Water never flows upriver - Ar’Moorian proverb

It was a weird feeling, getting away from the city where, even though for just a moment, Garvin had hoped to spend the rest of his life. Now he was on the run with someone he just realised he barely knew. And perhaps the most bizarre thing was that they were walking towards the south. The Dragonslayer marched yards in front of Garvin, and seemed to go as fast as possible without outright running. Garvin was falling behind, his steps were much smaller.

‘Wait!’ he said with an airy voice. The Dragonslayer did not look back.

Garvin burned his last reserves and jogged towards him. It was difficult wading trough the thick grass. They had both silently agreed that the roads were not an option.

‘Wait up!’ he said again, as he took a big breath. ‘Aren’t we going the wrong way?’

‘What do you mean, wrong way?’

‘The library is all the way north, yet we are moving to the south.’

‘Yeah dude, its because I’m not going there.’

This felt like a hammer to the face for Garvin. He wanted to protest, but couldn’t since the man he just saved walked way too fast to talk to. Garvin sprinted again, and stopped in front of the Dragonslayer.

‘Dude? Can’t you see I’m walking here?’

‘Stop- for - one second.’ Garvin stooped and tried to breath. He didn’t realise it until now, but he had gotten heavier since he lived in the city. ‘Why are we going towards the south?’

‘Oh but you got it all wrong there. We’re not going south.’

‘Clearly, we are!’ Garvin yelled as he pointed at some big clouds that were in front of them. The sun was hiding somewhere behind them. Garvin got low and stretched his arms, as if he could wrestle with this seasoned adventurer.

‘No, we aren’t. I am going south. There is no we.’ When he said that, the Dragonslayer continued to walk, pushing his arms away. Garvin’s head felt as cloudy as the skies above.

‘So thats it then? I save you, and you just run away!’ Garvin yelled at his back.

‘I’m gonna cross the river, find other lands without our stupid customs. Some place that doesn’t do bullshit!’ he yelled.

Oh no, Garvin thought. I will make him turn around even if I have to do it by force. If I need to bloody drag him to the library, I will! So he charged forth yet again. But one moment, he grabbed the Dragonslayer’s shoulder, the next he found himself on the ground. He spat out some grass and groaned. The fields moved like he was on the deck of a ship. He got up on his knees and shook his head. Then he got up and peeked around. No surprise that he found him walking in the same direction as before, a few yards away.

‘Just go home!’ the Dragonslayer yelled.

‘Home? What home? I literally gave everything up for you! And now you just run away?’ Garvin screamed so sound his throat started to hurt. A few birds flew up and set for the nearest trees. How could he do this? Garvin thought. How could he just leave him like that, after he gave up everything to save him! He shook his head again and scrambled back up. ‘You’re not getting away that easily!’

He found the runaway hero again, at the riverbank. Garvin approached silently but the Dragonslayer had somehow noticed. He looked back and smiled.

‘Perhaps I shouldn’t have tackled you there, but then again most of the time people don’t force me to stay.’

Garvin sat down next to him and also stared at the river. He thought of the times he sat by the water in his tiny village. He had often wondered what was on the other side. Now that he was, he wondered the opposite. Mathilda would get married in a month and he? What in the world would he be doing? Garvin sighed, then he chuckled.

‘Whats funny?’ the Dragonslayer asked.

‘It’s just.. its like becoming my signature move, to sigh. ’Garvin outright laughed now, as he grabbed his stomach with both hands and turned his face to the sky. After he started to get hiccups, he opened his teary eyes and glazed at the Dragonslayer. Clearly he did not see the humour in all of this.

‘You’re a funny little guy,’ he just said.

‘The girl I fancied is getting married next month, and I will be travelling into the unknown,’ Garvin said. ‘And the man I just freed wants to leave me and just run away from it all.’

It was silent except for the ever flowing water and the wind in the tall grass. ‘Why do you run away?’ Garvin asked him.

‘You’re young, you think you can give me something. The truth is, you can’t give me anything. We have nothing in common. What do you expect of me? To be your nanny?’

‘No! I expect you to give a shit!’ Garvin yelled. ‘You know the songs the bards sing about you?’

‘Why do you care what they sing?’ the Dragonslayer said with a loud voice. His hands were fists. Garvin staggered back seeing him like that. He had barely shown any emotion during his trial. ‘Huh? Why so silent now? What your deal? Why do you care?’

Gavin slumped his shoulders. There was no logical explanation why he would give up all his privileges and betray his patron. No reason to trade a palace for a swamp. ‘I just do.’

The Dragonslayer scraped his throat and spat in the river. ‘Come on, lets move. We need to make camp soon. Its gonna be cold tonight.’

They continued walking westward as the heat of the argument got cooled down by the wind. The river had blocked the way south. And it was not sure if they could even use the bridges, as they were controlled by Greed. Garvin thought they would probably get captured if they tried to cross it.

Soon they stopped at a place near the river. There was a small hill covered with trees. Once they moved trough the bushes they found a small clearing. Garvin wondered if the Dragonslayer knew of this place, but he didn’t see any signs of a human touch.

The Dragonslayer proceeded with making a hole about a foot deep. Then he made a second, smaller one. Garvin was gathering boughs in the meanwhile, as well as some moss and green foliage. All in complete silence.

As Garvin gathered twigs and dry grass, he thought back at the time he ran to Greed. His adventure in the swamps and sleeping without a fire. If the weather had been colder then, perhaps he never would have never made it.

When he came back, the Dragonslayer had connected the two holes with a little tunnel. Together they placed the boughs in the bigger hole whilst keeping the bottom free. As garvin rested, the Dragonslayer took it up to him to make a fire. Garvin couldn’t really see what the man did, but suddenly he turned around. In his hands holding a ball of moss and grass, smoke came out of it. The Dragonslayer held it carefully like a birds nest.

He then placed it in the pit. Soon enough there was a fire warming their hands and feet. There was almost no smoke escaping the fire. Garvin thought he should learn this trick if he would ever have to travel alone again. He made a mental note to read more survival books instead of fantasy. This thought stung him, he had almost forgotten there was no home to return to.

‘And thats how you make a sneaky fire,’ the Dragonslayer said, staring proudly at his fire.

‘I used to write stories about you,’ Garvin said. ‘When I was a kid I would dream to be travelling with bards or other heroes, but you were often there.’

‘I dreamt of retiring in a place with lots of beautiful women, so far no luck.’

Garvin turned towards his hero. ‘I could write down your story if you want. I can write it as we travel, and we could spread the word.’

‘What word?’

‘That you’re back!’ Garvin said. ‘That Ar’Moor has regained their hero.’

The Dragonslayer smirked as he removed his boots. ‘Look at us, we’re no heroes. We have zero equipment, zero aid, the world hates us.’

‘- not the entire world,’ Garvin interrupted.

‘We have to go to the northernmost point of the lands before midwinter. And no one is going to help us get there,’ the Dragonslayer continued.

‘What do you suggest?’ Garvin asked.

‘That we sleep now, so we can leave this place early in the morning.’ When he said this, the Dragonslayer turned his back on him and spoke no more. Garvin nested himself close to the fire, and poked it every now and then. He wondered if his companion was really asleep. He whispered his name a few times, but had no response. Eventually he fell asleep.

When Garvin woke up, the birds already sang and the first lights were touching the treetops. He quickly turned around, hoping he would still be there. He was. The Dragonslayer was sitting by the fire, bare-chested. It was the chest of someone who clearly used to work out. But then again, it had lots of curly back hair. He wanted to know the Dragonslayer all his life, yet this was too intimate he found. Just as he got up and wanted to say something, some rags fell off him. It was his shirt.

Garvin threw it next to the Dragonslayer.

‘Thank you.’

‘I saw you shivering like a girl during a storm,’ the Dragonslayer said.

‘Okay, eh thats nice. So, what the plan for today?’ Garvin asked.

‘Arron.’

‘Bless you.’

‘No, we go to Arron, then we will cross the great river and leave these lands for what they are. But first we need to travel trough Femoria and the golden hills. If we make it that far.’

‘But thats south, I thought we agreed to go north yesterday.’ Garvin protested.

The Dragonslayer turned around to face him. He seemed to internally measure Garvin’s dedication. ‘Lets move out.’

Without waiting for complaints, he started walking next to the river. Garvin got up and followed. Today he would not meekly follow, he thought. Today he was not going to run after him like a dog again. Internally he was having tirades and monologues as they moved for hours of silence. Garvin’s stomach started growling again, he tried to drink enough water to fill his stomach. Naturally it didn’t work, and made him pee more often. Which in turn made him fall even further behind.

‘I’m hungry,’ Garvin complained when he had caught finally up with the Dragonslayer. ‘The sun is almost at his highest already and we haven’t eaten since we ran away!’ at this rate he would loose all the reserves he had build up in less than two days.

‘How I wish we had both eaten that day,’ the Dragonslayer said.

Then Garvin realised how much he had been busy thinking of his hunger. He didn’t know what to say, all the material he had prepared in his head had left him as he wondered how well prisoners were fed.

‘Then you must be famished as well,’ Garvin said. Somehow he hoped that the Dragonslayer would conjure a feast. ‘We both can eat!’

‘Like what? Do you want to head back to the road, and ask the merchants? Maybe you could dance for them.’

‘At least I’m trying to think of solutions,’ Garvin said grudgingly.

‘But you’re not very good at it so you might as well not.’ Then the Dragonslayer stopped and suddenly got down. ‘Quick,’ he whispered. ‘There.’

Garvin got down to a prone, and moved trough the bushes, in the distance he saw a farm.

‘Let’s have a meal after all,’ the Dragonslayer said.

‘No!’ Garvin whispered. ‘You can’t go steal from a bunch of farmers!’

‘But I can!’

‘I said you, not we.’

‘Dude, do you want to starve to death? The people will be doing us a great service!’

‘If you really want them to do us a service, ask them. Don’t steal from them!’

The Dragonslayer crouched forward and stared at the farm. He nodded to himself.

‘Dude, I understand you don’t like this, but it’s the only way.’

‘If you get caught again, I can’t help you anymore,’ Garvin decided. ’Then you’re on your own.’

‘And thats a reason to not get caught, or?’ But the Dragonslayer did not wait around for Garvin to answer. He just sneaked from bush to bush, ever closer to the farm.

The place had a small wall, that he easily climbed over. Garvin didn’t know whether to root for him or the farmers. Once the Dragonslayer was over the wall, he quicky disappeared in one of the wooden buildings. Lots of the people were working in the field. Garvin saw oxen carrying wooden tools and young boys leading them. Men ploughing with bent backs in the faint sunlight. He wondered what was worse, stealing or experiencing hunger. He guessed he would know once he had food in his hands.

After an hour, maybe more, the Dragonslayer returned. He wore a brown cape and new boots and carried a large bag on his shoulder.

Garvin couldn’t help but cheer when he arrived in front of him. His eyes went to the bag, like a dog waiting a treat.

‘We should move further before we eat,’ the Dragonslayer said.

‘What, but I can literally feel my stomach shrinking!’ Garvin said.

‘Even better, that way its filled more quickly.’

Garvin gave him a dirty look.

‘Ah come on, you’re too chubby anyways, you can burn off some reserves. Or do you want the farmers to poke a hole in you with their rakes?’

‘I’m not chubby,’ Garvin said as they both snuck away.

By the time they could see the woods of Femoria, they halted and the Dragonslayer opened a large cloth. There was cheese and bread and.. and chicken!

They both attacked the food like hungry hyenas. Garvin guessed hunger was stronger than stealing after all.

Surprisingly, he could eat not as much as he would have wanted. His stomach soon protested. The Dragonslayer did not seem to have the same problem. He continued to eat the very last crumbs off the cloth. He smiled as he touched his stomach. ‘Ah, what a good meal can do.’

‘The farmers are probably hoping we will choke on it.’

‘Come on! Don’t be so down about it! See it like this, they have been stolen by the great Dragonslayer!’ he laughed. For Garvin, it wasn’t that funny.

‘How many people can say they have been stolen by me?’

‘Should that be comforting? Or confronting?’