First, Liz collected stones near the waterfall, then she cleared the space for the future campfire. After that, she built a ring of rocks to contain the fire. She found some dry leaves and picked up the crumbled tree bark that was on the ground. She headed deeper into the forest and looked for some twigs, and maybe larger branches, or even logs.

  She stocked everything she found near the ring of rocks. Liz placed a tinder bundle in the middle of the circle, then she leaned small sticks into a cone shape over the tinder. It was ready to be set on fire.

  The shivers covered her skin, so she had to take off her outerwear and hang it up on one of the branches. When she finally took her matches from the bag and tried to light them up. They were soaked in water, which meant no campfire.

  But Liz didn’t panic. She was too tired for that. Instead, she covered herself in TT’s cloak and sat on the ground, her back leaning against the tree. Liz opened her bag and took everything out to dry. Everything was drenched to the skin, except her snacks. She was glad that she listened to Zywa when she told her to wrap your food to save it from accidents. She used an oliphaunt leaf, perfect against the water leaks.

  The wind gently blew through the forest, and rustling noises surrounded Liz. She could no longer hear the waterfall murmur. When it took a short break, she began hearing her stomach begging for fuel.

  She unfolded the giant leaf, and a delicious smell struck her nostrils. The large, protein-rich cookies were stocked in the container. Zywa’s mom, being the Mother of a veteran demon-hunter for many years, knew exactly what to pack.

  As she opened and reached for one, she heard footsteps approaching. She jumped up and ran to her sword. When she saw a silhouette, she was already in a fighting stance, waiting.

  The person heading towards her wore a wide-brimmed, conical-shaped hat made of straw. Long, white fabric strips hung down from the brim of the straw hat, completely hiding his face. They had a much cheaper black full-circle cloak, probably made of wool broadcloth.

  “Hey, you,” she pointed her sword at him. “Are you a hunter or prey?”

  They stopped walking, looked at Liz, then slightly tilted their head to the side as if confused about what they were asked about.

  Liz asked again. “Are you a hunter or prey?”

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  “What are you talking about?” the stranger answered in a male voice.

  Liz didn’t expect that reaction, but at least now she knew that was a man. It didn’t take long before she came up with what to do.

  “Show me your coin.”

  She thought that way, he won’t be able to lie about which side he was on.

  He opened his cloak by sticking out his hand in the middle. Then he lifted them to his eye level, showing the back of his hands. He wore a glove on his left hand, and a long sleeve covered the rest of his arm. Between each of his fingers were different coins.

  Liz couldn’t make out which was which from that far. But regardless of that, now terror ran through her spine.

  How many people did he already take out to get so many? And why did he not stop after one?

  “Which one did you want to see?” he asked.

  “Are you here to take mine too? It won’t be easy, I’m a really good fighter.”

  Liz knew she could protect herself against most people, or maybe even take one of the demons, but the experienced fighter, especially one who can defeat so many and look as if nothing happened to him, was beyond her.

  “Nah, do you want them?”

  All of Liz’s senses were screaming. She knew it was probably a trap, and she couldn’t afford to fall for it.

  “Yes, give them to me,” she was barely able to keep her voice from shaking.

  He put all of the coins in his left hand and came up to her, his hand outstretched. Liz hasn’t trusted him one bit, so she never lowered her sword, just kept aiming it at him. He was unusually calm for someone who had a weapon pointed at him.

  “Here,” he said, his hand reaching.

  Liz slowly outstretched her left hand and opened her palm. She was ready for a strike when he just poured out the coins. She couldn’t believe it. Then he just turned around and started leaving.

  “Wait,” Liz said, and immediately regretted it.

  I should’ve just let him leave while I could.

  He looked back at her. It was hard to read him through his hat, covering his face. No, his whole head.

  “I can’t just take it. Maybe you want something from me?” she pointed at her stuff.

  “Exchange. Yes, let’s do an exchange.” She mumbled.

  It took him a second, but then he unexpectedly said.

  “I’ll take the cookies.”

  “Cookies? Really?”

  “Is there something wrong with the cookies?”

  “No, I just thought you would want something more valuable?”

  “Hah, do you have something more valuable?”

  She got scared when she thought he might take her sword. She has to protect the sword at any cost. It’s a very precious gift she couldn’t lose.

  “No…”

  “Then, I take cookies.”

  She handed her cookies to a strange person, thinking he would leave, but he just sat on the ground and began shaving one after another under the white strips. She could hear him chewing those dry cookies, but couldn’t see his face through. She was curious how he looked, but knew better than prying into someone else's business.

  Finally, she had the time to look at all the coins she now had. Seven coins were resting in her open palm. Liz picked the one looking different from hers and looked at it up close. She closed her left eye and examined it with the other. She looked at it from different angles, but still couldn’t figure out what it meant.