Chapter 11
Kiayani’s eyes raked their clothing and then her sharp eyes managed to find a difference. The sling! But which one of them wore it? She had only seconds to think as they got closer. In order to acknowledge the boys presence she stood up. She thought she could hear sniggering coming from behind the nearest building. Then she remembered.
“Hi Rute,” she said. How could she have forgotten? It was Yulan who carried the sling.
The sniggering stopped and Kiayani greeted the others, “Koran, Leo, Mik, Yulan, did you guys find anything new?”
They looked at her a little strangely with raised eyebrows but didn’t say anything for which she was greatful. She walked back into the inn with the boys. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw the two girls slip back into their house. Expressions of great disappointment clear on their faces.
For dinner they ate a rather large meal, a huge platter of steaks and another of vegetables. No one seemed to touch them and Kiayani asked why Koran had ordered it.
“We aren’t going to be having that much variety in our food while we are on the go,” he explained, “They’ll eat it. You’ll see.”
Koran was right. As hungry as they were, the plate was soon emptied. Kiayani ate very little, just nibbling on the end of her carrot. She didn’t feel very hungry. After they had all finished and the inn began to empty they made their way up the stairs.
Kiayani followed behind them like a ghost, her eyes glued to the stairs. The boys hadn’t said much to her lately and she was wondering if she should stay with them. The voices of the two girls, Lacy and Maria rang through her head ‘she didn’t look happy to me’. Am I being isolated from the boys? She thought as she reached the landing. She pulled her key out of her pocket and found her door. She sighed as she turned the lock.
Kiayani made sure the door was securely locked behind her before she threw the keys down on the table and looked at the bed. She hadn’t really been thinking about it, but she was really tired. It looked warm and far more comfortable than the forest floor ever had. Without even taking off her shoes she climbed into the bed. Sure the sheets were scratchy, but it didn’t matter as she fell asleep within minutes of laying her head down on the pillow.
Kiayani was awoken by a loud rap on her door the following day. She sat up straight slowly and rubbed her eyes tiredly. How long had she been asleep? Wearily she got out from between the blankets and combed her hair with her fingers. She then packed all of her stuff into her pack, picked up the key and left the room. Not seeing the boys on the landing she went downstairs, her bag over her shoulder. The inn keeper was standing behind the counter and Kiayani gave him back the key. He took it frowning and shooed her away. Feeling slightly annoyed her eyes scanned the tap room for any sign of the boys. She then heard a high fake laugh ring through the air. Lacy, the blonde bar maid was taking the boys orders. Grumpily Kiayani made her way across the room filled with tables and chairs. Why couldn’t that girl just leave them alone?
“Hey Kiayani!” Leo smiled and waved and patted the bench next to him.
His shout made Koran look up, “Good you’re awake. We only have time for a quick meal and then we need to get going.
Shoving her bag at her feet she sat down next to the blonde boy.
“Sleep well?” Leo asked.
“Like a baby,” she assured him.
“I would have got more sleep if somebody wasn’t snoring,” he replied giving Mik a glare.
Kiayani laughed as Mik threw an apple at his head which they both only narrowly avoided.
“Oi!” said Koran seriously,” We don’t have much food so now is not the time to have a food fight.”
Mik scowled back but made no further retorts. Koran leaned over the back of the chair to retrieve the apple just as Kiayani did so too. Their fingers touched and Kiayani quickly withdrew her hand as nerves shot up her arm and her cheeks went hot. To hide the blush she turned away and pretended to look for something in her bag.
Breakfast was a standard hot breakfast which everyone, especially Kiayani, enjoyed immensely. It had been a long time since she had a meal like that. They lingered for no more than an hour, checking supplies and handing out rations which made Kiayani’s pack weigh twice as much. She staggered under the weight but did not complain; she had to do her duty for the group. If that meant she lost a little skin on her shoulders then so be it.
They left the village before many people had risen. The floodlights were still on like any hour of the day and up in the sky the black-haired girl could see a sliver of the moon. They said nothing to each other as Koran pulled out his compass and began to lead the way. It had been very pleasant to stay in the village and they were all well rested. Except perhaps being cornered by those two girls. That was certainly not fun.
Soon enough they sank back into their walking mode. Legs never ceasing to stop and arms never failing to swing. Kiayani’s eyes stayed on the ground, looking for stray roots. She was sad to leave the village behind. For a brief spell it had felt like she had been at home. Almost.
A few days later they encountered another hurdle.
The group were just trundling through the forest as per usual when Leo stopped making Kiayani crash into the back off him.
“Do you hear that?” Leo said, cocking his head to the side.
“What?” asked Koran stopping dead in his tracks.
The group followed suit, all eyes peering into the darkness.
“I hear it too,” said Mik stepping forward as to hear the sound better holding his hand out behind the others to stop them moving. His face went very pale very fast, “There is something coming.”
“In the trees now!” yelled Koran.
Everyone scrambled towards the trunks. Kiayani ran to the nearest tree, but her limbs were shaking so much that she couldn’t lift herself up. She was very afraid of what was coming if Mik had a quaver of fear in his voice. She then felt a pair of hands slide under her feet and help her scramble into the branches. She looked down and was surprised to see that it was Leo at the base of her tree.
“Leo,” she said, giving him a warning.
The most hideous thing had entered her field of vision only meters away. It was a demon and it was charging towards Leo. He swung around to face the beast, his face going a light shade of green.
“Leo,” she called and swinging her arm down, “Leo get in the tree.”
Her voice shook. He did not move.
“Leo!” she called louder but he remained rooted to the spot.
The demon ran faster and Kiayani closed her eyes. She did not want to see this, she was a coward. The demon would rip the limbs off of the boy’s body and he would be no more. It would be her fault for making him help her get into the tree because she was too afraid to get up herself.
She heard him give a cry of pain. The monster roared and she opened her eyes enough to see his body on the ground and arrows sticking out of the monsters back. Before it could take another swipe at Leo the twins had jumped onto the demon with knives in their hands and had slain the monster. Now that the danger had passed, they all jumped down from the safety of the branches.
“Too bad demon flesh is rotten,” said Koran kicking at the monster in disgust.
Kiayani slid down the tree and sat down next to Leo, “Are you all right? I’m so sorry.”
“It got my shoulder,” he said, and indeed it had, there was a massive gash in his shoulder.
“Koran he’s injured,” Kiayani called over to him.
He walked over immediately and crouched down beside Leo, “How bad is it? Does it hurt?”
“I don’t think it’s deep but it sure does hurt a lot,” he said weakly.
“We’ll make camp here,” said Koran to the rest of the group.
They all nodded and so did Kiayani but she did not move from Leo’s side. She was going to look after him seeing as though she had almost killed him. She rummaged through her bag and pulled out her second tunic.
“Mik can you please throw me a torch?” she said.
Mik walked over and deposited the flashlight at her side while she ripped off a thick strip of fabric from her tunic with the knife from Leo’s belt. Holding the torch in her mouth she sat Leo up against the tree. He groaned softly. She pulled her water pouch from her bag and squeezed some water over his wound. He moaned louder. Then she wrapped the strip of linen tightly around his shoulder. Leo closed his eyes and swallowed hard. Next she used another few strips to make a sling which she tied behind his neck.
“How’s that?” she asked looking at him anxiously.
“Better,” he said quietly, “Thank you Kiayani.”
“It was my fault,” she said looking away, “I was the one who couldn’t climb into the tree.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over it,” he said looking at her nervously, “I couldn’t climb the tree either and it wasn’t like we knew the demon was coming.”
“You heard it first. You should have gotten away unscratched out of all of us,” she said defiantly.
Kiayani felt really bad and Leo’s comments weren’t helping.
“Kiayani,” he said staring at her seriously, “it-was-not-your fault.”
It was very obvious that he did no longer want to hear her blame herself anymore. Deciding not to pick an argument with the boy while he was in a weakened state she gave in.
“Are you cold?” she asked.
He nodded with his eyes shut and Kiayani hurried off to find him a blanket.
When they set of again after a rest (walking much slower because of Leo’s sore shoulder) Mik pulled her to the side a hint of a smile on his face.
“So what’s between you and shortie?” he asked glancing over at Leo who was walking between Rute and Yulan.
“What do you mean?” she said confused.
“I’ve noticed that you seem to be talking to him a lot and I was wondering if maybe you two. . .”
Kiayani cut him off, “definitely not! He’s no more than a brother.”
And she stormed off, walking behind Rute and avoiding Mik’s gaze. She missed seeing him sigh with apparent relief.
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