After another half hour or so of walking, Lilia started to become short of breath. Connor moved much faster than she was accustomed to. She was struggling to keep up with him and was too embarrassed to ask him to slow down. I can do this. I can keep going, she tried to convince herself.
Almost imperceptibly, Lilia noticed Connor slowing his speed. Breathing came easier and she could focus on thoughts other than moving her feet forward at the correct speed.
"How'd you know to do that?" she demanded wonderingly.
"What?" Connor asked innocently.
"Slow down for me."
"I heard your breathing getting progressively more labored. I'm sorry, I should have been thinking. I suppose you're not used to the same sort of exercise that I am."
Lilia thought about her life on Earth. She enjoyed playing soccer with her siblings - Kasey played on a team - and was careful with what she ate so that she wouldn't be unhealthy - but vigorous exercise, especially the swordfighting and marches that Connor participated in routinely, was definitely not her style.
"No, not really."
They continued onward in silence.
"Connor?"
"Yes?"
"Where are we going to stay tonight?"
"In an inn, if we happen upon one along the way."
"What if we came across one right now?"
"You mean, would we stop or take our chances and keep going?"
"Yes."
"We would probably stop. You've been through a lot today."
Lilia was touched by his kindness, but felt compelled to point out, "So have you."
"True. But I've been through a lot in my life. I can take more."
How much more can you take? Lilia asked silently. How much more can be thrown at you before you shatter?
"You're only seventeen and you've already survived so much," she commented out loud, trying to make the words respectful.
"What have you been through?" Connor asked curiously. "What do teenagers of your world have to deal with?"
Lilia pondered before answering. "Like I said, I'm extremely lucky in my life situation compared to many. Nothing of note has really happened to me. Well - no, it's nothing, compared to what happened to you."
"What?" Connor asked curiously.
Lilia sighed. "When I was six, I was attacked by a dog. A pit bull, a puppy. It tore up my left forearm pretty badly and clawed my stomach. I lost a lot of blood and would have died if my older brother hadn't glanced out of his bedroom window, saw me, and called for my mother. It took a lot of therapy to keep me from going catatonic whenever we passed a dog on the street."
"I assume you have scars?"
Lilia rolled up her left sleeve to reveal the bumpy mess of white scars dripping off of her shoulder. Then she raised the hem of her shirt slightly to show the same scar pattern, albeit somewhat neater from the arrangement of the claws of the dog, on her stomach.
Connor whistled in disbelievement at the scars. "Wow."
"Yeah." It was not a memory that Lilia ever liked revisiting. "But like I said, it's nothing compared to what's happened to you."
"I disagree. In your world, you aren't in the same situation, It's like I said, wolf cub." Connor smiled crookedly. He said wolf cub as if it was Lilia's name. For some reason, it made her feel better.
"That's true," she said weakly, not sure how else to reply.
The silence fell once more. Soon, it became comfortable. Lilia had always felt extremely awkward at lulls in conversations - she wasn't sure if she was supposed to talk, if someone else was supposed to talk, or if they were supposed to just sit in silence. She usually made the moment even more uncomfortably by asking a short, easily answered question that then led back into the now stifling silence.
But this quietness was different. It was companionable. Lilia didn't feel like she had to make small talk to fill it. She could simply bask in the sun, enjoy the fresh air, and be in awe of the fact that she was possibly making friends with this strange, otherworldly boy next to her.
She didn't notice what was different about the road at first until she tripped on one of the cobblestones, which was jutting out of the ground due to neglect and old age.
Connor grabbed her forearm and pulled her back into an upright position. She thanked him, cheeks reddening. Her clumsiness had, once again, chosen an inopportune time to strike. She distracted herself by staring at the sight of the road before her.
Slowly, cobblestone by cobblestone, the road was becoming paved. That wasn't to say that someone was currently paving it - whoever had done that job was obviously long gone - but the stones got more and more frequent until, far away, Lilia could see that the road was almost completely covered in stone.
She glanced excitedly at Connor. "That means we're getting near civilization, doesn't it?"
Connor nodded, smiling at her enthusiasm. "I have passed through this town many times. I completely forgot that we would be crossing through it - usually, I travel through the woods to get in and out of my town. I've actually stayed in its inn a few times." He cast a glance at her, keeping his voice suspiciously neutral. "Do you remember that?"
Lilia thought back to the book. "You stayed in so many inns that I couldn't keep track of them," she confessed finally.
Connor shrugged, looking a little relieved at this. "Good point."
Soon, they crested a slight hill and were looking down on a village in a valley.
Lilia gasped as she recognized the way the buildings sat in a bowl and had natural barriers on either side. "Oh! I remember this village!"
Connor visibly wilted. Lilia winced. "Sorry."
"It's fine. It's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault." Connor grimaced. "Unless, of course, this wizard that Azca's sending us to is actually responsible for the book. In that case, I do have somebody to take my anger out on."
Lilia shivered at the thought of Connor deciding to take out his anger on her. He might have been her second favorite character in Star of Winter, but she was wise enough to be fearful of him. After reading of how he cut through his enemies like they were paper dolls, Lilia knew that he was a force to be reckoned with. At least he's decided to halt the anger-releasing until we hear what this wizard has to say for himself.
The paved road that led downhill to the village in the valley was rather steep. Lilia had to put all of her concentration into staying upright as they descended. Once, she stumbled and instinctively grabbed Connor's shoulder to stay upright. Sighing, Connor slung an arm around her and under her arms so that she couldn't fall. Her heart leapt into her throat at the sudden contact and her breath caught. "Thank you," she managed.
"I can't get you to the wizard if you break your neck on a hill," Connor pointed out.
"Good point."
They continued down the hill in silence until they reached the bottom. Then, Connor released her and began leading her down the few hundred feet of pavement left until they reached the town's perimeter.
"Wait," Lilia blurted. Connor paused and returned to stand in front of her.
"What is it?"
"Do I look okay?"
Connor's brow furrowed in confusion as he looked her up and down and Lilia blushed. "No, I mean, will I fit in?"
"Oh! Yes." Connor turned away from her once more.
"Connor!" Lilia said impatiently, making him turn yet again.
"What?" he asked wearily.
"I - I - "
"I can't help you if you don't tell me what the problem is."
Lilia raised a finger and pointed toward the nearby buildings. "Them."
Connor blinked rapidly for a few seconds. "You teleported into this world in the midst of a battle, cleaned a corpse, watched me bury it, and then walked through the carnage to get out of the destroyed town. And you're scared of some fearful townspeople?"
"Fearful?" What do they have to fear?
"Their village is next in the attack. I wager most folks are simply hunkering down and waiting for the worst."
"So won't they be rather distrustful of strangers?"
"Possibly. Actually, that's a good point. Hold on...okay, here's the plan." Connor ran a hand through his hair as he thought. "You're my cousin who visited at an inopportune time. Now we're trying to get you back to your home up in the north. Oh, and - just so that you can't do any damage - you're mute."
"Mute?"
"Yes."
"Actually, fine. This better work."
"It will. I'm a genius." Connor grinned cockily at her and turned once more, starting for the town. Taking a deep breath, Lilia followed him, steeling herself for the worst.
*
As Connor and Lilia passed the small cottages on the outskirts of the town, she saw several faces peering out of the grimy windows to watch them, all of them frightened and worried save the ones who belonged to children, too young to understand that soon, many of them would be dead.
"We should try to get them to leave," Lilia whispered to Connor.
"You can't talk. You are my mute cousin," Connor reminded her shortly. "Besides, they're stubborn people. The ones with good sense left months ago, moving farther inland."
"There are children here," Lilia hissed.
"And we can't play Pied Piper for all of them. Hell, none of them would willingly come with us. If you were a little kid, would you leave with some strangers talking about a war you don't understand or would you decide to stay with the people who raised you and cared for you your entire life?"
Lilia sighed, dropping the conversation and resorting to sulking as she lagged behind Connor. I hate this, she thought as a mother, doing laundry outside with her young daughter's help, pulled the child to her skirt in fear of their passage. I hate this so much.
She tried to remember - had there been bodies of children in Connor's destroyed town, mixed among the adults who stood a fighting chance? Had they all had someone with them until the end, or had they gotten separated from their parents, and in doing so lost their last chance at survival? Lilia found herself blinking back tears at this train of thought. Stop it, she told herself forcefully. You couldn't have helped them. You arrived far too late for that.
That didn't make her feel any better. She bit her lip and focused on the clouds above her to keep the tears in her eyes.
A warm hand slipped into hers and she lowered her gaze to find that Connor was holding her hand, smiling comfortingly at her. He squeezed her hand once more and released it. The gesture gave her strength, and she took a deep breath, calming down.
"The inn is also a bar," Connor told her. "The downstairs is a bar, the upstairs is an inn. We'll get a room from the bartender and then we can lay low there until tomorrow." Lilia nodded in agreement, preparing to act mute, and followed him as he shoved open one of the double doors leading into the lower floor of the building - the bar.
The bar was still a busy place, but it was busy in a sad, quiet sort of way. Men clustered around the counter and tables, talking quietly in worried tones or staring into their drinks. A few of them were accompanied by their wives, and a small group of harsh looking women sat at a table in the corner, fingers fiddling with the weapons sheathed at their waists as they talked vehemently and yet softly about something. Aside from those women, the bar was dominated by men, save the busty serving girls who had dark bags under their eyes but still made an effort to smile at and talk flirtatiously to the single men. Lilia watched in disgust as a man rested his hand on a serving girl's bare leg as she rested her foot on the stool next to him, oblivious to the two small children who were cowering under the counter at his feet and watching the exchange with wide eyes.
"Talk about family bonding time," Connor muttered, and Lilia shot him a look. They were already being watched by several bored and empty-looking bar customers, and one man was watching them with squinted, alcohol-glazed eyes in a way that was making Lilia extremely uncomfortable.
Connor sauntered up to the bar. Lilia stayed close to him, casting her gaze around the room nervously. She wished the squinty man would stop staring at her.
"One room, please," Connor said to the bartender, in a tone that Lilia considered much too loud in the oppressive melancholy of the room.
"Sure thing." The man reached under the counter and grabbed a set of keys. He selected a smaller one off of the end and handed it over. "I'll charge you at the end of your stay. I know you'll pay up." He smiled kindly at Connor.
"Thanks, man." Connor reached over the counter to clap the man on the shoulder and glanced at Lilia, gesturing with his head to the staircase to their left. They took it.
"I felt so uncomfortable down there," Lilia hissed. "Did you see the way that man was looking at us? Ug." She shivered. "You said I would fit in here!"
"Looks-wise, yeah. Attitude-wise, we need to change a few major things," Connor told her with a grin. Despite all that he had so recently lost - had it truly only been mere hours since Lilia had arrived in Dwirinel? - Connor seemed to be in a surprisingly good mood.
"Here we are," he said after checking the key number and leading Lilia to the corresponding door. He unlocked it and swung it open with a flourish. "Home sweet home!"
Lilia looked at the sight before her and groaned.