All three of them stood at the village gate. It was open now, people passing through it freely.
"This is where we fell last night," Jhed said.
"Right here," Nain said.
"You two fell. I didn't," Shine said.
He had put his armor on today — the first time in several days.
"Come on, let's move. We need to make good time," Jhed said.
The three of them passed through the gate and entered the forest. Several trees had burned from Nain's fireballs the night before, and villagers were already cutting up the fallen wood. Nain had unknowingly made their work easier.
Charred trees stood on all sides.
"What are you so deep in thought about?" Nain asked.
"Why did I give away so much money — it's been eating at me. I keep thinking about it and my head is starting to hurt," Jhed said. The coins kept coming back to him.
"Then why did you give so many?" Shine asked.
"I got swept up in the moment. Pure emotion. I just handed them over without thinking." Jhed stood there with a hand pressed to his head.
"Do you realize what ten gold coins could have gotten us? We could have traveled the whole world on that. We could have done so much," Nain said, helpfully making it worse.
Jhed's anxiety deepened.
"Should I go back and ask for them?" Jhed said.
"Yes, go get them back. His son killed innocent people anyway — the father can suffer the consequences," Nain said.
"What is wrong with you two. This is exactly why I worry about you both. Do you want to be ashamed of yourselves? He saved your lives," Shine said.
"By the way, Shine — how old are you exactly?" Nain asked, fixing him with a sharp look.
"Hmm... twelve and seventeen... hmm... twenty-nine. I'm twenty-nine," Shine said, counting on his fingers.
"I'm eighteen — so I'm not a child anymore either. But this one—" Nain glanced over at Jhed. "Still a child."
"Oh, come on. I'm far more mature than you," Jhed shot back.
"Sure you are," Nain said flatly.
They kept bickering like that until—
"Both of you, stop it. How did we go from one thing to this?" Shine said sharply.
They both went quiet. But they turned away from each other, refusing to look the other's way.
Somehow, without any of them noticing, dark clouds had spread across the sky. They'd only been walking a short while from the village. The clouds were swallowing the sun, and with it, the light. Darkness crept across the ground below. Their argument had kept them from noticing until it was too late.
Andrev had said those zombie-like monsters came out at night — but what he meant was they came out in the dark. Like vampires.
"Wait — the sky," Jhed said.
"Probably just rain coming," Shine said.
"No — I mean we need to run back to the village. Those monsters come out in the dark," Jhed said. Fear was rising in him. His heartbeat quickened.
All three of them went still.
Nain looked toward the bushes.
Something was moving inside them. Then — eyes began to glow from within the undergrowth.
"There... there... look—" Her voice barely came out.
"We're surrounded," Shine said, turning slowly in every direction. They stood back to back, eyes locked on the bushes around them.
They were trapped. Now what? Shine could fight. But Jhed and Nain couldn't.