Ashes

3 - Caine

I brushed a sweaty strand of damp hair out of my eyes, squinting them as the hot sun bore down on me. The sandy desert in front of me was an endless ocean of sand interrupted only by the occasional cluster of cacti here and there. It was far too hot for anyone to be sitting on top of a crumbling sandstone wall with no shade, watching the desert. Yet there I was, hoping to earn some money by doing the most miserable of jobs.

That's right, the boring and most often useless task of watching the borders for travelers. Literally no one came here. I doubt many people knew this place existed. But yet again, there I was.

My fingers danced in my hair for a moment before flopping against the brick wall. I puffed out my cheeks, exasperated. If I had to do this tomorrow, I was leaving this hellhole.

   Something poked into my shoulder. I turned my head slightly and glared at the offending object. It was a slender, tanned finger. I knew that if I followed it to its origin, I would see my sister.

As I suspected, when I moved my gaze, the finger was attached to my grinning sister. I turned my glare to her.

"Unless you see something, I'm not interested." I snapped.

Her wounded look made a pool of guilt puddle in my stomach. What was up with me today?

"Look, Kat, I'm sorry, I'm just tired of sitting here all day." I ran my finger through my sweaty hair again and sighed.

It'a fine. The desert does that to you. She signed, shooting me a small smile.

"What did you need anyway?"

You looked like a balloon.

"KATHRYN!"

I glowered at her, trying not to shout anymore. "I did not."

You did. My dear sister was now shaking with silent giggles.

I rolled my eyes, returning my gaze back to the barren sea of sand. This day was yielding nothing. At least we would get payed. I prepared myself for another two hours of miserable heat when a black speck caught my attention. I squinted at it, trying to focus my blurry, sand encrusted eyes. The speck grew bigger by the second. Something was hurtling through the desert, coming straight towards us.

I slid off the wall onto the wooden platform behind it. I ducked under the wall, gesturing at Kat to do the same. "Keep quiet."

Kathryn smacked me on the back and I smiled sheepishly at her. "Force of habit, sorry. But seriously, keep quiet."

I watched the speck's progress as it continued speeding closer. As I observed it, it began to take shape. As I stared at it, I started to make out what seemed to be a person on horseback, galloping across the desert. The poor horse.

This was an uncommon occurrence, so few knew about our little outpost, and those who did were the unsavory sort.

"Who do you suppose that is?" I asked my sister absentmindedly.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched her shrug. I refocused on the rider, who had made significant progress in the time it'd taken me to see Kat's reaction.

I crouched lower, knowing it would only be a matter of time before the rider rode past the ruins Kat and I were situated on.

Sure enough, the rider slowed their horse just outside the village limits, looking around at the skeletons of decrepit buildings around them. The horse continued at a brisk walk down the crumbing cobblestone street, most likely headed to the actual town in the center of the ruins.

When they were gone, I signaled to Kat and swing myself off the wooden platform tucked away in the walls. I landed with a crouch, before straightening and making sure the coast was clear. When the rider didn't reappear, I waved at my sister. She mirrored my earlier movements, swinging off and dropping softly into a crouch. She stood up and brushed some dust off her clothes before nodding at me.

I grabbed my knapsack from where I'd stashed in in the rubble, tugged one of Kat's braids, and set off with my sister to the center of the ruins, where a small (bust surprisingly successful) town was located. I figured no one else was coming and Guidotti, the guy who was paying us to watch the desert, would want to know all about this. Hopefully we'd still get out money.

I looked at Kat's sand and dust streaked face and hoped this rider brought new opportunities for us. Goddess knows we needed it.

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Third chapter. Yeah I know it's short and I haven't updated in a while, but I wanted to post something as soon as possible.
Like my previous chapters, this is an introduction to Caine, and a bit of Kathryn. The next chapter will be from her point of view, but will also have more plot now that I've gotten all the characters introduced.
If you haven't realized, Kathryn is mute and all the bold worded (excluding authors notes) are her speaking in sign language.
I was a lot less descriptive to where they live but it's basically a town that used to be bigger but the outer borders are abandoned buildings while the center houses an actual town area.

Thank you all for reading this I really appreciate it, so thanks. I will try to make next chapter longer and hopefully soon.