| |
Mira had me worried. She’d taken a good hit to the head. The gashes on her chest matched the ones I had on my upper back, and we both had too many stinging nicks and scratches to count.
To put simply how bad it was, I willingly let Mira run water over my injuries to wash them. It wasn’t much, we had no soap or proper bandages, but we did alright. We took an old shirt and tore it into strips for dressings.
We argued about what to do for a while, eventually agreeing to rest for a couple of hours. I wanted to stay put a little longer. Even if the pair of wolves came back, at least now I knew that usual response of throwing fire everywhere when panicking worked. I really should’ve done that sooner. Then maybe Mira wouldn’t have quite so large a lump on her head.
By around midday, our bandages were far from being soaked through, and Mira insisted she felt better, so we got up and continued on down the road. I wasn’t very happy with it, as the bump on Mira’s head was still pretty sizeable. I tried to lighten the mood and say her mess of red hair would hide it. That comment got me a good hose down.
We kept walking. The trees were almost all riots of colour by now, though the leaves had yet to begin falling. I tried to pretend my injuries didn’t hurt but I’m pretty sure Mira saw through it. Mira kept her arms protectively crossed over her chest most of the time, her shirt gaping where it’d been torn. I could feel cool air where the back of my sweater had been ripped.
Even if we had a needle and thread, it wasn’t like either of us had much experience hand sewing. And it wasn’t like our experience sewing with a machine was much better. We could probably manage, but I’d more enjoyed sewing flowers in Penny’s mane than sewing clothes. I kept fidgeting with the strap of my satchel, which rubbed on my back and irritated my biggest wounds.
The adventure I had been so excited about wasn’t going very well.
“How do we know we haven’t passed the place we’re looking for?” I asked.
“We don’t, but no one knows where it is, so we keep walking.” It seemed like a fair point, but my aching feet didn’t want to agree.
“Hey!” an unfamiliar voice shouted. Mira and I tensed, ready to run.
It wasn’t anything terrifying. Just a man, maybe a few years older than us, on a horse drawn cart. There was nothing particularly noteworthy or memorable about him, though somehow his eyes seemed out of place. “You two need a lift somewhere?” he asked, pulling the horse to a stop beside us.
“We’re on our way to Sardis. Have you ever heard of it?” Mira asked with a polite smile.
“Hmmm . . .” He ran a hand threw his hair, and I resisted the urge to run and hug the horse. I missed Penny. “Sardis . . . It sounds familiar.”
“It’s an old village. Like, really old,” I pointed out.
“Old . . . Oh, you won’t find Sardis,” he said simply.
“What?” Mira and I exclaimed together.
“What do you mean?” Mira asked. I was pretty sure he was going to get soaked soon.
“That name isn’t used anymore. They changed it ages back,” he replied.
“How do you know that? No one else has a clue what we were talking about,” Mira said skeptically.
“I know my history. It’s called Aguat now.”
“Aguat,” I muttered under my breath.
“If that’s where you’re headed, it’s another few days walk from here. I could give you a ride if you want. Shave a day off. I’m going that way, anyway.”
I looked at Mira hopefully and she shook her head. She didn’t say anything, but I got the message. We shouldn’t trust him.
Please, I begged silently. We’ll get there faster.
And if he’s lying? We’ll keep walking.
But, horse.
No.
Yes.
No.
“Uh, everything alright?” The man waved his hand in front of our face. “Do you need a lift or not?”
“Not. Thank you anyways,” Mira said stiffly. I crossed my arms. She started walking down the road and I followed. So did the man. He kept his cart beside us on the road.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Yes,” Mira answered.
“Well, at least let me give you some supplies. There aren’t a whole lot of towns on this road. This a pretty deserted Forest Road bypass, after all. I don’t mind sharing some of my lunch. I don’t have spare clothing, but maybe a mending kit? The whole attacked by the forest look doesn’t suit you.”
He dug into a basket behind him and tossed us a small wooden box. I caught it and opened it. There were many colours of thread and different sized needles. I slipped it into my satchel.
“Thanks,” I said.
“We’ll pass on the food,” Mira said.
“Suit yourselves. Good luck getting to Aguat. Have a g’day.” With a flick of the reins the horse picked up speed, trotting down the road to leave Mira and I walking in silence.
Mira watched the dust cloud settle. “I don’t trust him,” she said.
I thought about it. “Yeah,” I agreed. “I’ll admit there was something off.”
“And yet you were going to willingly get into his cart.”
“Well, I’m sick of walking. Besides, he can’t be all bad, he has a horse,” I pointed out.
“You don’t have to be a good person to own a horse,” she countered.
“But you do for the horse to like you.”
“What if the horse was evil as well?” she paused. “Wait, no. I can’t believe I’m even talking about this.”
“At least we know where we’re going now,” I said.
Mira didn’t say much after that, but tramped ahead to find a spot where we could safely stop and repair our clothes. Sewing had never been my strong suit, as evident by the several needle pricks on my fingers. Each time Mira scolded me for my lack of practice, she sounded eerily like our mother, which made me miss her, and home. Just a little bit.
***
“I DON’T LIKE THIS DETOUR,” I complained. “Why on earth is the road out, anyways?”
Mira threw up her hands. “I don’t know! Maybe there was a sinkhole. You read the same sign I did, so stop asking.”
“But it’s so . . . deserted,” I said. The road was nothing more than a dirt track worn into the grass, not cobblestones and overgrown grasses like it had been, and old stones half buried in the ground lined where the edges used to be.
“Well, it’s a detour. I don’t think those are generally maintained.” Mira pushed an overhanging tree branch out of the way, carefully angling herself to keep it far away from her chest. It didn’t take a genius to know it hadn’t healed. I could still feel the gashes on my back, every time the strap of my satchel shifted.
“They should be.” I looked up at the sun, blazing high in the sky. Somehow, despite knowing that it wasn’t a god watching over us, seeing it made me feel better.
I wanted to sit and rest. My feet and back ached, and my nose kept itching. I couldn’t hear any birds.
A tree fell across the road. Mira squeaked and stepped back and fell on her butt. I felt like my nose had nearly been cut off.
A figured stepped out from the shadows of the trees. “Well, well, well,” said a young man. His expression was not pleasant. “What do we have here? I see someone fell for the ol’ detour routine.”
A glint caught my eye, and I glanced at the knife in his hand. I took a step backwards as Mira scrambled to her feet. Two more men appeared on either side of us. We spun around to see a fourth drop out of a tree. We were surrounded.
Mira mumbled a curse under her breath as we moved back-to-back.
“So, I take it this is why the road’s a mess. What do you want?” I asked, my voice sounded far more confident than I felt.
“Simple. This is a robbery, so hand over your belongings. If you cooperate, we may leave you with something when we let you go on your way.” the knife-wielding one said.
I filled my hand with fire. “Like we’d just agree.”
Mira readied some water. “You really don’t want to mess with us,” she bluffed.
One of the other guys laughed, which made the scar on his face ripple. “Seriously? You think a little fire throwing and some splashing is going to scare us? We wouldn’t be in this business if we didn’t know how to deal with elementalists, and from the looks of it, you’re just a couple of lost little girls. Do you need directions west, Red? You could use the training.”
The guy in front of me loaded a slingshot. I wanted to burn their eyebrows off. “You slimy pieces of –”
“Give them your bag,” Mira said quietly.
“What?” I whipped my head around, to see Mira staring down the hatchet the scarred guy had pulled out.
“Do it,” she hissed.
I ground my teeth together, but pulled my satchel over my head and dropped it on the ground. Fire might keep people from getting too close, but water wouldn’t. I couldn’t risk Mira getting hurt even more, and we couldn’t risk losing the scroll.
The fourth one, who had his hair in a rattail, started to go through it. “What is this?” he snapped. “It’s just a bunch of food! You’ve barely even got 10 copper Acru here! What kind of moron travels with so little money? Did you stitch it all in the lining of the clothes?”
“Hey, don’t rip them apart,” said the one with the slingshot. “They look pretty good quality – we clean ‘em up and we could get a decent price.”
“Stop screwing with us,” the knife-wielding guy barked. “Empty out your pockets, and the other bag, and hand over those necklaces we can see you’re wearing.”
“And don’t forget the Relic, Red. The price that alone will fetch makes this worth it,” added hatchet-man.
“Not going to happen,” Mira said.
“Oh, you’re going to make us actually fight you for your things?” Knife-wielder laughed. “It’s your funeral.”
I threw a blast of fire. They scattered. A rock whizzed by my head.
I tried to ignite the ground between us, but all that caught were a few short-lived fallen leaves. A fist swung at my face, and I ducked. I felt a yank on my braid. Wincing and reaching back I grabbed the thug’s arm and heated my hands. He yelped and let go.
Rattail glared at me, sleeve smoking. I shoved flames at his head, but it wasn’t there anymore. Something slammed into my gut.
My knees hit the ground and I wanted to throw up and gasp all at once. Reaching out blindly I grabbed a leg and burst my arm into flames. There was a yell, and cursing, and my hand was stomped into the ground.
Something pelted me in my shoulder, my arm. I screamed, and flames filled my vision.
Damn them. Damn them to the sea. I’d turn them to ash myself. I funneled fire towards them, the ground scorching. Let them try to run. I’d burn everything in their path –
Water splashed against my back, making the gashes sting and my flames sputtered to a mere candle’s worth. The two thugs were scrambling back, Rattail clutching his face.
“Chiat,” spat the sling guy. “She’s suicidal. We gotta put something on that.”
Rattail stumbled off, while sling guy shot at my feet, making me flinch back. My backside was soaked – I’d be barely able to spark up, if I was lucky.
I spun around, but Mira wasn’t doing to well. Her side of the road was drenched, and branches had been broken, but the thugs were barely winded while she seemed on the verge of passing out.
I didn’t know what to do. All I could do was shout, try to distract them. Mira looked over worriedly and Hatchet guy swung the flat of his hatchet towards her head.
I wanted to scream, to warn her, but my voice wouldn’t come out. Mira tried to step back, but mud clung to her feet, she wouldn’t be fast enough, it was going to hit her –
The hatchet passed harmlessly in front of her face.
The thugs blinked in confusion. “What the – you were just –”
Mira blasted the two of them with columns of water and froze them against some tree trunks. The thugs twitched and groaned. She swayed uncertainly.
I grabbed her hand, my bag from the ground, and ran back down the road the way we’d come. I ran, Mira’s hand reassuring, and didn’t look back.
“I don’t know how long they’ll be frozen,” she gasped.
I wiped sweat out of my eyes. “We just gotta move it. You okay?”
“I’m just a little overtaxed. At least we still have the scroll and the clue.”
“Yeah. We were lucky,” I said, trying to look at the bright side.
“So lucky is the word we’re using to describe this situation? Fera, we’re so unprepared for this.”
“Well, it’s not like anyone else is gonna do something if no one believes us. We’re better than nothing.”
“We’d be worse than nothing if someone else found this crystal thing and sold it to the Wind Tribe. Fera – slow – slow down!”
“Not ‘til we’re back at the real road.” I didn’t want to tire Mira out, but I also couldn’t bear to look back and see her exhausted face, and imagine how much worse it would get if those thugs caught up with us again. I just focused on where we needed to go. The road. And then, Aguat.