of his lungs and charged toward the bear. The animal shifted its attention to the new bigger threat, stood on its hind legs and roared in response. It was almost as tall as Leon. The animal was an inch or two shorter, perhaps.

The bear charged at him. Out of the corner of his eye, Leon saw Summer with a bundle in her arms, running with the man and his other son toward the trees. The children were safe.

The bear was fast, but Leon was faster. He waited until the animal was close enough. It stood up again, its giant paws rswiping through the air.

Leon launched himself forward and down, wrapping his arms around the bear's massive girth, and tackled it to the ground.

Claws scoured Leon's back as the bear fell like a massive tree. Leon rolled off the animal barely feeling the sting of its claws. He had to immobilize the bear if he wasn't going to kill it. The bear rolled to its feet with an agility that belied its size, and lunged towards Leon.

Good night, bear.

Leon swung his fist and hit the bear on the side of the head. For a moment, its head violently reeled back, its neck stretching. The animal swayed for a moment, destabilized, then dropped on its side, a giant limp mass.

Leon flowed up to his feet. The bear was knocked out cold. Leon flexed his hand. It was going to be sore for a while.

"Are the children safe?"

Summer, peeking around a tree, nodded with wide eyes. He rolled his shoulders. His back was probably shredded, he felt a trickle on his forehead and touched it. Blood. Great. Al would not shut up for the next year about this.

"Let's get out of here before it wakes up."

Summer fell into step beside him. She was staring at him.

"What?" he asked.

"Just to be clear. You just knocked an adult bear out cold. With your fist."

"It was a black bear. On the smaller side. If it was bigger I would have had more trouble."

"Right." She was smiling.

"You were more worried about the bear," he said.

She sighed. "I just knew that the bear would end up losing her life if it came down to it. It's not her fault that the man was stupid enough to venture into her space and pose a threat to her cubs."

He glanced at her. A filigree of shadow and sunlight painted her face, her eyes reflecting a myriad of colors. Amethysts. Her eyes reminded him of sparkling Amethysts.

She liked animals. As a person who lived in the forest would. She had probably faced more than one wild animal in the course of her life.

She had once said they were rather easier to understand compared to  humans.

Of course. All her life, it was humans who'd hurt her and shunned her. Rose and the man who'd trained her being an exception to the general rule; humans were not to be trusted.

He couldn't blame her for such a radical belief after witnessing a fragment of the life she'd led up to this point.

For a brief moment, Leon wondered how he would've turned out if he had been in her place. Growing up in an orphanage, in a small town in the middle of the mountains, where everyone looked at him like he was a freak of nature and treated him as such.

Sometimes he forgot how lucky he was. Despite all his grievances and the hardships he'd gone through, he was still fortunate.

Fortunate enough to have a family, fortunate enough to have loyal friends. Fortunate enough to have never experienced what it was to starve or to feel the cold. He'd grown complacent, focusing all his attention on the things that went wrong in his life, forgetting to be thankful for the countless other things that went right. He realized he was an ungrateful lout.

As soon as they were in sight. Al strode toward him and punched him in the gut. He didn't put his body into it though. Leon grunted.

"Don't ever do that to us again," Al said, he saw the blood on Leon's face and cursed. "Felix!"

Right. Time to be babied again. Al would have a heart attack when he saw his back.

Leon heaved a sigh and surrendered to his fate. And for the first time in a long while, he remembered to be grateful for having people who cared for him.

--- ---- ---

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M.B.