Luka’s pace was quick, only just short of a march for the first hour, fuelled mostly by painful memories now surfacing in his mind. However after that initial period he did slow down to a very casual pace, mostly because he was tired. He’d spent the entire day running from those guys, his muscles were exhausted, he was hungry, thirsty and his side was throbbing, even after the treatment. Still he marched on due to necessity over anything else. It began to get dark, but he was able to see well enough that he pushed on.

It was only after the girl spoke suddenly did he realise how dark it had gotten and how difficult it must be for her to see. So he stopped, somewhat grateful for the intrusion. In all honesty he’d mostly forgotten she’d been there. Looking around for the moment Luka walked over so he was only a few metres away from the girl and sat down in sight of where she had made her little shelter. He couldn’t just leave her alone in the forest. He had cemented, at least in his own mind, that he was going to escort her to the next town, where she’d be safer.

He figured he at least owed her that much. No one would know her there, she’d be able to blend in and by then the guards wouldn’t be able to remember well enough what she looked like to make an arrest. He hoped anyway. Still, that wouldn’t do much good if they starved on the way there so he resolved to see what he could do about it in the morning. His resolve hardened he was easily able to slip into an exhausted sleep with Endi curled up on his stomach.

His rest was not nearly as much as he would have liked though, Luka’s sleep disturbed too soon by the first light of morning. Eventually he sat up, giving into the morning and rose, yawning and moving off into the forest. Endi stayed behind, keeping an eye on their new sleeping travelling companion. No doubt when she awoke and found herself alone she’d assume she had been abandoned. Luka could only hope she didn’t go wondering off into the woods on her own. There were a lot of dangerous things out here, some of them not human.