To say I was scrambled upon waking was an understatement. Already I could feel the details of the conversation fading, but they were not disappearing completely. It seemed this visit with the Mystics was not to be as mysterious as the last. Not that it made things any less confusing.

  “Where are we?” An unexpected weight lifted from my shoulders at the sound of Morpheus’s voice.

  His presence had become once more a comfort and source of strength in my life. I had come to rely on others, Rapunzel and Dina, but this was something else. Something different. Something more.

  “I am not entirely sure, but it is not where we started. Give me a minute to orientate myself, then I should have at least a general answer for you,” I responded.

  “Well, wherever our lovely friends decided to drop us, at least they were nice enough to send our horses along.”

  I followed his gaze to our horses tied off nearby. We were still deep within a forest, but not the same forest. The trees were different, younger, and more spread out. This made it appear lighter, though glancing at the sun showed not much time had passed.

  Instead of standing in a creek up to our ankles, the water barely lapped at the soles of our shoes. It was a tad disorientating, but the more information I took in the more familiar it felt.

  “I have been here before. Not here exactly, but in this area. I believe if we follow the river down, we should reach one of two main towns. The bad news is, I am not sure how long it will take for us to get to either of those towns. It could take hours. It could take days. I am hoping for hours, but either way we need to get going so we can figure out where we are. Then maybe we can rest.”

  “Wonderful,” Morpheus said brightly. "Hopefully we will beat our friends there so we can have time to relax. That was…”

  “Intense?” I offered.

  We walked over to the horses, and I began removing the tack from my pack, passing Morpheus’s to him.

  “That is a mild word for it. I might have a better one by the time we get to town. Now I am wondering where Wilhelm’s horse went.”

  “Perhaps it was taken through the Veil with him?" I shrugged. "Obviously, the Mystics have more power and influence than we realized. Which isn’t that surprising when you think about it, given they are basically immortal.”

  Morpheus stood abruptly, head popping up from behind the horse like a gopher popping out of its hole. I chuckled, finishing my adjustments to the girth strap.

  “Pardon me, but they’re what now?”

  I gave the saddle one last check before sliding the bridle off my shoulder.

  “With powerful magic comes a long life. It would take a lot of power to transport ourselves and the horses such a distance without any strange side effects, which they did. That coupled with everything else that is known about them, scant as that information is, it would not surprise me if they could live forever. Some may even be nearly impossible to kill, depending on their age.”

  “So that strange voice talking to me in that nowhere space was not a side effect of whatever just happened. That was an actual Mystic.”

  This time I froze, reins half over my horse’s head. The fact that they took the time to speak with me was surprising enough. Their interest in speaking with Morpheus was something else entirely. Though it did make his earlier comment about needing to process things much less confusing, and yet more so at the same time. I was beginning to develop a headache from all the thoughts swirling around my head.

  “That is a strong possibility. I find it best to not think too hard until after your head has finished spinning. Otherwise, you’ll be just as confused as when you started, only now you’ll have a splitting headache to go along with it.”

  “I can see that...or more accurately, I can feel it. Also, I may be imagining things, but I do believe there is someone approaching.”

  “That’s not your imagination,” I said, “I hear them too. Probably someone returning to town. I didn’t say anything because I was not sure which direction they were going. Also, I’m still a little off balance after all of that.”

  “What do you want to do?”

  “There’s not much point in hiding or lying to them. We are traveling to meet up with some friends of ours and we got a little lost. Perhaps they can help us find our way back to the town and figure things out from there.”

  “Nice and straight forward. I like it.”

  I caught sight of the stranger seconds after mounting up.

  I cast a faint glamor over my cloak to make it appear more common. It would be rather difficult for us to travel under the radar if everyone knew I was a Ranger, or at least with the Table. Thankfully, the cloak had been designed with that in mind.

  Morpheus donned a glamor as well, slightly more plain than his normal one.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Morpheus was still adjusting something on his bridle, so I decided to speak up before they could pass us.

  “Excuse me!” I called out.

  The man startled slightly but then relaxed when he saw us. He was an older gentleman, with a weathered but kind face. His clothes were not fine, but they were well kept and sturdy. He steered his horse towards us, and I caught sight of the bow slung over his back. It was a hunting bow, well made from what I could tell. He carried no large game with him, but there were several packs full of smaller creatures. My guess was that he was primarily a trapper, and a skilled one at that, who took up the hunt when the opportunity presented itself.

  He was studying us as I studied him. His eyes darted over Morpheus and I, taking in our clothing, our packs, and our apparent lack of weaponry.

  “It's not wise to be wandering these woods unarmed." Concern rang clear in his voice. "We may not have monsters here, but there have been problems with wolves and bears and the occasional hog. How did the two of you end up out here anyway?”

  “Well, we made plans to meet with some friends in Vallasca, but it seems we got a bit lost,” I explained. "You see, I wanted to take the scenic route and I am not the best with directions sometimes. We got a little off track, but we found this creek and I figured if we followed it, we may find a town.”

  The old man considered my response for a moment before nodding.

  “Hmph. Well, you are not too far off. The main road is about an hour from here if you are traveling on foot, and you are correct in assuming this creek leads to town." He hesitated for a second. "I’m heading that direction myself. Why don’t the two of you travel with me and I will show you the way?”

  “We wouldn’t want to impose,” Morpheus protested.

  “Nonsense, I’m heading that direction anyway. This way, I won’t have to worry about being roped into a search party to find you later. The missus would be very cross with all of us if that happened. You can see the town walls from our house.”

  Morpheus glanced at me questioningly, and I shrugged.

  I see no harm in accepting his offer. It gets us where we need to be and there is always safety in numbers.

  He reacted well considering I had never spoken to him in that manner before. There was the slightest flinch, but the hunter did not notice, as he was to focused on me.

  “We certainly would appreciate that, kind sir. I apologize for my poor manners. We haven’t introduced ourselves. My name is Abigail, and this is my fiancé, Joseph. And you are?”

  “Call me Hans, and it really is no trouble. I finished my hunting much earlier than I expected today, which is fortunate for you. Otherwise, we may not have stumbled across each other. Fate smiles on us today.”

  “I had a mentor who told me once that fate isn't what happens to you, fate is what you make it," Morpheus commented.

  "Sounds like someone who does a lot of thinking and a lot of reading."

  "Among other things. He was a wise man, straightened me out when I was in a bit of a state. I couldn't imagine what my life would be like if I hadn't met him when I did." Morpheus looked at me and mouthed Hatter.

  "I have only met him a few times,” I said. “He is quite the interesting individual.”

  Our conversation lapsed after that, shifting to lighter topics. It was a nice change of pace from constantly talking through ways to prevent the end of life as we knew it.

  Hans was a pleasant if gruff host. He was rather impressed by my knowledge when it came to hunting, and we went on quite the tangent about different methods of setting up snares. Most of the ones I knew were for catching more interesting and unique creatures than he was dealing with, but I was able to give him some helpful pointers.

  Once we ran out of hunting and snaring things to talk about, Morpheus started asking the man about his family. Nothing prying, of course, just polite conversations.

  He and his wife were married going on forty years and in that time, they had lived in several places around the town. They also had a few children, who had since grown up and started families of their own. All were relatively successful, making enough to send some money back to help support their parents. His wife was a seamstress who still took jobs for people around the town, though not as many as she used to. One of their daughters had taken over her shop and she would occasionally enlist her mother’s help for more complicated jobs.

  All in all, they were happy and well cared for. His hunting and snaring work was primarily to ensure they had some money saved up. Some of the game he kept to feed himself and his wife, mostly because he preferred the meat fresh. The rest he sold to some of the butchers in town, who in turn sold the skins to tanners and split the profit with him.

  Hans in turn asked questions of us. I did not lie to him, per se, I just tailored my answers. Morpheus was a guard. I knew much of history and magical artifacts. We traveled around offering our services to people who needed our help. Of course, we only dealt with the little things. We would not dare dabble in things that should rightfully be the business of the Table.

  “I know there are some people who don’t particularly like or trust the Table,” Hans commented, “and I know their system ain’t perfect. But the way I see it, they’re better than what we used to have. So long as they keep taking care of the people and making sure nothing like that ever happens again, I’m sure the rest will sort itself out in time. There’s too many of them for one person to fully take over.”

  “I am inclined to agree with you,” I said, somewhat defensively. "They have been doing a good job making the best of a difficult situation. It may not be perfect, but if everything was perfect, there would be no room for things to grow and evolve. If you ask me, that sounds incredibly dull.”

  Hans gave me an amused look before turning to Morpheus.

  “You certainly have found yourself a special lady, I hope you realize that. You better take good care of her.”

  “Oh, I am well aware of that, sir, and I will do my best to take care of her. Not that she needs it." He winked at me. "Abigail here is more than capable of taking care of herself.”

  I blushed at this, and most of it was not intentional.

  The conversation drifted off as we drew closer to our destination. Morpheus and I exchanged more than a few glances behind the man’s back, but we said nothing.

  “I believe the two of you can find your way from here?” Hans asked, stopping in front of the dirt path that led to the humble cabin he called home. He was not exaggerating when he said the town’s walls were visible from his porch.

  “I think we can handle that. Thank you again for your assistance, we truly appreciate it,” Morpheus replied.

  “It was really no trouble. I enjoyed having company on my ride back. If you’re interested and have a free night while you are in town, my wife and I would love to have you. I only request you send a heads up so we can prepare. I think she would like the both of you.”

  “That is very generous of you,” I said with a smile. "We may take you up on that.”