Chapter 7: We meet again.

 Pan ran.

 He ran up the mountain. Ran as fast as he could. He didn't know where exactly the cottage was, and at this point he had lost the tracks. Now he simply tried to find his apple sapling. 

He knew that, should he not find it, then he was going to be in trouble. After all, his apple sapling provided him with life. If he did not find it, then he was going to die, his last hours too painful for words.

"Ah, it's the nymph."

Pan froze. He knew that voice. Knew who was speaking to him. 

"Here, pretty Nymph! Come now! We thought you were too far gone, but look at you now! All rosy cheeks and fluffy hair!"

As Pan turned around, he saw those three. The brigands from the port. 

There was Alec, the redhead, with more scars than he had skin on his face. And Bran, who looked like a mountain and had not spoken even two words to him. And then, finally, he saw her. 

Annalee, the leader. 

"We were wondering if you died, but look at you! You're just fine!" Annalee said, chuckling. 

"Stay away from me," Pan said as he took out his dagger.

It was a toothpick and had not proven to be much of use the first time around, but he was not going down without a fight!

"The dragon won't save you now, pretty!" Annalee said as she took out her enchanted monk stuff. "And you won't be able to find your apple sapling, either! Not in time, at least!"

She took a fighting stance. Bran and Alec placed themselves between her and Pan. Not that she needed protection.

"It's going to be just fine. We just need your heart. It doesn't have to be more painful than it should be," Annalee said as she sidestepped her underlings and charged.

 "No!" Pan said as he turned tail and ran.

He knew that, as a nymph, he had a better connection with nature than Annalee and her goons.

He could run faster. 

Pan ran down the mountain slope he had just been climbing. He ran in different directions, zigzagging, hiding behind trees, hoping beyond hope he could lose those three. 

"We are going to find you! We need your heart for the transplantation of the king!" he could hear that harpy, Annalee yapping behind him. 

He ran. Ran, guided by something, but what he didn't know was that it was not his apple sapling.

 But rather his connection to Brandon. 

Before he knew it, he was before a cliff. The cliff looked so as if it had no end in sight. He looked down, then at the three who were coming towards him. 

"No, you will never get me alive!" Pan said as he jumped down.

He fell, knowing he was going to die. He fell like a rock. And then, just as he was about to hit the ground, he actually found something hard, but warm, underneath him.

"What? Where?" Pan said as he patted the scales beneath him.

 They were brown with reddish undertones. Big, too.

"Pan, are you okay?" he could hear Brandon's voice caring over the snowstorm. 

Pan blinked. When had the snowstorm began?

 "Pan, look, hold on tight. I'm going to get us to the village, and then we are going to get the guards on them!" Brandon yelled as he turned tail and flew back towards the village.

Back to the protection of the barrier.

0000

Annalee placed her hand over her forehead, tapping her foot.

"I can't believe the dragon saved him again!" She hissed as she brought her monk's staff down on Alec's head. "Why'd you let him go? You could have shot him in the leg! You're an archer." 

"And yeah, I could have shot him in the leg, but what if he actually died? We needed his heart to be still beating for the king. Now we can have a second chance at getting him," Alec said. 

There were times when he wondered why he even fought alongside Annalee.

She was all talk, but still, she had her uses. The suckers they got for the organ transplantations always liked to eye her. 

Well, Pan had not. But Pan had eyed him, and that had been telling enough.

"Those damn fairies! They always find someone strong to protect them!" Annalee yelled as she hit a rock. 

Alec decided that it was the smartest thing she had done in a while. After all, if she had hit him one more time, he was going to make sure the girl got slapped silly. 

"The dragon didn't burn us," Bran said as he scratched himself behind the head. "Do you think that we will have trouble with the dragon? I mean, what if we can't get the nymph? Then the king will die."

 "Oh, he can't die. If he dies, we are going to end up poor. He is our best customer," for the king liked to live a life of excess, and he, just like any other person who didn't care much about anyone, was about as unhealthy as someone who had already run five organs down the drain.

"The king won't die, and the nymph will be ours," Alec said, as he placed both of his hands on Bran's shoulders. 

He, this cousin of his, needed more convincing than most to hunt those who got away. Bran was squeamish, Alec knew, but the slave rune made sure that he did his part. 

"We will need help. The nymph is the only nymph left of Theanore's family. If we don't get him, we won't be able to transplant the heart," Alec said, as he winked at Annalee.

"And you, dear, will need to step up your game," he added.

"Oh yes! Let them play at being healers and farmers! I know what to do!" Annalee said, as she touched her pendant. 

Soon, she looked like a fairly pregnant woman who was down on her luck. Her clothes were draped around her as if they were potato sacks, and they were obviously dirty. 

"After all, who can say no to a pretty face?" she said, as she touched her hair, which was a lovely dark hour.

 And so, Alec and Bran parted their ways with her, going in search of the apple sapling as Annalee descended down the slope towards the village.

 Towards Pan.