Chapter List
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I was getting tired. I had been walking for a couple hours alone in the dark of the night. I wasn�t sure exactly where I was going or if I was even going the right way. They simply pointed me in the direction and off I went. I started thinking that maybe this was simply a joke by Terrance because he�s not captain. But then again, why would Ziara play a part in it? I didn�t know. I just wanted to find the human camp. I let out a short yelp as my foot was caught under a root that hung out of the ground and I fell forwards. I grumbled and pulled my foot free from the root. I sat on the ground and sighed. I was convinced this was a joke. I stood up and turned around to start heading back.
Before I could walk though I caught the scent of something being cooked. It smelled delicious and I just had to go look. I turned back around and headed off towards the smell. I saw the glow of a fire and slowed down to a slow walk. I crept up to a bush and ducked down behind it and peered through the leaves and branches. There it is! The camp! I was relieved. I finally found the camp I was looking for. There were five tents aligned in a semicircle. In the center was a fire pit surrounded by large stones. Above the burning fire was a large pot being held up by an A-frame made out of small branches. I looked the camp over. There was about seven humans from what I could see, all of which had swords. I looked around, worriedly. I wasn�t sure I could do this. I was sure that if I were caught I�d be killed. I shook my head and convinced myself to press on. I circled around to the back of the camp and tried to think of what I would do. I decided to wait until they had all gone off to sleep. But then what? Ugh� what are you doing here? My mind would keep yelling at me. I shut the voice of my mind out as I sat down behind a few large bushes. I didn�t want to hear it yelling at me anymore. As I sat among the leaves and berries of the bush I thought to myself. I just sat and thought for the next two hours, waiting for the perfect moment to move.
That moment came sooner than I wanted it to. I was still planning things out when the last torch was put out next to one of the tents. I knew that I would have to go in there no matter what. So, I decided to wait about another ten minutes until I knew they would all be asleep. My mind raced with ideas, good and bad ones. I let out a small sigh and lowered my head, closing my eyes. I was nervous, very nervous. I stayed silent without moving, saying a prayer in my mind. Lord� I ask for your help and guidance this night. Please, Lord, give me the courage and strength I need to accomplish my task. I slowly opened my eyes, took a deep breath, and then climbed out from behind the bushes and towards the tents.
The area still had the scent of a meal that was cooked earlier that day. There were a few burning embers in the fire pit. Moonlight shined down on the area, lighting the campground up enough for me to see. It also, unfortunately, allowed me to be seen. I was breathing in slow but deep breathes, I was scared. I didn�t know which tent I would go into. I decided to go into the only tent that didn�t house humans. I crept stealthily over to the farthest tent and slowly parted the clothed entrance. I looked in. No humans as suspected. I entered the tent slowly and silently. I started looking around the tent that I assumed was a planning room. There weren�t that many papers around the place. I wasn�t surprised anymore though. Jewell had explained to me that most of everyone, humans and animals alike, didn�t know how to read or write either. That made me feel a little better about the whole situation with my reading. It didn�t help much here though. I stayed focused on the problem at hand. I had to find those maps and notes somehow. I walked up to a corner of the tent and looked through a large leather satchel. Aha! I smiled to myself. Inside were many scrolls of paper, most likely the maps.
I turned and headed carefully out of the tent. Once outside I took a look around, I still had to find these notes Ziara told me to get. While I sat in the bush earlier I noticed one human stood out as the obvious leader of the bunch. He got his own tent next to the planning tent. I set the satchel down and walked to it. I stopped outside of it and gulped silently. I knew there was a human in this one and I wondered what I would do if he was still awake. I shook my head, gathered my courage, then parted the cloth and slowly stepped in. The human was laying on a small pile of clothes that made up a bed. The tent had many things in it, though I couldn�t make most of them out in the darkness. I moved over slowly and cautiously next to where the human slept. There were a few papers on the ground, tied together with a strip of leather that was knotted through holes in the papers. I picked them up and stood up strait and turned to head back out. But instead of leaving I stood still. Lying across the ground by the entrance of the tent was a large sheath with a sword in it. I moved over and kneeled down to it to inspect it. The sheath itself was very ordinary. It was made from iron that was obviously crafted by a talented blacksmith. But it wasn�t the sheath that I was staring at. It was the handle of the sword. I looked at it in awe. It was a golden hilt that was shaped into the form of a canine�s head. The ears pointed out sideways at the base of the blade and it moved down to the muzzle, which you held on to. The eyes of the canine were some kind of red tinted gem. I couldn�t say what kind it was, I didn�t know. But I knew I had to have this sword. I looked back at the sleeping human then at the sword. I reached over and lifted it up carefully by its sheath. The sword wasn�t as light in weight as I imagined but it still wasn�t too heavy. I stood back up and smiled to myself. This is my sword now. No human deserves such a blade. I was so pleased that I didn�t really notice the sound of footsteps approaching the tent. I never noticed the noise stop outside of the tent. I did, however, notice the dark silhouette of a human reaching for the cloth.