Two full days and nights passed in absolute silence. Corin, Nanaua and Ciana dared not move, speak, or interact with their surroundings. They waited in the cave for a sign, any sign that there was no more danger.

  On the third morning, the sign came.

  As Corin struggled to sleep, he heard something rustling the foliage outside the cave. Corin at first paid it no mind. He assumed it was some animal that was running around trying to find a spot to hide.

  He closed his eyes, and the rustling came to a stop. Mere moments later, he felt hot air on his face.

  He opened his eyes to see Kaha’s snout right above his head. The wolf licked Corin with great enthusiasm.

  “I am not dead, and you may not eat me.” Corin muttered as he tried to sit up.

  “What is it?” Nanaua groggily asked as the commotion got her attention.

  “Kaha!” She exclaimed with a newfound sense of energy.

  “The wolf!” Ciana chimed in as well. She had been the only one not to suffer hunger during their time. What little light came into the cave nourished her.

  Kaha ran with fervor to Nanaua, who scratched the creature’s head.

  “I thought you were dead, Kaha!” Nanaua exclaimed.

  Kaha left her side and went back to sniffing Corin’s face.

  “I told you, you cannot eat me!” Corin said with a newfound sense of energy as he stood up. Even if it took the last of his energy, he would not let the wolf feast on him while he still lived.

  Standing up made Corin realize how malnourished and weak he was. He needed to leave the cave.

  “The wolf is a survivor.” Ciana replied to Nanaua, walking towards Kaha. “He would not dare venture through the land if danger were still present.”

  Corin and Nanaua exchanged looks.

  “Is it safe to go outside?” The two of them asked simultaneously.

  “I would say so, but we need to use caution in our movements.” Ciana replied. “We are not afforded the same level of freedom we used to enjoy. It is safe to assume that Giants will kill furtives on sight. We will have to be careful in how we traverse outside.”

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  “Yes, of course, of course.” Nanaua replied with obvious exasperation. “But first we eat.”

  The three of them left the cave to find an unrecognizable landscape. The surrounding forest lay wrecked around them. Numerous trees lay strewn around them; some split in half right where they stood, some ripped from their base. Only a few trees remained untouched of what had been a once lush forest.

  “So much destruction.” Corin said.

  Kaha scampered off ahead of them. He went only a short distance before finding a dead deer. The wolf ate from the carcass.

  “That will have to do for now.” Nanaua said as she moved towards it.

  “If you are to cook the meat, do so in the cave. Lest you want to bring the Giant's attention to us,” Ciana told them.

  Corin and Nanaua gathered the last of their waning energy to bring the dead animal to the cave and cook it. Corin was not even concerned with seasoning the food. He was so hungry that the thought did not even occur to him.

  Corin gave Kaha some of the cooked meat.

  Once their hunger was sated, the four of them ventured outside once more.

  Studying the destruction around them, Ciana was the first to pose a question.

  “What are we to do now?” She asked. “Do you have any inkling where the residents of Seingen would have gone?”

  Corin and Nanaua looked at each other.

  “No conversation about the matter ever took place.” Corin stated. “Furtives are well accustomed to having their homes destroyed and moving around. But we never considered an event where all settlements were under threat.”

  “Is it not possible for you to communicate with the trees? To determine where furtives might have gone?” Nanaua asked her.

  “I’m… I’m not sure,” Ciana replied. “I am not sure if communicating through the trees is as safe as I once thought it was. The fact that the Giant tricked us by communicating through the trees is troubling to me. I am afraid that if I speak to the trees, the Giant will learn of our presence and will use that to find us.”

  “So there is no way to communicate through the trees any longer?” Nanaua asked.

  “I can try listening.” Ciana said. “But I will not chance speaking through them.”

  “There is nothing else we have.” Nanaua replied. “We will have to rely on that.”

  “Then I will listen to the trees.” Ciana replied as she walked over to the nearest undamaged tree.

  Corin studied the forest elf as she touched the tree and fell silent. He observed her for a while until Ciana fell back from the tree. It seemed as if she had pulled herself away.

  “Something’s not right.” Nanaua said as she ran to Ciana’s side. Corin followed, and upon approaching Ciana, saw her sobbing.

  “What is the matter?” Nanaua asked with concern. “What did you hear?”

  She looked up at Nanaua.

  “There was nothing.” Ciana began. “The trees. They have fallen silent. I searched as far as I could. And then I heard the most hideous voice.”

  “What did it say?” Corin asked.

  “Give us the furtives.”

  ***

  Corin and Nanaua spent the next day regaining their energy after leaving the cavern. Their ability to move about, eat, and see something more than dank cave walls improved their spirits.

  Ciana, unlike them, did not seem concerned with anything else but listening to the trees. She had been listening to the trees for close to the entire time.

  “We need to move on from here.” Nanaua said loudly. She hoped Ciana’s attention would come off the tree, but Ciana continued.

  “But what should we do?” Corin asked in a low voice. This part he was not sure he wanted Ciana to hear. “We do not know where the others went”

  “Any sort of clue to their whereabouts that Daum or Kereina might have left in the town has probably been reduced to rubble by now.” Nanaua replied. “That damned Giant destroyed everything.”

  “But where could they have gone?” Corin asked.

  “The people of Seingen are many things; one of them is resourceful.” Nanaua replied. “I am sure that they found a place that suited their needs.”

  Corin was silent. He knew Nanaua was correct. The townspeople of Seingen had survived many hardships; this was not a new state of affairs for them.

  “If they are hiding from Giants, then our probing could do more harm than help.” Nanaua followed. “The people of Seingen are used to surviving without us.”

  “So that leaves us then.” Corin replied. “If we are to continue ahead, what are we to do?”

  “There is only one other group I can think of.” She replied.

  “That’s right.” Corin thought. “The furtive army. It was going to be our next stop, regardless.”

  “Hm.” She began. “Precisely. But this road is also fraught with danger.”

  “You mean Jokasta?” Corin asked.

  ‘Yes.” Nanaua began. “I don’t know what sort of reception we will receive once she sees us. From what we have heard from the others of Seingen, she still requires total submission. Are you willing to submit to her?”

  Corin did not even think before replying.

  “Never.”

  “Well, we ought to expect hostility from her.” Nanaua replied with a hint of disapproval.

  “Would you submit to her?” Corin asked, anger rising in her tone.

  Nanaua seemed insulted.

  “Is that a serious question?”

  “Would you?” He insisted.

  “Not even if death was the only alternative.”