We bought street food from a vendor called ‘Tallik Bread,’ a bit of dough, wrapped around a mixture of meat and herbs and then fried, which was delicious.

  I ate an order, and Cataryn ate two. We made our way through the city streets, towards the northern gate.

  Cataryn gradually opened up, as we walked and ate. She told me about her family and village.

  Her village, named Moswynd, was nestled deep in the Faewyn Wood, and composed of a mixture of wood elves, humans, and beastkin.

  She was surprisingly knowledgeable for such a young child, and opened my eyes to the reason I had been treated so badly since transforming — humans were generally looked down upon in the world of Veil.

  Cataryn didn’t say this directly; I was able to infer it in her description of the city and her parents. Her father was a wood elf, and her mother a human. Their union was frowned upon in the larger cities, but was becoming more commonplace in the smaller villages being built up by the outcasts on the fringes of society.

  It was early-afternoon when we passed through the northern gate, which was a massive stone archway, with two wide doors of dark wood, banded in iron. They remained open, and a moderate amount of foot traffic entered and exited the city, under the watchful eyes of the city guard that manned the gate, and the high walls that surrounded the city and stretched in both directions.

  I hadn’t seen any other players in our journey through the city, just a wide variety of NPCs that were mostly elven, but also included dwarves, beastkin of various sorts, and the occasional human. The two of us caught more than one sideways glance or glare, but no one approached us or said anything outright.

  The wide cobblestone road continued beyond the city gate and through a barren field that surrounded the city. The field was bereft of any structures or trees. Beyond the field was a meadow, with small saplings that gradually grew larger and closer together as we approached the massive expanse of forest to the north, which coated the distant horizon in multiple shades of emerald and scarlet, from the canopy of the forest.

  “How long does it take to get to your village?” I asked as we made our way down the trail. I eyed my map, which showed a blinking indicator for the quest, that appeared to be far to the northeast.

  “I dunno,” she said, “we never visited the city before, and the men who took me… they did something to me that made me sleepy, and I woke up in the city.”

  “How did you get away from them?”

  “I woke up, tied up in the back of a cart, one of those covered carts that the people who sell sweets in town sometimes have, the ones that come and go. Only, it was dark and didn’t smell like sweets. It smelled really bad.”

  She sniffed, rubbing at her nose. “I was tied up, with something tied around my head and stuffed in my mouth. It tasted awful.”

  She screwed up her face, remembering, but told the story evenly, in an eerily detached manner. “They tied me up tight in some rope, but didn’t check for Daniel. Daddy always said to keep Daniel close by, and I’m glad, because he saved me.”

  “Who’s Daniel?”

  “Oh, he’s my Elfinblade.” She reached down and pulled a tiny knife from a sheath hidden under her right sock, tied around her ankle. “It’s part of my daddy’s herilage. Very important. Daniel’s my best friend.”

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  The blade was small, but looked comfortable in her tiny hand. The hilt was an emerald green wood, with a carving of ivy vines that continued up the small blade in glittering green. The blade was nearly black, and wickedly sharp.

  I was shocked that such a small but undoubtedly deadly weapon had been entrusted to a child.

  “That’s incredible, Cataryn — you were very brave.”

  “Yes, I am very brave. Me and Daniel can do anything!”

  I smiled, noticing how reverently she held the blade before slipping it back in the hidden sheath. She didn’t wave it around or play with it, but treated it with care and respect.

  “You’re a great kid. I look forward to meeting your parents.”

  “I can’t wait to see mommy and daddy! Do you know where my home is?”

  “I know where it is, yes, but not exactly how to get there. We will just be careful and head in the general direction. I need your help, though: keep your eyes out for anything dangerous.”

  “Sure! Mommy and daddy showed me lots of dangerous animals and plants in the forest. I’ll help!”

  We followed the main path deeper into the forest for half an hour, until it split. Looking at the map, it seemed like the smaller path to the right was headed in our general direction. A rough wooden sign confirmed it, and we left the moderate foot traffic, and made our way deeper into the forest and further from civilization.

  The canopy above began blocking out most of the sun, casting the forest into a perpetual gloom that was illuminated occasionally by bioluminescent fungus that dappled the forest floor with a faint blue glow.

  We had been walking for a while; it was difficult to tell the passage of time in the perpetual dusk. Cataryn had been going into great detail about her favorite flower, and the way the pink petals would break apart into smaller, perfectly sized pieces, when I got a bad feeling in my gut, and stopped walking.

  I held out my hand. She stopped talking mid-sentence. Her eyes opened wide, looking everywhere at once. I glanced around as well, trying to identify the cause of this feeling of unease that squeezed my stomach into a knot.

  It was the smell. That same musky odor I had smelled in the alley from the weasel beastkin, one of Cataryn’s kidnappers.

  I looked around but didn’t see any signs of people. My mini-map showed we were about halfway through the forest to the destination, which I assumed was Cataryn’s village. I saw no red dots. I strained my ears, but couldn’t hear anything telling through the vibrant sounds of the forest. A cacophony of chirps, whistles, and other noises native to woodlands was all I could hear.

  Then I saw it.

  A slight twinkle of light reflecting off of a narrow line that had been drawn across the path ahead. The path itself was in shadow and obscured the thread, but an errant shifting of the foliage above from winds had momentarily illuminated a portion and caught my attention.

  It looked like the men who had stolen Cataryn had headed us off and set up an ambush. Not surprising or difficult, considering they knew which path we were likely to take.

  I looked above the trap, and saw a net suspended twenty feet above the path, hidden amongst the tree limbs. A small twig snapped behind us, and I turned to see the elven man emerge from the shadows, stepping onto the path.

  He held a long staff with a U-shaped implement at the end – a mancatcher. That U-shaped device was designed to wrap around a person’s neck and restrain them.

  “Should have taken the gold, human idiot,” the elven man sneered.

  I heard a sound in the opposite direction and turned my head. Both beastkin emerged from the shadows along the path, just in front of the trap. They stood close together, nearly shoulder to shoulder.

  The wolf wielded a lasso in one hand, and a short spear in the other. The weasel had another mancatcher.

  “Gonna gut ya,” the wolf growled.

  “Stay close” I whispered to Cataryn, taking her hand in mine.