"Please do not point that thing at me." Finnean said. "It's not nice."
"Like you'd know." She spat. "You don't know the meaning of the word 'nice'."
"Lan...please stop being angry with me, it doesn't suit you well. It's not like you."
She let out an aggrivated cry. "Not like me? How would you be able to tell! If you really knew me you'd be white as snow and looking for an exit right now! If you knew me at all then you- you'd be pissing yourself! That's how pissed off I feel! Don't you even have the decency to tell me why you did what you did?"
Finnean shrugged. "Calm down, my love."
Calandra felt the tears burn once more. He would calm her down with his voice, he always did. But even though she felt the anger inside her settle slowly, she did now want to forgive him so easily. She shook her head and raised her weapon again.
"Tell me." She ordered.
Finnean acted like he didn't care. He sat down as if she had just offfered him a pint of mead.
"I...When I had left you that night, I began to think about the plan. We could have failed so easily. Only one man would have had to stand up, wanting to measure his strenght against the great sir Pavel and all would have been lost. No gold and I could have died! No amount of prayer could tell me otherwise."
He hid his face in his hands.
"Lan...I was scared...I was afraid to die."
Calandra lowered her bow. "So you just upped and left? With the gold from the safe? You didn't think of me at all. You could have told me and taken me with you. Now I had to run from Writath's men. He sent some boy up to my room immediately."
"I thought that...if I just didn't show up, you'd lose the money. But if I stole it, then I could give it to you. I was afraid they'd blame you for stealing it if you had disappeared the same time as the gold had done. Lan, I came back here didn't I?"
He took her hands and looked at her.
"Calandra, I would never leave you behind."
She sighed. "Finnean...I thought you had betrayed me."
"I love you. I thought I would await your return here. Don't be mad at Tehk, he didn't know I was here either."
Calandra sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. "I- I am sorry. Please forgive me. I should not have thought so badly of you so soon."
He kissed her brow and smiled. "It's alright. As long as you forgive me. I didn't realise what my doings would cause...If I had known..."
Tehk watched them from his corner. A sense of unease settled in him. He felt that something wasn't right. His eyes narrowed. He stood up, his cloak swishing behind him. Without saying a word he went up to his room.
Calandra didn't notice.
"What do you want to do know? There must have been more gold in the safe than just what we betted."
"A lot more."
"And now? Should we go back home? Or perhaps somewhere else..."
"Back home? Is that what you would want? People know us there. They will never trust us, not when we return from a journey and suddenly posses the wealth that they can only dream of."
"Then it is settled." Calandra said firmly. "We must go somewhere else."
Finnean yawned. "Let's talk about this in the morning. It's much too late now."
"Yeah...We need to go to sleep."
She stood up and walked up the stairs, followed closely by Finnean.
"Goodnight." He whispered.
A feeling of happiness and rest had calmed her, mind and body. She did not feel tense at all anymore. Finnean had not betrayed her, he had explained everything. They would go and live somewhere together and then they would begin a new life.
Maybe she would even be able to teach herself not to steal anymore, she thought with a smirk. She would miss it, of course. It would be hard to quit old habits. But she would learn eventually.
The sunlight warmed her face and she opened her eyes, taking a deep breath.
Calandra turned around and looked at the empty spot beside her. Her restful feeling immediately left her again. She jumped up and looked around wildly.
His bag, his clothes, everything was gone. A scream of rage escaped her lips. She threw a pillow at the wall.
She had let him fool her again. He had left and betrayed her again. Last night had all been a show, a false pretence. He had lied to her, just to get her off his back. And though it was painful, she had to admit that she had let him succeed. Next time they would meet, he wouldn't get off this easily. She would make sure to let him feel the pain she felt now.
But who knew when the next time would be? She didn't know where he had gone and she didn't have a clue about it either.
Furiously she packed her bag. Suddenly she noticed a strange golden bracelet around her wrist. She tore it off and threw it out the window. If Finnean thought he could soften her with a trinket then he had a lot to learn.
Hoisting the dufflebag on her back, she burst through the door and thrust a silver coin on the counter down in the tavern. It would pay for the bed and the stable.
She looked at Silta and was about to climb on his back when she noticed the horse beside him. It was a fat horse, obviously one that came from a good and wealthy home. The sadle looked comfortable and the leads were smooth.
A man who could afford a sadle like that could easily afford another, she said to herself. She untied it and then fastened it to Silta's back instead.
"Come on, boy." She whispered. "Here we go again."
She climbed on Silta's back and urged him out the door.
"Miss! Miss!" a voice called out behind her.
She turned around and felt her heart stop. She recognised this boy's face. It was the same person who had followed her to her room in Jabol. Were Writath's men already following her? And how had they known she was here?
She urged Silta on even more. If what she thought was true then she could not allow herself to lose more time. She would have to continue onwards to Marek an settle there.
Even if Writath followed her there, he would not find her. She could blend in easily and Marek was a very big place. She thanked all the deities she could think of that she knew Marek so well. It could end up to be the most important knowledge she had.
Behind her she heard hooves. She was being followed! She looked back and saw it was only one horse, but still she urged Silta to go faster.
She made a sharp right turn and headed into the forest. She shot between the trees, making Silta dance and take paths that were hardly visible. His manes started to glitter with sweat as his movements started to become more wooden.
Calandra looked behind her when she reached a clearing between the trees and was relieved to find she couldn't see anyone. She halted Silta and listened closely. But apart from her heavy heartbeat, the forest was quiet. Her shadow was gone.
She sighed with relief, patting Silta's neck and whispering nice words to him.
Suddenly she sat up straight. Even Silta, who was tired with all this twisting and turning, pointed his ears. She listened even closer and looked around shiftily.
She took the leashes in a tight grip, ready to trample the first man to emerge from the shadows of the trees. Suddenly she heard someone stumble through the bushes behind her. She whipped the leashes and Silta reared in panick.
Calandra screamed and tried to hold herself up by pulling at the leashes, but Silta whinneyed and she let go as a reflex, frightened to hurt him. She fell on her back and a black flash shot before her eyes as she hit the ground.
She could hear Silta's hooves moving away from the clearing, but then she felt herself slipping away. She fought to stay concious and suddenly felt a cold hand on her forehead.
She gasped and the darkness in front of her eyes enveloped her.
Calandra moaned as she woke and suddenly felt her back hurt. She raised her hand to her head, trying to make the spinning sensation that made her feel so nauseous stop.
Where was she? And what had happened? She stoped moving when a twig snapped close to her. No, it wasn't a twig...it was the sound of a fire. But who had made a fire?
There was only one answer she could think of, lying on the ground with her eyes closed and afraid to move. She had fallen off Silta's back and now she had been taken captive by Writath. Or at least by his men.
She could't help wondering if they had already cut off a limb she didn't know about yet. It surprised her that she could hear so little noise. She had expected more noise if she really was Writath's prisoner and doubt began to crawl inside her mind.
Carefully she opened her eyes. It was night and the only light came from the campfire she had heard. Its dancing flames created strange shadows, but those hadn't scared her since the first forest exercise Tehk had ever given her.
She tried to see how many people sat at the fire, but she could only distinguish one silhouette. She sat up straight, half expecting a guard to knock her back down. But no one did.
The person at the fire looked up when he heard her moan in pain as she stood up. He was silent, but a smile took shape around his mouth.
She looked back and noticed there had been a pillow for her head to rest on. Who took this good care of his captives? Especially not a cruel man like Writath. Something was wrong with the whole situation and she couldn't understand it at all.
Out of habit, she reached into her sleeve. Her dagger was still there. This puzzled her even more. What kind of man took a prisoner without disarming them completely?
"Who- who are you?" she asked, gripping her dagger tightly.
She held it out in front of her, taking a defensive stance. She couldn't see his face because it was hidden by the darkness of the night, and this bothered her. She wanted to see her oponant.
"Come." He said softly. "Come and sit at the fire. I'm glad you're awake."
She didn't move. "Who do you work for? Writath?"
The other laughed. "No! Certainly not. Now come, sit."
Calandra slowly moved closer. The flames lit up his contours and revealed a young face.
"You!" she cried surprised. "You! You've been following me since Jabol!"
"I-" he seemed embarrassed.
"Why?"
"Well...I- When you placed your bet..."
Suddenly something fell into place in the back of her mind. "Hey...I- I know you. You're the boy who took the bets."
He blushed. "Yes...that's me."
"You had a funny name...Arrow, wasn't it?"
"Ahro."
"Oh..." she sat down, still tightly gripping her dagger, but she no longer pointed it straight at the boy.
He pushed a tray with some meat on it towards her. "Here, eat. It'll do you good. "
She took it eagerly and muttered a thank you before she started to satisfy her hunger. Ahro watched her from a distance. She ignored him until she had eaten the meat. Silently he passed her a jug with some water in it. She took two or three sips and gave it back.
"...Thank you." She said.
Ahro drank from the jug. She studied him. He was young, he probably hadn't seen the end of eighteen summers yet. His face hadn't a single blemish on it and he had an attitude about him as if he had never been away from a city longer than a day.
"Why did you follow me?" she asked as she used the tip of her dagger to clean her nails.
He seemed to blush again, but in this dark she couldn't tell for sure.
"...I had heard that all the betted money had been stolen..and Writath was gloating, I wanted to warn you."
"He'll chase me till he finds me. Then he will kill me if I'm lucky." She said calmly.
Ahro looked at her with surprise. How could she talk about her own fate so calmly? Her life was at stake and yet she appeared not to care.
"But when I left the city in such haste...didn't that make you think that perhaps I already knew about the danger and about my fate? Didn't you think I knew how to handle this by myself?"
"I-...er...I wanted to help..." he muttered miserably.
She laughed, her voice ringing clearly through the trees.
She was right to. He hadn't given that a single moment's thought. He had just wanted to go after her to warn her. But perhaps it would have been better if he had just staid home.
"Dear boy...help me? I owe you thanks for taking care of me but I wouldn't have needed that help if you hadn't followed me in the first place."
She stood up and looked around.
"Which way is Jabol?"
Ahro pointed dully.
Suddenly Calandra heard a horse. Tied to a tree near the fire, she could see Silta. She ran towards him and hugged him. On his back was the saddle she had stolen.
Her weapons and her dufflebag were at the foot of the tree. She rummaged through it and found a pair of trousers.
She looked back at the fire. "Go home, Ahro. I ride alone. My path is too dangerous for a city boy."
Woohoo! Even more reviews And positive ones too ;) aren't I the lucky one!
Greyangle: Hey thank you for the nice review. Can you tell me what you meant by stock D&D gimmicks? Anyway, this entire story was meant as one big character build up for calandra. So I'm glad you like it so far. And Finnean was at arrow point because she had come down again and suddenly seen the one (she thought) had betrayed her threatening her master. I'd be pretty pissed off at a sight like that too, you know. Anyway, happy to know you like it so far
Olga de Bont: hehe, i should certainly hope that it turns out to be complicated for the readers out there! That's my goal ;) En leuk dat jullie de oude muziek weer eens gespeeld hebben. Ik was ook gevraagd, net als pepijn, bob en marleen, maar ik kon niet zo maar een woensdag middag eventjes heen en weer van leiden naar wageningen en terug.
Kar-Vermin: Ooh, a new reader! I'm happy to know I caught another one's attention. I hope you like my story so far and that you'll continue reading it!
Thank you all three for reading my story. Please keep doing it and please do keep reviewing! Thank you!
Love, Raven55