As the gate slowly opened, a small dust cloud formed temporarily, blinding the siblings. They closed their eyes and covered their face with their hands. When they finally dared open their eyes the gate of Omashu was fully open allowing the two to see the infamous protected city. On the other side, what seemed to be a market was taking place. Hundreds of people were crowded in the area, all of them seeming to shout at the same time. Jae listened to the noise and was surprised that that amount of noise hadn't been heard on the other side of the wall. Yeonso thought nothing of the noise but was more worried about the glances that people were giving them. Shock was one of the emotions that he saw when people stared, hunger was another, and the most worrying was greed.

Jae told Tarak to move forward by pressing both her legs on his sides. The Eaglehorse moved his head down and up as though he was nodding and took confident steps forward. An eerie silence was starting to grow and it looked like the entire population of Omashu was staring intensely at the three new arrivals. Yeonso, feeling uncomfortable, tried to shrink from the stares; his sister on the other hand simply looked ahead as though she couldn't care less that a huge amount of people concentrated on memorising their faces.

Never before had these people seen a creature like an Eaglehorse. Most did not know what he was, the few that were aware of what kind of creature Tarak was were stunned to find that his species wasn't completely extinct. Most of the people present who were past the initial shock were already starting to plan how they were going to steal Tarak and kill the children on its back. They were either going to kill and eat him or they were going to sell him to the highest bidder which was going to kill and eat him. As people were planning their thievery, the silence started to die and was replaced by voices filled with blood lust.

"Sis I think that…"

"I know, Tarak will need to get out of here after we've found a place to hide in"

The Eaglehorse, ignorant of the fact that he was going to have to be separated from his humans in a short while, was rather excited by the new place. Never before had he smelt so many different things, and heard so many noises. He ruffled his feathers and his tail twitched, his brown eyes looking at everything and everyone. Already, Tarak had noticed they were being followed by several different people, and he snorted at their lack of talent for hiding their presence.

Jae moved so that her head was next to her long time friend's and asked

"Are we already being followed?"

In response to the question the Eaglehorse snorted and simply kept on moving forward.

"We're so dead"

"Thanks Yoyo for that very optimistic view" Jae's voice said filled with sarcasm

"Oh please you know as well as I that we're probably being followed by half of this rotten city who are all ready to gut us"

"Pessimism won't get us anywhere"

Yeonso simply rolled his eyes in response to his sister. By then, the siblings knew what they were going to do; first of all they were going to find a location where they weren't as easily visible to the stalkers. Then the siblings would get off the Eaglehorse leaving him to act as bait to the thieves. After he had leaded them away from the location of the children, Tarak would fly from Omashu to an area where they had left a little food for him. He would then fly back to Omashu under the cover of darkness a couple of days later after the siblings found a place where to live. The children weren't worried that Tarak would get lost since he was always able to find them. What they were more worried about was that he'd decide to come back during the day when people were still outdoors.

The plan was put to work and luckily every thief was too busy dreaming about eating the Eaglehorse to realise that it didn't have any passengers on anymore. All but one left at the sight of the creature galloping away.

"Well that takes care of that"

"Hopefully"

"Again with the pessimism?"

"I don't have a lot to be optimistic about to be honest."

"I know Yoyo, but on the bright side we're finally safe" Jae said this without looking at her younger sibling. Instead she stared at the derelict building surrounding the two. They had hidden in a sombre place where people didn't live. The infrastructure of the buildings was crumbling and the taller buildings threatened to fall. Ancient metal objects had been abandoned, allowing time to rust them and give them a look of despair. The pavement was cracked and in some area crevices had formed, deep enough for a person to stay trapped in. Although mud and dirt had infiltrated the area, seeds refused to grow leaving the region dark and dead.

"Come on, let's get out of here and find a place we can call home."

"I hope Tarak will be fine"

Jae simply nodded at her brother and walked ahead. Yeonso stared at her for a while before following.

Several hours passed, the sun had set and yet the siblings still hadn't found a place where they could sleep safely for the night. Though Omashu was safe, people were worried some demons would be able to penetrate this strange barrier. Foolishly, humans thought that hiding inside their homes would protect them from any spirit invasion. The siblings on the other hand weren't trying to find shelter from the spirits, but rather from the humans that wouldn't think twice about killing them.

It was then that Yeonso heard a noise which sounded suspiciously like footsteps.

"Sis!"

"Hmmm…?"

"Someone's following us"

"Are you sure?" Panic could be heard in Jae's voice.

Yeonso nodded slowly, his eyes wide with fear yet his voice was quiet and confident, trying to keep the stalker from being suspicious.

"I definitely heard footsteps"

"Shitshitshitshit. See that corner?"

Yeonso nodded again but this time it was smaller and quicker, barely noticeable.

"When we reach the corner we are going to turn and walk five steps and then sprint, do you understand?"

Another quick little nod was her answer. Jae then took her little brother's hand and started running once they reached the corner. They didn't stop and they only looked back when a voice said

"No, wait, STOP"

Obviously they didn't stop knowing full well that only idiots stopped when someone they didn't know asked them to stop.

They ran for a good while before they finally came to a halt. Jae was confident that they had lost their pursuer, while Yeonso was bent over gasping for air like a fish on land.

"Yoyo (Yeonso's nickname), we can only rest a few moment then we need to move"

The boy's answer was a gasp for air. Jae looked at her brother with pity, having forgotten that her brother was only ten years old thus not being as physically strong as she was.

Their short rest was interrupted by a gasping voice saying

"Don't run, I'm not here to hurt you. Please. Believe me… I just want to talk"

The person talking was hidden by the shadows but it was clear from the tone of the voice that a) the speaker was male and b) he was young, probably the same age as Jae if not slightly older than her.

"You have a funny way of showing that you mean no harm by following us the way you did." Jae answered coldly.

"Right, sorry 'bout that" The voice said

"So what do, pant do you pant want?" It was Yeonso that asked the question this time.

"Just wanna talk"

The siblings stared at the figure full of mistrust for a couple of seconds before Jae asked what he wanted to talk about.

"I was wondering if you wanted to stay with me and my family for then night since I'm aware that you have nowhere else to sleep"

Jae frowned and answered

"Yeah, a good night's sleep from which we'll never wake up. Sorry to disappoint but we're not idiots who are going to trust the first person we meet. Also, for your information, we have nothing of value except maybe for our ride but as you'll have noticed he's not here anymore"

"Look" the voice started angrily "I couldn't care less about the bird thingy you came on but I don't want to see a person my age or a kid die gutted like a pig by one of the scum living in this rotten city! Also, I think that only an idiot would refuse help from someone who was going to allow them to rest in their home"

Jae's mouth clenched and her hands rolled into fists but before she could retort to the insult her little brother fainted from fatigue and hunger. Jae and the figure hiding in the shadows reacted instantly by both kneeling next to the fallen figure. Worry and terror were etched on the girl's face and her eyes lost the confident and cold glint they had, to be replaced by confusion and despair.

"We can go to my house where you can take care of him better, and he can have warm food"

This time Jae was too worried and didn't answer but simply put the boy on her back and nodded. Both teenagers then started a slow jog, the boy in front of his guest guiding both of them. The small group travelled quickly and quietly, going through what seemed to be a maze of old and soulless houses. When Jae wasn't panicking over her little brother riding her back, she was certain that the boy in front had gotten all of them lost since it seemed impossible anyone could find their way in such a city. Much to her surprise the boy stopped not in front of a house like she expected but at the entrance of a sewer.

"You can't be serious?"

"Don't worry my house isn't there, this is just one of the paths"

Jae didn't answer; she simply looked at the now opened entrance in disgust. The boy smirked and told her to get a move on. They entered through the sewer quickly, neither wanting to stay in the area longer than necessary. When the tunnel split into two, the boy showed Jae a ladder which they had to climb.

"Once you go up the second house on your left is ours, it's pretty recognisable since it has a hole on top"

"What about you?"

"I need to get food"

"I have food"

"I know but it's yours"

"If you really are going to take care of him and me tonight I owe you"

"Fair point, let's go then"

Once again the boy led the way and he opened the door with a big cry, shouting:

"I'M HOME!" He then said to Jae "Put you brother on my bed, it's the green rags in the room on the right.

The girl simply nodded thanks, and hurried to put her brother on the so-called bed. Once she was sure that her brother was fine, she studied the room they were in. It was small, that was the first thing she noticed. The second thing she noticed was that there were two other raggedly made beds. They weren't as comfortable as real beds but much better than sleeping on the floor, they would be warmer and softer than the ground. She also saw that the room was made up of wood that was old but not yet rotten. She then went out of the bedroom and entered the first room. It was slightly bigger but not by much. The state of the walls and the floor was the same as in the other room, the wood was old but not rotten. In the middle of the room was a table and three stools. Clearly, it was meant to be a dining room. On a side wall there was what seemed to be a chimney which had a large pot inside but no fire had been started. Next to the door leading to the bedroom stood another door, obviously closed this time.

Once Jae had finished studying the room she realised that she wasn't alone. There wasn't only the boy that had led her here but also two other children that were hiding behind the legs of the first boy. He was taller than Jae but just as thin. He had dark brown hair that fell messily over his browny-green eyes which seemed kind and intelligent. He was relatively tanned but that was hidden by his brown shirt which had holes by the cuffs. His trousers were of a similar colour but they had holes on the right knee. His sandals were black and clearly worn.

"Hey, so how is he?"

"He'll be fine, he's just tired"

"So I guess I'll introduce us, my name's Ayumu and the little monsters behind me are Jord and Monserrat. They're my family."

The two kids were clearly twins. Both had the same light brown hair and the same chocolate brown eyes that were deeply suspicious and weary. They were less tanned than Ayumu but more so than Jae and the shape of their jaw and nose was identical. Their eyelashes were long and their height was the same. The only reason she could tell one of them was female was that Monserrat had long hair, past her shoulders and the fact that her eyebrows were softer. Clearly they were a year or two older than her younger brother and they saw Ayumu as the responsible one that they idolised.

"So you are?" The eldest boy asked

"Right, my name is Jae and obviously the boy in the other room is my little brother. He's called Yeonso. We just arrived today but I guess you knew that."

Awkward silence followed her description while they all studied each other. Ayumu then coughed and asked if they wanted to have dinner. Jae understood the message and opened her bag. Judging by the fact that they were five she prepared three squirrels and eight carrots. The twins stared for a while before getting water. A fire in the chimney had started thanks to Ayumu. When the dinner was prepared and five bowls and spoons were on the table Yeonso conveniently woke up.

TLtTHE