Forgotten Monsters

Chapter 29- Fault Lines

Resa watched Ross closely as she unfastened her packs from the horse. They had travelled two days with him, and so far he hadn’t betrayed him. Two days was nothing though, Resa thought, she wouldn’t trust him, not now, not until he had proved himself. Arms wrapped around her waist and she felt breath curl the edges of her hair. Rather than run, she turned around and looped her arms around Matthew’s neck, grinning at him.

            “Hey.” He murmured. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”

            “Ross.” He tensed and she laughed at his discomfort. “No, not like that; I don’t trust him.” His eyes flicked to the older man, watching him deftly unfasten his packs before starting to unsaddle the horse, his rings flashing.

            “Me neither, we’ll have to keep an eye on him.”

            Resa sighed, “I wish we didn’t need him.” She said, pulling away and turning back to her horse.

            Matthew nodded, “But we can’t make it over those mountains without him.”

            “I know, I do, there’s just something… off about him.”

            “He isn’t telling us everything.”

“He isn’t telling us anything. We only know his name.” She brushed off the saddle and placed it on the fence. “And that he’s been to Terracendia.” She added as an afterthought.

“I’ll finish up; you go and get us a room.” Matthew offered. Resa smiled, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before hoisting the packs onto her narrow shoulders and heading inside.

This would be their final stop before they hit the mountains, then they would be camping, relying on provisions and Ross’s skill to survive. At least it wasn’t cold, Resa considered. Oddly enough, as they travelled closer and closer to the Aryan Mountains, the weather had gotten warmer and warmer until it felt almost like spring.  Had she still been in the city, it would be the dead of winter by now.

“One room please.” She said to the innkeeper, a scruffy middle-aged man who was missing several teeth. He looked her over dubiously, but she held his gaze until he begrudgingly handed over a key. “Thank you.” She realized that she looked strange in her tunic and pants, not to mention her riding leathers. She had ‘found’ them a few towns back, and had found that despite having been owned by someone else, they fit her well.

Resa had just arrived at her door, and had dropped her packs to the ground when she felt a presence behind her. Drawing her knife from her sheath she wheeled around to face her shadow. She came face to face with Ross. Or rather face to chest; he was quite a bit taller than she was.

“What do you want?” She said wearily. He hadn’t specifically done anything to deserve her suspicion, but she didn’t like how he knew so much about her while she knew nothing of him. Apparently he had overheard them a few towns back and had followed them to where they had met, but Resa didn’t entirely buy his story.

He crossed his arms and smirked, an annoying habit of him, and answered, “I want to talk.”

“About what?” She spat, already tired of talking.

He raised an eyebrow, another hateful habit. “About your problem with me.”

She leaned back against the wall, “Go on.”

“I get that you don’t like me, that’s fine. But you’re going to need to trust me where we’re going tomorrow. When we reach those mountains, you’re going to have to put your life in my hands. Do you understand?”