Tempest

Chapter Eight

A/N~ This took forever... Blame my school!

“…How far away did you say this town was again?” I asked Taz sulkily, my feet dragging on the ground, my eyes drooped at half-mast. Taz looked in the same condition as me. Kyran was the only idiot who was bounding ahead in fox form, frolicking in some flowers. He had recovered completely from his scare two days earlier, and was as mysteriously chipper as ever.

Taz glumly looked at the map, which was beginning to look rather dirty and its edges were curled. “Well, we were supposed to be there yesterday, but it appears not…” he murmured.

I huffed. We had been following the coastline, along the edge of the water, because the town was a harbor town and we wanted to stop there for a few days. Rest and eat, but now it appears we won’t be doing that. “You failed to mention this.” Taz shrugged miserably. “Have you ever read a map before?” I demanded, stopping to put my hands on my hips.

His silence clued me in. As I was about to start ranting at him, a golden shape flew out of the tall grass and at my face. I caught Kyran mid-air and he settled into my arms, wrapping his tail around my wrist. I stroked his silky fur, letting all my rage seep out of me before finally looking back at a shamefaced Taz. His blue eyes were wide and pleading. I sighed before beginning. “Couldn’t you have said this earlier? I’m sure Kyran knows how to read a map, or he knows where we’re supposed to be going because he’s strange like that. I probably could’ve read the map. We could be going in a totally different direction than we’re supposed to be going!” I snapped, and Taz seemed to shrink with every word, until he seemed like an ant with me towering over him, and his blue eyes were innocent.

He hung his head. “I honestly thought I knew where we were. Maybe we’ve just been going slower than usual,” he muttered abashedly, shifting form foot to foot.

I raised one eyebrow, and then Kyran’s tail hit me in the face. After spitting out his fur, I turned my raised eyebrow gaze to him. He wriggled out of my arms and bounded forward on all fours a few feet, where a hill ended, morphing back into a human. He peered over his shoulder expectantly. Taz followed him hesitantly, then I went after the two. When I reached next to Taz, I sucked in a quick breath. The ‘hill’ was actually a cliff of some sorts, and I could see the buildings of a town far beneath us, extending under the cliff. Kyran unnecessarily pointed down. “Why couldn’t you have pointed this out before I got in trouble?” Taz snapped, whacking him lightly over the head.

Kyran smirked before flicking him on the side of the head. “Well, come on, let’s go! I want to take a bath,” I happily chirped before stumbling down the side of the ‘hill’. Taz was behind me, probably wanting to change into some fancy clothes and eat some sort of banquet. Kyran was peering over the edge curiously, as if searching for something. For a moment, his eyes glazed over as if he was in another time, another place. He looked… almost sad. His pale lips were turned down in a frown, and his eyebrows were furrowed as if he was concentrating. “Kyran?” I called up to him in confusion, and his gaze snapped up. For a moment, his eyes were different, almost childlike and rather confused. The look only remained for a fraction of a moment, but it was enough to stop me in my tracks. Then, you could practically see his eyes frost over back into their icy secretiveness. He gave me a sort of lopsided smile and sheepishly stuck his hands in his pockets before shuffling down the hill, almost tripping before coming to stand behind Taz.

He was staring at his servant with raised eyebrows, and I could see that even Taz didn’t know what was running through the shapeshifter’s mind. Kyran gave him a small shrug and looked down, as if he was embarrassed again. He rubbed the back of his neck with one pale long-fingered hand and Taz nodded as if he suddenly understood. I buried my face in my hands. “You two…” I groaned. Taz turned to me with confusion as if he didn’t understand why I was frustrated, but Kyran just gave me that cheesy grin of his and winked at me, as if we shared some secret.