“I think they might be this way Thistle.” River whisper hissed to his slow and clumsy friend.

“River… you… still… haven’t told me where we are going yet.” Thistle responded, trying hard to regain his breathing.

“Fiiiiiiinnnnne.” River dragged out the word to emphasize his annoyance. “We are going to go find humans!” He said excitedly.

It was extremely rare to spot a human, about as rare as spotting a stallion.

“No. No. We are turning back right now!” Thistle stated. “Humans are too dangerous! Nobody has seen a human in centuries, in fact I think nobody has ever seen a human!”

“Are you scared, Thistle?” River asked raising his eyebrows at his shaking friend.

“What?! No.” He said, obviously lying. “But seriously though, River, you are taking us to the Dark Wood.”

“Ya, and?” River prompted, knowing exactly what Thistle was going to say, but wanting to hear him say it first himself.

“And…that’s where cyclops, and trolls, and…unicorns live.”

The last two words were barely audible. River rolled his eyes and said, “Listen, we are fine, Mr. Scared of unicorns.”

“You remember what happened to the last elf who saw a unicorn.” Thistle shivered at the memory.

“Well we don’t have to worry about that, because we aren’t going to see one. Besides, how stupid do you think I actually am?” River questioned.

“I’m not so sure you want the answer to that.”

“Anyway,” River said, side eyeing Thistle. “We are going to the village that was left behind centuries ago, as far as we know humans are extinct. And I mean, come on, how cool would it be to go and see that? And if we see a little extra it won’t hurt. We will be careful.”

“Okay, okay. You win. Let’s go see the village.”

The two elves walked to the village, but didn’t stay for as long as they had hoped. For after only a few short minutes did they spot something unexpected.