Bayrn had asked himself several times in the past few hours why he was following these kids. He knew part of it. The part he did not know was what tugged at him and made him keep questioning himself. He knew they were in trouble and his gut told him that no one was going to be there to help them if he did not do it himself. He just did not understand why he decided he was going to help.


    Bayrn had owned his inn for the last ten years and was very good at listening to all the chatter in his establishment. He always knew what was going on both near and far, at times he did sell that information, but not since he bought the place had he been so cavalier or felt such a pull to do something himself.


    At breakfast he overheard that the Minister of Science’s daughter was being looked for, which solved one mystery. He knew who the girl was. He did not know what she was doing or where she was going, or why she had this boy with her. He understood why a boy would go wherever she went; it was the same reason he had to bash in an oaf’s skull. It was at lunch that things changed and that pull on his life started. A couple of merchants had stopped in and were discussing a large massing of soldiers that rumor had it was heading to Mova. The Captain himself was leading them, they said, and the Second Minister was travelling with the contingent. This was the moment he knew the girl was in trouble. This is also when he gained his best guess at where the girl was going.


    He fought the urge to chase after them for the rest of the time his patrons ate lunch. Once the last customer had left, he could fight it no longer. He shuttered the inn, sent home the help with extra pay, and gathered his horse team and wagon. He also stored the cart the boy had left in front of his inn in his barn when he put his team together. He packed enough supplies for three people for a week as well as his weapons and set out in the early afternoon. He knew he would not catch up to them this night, but the four or five hours travel time before he slept would make him catch up to them that much faster the next day.


    When he stopped for the night, he did not bother with a fire, but he did take the extra time to set up a line around his camp with several bells hanging that would alert him if someone tried to sneak up on him. He laughed a little while setting them up, remembering that he had not had a reason to do this in over ten years. Thinking of that lead him to memories of those times which felt like a different life.


    Before he owned the inn, he spent the previous twenty-five years in service to the Ministry of War. His mind hardly recognized the young man that started that life as a frontline soldier. He was only on the front line a few years before he learned to scout and track. He smiled remembering how much he enjoyed those years and how good he was at it. He bunched his lips together and crinkled his nose thinking about the last ten years he spent in service. Those were the years he grew to hate being in the Ministry. He spent most of that time as a captain, with the last two being Commander of the War Legion.


    He sighed. It was not that he was bad at command that made him disdain his positions, because he was quite exceptional. He was the youngest ever Commander of the War Legion. Even most of the time as a captain was not bad, but he recognized it as the path that led him away from his passions. He was great at organizing battle strategy and his warriors loved and admired him. The further up he went in the command structure, the more political it became and the less he was able to command. Well, he thought, he did command, but it was not battles he commanded.


    He had asked to go back, and the Minister of War denied him. He was too important where he was.


    His shame invaded his thoughts next. He was never going to be proud or even accept in himself the part of his mind that let him leave. Only a few days after the Minister had denied him, he gathered his money and horse and rode for forty-five days in no direction but away. He was a deserter of the highest level, and he would never feel okay with that, but he knew that he would make the same decision again if he had it all to do over again. His darker side always hoped he would be found out and made to pay in some way for his desertion.


    That forty-five-day trek had landed him in Bands where he stayed until today, other than short rides to supply his inn. Mova would be the furthest he had traveled in ten years.


    Maybe these kids are a sort of penance, he thought. Maybe they are just an excuse to do something I enjoy again, he mused. Even though he knew that the kids did not know they needed him yet, he felt like they did really need him and that somehow made him feel at peace with this sudden choice. He felt like he was doing something worthwhile again, and that felt good. With that thought, he went to sleep for the night.


    Bayrn awoke before the sun came up, removed his hidden string alarm, reattached his horses to the wagon and started on his way towards Mova. With a good pace and a little luck, he was sure he could catch up with the kids by midday.


    Renno and Gia had made good unhindered time the day they left Bayrn’s inn. For the first few hours they walked, neither one talked much. Renno had tried to apologize again, and she told him it was not his fault and to stop apologizing. Even if she did not want him to apologize, she could not stop him from feeling guilty. He felt guilty not just because he was not there when someone tried to hurt her, but also because it never occurred to him that someone would try to do that to her. He was also scared, now. He had this abundance of excitement when this all started, even with the confusion of their task, but all of that was replaced with fear and wariness. The cold realization that he knew nothing of the world beyond the farm he grew up on and the small town near it made his gut turn to a rock.


    While Renno was going over his guilt and newfound fear, Gia spent that time running her hands over the hilt of the dagger she now wore at her belt running visions through her head of her encounter with the foul breathed man. Each time she played the thoughts in her head she changed things. Sometimes she stabbed him with the dagger. Sometimes she was too scared to stab him. Other times she tried to stab him, and he stopped her and still tied her up. A few times the thoughts of what he was going to do to her forced its way into her mind and she felt disgusted and ashamed with herself for letting those thoughts creep into her mind. She did not know why she felt shame, but it was there anyway. After going through a few hours of these constantly replaying thoughts, cycling between fast heartbeats, clenched fists, wet eyes, and blank stares into space, she decided she needed to get out of her own head.


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    “It is so weird that I know your aunt Mayza,” Gia said to Renno.


    He looked at her and gave her a small silly smile, which he quickly wiped away and replaced with a guilty look. She knew he felt guilty for not being there, but she also knew nothing she said would make him not feel guilty.


    “It really is,” Renno said after a pause. “I was thinking about how odd that was yesterday. I was thinking about how rare it is that you just happened upon my family’s farm the exact day she arrives.”


    “I was thinking that as well. I do not think it was chance. I think it was meant to happen. I do not know how or why, but we were right where we were supposed to be.” Gia looked over at Renno to gauge his reaction. He was looking off into the distance at nothing, like he was thinking back.


    “You think Aunt Mayza knew you would be there?” Renno said with a surprised look on his face.


    “It is really weird how unsurprised she was when she saw me. I did not think about it then because I was scared to be found after hiding from the soldiers. But if she did know I was going to be there, how would she know?” Gia gasped. “What if she is really working with my father and this is all a lie?”


    Renno looked at her with a smile again. “If she were collaborating with your father, I do not think she would have sent us on our way. You would be with soldiers now. Plus, I trust her. I cannot explain how she knew you would be there, because I think you are right, but she is not evil.”


    “You mean like my father?” Gia said, looking angry.


    “I didn’t. I, uh. I mean...” Renno turned red and kept stammering. Gia burst out laughing.


    “He is evil, Renno. And he must be stopped.” Gia reached over and hugged him sideways with one arm, feeling only a little guilty for razzing him. “And we’re going to stop him.”


    “I don’t just want to stop him,” Renno said. “I NEED to know why, too.”


    “Me, too. For my mom’s sake. She died not from this but because of it and I feel like she wanted to stop it. I want to do that for her, but like you, I need to know why so I know why she died.” Renno expected Gia to look sad after saying that but when he looked at her face, he saw nothing but determination. That look on her face helped alleviate some of the fear he had balled up inside. Her determination gave him confidence.


    Both turned to look behind them as the sound of a wagon led by four horses approached and both showed signs of surprise on their faces when they saw who was riding on the wagon. It was Bayrn, the bartender and innkeeper. He smiled at both as he neared. “Need a ride?” He asked.


    Gia furrowed her brow and asked, “What are you doing here?”


    Bayrn laughed. “That is a fair question, and I am happy to fill you in on the details. I would prefer to do that while we ride and even satisfy my curiosities, too. If I guess right, and I am sure I do, those MoS men looking for you are not that far behind me. So, unless you want them to catch up, please, let us talk in motion.” Now Bayrn looked at both very seriously.


    Gia cocked her head sideways looking at Bayrn while she decided. She shrugged and said, “I trust you.” She then climbed into the wagon and motioned for Renno to climb up as well. She sat on one side of Bayrn and Renno on the other. Bayrn started the horses moving again. “Okay, we are in motion. Please tell us how you know about the soldiers and how you knew where we would be.” She sounded stern, but her face showed a smiling curiosity.


    Bayrn looked at Gia, then at Renno. He turned back to Gia and said, “Not too long after you left, I found out who you were because some of my customers spoke of those looking for you.” He paused, putting his visual focus back on the horses and the trail ahead. “At lunch, the day you left, I heard that the Minister of Science was sending an army to Mova, which was the same direction you traveled out in. Leading that army is Captain Aros.” Bayrn looked at Gia. “The Second is traveling with him.” He could see in her eyes that the last statement surprised her.


    Gia broke the eye contact first and looked ahead. “If my father is sending the Captain and the Second, that means they are sure Kestrin is there and expect trouble from him. I do not know how one man could require such an expedition, but it only makes me want to get to him first even more. That is where Renno and I are going. We intend to get to Kestrin first.”


    Bayrn nodded. “Why? Who is Kestrin to you, or to your father, for that matter?”


    “What do you know of the Wilds?” Gia asked.


    “Terrible disease. It takes the mind away. I have watched men go from being amazing warriors to child minds you would not trust to cut their own meat. They seem lost and confused.” Bayrn replied.


    Gia took a deep breath. “The Ministry of Science is behind it. Not just my father, but the Minister before him as well, I am sure. My father has just made it more effective than his predecessor. It is in the fertilizer, so it is in most food.”


    Bayrn kept looking ahead while he thought about this. “So why does not everyone get it, if it is in the food?”


    “It only affects certain people and their line. My father has an extreme hatred for those who are affected; those who he infects.” She pointed at Renno. “His mother has the Wilds, which means he could get it as well.”


    “And Kestrin?”


    “My father has been hunting for Kestrin for an exceptionally long time. More than just a thorn in his paw. I do not know why Kestrin is important, but if he is that important to my father, then that means he might be able to help me stop this.” That confident expression played across her face again.


    Bayrn turned his arm at the elbow and aimed his thumb at Renno. “And how did this young man get mixed up in this?”


    Gia smiled. “Right place, right time, I guess. Renno and I are still figuring that one out.”


    Renno pushed his head forward and looked at Bayrn. “So you said how you found out where Gia was going and who was after her, and even who she was, but not why you came this way and are giving us a ride.”


    Bayrn looked at Renno. “That is a really good question, and it is one I still do not have an answer to. I suppose it is the same reason I was watching out for that man that went after her. It just feels... right.” Both Bayrn and Renno stared into the distance thinking.


    “Well, I am glad you are here.” Gia said.


    Bayrn nodded. “We should make it to Houndstooth tomorrow night. After that it will be three more days of traveling before we reach Mova.” He looked at Gia and then Renno. “Each night when we stop, I am going to teach you both how to use those weapons I gave you. It is not going to be enough to make you an expert, but it should keep you from hurting yourselves at least.”


    They both quietly acknowledged his statements. They rode the rest of the day with little conversation. Gia and Renno both felt more confident having Bayrn with them. Bayrn felt needed, which filled a void he did not realize had been there.