below his feet. "Oh, wow. There's more of them."
He turned back to where he was going. "I just wanted to see... Maybe we should see where they're going." He glanced back to see her reaction.
She stared at him, trying to read his expression. "Sorry, I thought it was odd. But I didn't mean... Shouldn't we be looking..."
She was right, he thought. This looked crazy.
She furrowed her brow at his lack of response. Then her eyes flicked down to his hand.
The Token Fragment, he forgot to cover it. Warm light lit up the plants all around him.
She gasped. "The Token? You have it?"
"You're right. This is ridiculous!" He said.
He got up, took a deep breath and pushed past her, heading back the way they had come from.
"Handers?" She wheeled around and followed him.
-
Rinacht darted through the low lying branches and ferns with Emret still wrapped tightly in his arm. The forest opened up into a small clearing in front of them.
At the opposite end of that clearing, a group of Zo soldiers in black armor sat in a half moon facing them, waiting, as if they had known they were about to have guests.
Emret noticed an older Botann man dressed like a cleric sitting behind the others, almost hidden. He was clearly out of place.
The man in the middle of the half moon stood up.
"Rinacht! You made it!" He said as he moved towards them with a graceful slide. "We were beginning to worry."
Rinacht panted as he tried to catch his breath. "Yes."
"And who is this?" The man asked, giving Emret a friendly smile.
"This is Emret. Emret this is Lord Valance. He's the one who's offered to help us."
Emret eyed him curiously then leaned to the side to look at the group of men behind him. They looked rough and unpleasant, not the kind that'd go out of their way to help a strange child. He leaned back and forced a smile at Lord Valance. "Hi."
"Rinacht explained that you needed a little help getting through the forest." Lord Valance explained.
Emret twisted to look at Rinacht who nodded encouragingly.
"We understand you're looking for something. Something rather important." Valance continued.
Emret scowled. Who were these people? The fact that they knew about what he was doing made him nervous. "Why do you want to help me?" He asked through squinted, distrusting eyes.
Lord Valance smiled. "A fair question my inquisitive young friend. I'm not going to lie to you young man. We have an interest in what you’re looking for.” He snapped his fingers. One of the men sitting in the half mood stood up and brought a small object wrapped in cloth with him as he approached.
Lord Valance took the object and unwrapped it.
Emret leaned forward and stared at the dark stone carving. It had a remarkable resemblance to the Token that he had hidden in his clothes, a resemblance that he couldn't explain because it was a different shape and it wasn't glowing. Just the same, he knew what it was just by looking at it. Another Token.
"This belongs with the piece that you have."
Piece? Emret wondered. They weren't two Tokens, they were one? Two pieces of the same? He looked up at Lord Valance. Maybe he'd been a little too critical. Maybe they honestly did want to help him. He let a smile creep across his lips.
"Where did you find this?" He asked.
"Oh, we've been looking for a long, long time." Valance grabbed the glove on his right hand by the tips of the fingers and pulled. The heavy material slid off, revealing a black hairless hand. The polished surface of his skin shone like it was wet, contrasting sharply with the blackness.
"You're not the only one seeking help." Valance said.
Emret's face lit up. Then he felt bad. Had he really been that focused on himself? Of course, he couldn't possibly be the only one looking, the only one needing help. Of course, there were millions and millions of people in the world. So how could he have been so selfish? How many of those had health problems that couldn't be fixed? At least some of those people had to have thought the same thing he did, that there was some other way, that there was something out there that could help.
He felt sorry for misjudging this man. They'd come together in this need. He would help him find what he needed just as much as he'd find it himself.
"I think we have something we need to find!" Emret said quietly.
Lord Valance