Fennyr was so cowed by this discovery that he stood there staring into space for a few seconds. He was shocked back into reality when Coal nudged his shoulder. 

"Come on, boss-man." He joked as if to drive the point home. "Tell us what to do."

Internally, Fennyr panicked. His mind was a blank. "Um..." he stuttered, staring at the group of young, eager, faces. "Uh..." He was lost for words. He looked up to the sky, searching desperately for an idea. The setting sun was painting the heavens with hues of pink, orange, and red. The trees were casting their black shadows across the landscape like the crooked teeth of a carnivorous monster. 

The sight gave Fennyr a much needed thought. "It's too late to decide anything tonight." He said, surprising himself with the steadiness of his own voice. "Let's make a campfire just outside of the forest's borders. The monster's don't go out of the wood so we'll be safe." 

The group's expressions softened, relieved that he had a plan. "You can get timber from the trees and the outside of the forest. As for him..." he nodded his head in the direction of Dulkrn's unconscious body. "Use vines as ropes. Braid them for added strength."

"Tie him up?" Pyria wondered out loud, her blue eyes worried.

"You saw him attack Fennyr." answered the green dragonet.  "He's desperate. Without proper containment, he can be a danger to himself and others. It has to be done." Pyria's eyes dropped, but she nodded.

"Keep the vines away from his mouth so he doesn't chew through them. After all of this is done, we'll gather around the campfire and discuss what to do when morning comes."

For such a small, seemingly unimpressive group, they could be surprisingly fast when put to a task. By the time night had fallen a fire was burning, logs were placed around the campfire for makeshift stools, and Dulkrn was firmly trussed up like an Egyptian mummy, still blissfully out cold. 

As they were scurrying around trying to get the fire going, Fennyr took the chance to thank the golden dragoness for her interference with Dulkrn. 

"I didn't do it for you." she answered his gratitude. "I did it for all of us. Like or not, we need you." She then darted away to gather more firewood. 

Soon they were all seated around the fire under a blanket of sparkling stars and swirling galaxies. The scene might have even been cheerful or pleasing if it wasn't for the group's depressed expressions. 

"Before we start discussing what to do tomorrow," Fennyr started speaking. "I want to know all of your names."             

Around the circle, heads jerked up to look at Fennyr with a puzzled eye. 

Back on Renzr, names weren't a necessity. In Renzr, you were born to do only one thing; to fight. 

A general would never call a soldier by their name, only order them around by their rank or number. For a leader to call his follower by their names was unheard of. Such a thing would have the leader whipped for being weak. 

However, the dragonings didn't protest. 

"I'm Grali." said the golden dragoness. She shifted uncomfortably as all eyes turned towards her. 

"My name's Sulak." stated the dragonet next to her in a deep, rumbling, voice. His black scales and glinted in the moonlight. His eyes were an odd blend of brown, green, and amber. He wasn't as big as Fennyr but almost as muscular. 

"I . . . am Benit!" announced a silver dragonet confidently. He spread his wings dramatically as if he expected a round of applause following his statement. When nothing happened he awkwardly folded his wings and sat back on his stool. 

"I'm Zelen." said the green dragonet. His orange eyes flitted back and forth between the group. He seemed to be a nervous, flighty dragonling. His tail kept twitching restlessly. 

"Blear." A copper-coloured dragoness leaned back on her stool. Her tone of voice indicated she was going to say no more. 

"I'm Otner." said a dragonet with milky white scales. He had a grin the size of a mountain plastered onto his snout. "I'm just happy to make new friends." 

"You do know that we're all going to die within the week, right?" Blear said, patronisingly. 

Otner's giant smile didn't falter. "If I'm going to die, I'm glad it's with friends." Blear scowled as if offended by Otner's optimism. 

"Alright." Fennyr focused the group's attention back on him, eager to avoid any conflict. "Now that we know each other, let's discuss what to do when morning comes. Is anyone here an expert on maps?"

"Um..." Zelen raised a trembling talon. "I am." 

Fennyr blinked, surprised. "Okay. Where is the nearest village?"

Zelen opened his jaws to explain but thought better of it. Instead, he drew in the dust with a single emerald talon. "Here's Renzr..." He drew a small circle. "...and here's the forest..." He drew a larger circle around the smaller one. "...and we are here." He made a small dot on the border of the small circle.  

"The closest village, Lôkshire, is about two hundred miles west of here. There two ways to get to Lôkshire."

"Which are?" Sulak questioned.

"There's a clearing fifty miles east."

"East?" Benit's brow furrowed. "I thought we had to go west."

"If you stop interrupting me, I will explain." Zelen snapped, glaring daggers at Benit, who finally quieted. 

"Now," Zelen continued. "In the clearing, there's the Marrow River. It runs straight out of the forest. The Lur'drake hate water so it's safer than the rest of the forest. Once we're out of the forest, we'll be safe. After that, we just go around the forest and reach Lok'shire."

"Sounds too good to be true." Blear noted. "What's the catch?"

Zelen's eyes dropped. "Even if we walked non-stop for the whole trip, it will take about..." He paused, seeming to do some calculations in his head. His face fell. "...two weeks."

The group fell silent. Otner's grin slipped from his face like the sun had slipped from the sky. 

"Two weeks." repeated Pyria. 

"Twice our food supply." Azul said thoughtfully.

"And that's assuming nothing goes wrong." Grali pointed out. 

"And something always goes wrong." Coal said gloomily.

Azul wheeled around on her twin. "Thanks Coal. That's really helpful." she snarled sarcastically.

Coal raised his claws helplessly. "Hey, everyone else was thinking it. I just said it aloud." He looked around for someone to agree but the circle stayed silent.

Otner's smile was back on his snout. "What's the other option?" He asked Zelen, searching desperately for something to be happy about. Zelen winced, as if the question caused him physical pain. He opened his mouth to answer.

"Go west and straight through the forest."

All eyes turned to Fennyr who had spoken. 

Pyria studied his face closely. Her expression turned into one of alarm. "Oh no. I know that look." She started waving her talons like a shaman warding off an evil spirit.  "Fennyr, you seriously cannot be considering this. This...This is..." She seemed unable to speak.

"Fennyr," stated Sulak sensibly. "There's a reason that forest's nickname is often called 'The Graveyard Wood'. Ever since the Lur'drake invaded ten years ago, this forest has claimed more lives than an army of soldiers. We need to spend as little time in the woods as possible, even if it means going around the entire wood."

Fennyr turned to Zelen. "How long does it take to go straight through the forest?"

Zelen thought for a moment or two. "Three days. Maybe more."

There was a brief silence.

"So, ultimately," Coal broke the quiet. "We have a small chance of being killed over a long period of time, or we have a big chance of being killed over a long period of time."

"How can we make that decision?" Azul wondered out loud.

"And what about him?" Grali was staring at the Dulkrn's still-comatose form laying just outside the circle of stools. 

Fennyr held back a curse. He had forgotten about Dulkrn. How can he protect his group from a dragon as desperate as him? 

"Should we leave him here?" Blear wondered.

"No." Grali spoke sternly. 

"Are you sure?" Coal asked slowly. "I mean, he did just try to kill Fennyr. He would have succeeded if Azul hadn't stopped him."

"He'll die if we leave him here. His food might last him a week, ten days maybe, but eventually he'll starve." 

"Won't the dragons of Renzr give him food?" questioned Azul.

"No, they won't." Zelen said slowly. "Once the Banished are out of the gate, Renzr is not allowed to interfere. Banished in the past have tried to beg for food, but none have succeeded. Their skeletons can still be found near the wall, clawing desperately at the gates."

There was an uncomfortable silence as this gorey image sunk in.

 "So what do we do with him?" Otner asked.

"He tried to kill Fennyr so we'd be totally justified if we left him here." Blear noted.

"I have an idea." Benit announced, his face beaming."

"The ends don't justify the means." countered Grali, ignoring him. "Why should we stoop to his level?" 

"My idea's pretty good, I think." Benit tried again. No one paid attention.

Blear continued arguing. "He would have been a murderer if we hadn't stopped him. He deserves to die." 

"But if we left him here, we'd be the murderers ourselves." Grali objected.

"It's dangerous to bring him." Sulak admitted. "The way I see it, it's his life or ours."

"IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE!!!" Benit stood up from his stool. The firelight shone on his silver scales, making glitter like stars on a moonless night. 

"Look," he nearly shouted at everyone. "I have an idea and it might just be the answer to our problems if you knuckleheads would just LISTEN TO ME!" He stood there glowering at the group, slightly winded from his outburst. The only sound was the crackling on the fire as it consumed the dry kindling. 

"Alright, Benit." Fennyr attempted to sooth his new friend's temper, awed that the dragonet had such ferocity. "Tell us your plan. We're all listening." 

Benit looked around at the watching crowd, then sat back down, a satisfied expression spreading across his snout. "Despite what you guys have been thinking, Dulkrn's not stupid. Desperate, yes. A little psycho maybe. But stupid, no."

"Get on with it." Blear butted in. Benit shot her a venomous look before continuing. 

"Anyway, he knows what's in the woods and he knows that without a group, he's a goner. So, here is my plan." He paused dramatically before speaking. 

"We split into two groups; one for each route. We'll put Fennyr in one group and Dulkrn in the other so that-"

"Dulkrn won't hurt anybody, because he knows he needs them to get to Fennyr." Zelen finished his sentence. Benit grinned, delighted that someone was getting it.

"Seems like a solid plan." Grali mused, staring thoughtfully into the fire. 

"Plus, that way, the forest group can give the river group the provision they don't need." Azul pointed out. 

"Are you listening to yourselves?" Blear shouted. "Split up?! are you crazy?! Separating in a forest infested with blood-crazed monsters is pure suicide!!" 

"Do you have a better idea, Blear?" Pyria snapped. 

"No, but I'd rather die here of starvation than be ripped to pieces by some mysterious creature in the woods."

"You guys are so pessimistic." teased Otner. "You're talking as if there are only two options; die of starvation, or get killed by the Lur'drake. Don't any of think that maybe there's a slight chance that we could survive long enough to get to Lok'shire?"

"No, I don't." Blear countered. "Since the Glad'nar trials a hundred years ago, Renzr has banished a dozen dragonets every year. None of them have been heard from since. Why would we survive when they didn't?" 

"Well, you definitely won't survive with that attitude." Otner snapped, then cowered under his wings as Blear snarled at him. 

"Even if I knew I was going to die," interjected Coal, "I would still die trying to live, instead of lying down and accepting my fate like some sniveling dog."

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING A DOG?!" Blear roared. "I'm just saying we have no chance of surviving, especially not against the Lur'drake." She glared at the circle of dragonlings, daring anyone to disagree. "We might as well just stay here and die of starvation."

"If you want us to leave you here, we'd be happy to oblige. It would make the rest of the journey much more pleasing." Coal retorted, a cocky smirk spreading across his snout.

"HOW DARE-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" 

A piercing scream interrupted the argument. It split the night in two and sent the Banished's ears quivering. It wasn't the scream of a dragon, but it sent icy talons of fear dancing on Fennyr's spine. 

The reason for his terror was simple. 

The scream came from the woods.

It was cut short, replaced by a trashing and snarling, followed by the sound of talons ripping flesh and fangs sinking into muscle, then a howl of triumph. The whole ordeal only lasted a few seconds. 

Silence reigned over the group. Even the campfire seemed muted, as if afraid to disturb the beast in the forest. 

"What was that?" whispered Benit, eyes huge.

"I believe," Coal was trying to comfort Azul who had wrapped her forearms around his torso and was now holding him tight, her eyes darting around like those of a cornered animal. "...that was the sound of a Lur'drake having it's dinner."

Azul whimpered and buried her snout in her twin's chest. 

The woods echoed with the sound of the ripping of skin and the crunching of bones until the woods was quiet. The Banished stayed hushed for a couple minutes more in order not to attract the monster in the grove. 

Fennyr took advantage of the silence. "Let's get to sleep. We'll talk more in the morning. For now, we need all the rest we can get." Heads around the circle nodded in mute agreement.

Without another word, Fennyr slid off his stool and lay on the dusty ground. He heard the dry rustling of scales against dirt as the others followed his example. The ground was far less than comfortable, but Fennyr soon found that by folding his wings under himself he could make a makeshift mattress. 

From his sleeping position, Fennyr had an excellent view of the stars. It occurred to him that they were the same stars that he had grown up under, laughed under, cried under, lived his life under. They were the same stars that he had watched the night before. 

It seems like years ago. Fennyr thought. 

How a single moment can change a life.

And so, it was in this matter that Fennyr No-son, under a blanket of stars and with thoughts of the past running through his head, finally closed his eyes and fell into a thankfully dreamless sleep.