Leah had always hated the Southern Cerulean woods. They were dark, overgrown and just downright miserable. The tight canopy of long winding branches and large flat leaves blocked out any sunlight above her head, allowing only but a trickle of the orange dusk to poke through. Below her feet, the thin beams of sunlight revealed tangled roots covered in a blanket of brown dead leaves. She moved carefully, feeling her way through the dark with her boots to ensure she did not trip. Up ahead the crazed barking of Tiberius's Arcanines filled the air. They barked and snarled, their fiery jaws snapped sending out flashes of red light around them. Tiberius was making just as much noise as they were, yelling orders at his dogs as well as the Lieutenants.
"This way!" He shouted, "bring your beasts here! Hurry you, bastards!"
The two enormous pokémon belonging to Kerr and Flint stomped their way over after a shout from Kerr and a silent gesture from Flint. One, Leah knew well enough, Kerr's Rhyperior. The large greyish-brown pokémon stood at what Leah guessed was roughly 7 feet tall. He had two horns, a large drill-like horn where a nose should be and a smaller stone horn above it. His hide, head, shoulders, arms, waist and knees were covered in orange plates of rocky armour. Blade-like protrusions made of rock jutted out from his elbows that reached just above his head. He raised his three-pronged hands, opening up the white rocky fingers to reveal holes in his palms. Blasts of white energy fired from the holes like cannons and shredded through a thick tangle of low hanging branches. White light lit up the dark forest with every blast. The branches crumbled and weakened but did not fall away. So, he swung around and crashed his stone, club-like tail into the tangle. The weakened branches shattered and fell away. Leah knew of the pokémon, she'd seen rock-type experts use them in Kanto before but never had she seen one in person. She couldn't help but marvel at him.
"Liam we need light!" Tiberius yelled as his Arcanines leapt over the pile of fallen branches and dashed further forward barking madly.
Liam, who was struggling with the roots as much as Leah reached for one of three pokéballs clipped to his sleeve.
"Yes sir!" Liam yelled and released another pokémon Leah had only seen videos of.
A Porygon released from the ball with a flash of red light.
"Flash, Porygon!" Liam commanded.
The peculiar pokémon made up of sharp, polyhedral shapes hovered above the air at Leah's eye level. From the end of his blue beak, of his polyhedral head, a wide cone of light shone with a white flash. Suddenly the dark forest was illuminated in bright white light. Leah shielded her eyes and got a good look at Porygon. His head was pink, with a blue tip like a beak. His eyes were white and hexagonal on either side of his head, the one facing Leah blinked at her blankly. His body was much the same with flat, pink polyhedral sides and a blue front. Blue triangular prism feet floated an inch away from the main body as if connected by an unseen force. A blue rectangular prism tail that narrowed towards the tip hovered behind him in the same manner.
"Porygon!" It buzzed in a robotic voice and flew over to the others, leaving Liam and Leah in the dark again.
Flint's pokémon approached the pile of broken branches, his heavy footsteps thundering the ground loudly. This pokémon Leah had only ever seen in textbooks during her study at the ranging academy. Flint and Kerr were transfers from Sinnoh, part of an exchange of talented rangers between Kanto and Sinnoh. With them, they'd brought powerful pokémon not found anywhere in Kanto or Johto. Flint's Aggron was a sight to behold. His steel armour gleamed brightly under the white light from Porygon. He stood just a few inches shy of Rhyperior but still towered above everyone else around him. The plates of silver steel amour protruded from his head, encasing it like a helmet. They formed a pointed visor that pointed out above his eyes, making one of his three horns. The other two stuck out through holes in the armour above the third horn. The steel-encased the pokémon's face and fearsome, jagged jaws. Only two gaps were present in the solid steel, allowing for two blue eyes to see out of both sides of his head. He stood up tall on his two legs and raised up his arms. The grey, blunt spikes on his shoulders and the silver bands around his forearms gleamed. Aggron let out a roar that made the trees shake around him and slammed down his long, thick black tail on the ground behind him for balance as he stomped the ground with a shower of light-brown sparks. Two plates formed beneath the fallen branches and the ground split apart like a trap door opening. The branches tumbled into the newly formed pit and then the plates closed back over them, leaving behind only a scar in the ground where the obstruction had once been. Tiberius, Kerr and Flint pressed forward leaving behind Liam and Leah. Eventually, they caught up but only to receive a disgusted scowl from Tiberius.
"You, I expect this from," He said to Leah, "but you Liam?! What the hell are you doing man?! Get a fucking move on!" He shouted furiously.
Liam stomped the ground.
"I hate roots! They trip me!" He bellowed.
Leah scowled silently at her uncle but kept quiet. She hated him and she could tell the feeling was mutual. He was nothing but a dumb brute, who treated his pokémon like shit as well as anyone unfortunate enough to be within shouting range of him. Still, her hatred of him was nothing compared to her hatred of her sister. What she had done to John, her closest friend, the boy with who she had shared everything, it was unforgivable. While the lie Pete had told had saved Abby from taking the full blame for what happened to John, Leah knew the truth. If Abby hadn't run, John's Fearow would have never crashed down on him. It was her fault, her and that stupid dragon. So if getting her revenge meant having to deal with her sociopath of an uncle then so be it.
Ahead Rhyperior and Aggron continued to clear away the twisted branches that blocked their path, breaking them away and then burying the debris beneath the ground. Tiberius's Arcanines barked and howled. They pulled hard on the leashes wrapped around their thick necks covered in orange fur. Their jaws gnashed at the air, biting at nothing but empty space. The huge pokémon were working themselves up into a frenzy so wild that biting at the air wasn't enough anymore. They turned on each other, gnashing at the other with fiery jaws. Tiberius yanked on the leashes gripped firmly in his hand, retching them back up onto their hind legs. The Arcanine stood tall, so tall they just about doubled Tiberius's height. The leashes were caught in their flame-filled mouths now, they fought with them and set the leather straps ablaze.
"Damns mutts!" Tiberius yelled and dropped the leashes.
Immediately, the Arcanine were on each other. They wrestled and fought, biting at each other, drawing blood and singing flesh. One of the Arcanines caught the other by his golden mane and pulled his head back. The Arcanine roared with fury and a plume of hot flames erupted from his mouth and up into the air. The plume shot nearly 20 feet into the air and burned so hot that Leah had to shield her face from the sizzling air. Tiberius grabbed a whistle from his belt. It was long, thin and made of silver. He blew into it and it made no sound. No sound Leah could hear anyway because the Arcanine definitely heard it. They yelped and recoiled from one another, curling up on the ground as if a great predator was bearing down on them. The Arcanine's flames had caught one of the tall, dark trees and had set it ablaze with fire. The flames, orange, red and yellow leapt up the tall trunk spreading across branches to other trees all around them. Above them, a Pidgeot cried out.
"Put it out!" Alistair cried.
The Pidgeot swooped down with Alistair on his back, clutching the pokémon feathers. The huge bird hovered in the air before the flames and began flapping his wings wildly. They shone a bright light-blue and created a gale-force so powerful that it threatened to tear the tree from its roots entirely. While the sudden rush of oxygen did make the flames flare defiantly, the overwhelming power of the wind snuffed them out quickly after. Leah watched in awe, a starstruck smile spread across her face. Lieutenant Alistair had always caught her intrigue ever since she was a cadet in the academy. Glamorous stories of his exploits and adventures always spread around the gossip rings of the academy. Of how he brought all sorts of fearsome pokémon into submission. One rumour even claimed he had tamed a crazed Pidgeot and inherited an entire flock of Pidgey and Pidgeotto that became loyal to him. He was everything Leah wanted to be, a protector of the natural world. The caretaker who kept the lives of wild pokémon free of human meddling. The guardian of nature that the academy had taught her to be. For a sweet, brief moment thinking about Lieutenant Alistair distracted her from John. From her anger and her hatred.
Tiberius approached his cowering Arcanine with a raging fury. Although the Arcanine stood a good 6 feet on all fours and were the size of a small van, it was them who shrunk away from Tiberius when he approached. They bowed their large heads as they backed away from Tiberius, keeping their eyes fixed to the ground. He kicked savagely at one and slammed a closed fist down on top of the other's heads. They whimpered and cried but stayed in their submissive, bowed stance. Leah had to look away, suddenly her hatred had come back.
"What did you see up ahead?" Tiberius barked to Alistair as he towered over his terrified pokémon.
Alistair leaned forward casually on his Pidgeot and brushed his long hair out of his face.
"The trail keeps going, the same one we saw back before we crossed Route 8. There's a meadow up ahead, it leads there," He answered in his iconic twanged voice.
It was an accent not native to Kanto. Just like Flint and Kerr, Alistair was a transfer. Unlike the brothers, however, he was from Hoenn. Leah remembered reading about when researching his feats. He came from a small town rather unremarkable town in the south of the region. The name of which escaped her.
"Right, meet us there then! Set up camp and we'll continue the trail in the morning!" Tiberius shouted up to him.
Alistair grinned as if relishing the opportunity to fly again. He gave a nod, tipped his wide-brimmed hat and gave Pidgeot a guiding tug on his plumage. He was so gentle with his pokémon, the tug was more of a suggestion. Like a pat on the back. Pidgeot spread his wide, brown wings and flapped them once. The wind rushed down and scattered the dead leaves below as the pair shot up high into the canopy. Pidgeot tucked in his wings, corkscrewed up, arced so they were flat and shot off into the woods with a blast of light-blue energy. The roar of the blast echoed and shook the top of the trees, making a shower of fresh alive leaves rain down on them.
Abby's pink shirt was tucked between the loop of Tiberius's belt. He pulled it out and shoved it into the Arcanine's snouts. Wearily, they sniffed at it with their large black button-like noses. They let out long deep snarls and buried their noses into the ground. The growling got more and more intense until one let out a conforming bark.
"Arc!" He barked.
"Arc!" Agreed the other.
They nodded at each other and pointed a front paw each in the direction Alistair had gone. Tiberius stuffed the shirt back between his belt.
"Why the hell is the girl going south," He muttered before gesturing for Rhyperior and Aggron to continue clearing the way.
Leah had been thinking the same thing. Abby was a stupid fool, that much she was certain of. Pete, however she had to admit had his wits about him. Surely it made more sense for him to take Abby with him over the mountains, across the north sea and into Hoenn. Pidgeots were big enough for two, three even four people to ride on. So why leave her here? Leah had thought and thought but nothing she came up with fit. At first, she thought maybe Pete had abandoned her but she'd tossed that aside at once. Her older brother was too sentimental to do that. Then, she thought that maybe it was a trick and he had taken her. After all, none of the rangers brought back reports of seeing her anywhere but days later Pete had been sighted landing in Hoenn, no Abby insight. Leah had then thought maybe Abby had fallen along the way to Hoenn and drowned but that too was quickly tossed aside. Her sister was a lot of things, most of them irritating but the one thing she had going for her was her athleticism. Swimming was something she did as easily as breathing. If she had fallen all she needed to do was wade in the water and wait for Pete to pick her up. Any notion of Abby being with Pete at all had been dashed when they interviewed the townspeople in Cerulean. Many of them claimed to have seen her making off south with some mysterious, brown-haired girl. On top of that, the Arcanines had picked up her scent.
"Abby has no friends, who would want to help her?" Leah had asked herself over and over again.
The path she had taken was even more peculiar. She had gone south but not through Saffron, through the woods. Dodging Saffron she understood, it made sense but why even go through the effort of heading south the begin with? The only thing south was Vermilion and there was an easier way to get there, to head East and through Lavender Town. This route implied urgency, but what could possibly be in Vermilion for Abby to warrant it? She'd never even been. Everything about this just baffled her and it was clear she wasn't alone. Tiberius and Kerr had been quiet with contemplation for most of their trip through the woods. Liam hadn't, but she didn't exactly expect contemplation from his at this point and Flint was always quiet so she really couldn't tell if he was as confused as them or not.
Deeper and deeper they went, breaking away more branches and burying them as they ventured further into the endless void beyond. Tiberius's Arcanines stayed within a few paces of him despite no leash to hold them back. Occasionally one would look over their shoulder at him, only to quickly dart their eye away. The woods were eerily quiet, the usual sounds of the night were nowhere to be found. All except the Ghastlies of course. They swarmed in packs, hollering, shouting and babbling in a crazed frenzy from the tree line. Occasionally, one would feel bold and streak out to zip around their heads. It would scream a piercing howl, blow its large tongue out at them and nimbly zip back.
"Fucking Ghastlies!" Tiberius bellowed and swung at one as it whizzed past his head.
His balled, hairy fist connected with the pokémon but passed straight through it. Ghastlies, Leah knew were one of a few pokémon that the rangers did not bother in trying to tame. They were classified as belonging to a world outside the world of humans and pokémon. Thus, not for rangers to concern themselves with. Training and taming ghosts were left to the spirit mediums and highly looked down upon by rangers. She remembered what her professor back in the academy had told them when teaching them the subject.
"Of the 18 types of pokémon, only 2 are forbidden. Ghosts, for their spirits, belong to another world and do not concern us and Dragons, for their spirits are unknowable and far too powerful for a human to truly wield. The worlds of Ghosts and Dragons are separate from our own, only fools and power mongers seek them out," Her professor had said.
It raised a question Leah had been contemplating for a while now. Which was her sister? A fool of power-hungry? The immediate answer that came to her was a fool but after what had happened with John, a creeping suspicion that Abby may be crazed with delusions of power had begun to linger. That's when it hit her.
"The dragon…" She muttered.
Tiberius looked back at her with a scowl.
"What are you muttering about Girl?" He barked.
Leah crossed her arms and furrowed her brow in concentration.
"What if…" She paused to go over it quickly in her mind again, "What if Abby and this girl are trying to complete the five pillars?" She asked.
Kerr scoffed.
"The five pillars?" He guffawed, "that takes years to complete, is she stupid enough to think she can go on the run for years!?" He roared with laughter.
Tiberius didn't look as amused.
"If she is, it could mean we're dealing with more than one dragon," He noted with a frustrated, low growl of a voice.
Leah laughed and shook her head.
"Please, Abby's head is full of dreams and nothing else. She's probably struggling to control her Dratini let alone catching and evolving another dragon," Leah proclaimed.
Tiberius looked at her sceptically.
"Even if your sister is as stupid as you say she is, underestimating her is a foolish thing to do," He explained in a strangely calm tone.
Leah had never seen him calm before, she didn't like it any better than when he was angry. She decided to keep that to herself, however. Kerr laughed again.
"Come on Flint! Speak up! What do you think?!" He questioned loudly and elbowed his brother in the ribs.
Flint glanced at him with an annoyed look.
"It doesn't explain why she's going south still," Flint said reluctantly, getting a pleased grin from his brother.
Behind them, Rhyperior crashed through another set of branches. Tiberius nodded and turned away, deep in contemplation.
"Good work, Girl," He muttered.
Aggron buried the branches and Tiberius followed them through the opening with his Arcanine. Porygon whizzed after them, lighting up the next set of tangled branches. Kerr and Flint followed too but Leah stayed still for a moment. She turned to Liam, looking for some amusement.
"What do you think Liam?" She asked with feigned innocence.
Liam shrugged.
"Doesn't matter why she's going south, she's going south so we go south," He answered with a confident grin.
Leah got the amusement she was looking for and giggled at his simplicity. He looked at her confused but before he could ask her why she was laughing she headed off after the others, leaving Liam behind to slowly make his way through the mess of twisted roots. Leah had figured out the trick to it, if she felt herself being tripped all she had to do was just stop and pull her foot back before she tripped. Ahead, Rhyperior smashed through another set of branches but this time they weren't met with a void of darkness. Instead, the pale light, greys and blues of twilight illuminated them. Beyond the trees thinned and opened up, their branches too far apart to tangle even if they did still reach for each other. Aggron buried the fallen branches with a stomp and the group moved into the thinner forest. Each tree looked as if it were frozen in the midst of unburying itself. Roots arched up out of the ground, creating a circle of tangle around each thin trunk. However, the trees were far enough apart that these circles of tangled roots did not overlap as they did in the denser forest. Gaps between the circles of the root made thin, winding paths of flat soft ground. The canopy above parted in places too, letting in the grey-blue twilight. Patches of light littered the ground, some the size of coins and some big enough for Leah to stand-in. While the other pokémon didn't seem to care about the change, Tiberius's Arcanine certainly did. Their large, bushy golden tails wagged back and forth vigorously and each time they passed beneath a spot of light they let out excited barks, sparking embers in their mouths.
It wasn't long until the forest itself came to an abrupt end. The sparsely places trees disappeared in place of a large meadow full of flowers and tall grass. A large central hill peaked in the centre of the meadow with a grand oak tree on top. Off in the distance, a small fire illuminated the silhouette of Alistair, catching the brim of his hat and the guitar strapped to his back. Pidgeot stood beside him, standing as tall as his shoulder. After only a few paces into the meadow, the Arcanines raised their heads sharply. They froze and lowered their heads with two long, deep growls. Tiberius did not scold them this time. Instead, he followed their eyes. The whole group stopped with them and Leah joined them in scanning the meadow but she couldn't see anything out there. All she could see was the vast empty meadow, cast in greys and blues which slowly faded away into the blacks of night. Still, Tiberius must have seen something she didn't because he whacked one the Arcanine on the hind and shouted.
"Get!" He barked.
The Arcanine launched forward and began rushing through the grass, flames spewing from their mouths. They lunged at something hidden beneath the tall grass and clamped their flaming jaws around it. Together they pulled the carcass of a Raticate from the grass and began fighting over it. Immediately Tiberius whipped out his silver whistle and blew into it as he ran over to them.
"Drop it!" He yelled and blew into the whistle again, "Damn mutts!" He blew again.
It took a few silent blasts of the whistle but eventually, the Arcanines obeyed and dropped the carcass. Leah breathed a sigh of relief and began to make her over to it to get a better look. Kerr, Flint and Liam all returned their pokémon and started making their way over to Alistair. When Leah arrived by her uncle's side he was holding the carcass in both hands, flipping and rotating the mangled flesh with a concentrated look. Leah cautiously peered around his shoulder at it. The Raticate had been torn apart by the Arcanine, big long tears from where their jaws had been clamped down raked across the body leaving deep gorges. From what she could tell the body was fresh enough, there was no decay but it had stopped bleeding. Perhaps two, three days old at best. The jaws of the Arcanine had left behind more than gashes and tears, the flames in their mouths had seared and scorched the flesh, turning parts of it black. The Arcanines had ruined the body so badly Leah couldn't find any indicator of what had actually killed the pokémon. Still, her uncle continued to analyse it intently.
"It's just a dead Raticate, what's so interesting?" She questioned, a bit of her disdain creeping through into her voice.
Tiberius didn't look up at her but still, he sounded just as furious as usual.
"Shut up, Girl," He pointed at a burn mark along the Raticate's back, "what do you think this is?" He asked.
Leah raised an eyebrow in bewilderment. Was he making fun of her? Playing some game so he could get an excuse to yell at her and call her stupid? She didn't trust it but she answered the question anyway.
"A burn," She answered wearily.
Tiberius sighed and turned to face her. He shoved the dead Raticate into her hands and poked at the burn forcefully.
"The hell are they teaching you now at the Academy, look closer Girl!" He shouted.
It was a trap, it had to be. There was no way her uncle was trying to teach her right now.
"It's a burn!" She yelled back defiantly and shoved the dead Raticate back at him.
The red flecks in Tiberius's eyes flared with rage. He shoved the Raticate back at her so hard she was knocked backwards to the ground. She fell with a gasp and flinched as Tiberius threw the carcass down into her lap.
"Look closer!" He demanded, looming over her with balled fists.
Struck with fear, Leah did as he said. She looked at the burn. It was shaped somewhat like a square and larger than her whole hand. That's when it hit her, there were no bite marks anywhere near it. Intrigued now, she pulled the Raticate closer and ran her finger over the burn. As her finger applied pressure she could feel how tender the flesh was, as if it had been cooked. She pressed harder and found the sharp end of a splintered bone. Had whatever caused this been from blunt force? She looked closer and found what she was looking for, bruising surrounding the burn.
"A punch?" She asked in disbelief.
Tiberius groaned.
"A stomp, stupid girl!" He hit the burn with a closed fist and to Leah's astonishment, orange sparks spat from the burned flesh.
"That doesn't make sense, the only fighting types around these woods are Mankeys," Leah said, aware of how green she sounded.
She looked back at the burn again to confirm and yes, the burn was too big for a Mankey to have made. This burn would take something like a Machoke, Poliwrath or Primeape to make but none of those pokémon lived around Vermilion. Machoke lived in mountains areas, Poliwrath by lakes or oceans and Primeape ventured west to evolve near Victory Road or Eastern Johto. Tiberius interrupted her rambling thoughts with a slap across the back of her head.
"Two people came through here, your sister and her supposed friend. It must have been one of their pokémon, stupid girl," Tiberius explained gruffly.
Leah cried out from the hit and threw the dead Raticate at him before getting back to her feet.
"Piss off!" She yelled her hatred on full display now.
She went to walk past him but he caught her arm with a firm, iron grip.
"Think girl, which one do you think has a fighting type?" He asked persistently.
Leah tried to pull away from him.
"You're the master tracker! You figure it out!" She spat.
Immediately without even a moments hesitation, Tiberius slapped her. He hit her across the face hard, so hard it made the world around her spin. He yelled something at her but it was muffled, sounding as if he were far away. Abruptly the world snapped back into focus and his yelling filled her ears.
"You can go back home with your fucking crippled twin for all I care! If you're so insistent on following me around like a pet dog you'll answer my damn questions!" He bellowed, shaking her violently.
Leah clutched her bruised face and stared at him with seething, venomous eyes. They were both silent for a moment, staring at each other with their matching flecked eyes of red and grey.
"Abby wouldn't catch anything that's not a dragon, she's too obsessed," She finally answered.
Tiberius let go with a disgusted huff, turned away from her and strode across the meadow to where Flint and Kerr had stopped to inspect something. Leah didn't follow. She stood there clutching her face, there was blood in her mouth and the left side of her face felt like it was on fire.
"Don't cry," She told herself, fighting back welling tears.
"That's what he wants," She convinced herself.
"Yomatos are strong," She had been taught that since she was a child.
Strength, pride and prestige. All the things that their father had drilled into them each and every day.
"You are the future," He told them, "If you are weak then the future will be weak too."
Leah wiped her eyes, drew a long staggered breath and purged all the weakness she felt from herself. She hardened her face, lowered her hand from her cheek and spit out the blood pooling in her cheeks. Her uncle wouldn't get the satisfaction of seeing her crumble. No matter how cruel he was, she would take it. She had to, to be strong for John.
Leah joined her uncle, Kerr and Flint by their sides. Making sure to stand right beside her uncle and not flinch when he looked at her. Before them were enormous, deep cuts through the ground. As if a huge blade had sliced the earth. Kerr was squatting down beside one of these gouges.
"Passable," He observed.
He ran his hand along the wall of the gouge, causing light-brown sparks to rain down at his touch. His head rose and gazed where the gouge met a huge dent in the ground where Leah could assume a tree used to be, given the circle of snapped roots. Kerr got to his feet with a laugh.
"A late-stage beginner, maybe an intermediate if we're being generous," He gestured to the other gouges.
Each one was a different width and depth.
"Look at the inconsistencies!" He began pointing to each gouge, "five, three, oh ho an eight, two, four!" He counted.
Kerr turned to Tiberius with an amused, dismissive look.
"Whoever this trainer is, they're inexperienced. Probably just picked up their first ground type," He chortled.
Tiberius clutched his chin and nodded thoughtfully. He glanced at Leah briefly before speaking.
"With ground types, yes but whoever this other girl is, she's no novice with fighting types. Not an expert but not a beginner either," He muttered.
Flint was gazing at the several pits left behind where trees had been. He scowled and went to say something but was interrupted by Kerr.
"Yes we see brother, the trees are gone!" Kerr laughed and put his arm around Flint's shoulders.
He pulled the now annoyed-looking Flint down to his height, jostling him back and forth.
"We know everything we need to! Don't feel like you have to speak, we know you don't like it!" He exclaimed.
Flint wriggled free and stood up tall over him, glaring furiously. He huffed and turned on his heel, stomping away over to Liam and Alistair by the distant campfire. Kerr smiled at Tiberius apologetically.
"Sorry sir, he gets moody sometimes!" Kerr laughed before running after his brother, shouting his name as he ran up behind him.
Leah followed after them, leaving Tiberius with his Arcanines. He remained by the gouged earth, lost in thought.
The camp Alistair had set up was tremendous. He had made a fire pit, with four large logs surrounding it in a square. The fire was blazing hot in the pit, flaring and whipping with the gentle night breeze. Above them, the blues and greys of twilight had faded away into the pitch black of night. Stars had begun to show themselves, twinkling little white dots amongst a sea of black. Leah sat down beside him on one of the logs.
"A-amazing work with the camp Lieutenant," Leah stammered, to her annoyance.
What was wrong with her? She was sputtering like an idiot.
"Yeah, I did do a great job of finding it," Alistair replied with a grin.
He gestured to the black and grey ashes scattered around the fire pit.
"Although I'm afraid I can't take credit for making it darlin'," He added with a chuckle.
He poked at the fire with a stick, making the crackling logs spew out embers. Leah's face went hot with embarrassment.
"Of course! I knew that!" The lie came almost reflexively, starting before she had even registered what she was saying.
Alistair looked amused but unconvinced. Although thankfully he didn't call her out on it. Instead, he turned his attention away from her and swung the guitar off his back. He began strumming a cheerful sounding progression of chords and hummed a melody along quietly. Occasionally a word or a phrase would slip out, in a beautiful but muttered singing voice.
"You be careful little ones," He sang with a mutter and a pleasant smile.
His eyes were wholly focused on the frets, watching his fingers as they leapt from string to string.
"What are you playing?" Leah asked, interrupting him.
Alistair stopped singing but kept strumming the chords.
"A song about four little birds that fall from a tree," He explained in an almost hypnotic tone.
Leah shuffled closer so she could get a better look at the frets.
"Why do they fall?" She asked.
Alistair shrugged.
"They just do, if they didn't there'd be no song," He answered casually before starting up the song.
Three little birds, hanging from a willow tree, singing and dancing happy as can be
Oh Pidgeotto squawks, You be careful little ones, play too hard and you will fall
The little ones played on, free from any doubt, the proof was in the pudding it was plain to see
Two little birds, hanging from a willow tree, singing and dancing happy as can be
Oh Pidgeotto squawks, I tried to warn you little ones, you're not safe around that tree
A thunderin, A shakinin the woods began to cry, the air filled with that old bird call
One little bird, hanging from a willow tree, singing and dancing happy as can be
The woods did call, you be careful little one, play too hard and you will fall
Leah liked his voice and the chords he played but the song itself made her shudder uncomfortably. It was uncanny how bright and bouncy the tune was compared to the ominous lyrics. Before Leah could say anything, ask any of the questions she had, Liam shouted.
"I don't like that noise! Be quiet!" He bellowed from across the fire with a sour scowl.
Alistair slung his guitar over his back again and bowed his head at Liam.
"Sorry 'bout that," He apologised calmly.
Liam huffed and turned his gaze back to the flames. He stared at them intently with a furrowed brow.
"Well, I thought it was great!" Kerr laughed and slapped Flint on the back, "right brother?"
Flint went to answer but was interrupted by Kerr's laugh.
"See he loved it!" Kerr answered for him.
Leah couldn't help but notice how Kerr's whole body shook when he laughed. Flint narrowed his eyes and looked down at the flames with a tired, defeated look. Alistair tipped his hat at Kerr with a grin.
"Thank you, you're too kind," He replied courteously.
Leah looked over her shoulder at Tiberius. He was still by the cracked earth, studying it closely. She was glad, hopefully, he just stayed there forever. While not forever, Tiberius did stay a lot longer than Leah had expected him to. For the next couple hours, the group spent around the fire he didn't move. When they got up and began setting up tents he didn't move. Even when they put out the fire he didn't move. Leah slipped into her sleeping bag, fully expecting to find him still crouching there in the morning.