Chapter Five
After the fifth day of doing nothing but eating, hiking, and sleeping, Frost began getting a sense of déjà vu. The whole trip was starting to blend into some sort of monotonous blur of boredom and simple tasks. The landscape was still as uninteresting as the daytime activities, just rock, dust and the occasional dead plant decorating their path. At least the snow was mostly gone and the temperature was warmer. The whole mess just made her frustrated with what life had handed her.
Even Min was getting on her nerves. She found herself getting snippy with him when he kept pestering her with questions about what Earthrealm was like until he fell silent. He was, rather uncharacteristically, brooding as well, meaning she had to deal with pouting on one side and fuming on the other. She regretted losing her only real means of entertainment.
She desperately wished for something, anything to happen.
It was LiXue who first felt like something was wrong, and Frost watched her checking the perimeter of their makeshift camp with mild amusement. Min had his nose buried in the strange script he was attempting to transcribe, even as he stirred the pot containing their evening meal, the cave they were residing in could have fallen on his head and he wouldn't have noticed. He was preparing the same mixture of soupy grain and dried vegetables they had been consuming the whole time since the journey began… frankly, she would have given her left arm for a candy bar.
"Could you ask her to stop doing that?" Frost asked as LiXue paced back and forth around the entrance to their cave. It looked as if she was going to wear a path into the stone. "It's making me nervous."
"Hmmm?" Min finally looked up from his writings. "If you get her attention, I will."
She shot him a dirty look but stood up anyway. Her place in front of the fire was actually quite comfortable, even if it made her butt fall asleep, and she was in no mood to leave it. The cave's mouth was colder than the rest of the area, and she would have been more than happy to just tap the pacing warrior on the shoulder and hurry back to the warmth of the fire, but then a hint of movement in the distance caught her eye. It was gone in an instant, leaving her to wonder if she had actually seen anything. No matter how much she strained her eyes, nothing else appeared.
…maybe it was best to let LiXue keep a look out after all. When the warrior looked over to her, she did nothing but nod and pretend she had just gotten up to admire the view. There was nothing good in drawing LiXue away from her post if there was a chance something really was out there.
She headed back to Min, contemplating what she thought she saw. They hadn't seen anyone but each other since they had left the tribal grounds nearly a week ago, and they hadn't seen any wildlife big enough to be visible at that view. It could have just been a trick of the moonlight-the clouds were blowing quickly enough past them to create illusions.
Min was looking at her expectantly; probably curious as to why LiXue wasn't following her. "There's something out there," she said simply. "I saw it." She remained standing, trying to stretch some of the stiffness out of her legs. It also let her keep her worried face out of sight.
"It?" Min just stared at her.
"I just saw the movement," she explained. "I didn't get a good look at what it was. For all I know it could have been a lizard." It wouldn't do any good to get Min worried about what could potentially be nothing.
LiXue was pacing even more anxiously now; they could see her silhouette in the waning light. "You think a lizard is making her that nervous?"
"No. I'm just trying to rationalize this so I'll be able to get some sleep." She had drawn third watch, which meant she would manage to get at least some concurrent rest, but it would make tomorrow a very long day. Especially if she stayed up all night worrying about something that might well have been a figment of her imagination. She'd rather just chalk it up to a leaf blowing about catching the starlight at just the right moment.
"It was probably just something blowing in the wind," Min said with a shrug. "If anything is out there, I'm sure she…" he pointed at the figure still marching, " …will take care of it."
Both LiXue and Min were asleep when she woke up, surprising her completely. She would never have expected LiXue to abandon her post like that. And if it were supposed to be Min's watch, she certainly wouldn't have let him sleep through it.
The warrior woman looked much less meaner when she slept. The scowl she always wore was relaxed, making her look a lot younger and more innocent. One hand was under her pillowed blanket, probably clutching at her dagger.
Min was sprawled out on his stomach, clutching one of his scrolls like it was a teddy bear. A large smudge of graphite marked his cheek and nose-most likely he had rolled over onto his work at some point.
The two of them looked quite peaceful, and she tried to be extra quiet to keep from disturbing them…not that there was much to do around the camp that would make a lot of noise. She could sit around and bang on Min's cookware, she supposed, but that would take an awful lot of explaining when she succeeded in waking them up.
She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and yawned, wishing she had some coffee. Less than six hours of sleep was simply not enough for her to function on and she was happy all they had to do was walk. Her frazzled brain just couldn't handle anything more complex than that. This was the kind of stupor that usually had her pouring orange juice into her cereal and trying to brush her teeth with hand soap.
Nature was calling her, and not wanting to deal with that in the cave in case her traveling companions woke up, she slunk outside to answer. The moon was full and shining brightly, making sharp shadows where the terrain was jagged. The stars were out in full force, and she took a moment to marvel at the unfamiliar constellations. She felt a little self-conscious in the bright light, but logic told her there was no one around to see.
Another flash of movement caught her attention, and she barely caught a glimpse of a shadowy form ducking behind a small outcropping. She hastily turned back to the cave, but she couldn't find the entrance among the many cave mouths. It didn't make sense; she hadn't wandered that far away. There hadn't been that many before, she was sure of it. It would be possible to hide in another spot, but getting a warning back to the other two took precedence in her mind.
She ran to the nearest hole to check for Min and LiXue, but as soon as she moved, she heard footsteps following her. Spinning quickly, she dropped into a defensive stance, but saw nothing, not even footprints in the frost covering the rocks. .
The footsteps started again as soon as she turned her back, sending a shiver up her spine as she checked the next cave and the next after that. The footsteps sounded ever closer and closer, her heart was racing as she frantically searched for the others, calling their names even though she knew one wouldn't hear her.
She screamed as someone grabbed her arm, startling Min badly, although LiXue unsurprisingly slept right through it. He let go of her wrist and said, "You were dreaming."
"I'm glad. It wasn't a good one," she said trying to stop her limbs from quivering. She hadn't had nightmares since she was a little girl.
"I could tell. You were calling for the two of us."
"Ugh. It's just an anxiety dream I guess. I had one just like it in your house. I can't find anyone, and there are these creepy footsteps following me, but when I turn around there is no one there."
"Sounds like a ghost story."
"I think you're right. I guess I must have seen it on TV or something."
"Well, you'll have plenty of time to think about it, because my watch is just about up," Min yawned loudly and stretched. He looked like he was ready to fall asleep where he sat, but he staggered to his feet and managed to get into his bedroll.
"I hope your dreams turn out better than mine." She poked the fire with one of the longer sticks. She was much more reluctant to come near the fire after Min had explained that what she had thought was some kind of charcoal was really dried animal dung. To her surprise it didn't really smell when burnt. It didn't smell any worse that their supper had, anyway.
There wasn't much to do to get ready for bed, so Min was settled down long before she got the fire going to her taste. His eyes weren't closed though, so she didn't feel bad for asking him, "Do the villagers have any ghost stories?"
A hint of a smile curved Min's lips. "Are you trying to give yourself nightmares?"
"It will give me something to think about. If I'm worried I won't fall asleep."
"Well, they don't have any real stories about ghosts, but they believe that spirits can reside in objects. There are a couple of myths about possessed statues and totems, but nothing horribly exciting. They really aren't good storytellers. The language isn't extensive enough for imaginary ideas." Min sounded a little disappointed.
"You're making them sound primitive."
Min shrugged. "They are."
"Never mind then. You can get back to your sleeping."
"Thanks ever so much for your permission." He rolled over to face the fire and pulled out one of his scrolls to mull over, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
The truth was she did want something else to think about. Sitting awake and alone in the early morning was never fun, and it was torture when you had things on your mind. She didn't want to be alone with her thoughts if they were going to be consumed by what she was going to do when she reached Earthrealm-and coming face to face with what she had done.
It was easier to worry about external problems, but it didn't change the fact she had to worry about the future.
Could she go back to a normal life after what she had been through? Or would she always be wondering what she could have down with her life as she sat in a conservative skirt, sipping coffee with non-dairy creamer, listening to some moron drone about something she didn't care about. Could she live with her life in suburbia with two point five kids in a ranch house with a picket fence? Life would certainly be a lot less exciting.
But…what if the Lin Kuei didn't forgive and forget? Would they let her live a normal life? What could she do if Sifu turned up on her doorstep?
She knew it was futile to keep running through the what-ifs, but what could she do with so little information?
The fire was burning low again, and she coaxed it back up with the stick as it cast strange shadows along the walls. One shadow stuck out, looking almost exactly like a human. Her heart racing, she spun in her seat and surveyed the area. No one was there. Just my imagination, she told herself, not believing a word of it.
A quick look at Min revealed he had fallen asleep in the same position he had been in her dream. He had a slight smile on his lips, like he was keeping a secret he was dying to tell. Likely he was dreaming of scrolls and scripts rather than shadows and eerie footsteps. He didn't act like he was worried about what would happen when they made it back to Earthrealm. It wasn't fair at all.
Then again, he didn't act worried about anything. It would be nice to be like that, but she was stuck with a nervous attitude and an overactive imagination. Being cheerful was harder work than just being paranoid. Life just wasn't something she got to smile over most of the time.
LiXue was sleeping on her stomach, spear within easy reach and a dagger no doubt tucked under the folds of blanket she rested her head on. She looked too worried about the here and the now to be troubled by what could happen in the future. Maybe that was why she wasn't interested in marriage. She was probably dreaming of some epic battle or perhaps puppy kicking. Maybe both at the same time…it was hard to tell with her.
It was going to be a long night, she decided, aimlessly poking the fire.
It was the boredom of keeping watch that always got her, and she ended up looking forward to the time she could start preparing for breakfast. Even if it wasn't the most engaging of experiences, at least it gave her something to do, not to mention the fact it never failed to wake everyone else up so she'd have someone to talk to. Of course, she would never stoop so low as to wake the others up on purpose…
"Oops." It only took a slight twitch of her wrist to send a few tiny droplets of water dripping onto Min's face. But only a few, they couldn't afford to waste the precious liquid. After they passed the snowfields they had lacked a ready water supply. He sputtered slightly and slapped at his face.
"You did that on purpose," Min murmured sleepily. He wiped the water off with the back of his hand, and tried to roll over, but she was conveniently standing in the way.
"Would I do something like that?" she asked in her best 'innocent' voice.
"Ugh, I was having a good dream too. You're just lucky I like you," Min whined. "We were all in Earthrealm and I got a job doing research."
"Funny, a research job would be a nightmare to me." Frost said, setting up a pot over the fire.
"Actually, you were living with LiXue in my dream."
"You know, this is the first time I've ever said this to anyone, but I hope your dream doesn't come true." She pointed her fire poking stick at him in mockery.
"How…nice."
