Page 31 of Their World

I bowed and said, “I will not forget your friendship.”

Spinning around, I leapt up the wall, caught the top and pulled myself up and over it.

Dhun barked and whined, trying to come after me, but he couldn’t. Talrinir called after me as well, but I ignored them both.

Taking off at a sprint, I headed east, praying to every god or goddess in existence to help me save my friends.

Chapter

Nine

After an hour of running, I came to Talrinir’s small village, where a dozen or so females huddled together in the middle, children crying and encircled by them.

Their terror was evident, and I knew it had to be the trio.

As I ran by the females, I had to slide to a stop before running right into Trey in his dragon warrior form.

“Trey!” I screeched.

Kayden suddenly gripped my shoulders and kept me upright. “Lily? Is that really you?” he asked, pulled me forward to smell me, and wrapped his arms around me in a bone-crunching hug.

I shoved his chest. “Now’s not the time for that. We need to leave. Now!”

One of the females snapped and asked, “What do you want?”

Turning, I held my hands up placatingly. “I’m sorry they scared you. We’re leaving. You don’t have to worry. You and the children are safe.”

“They talk?” Trey asked, having shifted to human form.

“I have a lot to tell you, but we can’t do that here. We?—”

Trey pulled me into his arms and crushed his lips against mine. He pulled back and I noticed the short beard along his jaw.Resting his hand against my cheek he whispered, “Lily, we’ve been going mad trying to find you.”

“I’m fine,” I whispered, and patted his arm. “Now, where’s Mason? We?—”

The male in question pulled me out of Trey’s hold, a hand on each of my arms, and shook me. “What were you thinking?” he shouted. He also had a beard, making it three for three. It wasn’t a look I was used to, but it was one I definitely didn’t hate.

“What?” I gasped as I pushed at his chest. “What are you talking about?”

“You went with them. You?—”

“I was teleported!” I shouted to get him to stop. “I didn’t come here willingly.”

His body tensed a moment and then he staggered forward a step and hugged me, his nose against my neck. “I thought you were dead.”

“We really don’t have time, guys! We can have our tearful reunion later. We have to leave!”

“We can’t leave without a portal,” Trey reminded me.

“I know, but we need to head in that direction,” I said and pointed to the north.

“Why that way?” Kayden asked.

“Because their king is headed this way from the west,” I explained. Grabbing Mason’s hand, I tugged and said, “Let’s go. I’ll explain on the way.” I gave the females one more look, but Druth just nodded and made a shooing motion with her hand.

Thankfully, the guys stopped fighting me and we ran north.

“Here,” I said and shoved the book into Kayden’s hands. “I wrote down as much information as I could. We’ve been wrong about everything. Everything! They aren’t violent, mindless creatures. They have their own society. They are wonderful, intelligent people with a civilization and culture of their own. They’re just trying to survive and the people that come throughdon’t always know how to speak. We’ve been killing innocent creatures without realizing it.”

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