Chapter 8:

Echo scowled as Leech stopped her horse and looked up at her,

"My turn." It said.

Echo pouted, "It's my horse."

Leech waved her away, "You haven't even named her yet. Come on. I'm tired of walking."

Echo jumped off and handed it the reins, "I'm going to name her Powder."

Leech nodded and and started riding Powder. Echo walked next to Powder. The sun sent weak and pathetic bits of sunlight towards the ground, but the cold wind swirled all the warmth away.

Echo and Leech kept walking in silence before Echo said, "Let me ride Powder again! My feet are tired."

Leech laughed, "You're kidding me! I went for hours walking and it's only been half an hour!"

Echo scowled, "How do you know that? We haven't made a sundial since this morning and we don't have an hourglass!"

Leech groaned, "Please Echo?"

Echo pretended to ponder it for a moment, "Fine. Tell me a story!"

Leech sighed with exasperation and looked at her, "Fine. What do you want to hear?"

Echo paused for a second before saying eagerly, "What about how you found me."

Leech shook it's head, "I'm pretty sure you don't want to hear that story Echo."

Echo scowled, "I deserve to know the truth. All I was ever told was that my parents died."

Leech looked straight ahead and said coldly, "We've been through too much lately Echo. Drop the subject now."

"But-"

"I said," Leech looked at her, it's voice full of anger, "Drop it."

Echo stopped in her tracks and stared at the Crenga. It had never raised it's voice with her. She stared at it as it continued to ride Powder, oblivious to her surprise.

A moment later, she reluctantly followed Leech, and pondered it's reaction. Leech had been the one to find Echo, and no one else in the caravan had known where she had come from except Anette. Anette, being Anette, always changed to subject to Skulduggery Pleasant or how the world had been like before the war.

And she never pushed for the truth. What she had been told was just enough for Echo to feel mildly curious, but not very eager to know.

The caravan was made up of Annete and Leech. Dena, Gordon, and Nadar hadn't joined yet.

They were stopped by a town and an old man asked them to take her in. He said that her parents had died in a local brawl and that he was a close friend of them. He didn't want to keep her because he was near the end of his life and couldn't take care of her.

But Echo was sure something was being kept from her. Who were her parents? Were they nice? What did they look like? What were their names? Why did they insist she be called 'Echo'? What village was she from?

All of this spun through Echo's head as she walked, one foot in front of the other, the thick soles of her rawhide boots making shallow prints in the firm, damp ground. She followed the soft prints that Powder's hooves made.

After a long time, Leech stopped Powder and climbed off of her, and offered Echo the reins. It didn't say anything, just kept walking after Echo had control of the horse. Echo bit her lip with worry as she watched Leech. What had really happened? Why was Leech so reluctant to share it, and was it so angry with her that it wouldn't even speak to her?

She sighed and mounted Powder and flicked the reins, and poor, tired Powder grunted and started walking slowly. The sun was beginning to set, and as it descended, the wind picked up, it's howling growing louder and louder. Echo's brown, messy hair was being whipped around, and bits of loose sand hit her face, and got caught in her eyelashes.

She rubbed her eyes with one hand and held the reins in the other while she got the sand out of her eyes.

"Echo," Leech said with mild excitement, "Look!"

Echo looked up with watery eyes at where the Crenga was pointing, "What?"

"A campfire, over there in the distance." Leech said, walking back to where Powder was. It pointed at a small light in the distance, with a plume of smoke coming off it.

"Do you think it's Craven?" Echo asked excitedly, her face flushed.

"Can't tell from here…" Leech muttered under it's breath before starting walking again. Echo spurred Powder and trotted alongside Leech,

"How far do you think it is?" She asked, looking at the fire in the distance from the slope they were on.

Leech shrugged, "Maybe four, five miles." It said, "Shouldn't take that long. But just in case it isn't Craven, we need to use caution. That means that we need to keep quiet and get off the trail."

Echo nodded and climbed off Powder and led her off the trail, where the ground was softer and small, scruffy sagebrush grew plentifully.

Leech walked farther off the path and Echo followed. Echo tried her best to navigate Powder through the numerous gopher holes in the dark. The last thing she needed was for Powder to twist her ankle.

After two hours of walking, Echo was able to make out several figures seated around the campfire.

She squinted and she could just make out Craven's cheery face and Amanda's angelic eyes.

"It's them." She whispered to Leech. It looked at her and then nodded, "Then you can go tell them we're here." It said, speaking normally.

"Craven!" She yelled, cupping her hands so her voice would carry.

She saw Craven's figure jump a little, and he wildly looked around.

"It's Echo! From Anette's caravan" She shouted, and Craven immediately relaxed a little.

"Oh!" He said, finally seeing them, "Nice to see you again Echo, who's that? And where's the rest of your caravan?"

Echo started walking down the slope towards Craven's caravan and Leech trailed behind like a shadow.

"This is Leech." Echo said as she neared the campfire, "It's a Crenga. As for our caravan, well, it's a long story."

Craven smiled at Leech and looked at Echo with worry, "Is everyone alright? What happened?"

Echo sighed and started telling him the story. When she got to the part when they found the ruined caravan, she started to break down and Leech took over, telling Craven what had happened point by point with it's sweet, warm voice.

When they had finished, Amanda, who had been sitting there the whole time, had her hands covering her mouth with horror, her eyes wide with shock,

"Even Nadar?" She whispered with dread, her eyes pleading for Echo to say he was alright.

Echo was about to answer, but Leech cut in, "Everyone was killed but us."

Craven stood up and said gravely, his usually sparkling eyes were serious and sad, "I'm so sorry for your loss. I'd be happy to let you two join us. Leech, you can sleep in Rafael's wagon, I'm sure he wouldn't mind sharing with Julian, and Echo, you can share with Amanda. That is, if you wish to travel with us."

Echo nodded, "Thank you Craven."

Craven smiled sadly, "Of course. We need to look after each other yes? There are only a few of us left."

Echo smiled and nodded, but on the inside, she felt sick. She wasn't one of them, she was just a mortal.

Thank you for all of you who've read this far, and reviewed.

Icarusthewallaby: I'm so happy my stories inspire you! This is what I do after I watch something I love. I visualize myself in that world and start thinking how my presence would affect the books/movies/whatever. Or, you can always think how a character would respond to something happening in their world (Ex: The mortals find out about magic and declare war ;)). I hope this helps! If you have any questions, feel free to ask! Happy writing!

Chocolate Minion: I'm glad your enjoying it! After I read your review, I thought to myself, Yeah Carrot, what IS up with Far From Godliness? So I reread it and I almost cried. I'm going to redo Far From Godliness (For the third time) and make it more engaging and give it a solid plot to follow.

Galaxy Seven: Glad you like it, I don't plan on making this a crossover, but thanks for the suggestion. Also, all deaths that happen in this are either for plot purposes or because I'm in a bad mood.