Nerves were hateful. They made my shoulders hurt and my throat feel swollen. How could Kai think that I had any part to play in what sounded like the biggest evil since The Shibaura War a hundred years ago? Who was he to say that I should fight a war like this? I couldn’t even be a perfect little Hunter, I couldn’t even listen to my superiors. And what about that bomb about my father? What did he know about that? Shit! What was I going to do against a darkness like Kai described?
With quick steps and fumbling hands, I got lost between the tents. I hadn’t even realized until I heard a bone breaking sound that made me instantly tense. My left hand went to my empty belt, and I realized only then that I had put my weapon in my shoe. Not the easiest place to contain a dagger the size of my forearm, but there was no other choice though, considering these colorless rags were not strong enough to hold the weight of a dagger. With my weapon at hand, I sneaked closer to the tent on my right. In perfect silence, I pushed the fabric to the side only enough to let my eyes get a glimpse.
A tall woman with platinum blonde hair, woven together on her back, stood regally above a small corpse. With her arms spread to the side, her legs a little too wide to be a natural stance and her head tilted to the back, she commanded the white heap of osteological material in front of her. The bones laying on the floor were moving, which was the cause of the unnatural, hair-raising sounds filling the air. Slowly they came to life, setting themselves into a mismatched structure.
“Talk!” The voice sounded lower than you would expect from a woman. It vibrated through the air and made the bones shake in response.
It was hard to look away from the display of power. Is this what the Ahr a Donn did? Was this how they communicated with the death? Did they lie about the three day wait?
“I have not asked for that!” Her voice commanded. “Tell me who did this to you! Tell me everything you remember before you were slaughtered like a lamb. Tell me why everyone is silent!”
The bones moved, restructured themselves into something that looked a lot like a dog, and crawled with the same unnatural sounds forward to its owner. When I thought the figure would talk, or reach for its commander, it folded into itself and formed once again a motionless heap of bones.
The tall woman, with arms and legs that seemed too long for the rest of her body, grunted in frustration. It was only when she turned around that I realized who she was. Before me stood the little spy from the day before, Kate’s enamored fan, Brianna. Where she had looked a lot older a few seconds ago, she now looked barely sixteen. Under her eyes, she wore dark spots that spoke of many sleepless nights. Her platinum hair looked uncared for, and I dared to bet that she only wove it into a braid because she wanted it out of the way and not for a fashionable reason. I respected her for that. Not that I dared to admit that, Kate’s fascination with this girl was still very fresh in my mind. I didn’t think it was because of her puffy, colorless braided hair.
A silent scraping sound echoed between the tents. I would’ve missed it if not for the changing of the wind. With my knife raised, I turned around and stared right at a mouse, made of bones, the size of my tibia. A dead mouse with sharp teeth and piercing, white glowing eyes. It looked terrifying. Out of instinct, I sliced my blade through its body.
“Wooow, seriously? What did Rodo ever do to you?” Brianna appeared on my left. She must have taken the true entrance of the tent, instead of the side where I had been spying.
She walked to me and started to gather the bones that lay scattered around and on top of me. With each bone she took, she whispered soft words that sounded like a mother calming its child. I imagined her saying something along the lines of ‘don’t worry my beloved, the mean lady did not mean to kill you’. I snorted.
“What? This isn’t funny. That took me a whole day to put together. It’s not as easy as it looks, you know!”
She put the bones away into a satchel on her belt.
“Sorry,” I apologized, although it didn’t feel entirely like I was in fault.
“You scared of mice or something?” Brianna asked. Her voice suddenly had a strange crack in it.
“What? No!”
It was almost laughable that she even dared to ask a question like that. I mean, I grew up in the forest. I found my best resting places right at the center of nature. Imagine, if I was scared of mice! Those creatures were part of the world, just as much as humans and horses and everything else.
“That was a carcass of a dead mouse! Not the same!”
Brianna shrugged, as if she didn’t entirely agree.
“Perhaps not.”
Now that she had gathered the remains of ‘Rodo’, she held out a hand for me. I ignored the gesture, and pushed myself up. Now that she was standing right next to me, I realized she wasn’t that tall. She looked taller, with those thin, endless legs and arms, but she reached about the same height as myself.
“So, what are you doing in these parts of town? On the ground, nonetheless.”
Her gray, almost white, eyes pierced mine. I wasn’t sure if that was because of the color or the way she stared.
“Lost my way.”
Brianna nodded, then looked over my shoulder.
“I guess you must have.”
“What does that mean?”
“You’re on the other side of the town. And I don’t think you know this town enough to have walked here on your own with a higher purpose.”
Was she serious? This child was very condescending. I might’ve done research, or I might’ve followed her here. She didn’t know what I was capable of.
With a frown, and enough irritation towards her, I grumbled, before I walked past her. Not without grazing her shoulder.
“Where are you going?” Brianna called. Unfortunately she didn’t get the gesture that I was done with her, because with a few steps, she was walking beside me. “If you got lost, let me at least show you how to get back?”
She didn’t even get a grumble in response this time.
“Don’t you have to work on the field?”
The realization both hit her and myself. It was indeed not great to stroll around town - probably looking like a spy - when the terms were that Kate and I had to help on the field. Something I hadn’t done the past two days. I was also supposedly having a heat stroke, something that I clearly didn’t have anymore thanks to Kai’s mysterious drink. Perhaps, having Brianna walk me to the silo wasn’t so terrible after all.
“Yes, but I wasn’t feeling great this morning. And Kai bought me a drink to get better, and then I got lost. I’m still not feeling too great though, maybe you could show me the way back?”
Brianna pulled her eyebrow up. “I’m not an idiot, you know.”
She didn’t clarify, and I didn’t mean to ask further. Instead I kept my eyes on the dusty road.
Today, the sun shone bright, but stood low in the sky, casting long shadows in the streets. It gave the streets an extra chill to it.
“So,” Brianna began.
When she didn’t continue, I cocked my head to the side.
“What were you really doing at my tent?”
I sighed. “Nothing, like I said, I got lost.”
I don’t know what it was about this girl, but she annoyed me. Perhaps it was her voice, or those bleached out colors that seemed so very typical here. Or maybe it was the way Kate seemed to have trusted her from the first second, even though she had no idea who this girl was.
“You know, there is no reason to get so defensive.” She pulled her braid out, combed through her long white hair and redid the braid. It still looked poorly done, but then again, my two side braids weren’t any better at the moment.
Brianna fell once again silent, and for a while we strolled through the mostly empty streets. It was only when we reached the border of the town, that it became clear that this wasn't a ghost town. People were crowded on the field, filling straw baskets of berries and wheat.
Her auburn hair stood out against the white and gray of the townspeople. Kate had her shirt knotted in front of her, showing off her flat stomach. Her hair was pinned on top of her head, a piece of fabric wrapped around her forehead like a bandana, and somehow that made her even more beautiful. For an outsider, she seemed to have found a way to fit in. She was good at that, it seems. It’s not like they embraced her, but they seemed to tolerate her enough to act friendly. And if my eyes weren’t deceiving me, I even saw a smile warming her face.
“So how long have you been together?”
The question surprised me so much that I was startled, then laughed.
“Excuse me?”
“Are you two not together?”
I laughed once again.
“No, of course we are not.” Yet, I couldn’t deny the longing I felt for my answer to be different.
“Why are you not?” Brianna looked at me with a puzzling gaze. “I live between the dead. You know what people regret the most? That they never confessed their love sooner. Time is short and life is fragile.”
The words hit hard, and I couldn’t look at Brianna, too scared that she would read the truth in my eyes. So I lied, while my eyes were fixated on the princess: “There is no love to confess.”
Brianna sighed, then shrugged.
“If it changes anything, I have seen her looking at you the same way you are now staring at her.”
I heard Brianna walk away, her feet hitting the dust on the mountain ground with gentle thuds. Kate seemed to have felt my presence, because she looked up in my direction and I saw her straighten her back in response. Quickly, she averted her eyes and went back to work. My shoulders slumped and my breath escaped my chest with a deep sigh. If it were only true that Kate was developing similar feelings for me.
With the growing feeling of heartbreak, I went after Brianna.
“What were you doing with those bones, back in the tent?” Usually I loved silence, but Brianna had a knack for making them uncomfortable.
Brianna hummed, then turned around to look at me.
“I was trying to get some answers, but lately, I have trouble maintaining my focus.”
“How come?” My eyebrows creased.
“There is something growing between the forces of nature, my grip on the Otherworld isn’t as stable as it usually is. Things are changing, and it’s affecting the veil between worlds.”
“It’s affecting the magic?” I asked, completely surprised by this knowledge. It shouldn’t surprise me that everything I learned these days seemed to be connected.
“Magic is a big word for the energy that surrounds us and runs through us. The veil is created by two opposite forces, the energy here and the energy in the Otherworld. They keep the two Worlds separate, something that is necessary if we don’t want the creatures from there to leak into our world. It’s the world of Donn, of Death. It’s a large world that is not merciful. And it won’t be the gentle creatures that will force their way through first.”
The same coldness that I had felt when Kai was speaking about this darkness crept up my spine. Reality punched its way inside and genuine fear held my heart prisoner.
“Kai spoke about Kate and me, about how we play an important role in bringing balance back. How can we do that?”
Brianna stopped, gripped my arm in her bony fingers and squeezed surprisingly hard. “That’s what we need to figure out! That is why I convinced Pilu for you to stay. I just hope that we won’t be too late.”
“Is that what you were really trying to do?”
Brianna let go of my arms, and I immediately rubbed the little half moons left behind by her nails. Brianna looked around, as if she was scared of an extra pair of ears listening in.
“I was trying to get a sense of the situation in the Otherworld.” She whispered. “Everyone is resisting, they won’t speak. Or they don’t dare. I don’t know, but it’s making me nervous.”
And nervous she was. She had pulled her hair once again free, redid the braid, then started pacing in place while she started fumbling with her sleeves.
“Don’t you feel it?”
Once again, someone asked me that question, and once again, I couldn’t say I did. The world didn’t feel more off balance than it usually did. Not to me at least.
“How about I help you get ready for the Moon Festival?” I offered, not sure what else to do or say.
Impending doom made me queasy.