The Final Push

Chapter 16: A Child Reclaimed

~Breccan~

I woke the next morning with a piece of bread hitting me in the forehead. "Hey, slowpoke, wake up!" a brash voice demanded. I barely caught it in time. I also had issues sitting up because I was still tied down. I sighed and covered my eyes with my hand. "Wake the hell up!" she yelled this time. I opened my eyes and saw that Sera already had both of the packs ready to go and was standing on my branch.

I rolled my eyes into the back of my head and stuffed the bread into my mouth. With my hands free, I was able to untie my ropes and sit up. She took the rope out of my hands and connected it back to her section. She then looped it around the tree and held onto the end tightly.

"Ready to go?" she asked me.

"Dosdm I sdnasdm?" I asked, but there was bread in my mouth so it didn't make much sense. I finished chewing and swallowed, "Yeah, I'm ready."

"Good," she pursed her lips. "I want to make it to that lake on the map before lunch time."

"We'll have to get going then," I yawned.

"Yeah, I know," without a second look she jumped off the branch. I forgot she was holding the rope for a moment and I grabbed after her. She was three feet underneath me with her feet planted firmly against the trunk. I curled my hand back when I saw that she was okay.

"Ooh... look who's afraid of losing who," she smirked at me.

"Shut up," I mumbled. She rolled her eyes at me and pushed off of the tree and free fell the rest of the way to the ground. Her long black coat was billowing behind her and she looked like a large raven, soaring towards the ground.

When she reached the yellow grass, she gave the rope a little tug, "Are you coming?"

"Oh yeah," I grabbed onto the rope and swung so my feet were against the trunk like hers had been a few moments ago. I followed her movements, but instead of free falling I walked my way down the tree.

She took the rope out of my hands the moment my feet touched the ground. Sera gave it a flick and the rope came sailing to the ground. She coiled it up quickly and gave me a quick glance.

"Let's go," she commanded.

"Alright, alright," I conceded. She turned and started walking at a brisk pace. We retraced our steps from last night until we were back on the path. Then it was silence. Sera never loved conversation, but I felt her distance herself from me even more than usual right now. I could just be paranoid, as I had only known her for a few days, but I was giving it my best guess.

Her strides were long and from the angle that I was standing at, I could observe her without her noticing. Her long blonde hair was tied back and tucked into the black cap that covered her head most days. She was wearing a tight black shirt and form fitting black pants. Her coat was long and was held together by a cloth strip at her chest. All her clothes looked new except for her boots. They looked old and worn.

The sword on her back looked just as old and worn, but I had seen what she could do with it three days ago. I was surprised at how skilled she was but, then again, not many Wings were fighters.

We stayed that way for a long time. With her staring straight ahead and me glancing between her and the surroundings. We didn't even stop once for water or to check the map. She didn't slow down either. She just kept up her fast-paced walk until we could start to see water in the distance.

"Finally!" she sounded relieved and excited.

"Yeah. We're almost there," I patted her on the shoulder. She flinched away from me and I immediately took my hand away quickly. "Sorry," I apologized.