They were looking for you. You are well liked in this village, as are your parents, and nobody would speak to the raiders. They dragged the village leader, Senjel, out of his home and whipped him in the street. Still, no one would talk. They put a rope around his neck and hung him from the tree in the square and used him for sword practice. Then the bandits split up and started entering every home with their questions. I am afraid that most people spoke freely by this time, but luckily, no one knew of your whereabouts. I slipped out of town and returned here, but I guess it was only a matter of time before they got around to the outlying farms. They were very frustrated that they could not find you and took their frustrations out on whomever they could. You must get far away from here child. I will see to the burials for you.”

“I am sorry for the grief I have brought to your village,” Lyra apologized. “I am grateful to you and all of the village for your kindness. Please let the rest of the villagers know that I appreciate their acceptance of this burden for me.”

“Nonsense!” exclaimed the farmer’s wife. “You have brought no grief to this village. You are a victim like the rest of us. You are always welcome in our home and our village and we would agree to the burials if no one asked us to because it is the proper thing to do. You must not take blame for something you have no control over, Lyra. Let me get some provisions together for you and your friends. Where will you go? What do you need?”

“You can stay here,” offered Aguara. “We can hide you and those bandits will not get anything out of me, I promise.”

Lyra hugged the farmer’s wife and cried. “Thank you for everything. We have provisions from the Academy and we cannot stay. Forgive me for not saying my plans, but I feel you will be safer if you do not know. The raiders will probably come back again when they cannot find me anywhere else. I must be going now before they think to search around the village more.”