Free Defenders of Kron - The Black Dragon by Ritu Ghosh Page B

the captive with all his strength.
    “No! Stop!”Aaron screamed “Put him down!”
    Ony looked at him in surprise.
    “I said, put him down!” Aaron said in a commanding voice.
    “You do not tell me what to do boy! This is a spy of the Dark Lord and he deserves punishment.”
    The captive was struggling and trying to say something, he grabbed onto the giant’s arms to keep himself from falling.
    “No, you don’t understand, he is not a spy” said Aaron urgently.
    “And how do you know that?” asked Ony.
    “I will tell you if you just put him down” Aaron pleaded.
    Ony hesitated for a moment but finally he put the captive down and stood aside.
    Aaron quickly sat beside the boy and started to untie the cloth on his head. Ony watched Aaron with sharp eyes, he was ready with his axe in case the captive tried to escape. Aaron took the cloth off.
    “Flynn!” he gasped “What are you?.. How did you?…” He didn’t complete his questions and hugged Flynn tight. He untied his hands fast.
    Flynn was unusually silent; he didn’t say a word but looked at Aaron with watery eyes. It looked like he was in the jungle for several days, he was badly bruised all over and most of his cloths were torn.
    “Flynn!” Aaron shook him, but Flynn gave a blank stare.
    “Quick, give me some food and water”, Aaron said.
    “But this is for our journey” Ony spoke up.
    Aaron turned his head angrily. “This is my friend, if it’s too hard for you to share our food, then just give him my share”
    Ony silently handed some bread and the pouch of water he was carrying. Aaron gave it to Flynn and Flynn devoured the dry bread and the pieces of cheese hungrily. He drank like he has not seen water for days.  All this time, Dan stood behind Aaron watching him and Flynn but didn’t say anything. 
    “Are you ok Flynn?” Aaron asked again and Flynn shook his head.

Ony was already back on his horse and had lost all his interest in Flynn. Dan tapped on Aaron’s shoulder and said, “We better be going, there is no time to waste”
    “He is coming with us” Aaron said sternly.
    “He can’t” said Ony “He doesn’t belong with us; ask him to return to the village”
    “No!, I can’t leave him like this. Just look at him” Aaron stood up. “If he can’t come, I am not going either” Aaron folded his hands in protest.
    “But, we don’t even have another horse for him” Ony said.
    “He can ride with me“ Aaron said.
    “Your horse is not strong enough to take the both of you” Dan finally spoke.
    Aaron was out of words, he didn’t know how to convince these men. He looked at Flynn, he was still fallen on the ground, hurt.
    “He can ride with me, we will look for a horse in the next village” Dan said.
    A smile appeared on Aaron’s face. He immediately helped Flynn get on Dan’s horse.

Chapter 7
    Hunter Village
     
    They rode towards the north and came to the end of the jungle. The big tall trees started to disappear and open green lands were now visible. Soon, they entered an uneven valley. Here the land ended abruptly in places. Some places were high and some were low. But the most dangerous were the ones with steep edges.
    Dan lead the way, he rode as if he knew the valley very well. Ony and Aaron tried to keep up with him due to fear of falling behind and not being able to find the right way later. Flynn was still gloomy and was quiet. It worried Aaron though he didn’t show it much.
    “Where are we going? This place is scary“ Aaron said after a while.
    Dan smirked, but did not say anything.
    “I told you we should have stuck to the old path, we did not have to put our lives in such danger” said Ony harshly. He didn’t like where they were going.
    Dan turned to Ony and said “I told you your path is too predictable. This is the valley of the hunters. They do not want outsiders to be able to come here and steal their game. This is the safest place to hide from whoever is following us.”
    “Who is