Recap:
Hailey and her friends saw that the gryphon who had previously attacked them had been taken captive by an enemy scouting party. Chase insisted they free him –and they did, but almost got caught by a boy with the scouting party. However, he didn't reveal their presence. The four friends were thus able to sneak away, followed by a large gryphon (which could eat them at any moment, but, sure, Chase, what a wonderful idea there, let's just save the dangerous large predatory animal).
-------

Chapter 11

"I'll take first watch," Autumn said as we hastily set up the tent.

"Are you sure?" Chase asked.

"Yeah. After crawling through the dirt like that, you guys look like you need sleep more urgently than I."

"Wake me up in thirty minutes, or earlier if you feel sleepy." Chase must have been too tired to argue.

"You can wake me up next." I couldn't help a yawn.

"All right." He gave Autumn his dagger. "Here, just in case."

"G'night." Aiden climbed into his hammock and fell asleep immediately.

Autumn sat down in front of the tent, Grey and Juno on either side of her. All three kept a vigilant eye on the gryphon, who had chosen to follow us all the way here and had lain down on the opposite side of the clearing. It had tried to swipe at Grey, almost giving her, Autumn, and I a heart attack, but Chase had apparently made it understand that these peryton weren't food supplies. I just fervently hoped the animal wouldn't change its mind in time for a midnight snack. Not that Autumn would let it.

I laid down in my own hammock and tried to tune out the sounds of the forest. I soon fell into an uneasy sleep.

"Show yourself, or I let the gryphon eat you." Autumn's threat woke me abruptly. 

"Autumn?" Remembering in what wild place we were, I got up right away, prodding Chase's hammock as I sneaked a look outside the tent.

Autumn was standing up with the dagger in her hand, staring into the darkness of the forest.  We hadn't lit a fire, for fear of drawing unwanted visitors.

Chase sat up. "Huh?"

"Shh. There's something," I whispered.

He grabbed his sword and slipped by me. "What is it?" he asked Autumn in a low voice.

"There's something or someone. Can't you feel it looking at you? Juno and Grey started acting weird. Even the gryphon knows something is off."

Chase stared into the woods. "If you're a person, show yourself. I'm sure we can find a way to end this peacefully. If not, we'll just assume you're an animal prowling about, and we'll shoot you."

"P-Please," A heavily accented voice said, drawn out by the threat. A boy emerged from the trees, hands up in the air. "I am friend."

Aiden, who had also been woken up, had joined me at my vantage point behind the flap of the tent. "Hold on," he said. "Is that the doofus from earlier?"

"Don't move," Chase said, holding his palm out. The boy stopped. "Who are you, and who else is with you?"

"I... I do not understand. I do not speak good your..." He searched for the word.

"Are you alone?" Chase repeated slower.

"Yes. It is only me. I am called Aric. I..." He trailed off, as if he couldn't find the words. "I do not like they. I want to go with you."

Chase lowered his voice. "I think he's telling the truth. Back at the camp, he didn't give us away, and all the other guys laughed at him for being worried."

"Maybe it's a trick?" Aiden wasn't convinced. "I mean, he must have followed us all the way here. If that isn't creepy enough, the whole gang could be waiting right behind him.

"Really? Look at him." Autumn gestured in his direction. "He looks so thin. He was probably the scapegoat of the whole scouting party."

"Hailey?" Chase asked.

I thought about it. I doubted the group we had come across would have tried the diplomatic approach. Not when they outnumbered us three to one, and certainly not after we had blown up a tree in their faces. From this, I concluded they hadn't followed the boy. As for him, leaving his camp in the middle of the night was dangerous. He had no guarantee we wouldn't shoot him on the spot. Alone in the forest, he wouldn't last long.

"Let him stay here, at least for the night," I said. "I think we can believe him, but I'm sure it will be easier to decide in the morning, when we've had sleep."

"Okay," Aiden relented. He and I went back to our hammocks, while Chase beckoned the boy closer. I could hear their voices outside, covering up the noises of the woods, and this time I fell asleep much faster.

***

"Hailey-butt," Aiden whispered as he shook me awake. "It's your turn to take watch."

I yawned. "What did you just call me?"

"Shh, you'll wake them. Get up." I complied grudgingly. Aiden gave me Chase's dagger, and I stepped outside as he went to finish his night.

Beyond the endless forest, the lightening sky told me the sun was rising. The gryphon was gone. Would it come back? In front of me, Juno tried to get Grey to play with her, but apparently my peryton wasn't much of a morning person either, and she couldn't be bothered to get up.

A bit farther away, the boy, Aric, was still sleeping, though he must not have been very comfortable. His royal blue wings were wrapped around himself for warmth, which was understandable as he was only wearing a grey short-sleeved shirt of light cloth and similar pants. His shoes resembled moccasins, and seemed comfortable, though the sole was worn. The spear he had brought with him rested on the ground barely an arm's length away. He shifted in his sleep, and I turned away.

I decided to investigate our food supplies, but it didn't take long. All I was able to find were two beat-up apples, three cereal bars, and a gourd of water. My stomach growled, and I sighed. We really needed to find the outpost today. Otherwise, our best bet was to turn back and hope to stumble upon a lone habitation.

Aric sat up, rubbing his face and running his hand through his light brown hair as he took in his surroundings, and I turned my attention back to him. He waited for my reaction with cautious, blue eyes.

"Good morning." I smiled.

"Hello," he said. "I am Aric." His face was open and frank, and I decided my late night judgement had been right. He wasn't here to hurt us.

"My name's Hailey." I got up, as I didn't want to wake up others with my talking, and sat down a bit closer to him, while still keeping a safe distance, as he looked ready to bolt at any moment.

"Did you sleep well?"

He frowned, and I deduced he hadn't understood me. I shook my head to tell him not too worry about it.

"Thank you for yesterday."

"No problem," he said. "I wanted you help."

"Why did you want to help us?"

"I do not like this people." He gestured towards the forest, in the vague direction of his old camp.

"So you want to come with us?"

"Yes, please."

"Okay." I smiled as he seemed to relax. "I like your accent."

His brow furrowed slightly as he concentrated, trying to figure out what I had just said.
"My what?"

"Your accent," I repeated, slower.

"Oh." His face lit up in understanding. "Thank you, but my English is poor. I just started learning. It is needed for the army."

"It's not so bad, really. I don't know a single word in your language." I wondered how long he had been in the army, as he already had a good vocabulary.

"It is alright. The tongue of the Outlands is not important much. Unless you go to the Outlands, of course."

I was curious about this country north of Aeolus. They called it the Outlands, and it was never talked about with praise. I had heard people were sometimes exiled there, if they had committed a crime, yet were deemed deserving of a second chance. According to my grandpa and his intelligence service, it was a previously exiled man who led the outlandish troops in their offensive against Sol.

"What is it like, there?"

"It is very different than here. The Outlands don't have many trees like this." He showed me the forest. "It is too cold, and after, too hot."

"It's that different from here?" I was surprised. Surely the weather couldn't change that much over such a short distance.

"The magic is in Aeolus," he explained. "It is... It is not there anymore in the Outlands."

I frowned. "It must have a little bit of magic, still. How else would it stay hidden from the human world otherwise?"

"I am sorry, I don't understand." His brow furrowed.

I wondered if it was just the language barrier, or if he truly didn't know about the human world.

Autumn stepped out of the tent, just finishing braiding her hair. "Good morning, Hailey. Good morning, Aric." She walked up to us and placed the maps she held in her arms on the ground. "Here." She threw me my hairbrush which had previously been balanced on top if the stack.

"You're the best." I grabbed it and set to the task of taming my mane.

"Thanks. Now, let's try to figure out how to join that stupid outpost."

Aric looked at the maps. "What is it?"

"Aeolus." She pointed north. "These are the Outlands."

He put his finger on the frontier between the two kingdoms, near the place where Peraz forest grew out past the border. He let it slide a bit to the right, then down.

"We are close to here," he said.

Autumn frowned. "What? Are you sure?" She grabbed the map and held it up. "That makes no sense. We shouldn't be that much east. We would be way too far inside Peraz, if that was the case. Is it the case?" She asked him.

His eyes widened a little, and he threw me a quick, confused look.

"Are you sure we are here?" I asked.

"Yes. That is where the... Commander?"

I nodded. "Yeah, your commander. Your leader."

"Yes. That is where he speaks we are."

Autumn groaned and let her head fall into her hands. Aric's eyes flickered back in forth between her and me, worried, but not fully understanding what the matter was.

"We're supposed to be here," I explained, pointing at the circle Autumn had drawn to mark the outpost.

"That is not close." He observed.

Autumn lifted her head to give him a look, and he wisely closed his mouth. She returned back to her map, grabbing a pencil and her compass.

"Hailey, how long have you been on watch?

I looked up at the sky. The sun had fully risen now. "I'm not sure, I didn't check the time since I don't have a watch, but the sun was just starting to rise."

She looked up. "About an hour ago, then?"

"That sounds about right."

"Maybe you should go wake Chase? Let Aiden sleep a bit more, though. Aric and I will try to figure out the best way to go."

Aric, who had tuned out of our conversation, snapped his attention back to her. "Yes. I can help."

I got up and headed back inside the tent, throwing my hair brush on my bag. Aiden was snoring gently, and I tiptoed past him. Chase was also sleeping, his right wing extended to cover his face.

"Chase," I whispered. "Chase, time to get up." He didn't move. "Chaaase. Chase." I poked his left arm, which was hanging off the hammock, and shook it. His right hand shot out and grabbed my own arm, and I let out a small shriek of surprise. He sat up, saw who I was, and immediately let go of my arm.

"Sorry! Are you okay? Did I hurt you?"

I couldn't help a quiet laugh. "You almost gave me a heart attack, but at least you're awake, now."

He yawned. "More or less. Who else is up?"

"Everyone but Aiden."

"That would be true if you two could shut up," a voice grunted.

"Good morning, sunshine," Chase greeted him with a smirk.

An intelligible mumble answered him, and Aiden shifted to turn his back to us, shielding himself from the light with his wing.

Chase laughed and got up. As he followed me out of the tent, his eyes fell on the almost empty supply-bag, and he met my worried gaze with a resigned expression. "Don't worry. We'll be fine."

Outside, Autumn and Aric were in an animated conversation. Or rather, Autumn talked, and he nodded or shook his head.

"Hey," she spotted us as we approached. "I've got bad news and good news. Apparently there are two other scouting parties in Peraz."

"That was the bad news," Chase concluded. "What are the good ones?"

"We think we know where we are. We're actually directly to the east of the outpost. I'm sure we can get there in the early afternoon if we don't waste anytime."

Chase went to wake Aiden, and we all took turns changing inside the tent, before taking it down and splitting our meager breakfast. Aric added a welcome satchel full of dried meat to our meal, and we were able to eat more than planned.

"What's today's plan, then?" Aiden asked.

"Simple. Go to that stupid outpost," Chase answered.

"With him?" Aiden nodded towards Aric.

"Of course." Autumn frowned. I had no doubt that Aric could understand the gist of the exchange.

"Can we keep him with us all the way to the outpost, though? We'd be bringing an enemy willingly into one of our strongholds," Aiden pointed out.

"Really? He didn't even want to be in this war. Everyone over thirteen was forced to enlist," Autumn said.

"Wait," Chase interrupted her. "How do you even know that?"

"He told me." She shrugged.

"Okay then, I didn't know you two had become best friends overnight," Aiden muttered.

"Does that mean you want to go back home?" I asked Aric. He looked at Autumn, and she answered for him.

"Actually, no. He didn't have the best life back there. He would like to be able to live here, if we'll let him. He says he doesn't know much about his leader's plans, but if he can help us he will."

Chase stood up. "We can't leave him here anyway. He'll come with us to the outpost and we'll let the guys there decide what to do."

Neither Aiden nor Autumn seemed entirely satisfied, but they agreed.

We turned back to look at Aric, who was petting Juno's soft muzzle.

"Okay, buddy," Chase said. "You ready to go?"

He looked up. "We are leaving now?"

"Yep." Aiden opened his wings and took off to wait for us above the canopy of the forest.

Chase looked around the clearing, and I knew he was keeping an eye out for the gryphon.
I leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek. He rewarded me a smile.

"Come on, Hailey-bug." He took my hand and helped me onto Grey, despite knowing I could easily do it myself.

Juno was carrying the tent and our empty supply bag, so Autumn decided not to ride her. The two friends took off together, Aric behind them, and Chase and I followed.

-----
What do you think of this new guy?

Media on the top is by @jade66aaaa1d :)