Surprised and alarmed, she too looked around and asked the boy, "Danger? Are you running away from someone? Are they following you?"
Farid only nodded and started bouncing from foot to foot, "I have to go or else they'll beat me for running away."
He started to turn away from Meggie but she caught his arm and said in a pleading voice, "Please, help me. I don't know anything about his place."
The boy looked at her in wonder again. He had never seen such a fair person before. She was like a white shadow against the night background. She seemed so afraid and lost. Her slender form looked so vulnerable and then he thought of the many thieves and murderers that wander and lurked in the shadows. This girl, Meggie, would be a prize for them. They would take advantage of her. A determination came in him. He couldn't just leave her here.
"Alright," he resolved. "You can come with me. We have to hide. The thieves aren't far behind." Just as he said this the sound of feet and the shouts of people reached their ears. It was faint but getting closer.
Meggie grabbed Farid's hand and pulled him through the tight space between the houses. In a whisper, she said, "I know a place where we can hide. It's a bit far." Farid just nodded and ran after her. They weaved their way through houses until they reached the end of the town. Meggie just ran past it without stopping but Farid hesitated. There was nothing but emptiness out there.
As if realizing that Farid wasn't following anymore, Meggie turned around and called out, "Aren't you coming?"
Making up his mind to trust her, he wordlessly put his bare foot on the cool sand and ran to catch up to the fair girl. Anything would be better then to land back with the thieves. He shivered just thinking about what they would do to him if they caught him. Maybe cut off one of his fingers or starve him until he was nothing more than a skeleton.
The fair girl and her animal kept on running strait towards a formation of rocks. Farid looked back at the town and saw as it became smaller and smaller until only the orange lights from candles and torches hinted of the presence of the town. He looked back at Meggie who had slowed down into a walk. He ran a little to walk next to her.
She looked at him and then she said, "There's a cave I found with water. We can hide there until the people that are looking for you give up."
The animal on her shoulder moved and looked at Farid. Farid was fascinated. He had never seen this type of animal before. He held out a hand to pat him on the head but the animal snapped and hissed at his hand. Farid wasn't fast enough and the marten sank his teeth into his finger.
Meggie stopped and looked at him with guilt, "I'm sorry, I should have told you that Gwin bites. Let me look at that," she said as she tried to catch Farid's hand.
Farid pulled it away from her, "It's alright. I've had worse." He looked at his finger and then started sucking at the blood and spat. They continued walking and finally their feet hit rock.
Meggie started to walk faster and after climbing and scraping their knees, legs, and arms Meggie stopped. She pointed at a small cave entrance at the bottom of the huge wall of stone.
"We have to crawl," and then she knelt and started to go in.
Farid followed.
After a few minutes of crawling they reached the back. Meggie moved a bit to the left and said to Farid, "You can drink from the water if you want. There's plenty." Farid moved and drank greedily.
He heard Meggie off to the side, probably resting. He moved towards her and rested next to her, leaning against the wall. He closed his eyes. For once, he wasn't afraid to fall asleep.