skill: ranger

---

The twisting grove did not trap him, but Samo did not leave yet. The shade of the criss-crossed branches muted the rich russet colours of his pelt, and the still-healing wounds that stood stark and raw against it. This was not Gaul—he knew this already. But there was an old familiarity in the  darkness of the forest. He had learned to hide among the trunks as a boy, slipping easily out of reach beyond an enemy’s sword.

They had been fools to let the Romans lure them out into the open.

Samo would never make that mistake again. He heard footsteps, but he stayed where he was, eyes trained on the pale shape that approached through the gloom. The figure kept coming closer, however, and Samo knew he must be spotted.

Who goes there? Samo asked, the barest hint of a snarl on his lips. Yet his ears were pinned, tail tucked low; he did not wish to fight, but if someone dared to try and take him back to where he came, Samo would die fighting them off.

Eliana

skill: ranger

---

No answer. A bad sign. Samo kept low to the ground in an effort to make himself a smaller target. He crept cautiously through the underbrush, muscles tensed, hazel eyes wide. He tracked the sound of quicker, shallower breaths of the stranger, trying to keep downwind—

Yet when he sighted her through the branches, he realized his error. The stranger was not a Roman legionnaire, but a small, pale-furred slip of a girl. Frightened into silence.

At once, the knot of tension and fear in his stomach eased. Guilt trickled into its place.

I do not mean harm, Samo said quickly. I thought you might be a soldier. I am sorry.

The girl was frightened out of her mind. Samo empathized, but did not know how to calm her. Her eyes shone murky white in the dark, and he realized that she was blind.

I am Samo, he told her. He took a step back, sinking low enough the fur of his belly brushed against the leaf litter. Here, to your left. By Taranis, I swear I will not harm you.

A binding oath by the gods was the best assurance he could offer her. No slave, freedman, or citizen would dare break it—or so he had believed, once, but it was all he could do.

What is your name? Why are you alone?