Ryle hummed softly to himself.
“SHUT THE *&#% UP, RYLE!” Yanille shouted.
Ryle hummed louder, composing a tune that could hardly be called musical. Yanille stooped down and picked up a rock. He tossed it up in the air and caught it, testing its weight before chucking it at Ryle’s face. Fortunately, right at that moment Ryle sneezed, so the rock flew harmlessly past his head.
Amara still seemed enamored with her magical necklace and hardly noticed when the horse she was riding strayed off the path and started grazing on some straggly grass.
Caelia was flat on her horses back, hanging on for dear life. The horse didn’t seem to mind her vice-like grip and ambled along after the others.
Aliane, however, was the picture of grace, her posture perfect on the pretty black horsie. She was the only one who looked as though she belonged on a horse, except, of course, Yanille, who had chosen to walk.
KABOOM!
“Wassthat?” Caelia asked, her grip on the horse strong as ever.
Ryle looked around and paled. “I do believe it’s a dragon!”
“Hehe,” Amara giggled. “Dragons don’t exist!”
“Wanna bet?”
“Yeah!”
“How much?”
“Twenty gil!”
“Deal! Now turn around!”
Amara turned. “Oh, dear.”
Amazingly calm, she dug a few coins out of her pocket. “Here you are, Ryle,” she said as she handed him the coins. He counted them. “Thank you.”
Yanille, meanwhile, had picked up another rock. This time, instead of throwing it at Ryle, he chucked it at the dragon. Unfortunately, the dragon sneezed just at that moment, releasing a stream of fire upon the group.
All the girls screamed. (Well, the boys did, too, although they would never admit it.)
Again, Yanille chucked at rock at the dragon. Again, it sneezed. This process repeated for several minutes. At long last, Ryle unsheathed his sword and snuck up behind the dragon while Caelia threw daggers at it and Amara shot a bunch of arrows. The dragon swerved its neck around, dodging the weapons. While it was distracted Ryle climbed onto its neck, determined to get to its head and stab it.
Yanille through another rock.
The dragon sneezed.
Ryle went flying through the air, flailing his limbs in panic. In the flurry of motion, he dropped the sword. He landed hard, and the breath was jolted out of him. As he lay wheezing, the sword came down from the sky and landed just below the fork of his legs, pointy side down. Ryle sat up and looked at the sword and where it had almost landed just before fainting like a lady whose corset is too tight.
Caelia was crying. “RUUUUUN!” she yelled.
Everyone obliged, hopping on their horses and galloping away. They had gone nearly a mile when Aliane made a very astute observation. “We left Ryle behind.”
“Damnit!” Yanille exclaimed. “I’ll get him.” He immediately changed into wolf form and ran back to the site of the dragon field. He found the dragon gently licking Ryle’s face. The dragon opened its jaws wide to take a taste.
“Damnit…” Yanille said again as he ran to pull Ryle out of harm’s way. It was a long journey back to the others with Ryle’s dead weight to drag back. Especially since the others hadn’t waited for them. It was long past dark when Yanille caught up to them, and Ryle still hadn’t woken up.
“Aww, he’s so cute!” Caelia squealed, poking his cheek with a stick.
“Hey, look what I caught!” Amara yelled. She proudly held up a dead mouse. Or at least, it seemed to be dead until it squealed and leaped from her hands. Amara screamed. Ryle sat straight up, panicking. Caelia saw the mouse and started screaming, too. Yanille was knocked out asleep by this time, exhausted from hauling Ryle up the mountain. The mouse ran across his face.
It was then that a small, fuzzy face poked out of Ryle’s shirt. In a blur, it leaped out after the mouse, onto Yanille’s peaceful face. He didn’t even notice the squeal of the mouse, or the blood that ran down his face as the small body went limp.
Purring, the small, fuzzy creature carried the officially dead mouse to Ryle. “Good kitty!” he murmured, scratching the kitten behind the ears. “That thing was about as big as you!”
Aliane asked, “Um, Ryle, why do you have a cat?”
Ryle blushed. Caelia squealed in delight and ran over to poke his cheeks. Yanille twitched in his sleep and tripped her. She fell with a ‘thunk.’
“You know the girl who loaned us the horses? Well, her cat had just had kittens not long ago..And they were finally weaned…And she gave me one!” his face glowed with pride. “Isn’t she cute?”
The kitten certainly was cute. She looked like a small bundle of orange and white fluff, and her eyes glowed green from beneath the many layers of fur. Ryle picked her up and shoved her back in his shirt.
Just then, the ground trembled. Rocks collapsed and fell from the cliffsides all around the group. “Take cover!”
Everyone hit the ground and covered their heads with their hands. After a moment, the trembling ceased. They got up and checked out the damage. It was pretty bad.
“Well! Moving on!” someone yelled.
So they moved on. Until they came to a house. They went in the house. There was a witch in the house. “Hello!” Ryle called.
“Oh, hi Ryle!” the witch called back. It is unknown how she knew his name.
“Well! Moving on!” someone yelled again.
So they moved on again. And finally, at last, the long anticipated city of Letherblanca came into view.
...
Oh, gosh. I'm so sorry, guys. But hey! We're there! Take it from here, Ian.
