Adelia
The only thing keeping me awake as I walked was the sharp, shooting pain igniting in my shins with every step I took. It started about two days into our journey, but it seemed to get worse by the day. Yet, I knew we had to keep pushing on. The faster we made it to the Bermillian border, the better.
Five days into the trip, we'd each gotten our own tasks every time we made camp. I refilled our water jugs at the little creek we'd been using as our guide while Bellfire gathered sticks and wood to start a fire.
As for food, we'd been lucky to come across animals as we went along, and Bellfire just carried our game in his hand. Today, we caught two squirrels and a bunny. We ate the bunny for lunch, but today's dinner would be squirrels. If we were telling the truth, this wasn't enough food to satiate all day, but I refused to touch our non-perishables. I wasn't sure how long our journey would take.
If only we could reach the mountain's edge... the tunnel was a half mile to the left of the small waterfall feeding the stream we were following.
The cicadas were loud in the evening dusk as I crouched at the edge of the creek and rinsed our water bags. As I stood up, I felt my back pop, and I winced, pressing my hand to my back. Suddenly, I was wishing I did more than make deliveries and tend to the vegetable garden back home. Perhaps my endurance wouldn't be so limited.
I was grateful for Bellfire's help though. I don't think I would have stood a chance had he not joined me. I didn't know how to hunt or start a fire, and I didn't know what forest fruits were safe or unsafe, but he did. Honestly, at this point, I was just a burden for Bellfire.
When we were in school, Bellfire, Roselena, and I used to play together with other kids in the academy. Since a lot of the kids there stayed in the dormitories, our house was the hub of mischief, especially since Roselena's mother and father had a great reputation due to the business. Then Mrs. Lucienda grew ill, and our friends were no longer allowed to come over everyday. They only came over when Jonas and his friends were able to help us study.
Bellfire and I used to get along then too, but I didn't think we had much in common as adults. He'd changed a lot since he was a kid, and he had acted snobby and uptight up until the night of the harvest. Nothing like catastrophe and calamity to humble a person.
I found I liked this relaxed side of him. It was as if the lack of expectations as the son of a rich merchant no longer weighed on him.
As I arrived at our little set up, he glanced up from kindling a fire and snorted at the grimace on my face.
"You should've taken physical education more seriously at the academy."
"For once, you're right." I admitted.
"For once?" His sarcasm began about three days ago. To my dismay, I had to taste my own medicine.
I stuck my tongue out at him as I tossed him his water bag. He tried to catch it but missed by a hair's width. I chuckled as I sat across from him.
He leaned down, concentrating again until smoke began to rise. He spoke again with a small smile.
"If you had the chance to do anything in life, what would you do?"
I blinked at him, "Food and shelter wouldn't be a worry?"
He shook his head, "You wouldn't have a need or want. This is an ideal life for you."
I puckered my lips as I leaned back on my arms and looked up at the rising moon in the darkening sky. I always fantasized about the kind of life I'd want if everything wasn't so awful. It was the only thing I could do while gardening or pulling the wagon full of orders back and forth through town.
"When I lived with my mom in Dhernon, I just wanted my dad and mom to be reunited again. But things have changed since then." I smiled to myself, thinking of my dad who was forced to go off to serve in the military to provide for us. The day we got news he died trying to save a child from the angry waves of the Dhernon coast, was the day my mother lost a little part of herself. Meanwhile, I couldn't even remember what he looked like.
Lost in my thoughts, he pushed, "And did they?"
I smiled and shook my head, "But now, I think I'd want to live in a smaller village than DuPont or on my own little piece of land to grow my own vegetables and fruits. I'd have a husband who loves me more than he loves himself, and we'd have two – no, three kids."
I could hear the flames crackling as I continued to gaze at the sky, "And if it were an ideal world, I'd want a cat and a dog. I'd also want to try and find my mom again so she could live with us. I would help her open her own seamstress shop in the village, and most importantly, we'd be content."
He was quiet for a moment, and when I turned my gaze toward him, he was smiling at me.
"That's a good life." He said as he looked away, the smile never fading.
I tilted my head, "And you?"
He shrugged, "I never really had the chance to think about it. I'd always been set to inherit my father's orchard, so I'd probably do that."
"How boring." I sighed and sat straight.
"Yeah, yeah... We don't all have good dreams like you do."
"At least you have the chance to fulfill it. I'm already a used up wench in everyone's eyes."
He furrowed his eyebrows, "You're too harsh."
I scoffed a little bitterly, "Well, until a few days ago you were the one saying I was easy."
He winced and sighed, "I was an ass then. Still am, but now we're friends."
I rolled my eyes and teased him, "Right."
"Hey, you were being rude even after you spread those rumors, and I forgave you. Besides, the truth is that I fancied you when we were growing up, so I may have been a little petty too."
My jaw dropped, "Stop lying."
He shrugged and sighed as he probed the fire, "We were seventeen, so it's been a while."
He liked me after what happened? I studied his expression and sniffed, "Well. If it helps your ego, I wish it had been you I fancied when I was fifteen."
He shifted his eyes to mine, and we stared at each other for a moment too long. I was the one to look away first with a blush on my face.
"Me too." He said finally. My heart fluttered, and I looked at the fire.
Then the what ifs began to play out in my mind. What if he had asked to court me regardless of what everyone said. We were children, and I knew it was impossible for his parents to approve of a "loose young woman" as I was rumored to be after that day. But a part of me wished he would've been braver and just said something to me. So that I could have real hope of living a good life.
But I suppose between Roselena and I, she was the obvious better choice. I knew that, yet I couldn't help a little bit of resentment rise within me.
In nervous silence, I helped him skin the squirrels and roast them. I tossed the bones to the side when I finished eating and poured some water over my hands.
"I'll take the first watch. Go to sleep." He told me kindly as the fire died down.
I nodded as I lied back and used my bag as a pillow, and then quick as ever, I was dead to the world.
Snap.
My eyes flew open to pitch darkness, and I found it a bit hard for the grogginess to clear out of my eyes. I blinked and blinked until two blurry lights like stars shone above me. Then bits of reflective light shown in other parts of the sky. I rubbed my eyes, and as I focused my eyes, I finally realized what I was looking at. My stomach dropped, and the urge to throw up the squirrel I had eaten arose in my stomach.
I wasn't looking at light. I was looking at the reflection of dying embers on the face of the ugliest creature I'd seen in my life.
A scream tore out of my throat, and the creature quickly covered my mouth with its abnormally large hand.
Bellfire woke with a start, probably having fallen asleep from exhaustion, "Adelia?"
Then his voice was muffled like mine.
"Oh, I just love it when they're scared. Makes the meat more tender." The one manhandling me spoke. It grabbed me and threw me over its shoulder where I began to hit and kick as hard as I could.
The creature didn't even react though. It just continued on as if it couldn't feel a thing. This realization made me stop fighting, leaving me only with my labored breaths.
Both Bellfire and I were silent after that, and eventually, the blood rushing to my head became overwhelming. I succumbed to the darkness around me.
When I came to, I could hear the sound of ealy birds tweeting and whistling all around. I raised my head from the ground with a loud groan. My head was pounding.
"Oh thank the gods." Bellfire's voice came from a distance. "I didn't know if you'd wake up."
"Where are we?" I asked, looking around through squinted eyes.
We were in a fenced enclosure made of small young trees and wire. It was tall enough to keep us in. It was as if we were large livestock corralled into a small space just before heading toward the slaughter.
"They walked us about a mile northwest of where we were. We could've avoided them if they weren't hunting last night, but we got unlucky." He looked troubled as he sat down next to me. "If I hadn't fallen asleep, we could've ran away."
He seemed to touch his left, lower side where he had his healing wound.
"Lift your shirt." I told him as I sat up.
"I already checked. It's healed nicely since it was a shallow cut. It's just tender." He told me.
I rubbed my eyes and finally responded to his words earlier, "I'm pretty sure these creatures are ogres, so they're bigger and faster than us. Running wouldn't have helped anyway."
"So how do we escape? I already checked the fence, and it's well made." He rubbed the back of his neck.
"Ogres are very dumb, so we have to outsmart them." I narrowed my eyes as I looked around the perimeter of the fence. Only one big tree sat in the middle of the fence, and unlike the other trees, it was still fully feathered with leaves. In fact, I could almost see some branches blooming new leaves as if my eyes were playing tricks on me.
Then I glanced back at the bushes across from the tree. Slowly, different scenarios and plans began to piece together in my head.
"How good are you at digging with your hands?" I asked with a pensive expression.
He looked at me in confusion as I smiled. Like I said, I was born to survive.