The body was as small as a child's and one leg was dangling at an odd angle as it hung in their grasp. They reached us and Merkell circled them, inspecting the body. It appeared to be unconscious, its leg was definitely broken if compared to the other leg. I couldn't tell if it was male or female, its hair was a wild mess of white-ish silver, sticking out in every direction, with bits of mud and twigs in.
It was extremely thin and scraggly, as though it hadn't been fed or washed in a long time. Its skin was pale white like its bones were showing through its skin; what you could see of it under the dirt and scraps of dirty clothing. There was no denying that we had entered into a different world.
Merkell prodded the creature in the chest with his index finger and it squeaked like an oversized mouse, he audibly sighed.
"You can let her go." Merkell had deemed that it was female but how he could tell was beyond me.
Blaike and Kayle looked at each other, shrugged and then placed her on the floor. She squeaked again but made no other movement. Blaike, Kayle and Kaleb all had their weapons pointed towards her.
Merkell stood facing her, "We will not harm you, Trickster. Rise."
He spoke softly but there was that same power to his voice there had been the night before and we watched the small creature sit up slowly. She opened her eyes, they were watery grey and shockingly had no pupils, she gave me the chills but I couldn't seem to make myself look away.
"Can you fix your leg yourself?" Merkell asked when she tried to stand and collapsed back down.
"I cannot, I do not possess the strength," she replied. Her voice sounded like walking through dry leaves in autumn.
Merkell knelt down in front of her, "May I?"
He pointed to her broken leg, she nodded and we watched him wrap his hands around her leg like he had with Emy's ankle. The creature squeaked again but quieter this time, then her face broke into a smile and I could see little white, pointed teeth. Merkell let go a moment later and stood up.
"How is that?" His voice was calm and measured now.
The girl-creature scrambled up quickly and jumped high into the air, landing on both legs easily.
"As good as it was, I thank you," her voice rustled now.
She looked around at us all but lingered on Emy and I for a few seconds longer than the others.
"Will you tell me why you were watching and following us?" Merkell asked, bringing her disturbing eyes back to him.
"I think you already know," she glanced quickly to Emy and I, then back to him. "I sensed the Shift."
What did that mean? What was this creature? And why did it seem like everyone from this world knew more than we did? I watched the creature fidget under Merkell's gaze.
"I understand, you may go," he told her and my mouth fell open in shock.
Why would he just let her go like that? Wasn't she someone to worry about? She didn't need telling twice though, she ran to the nearest tree and climbed it like a cat, within seconds she was gone. My shock turned to awe watching her, what was she? Merkell watched her go then walked back to us, Blaike and Kayle followed, putting their weapons away, as did Kaleb.
"Okay, what was that?!" Emy asked and I couldn't tell if she was more surprised or confused.
Merkell seemed to expect yet more questions, "She was a creature of this world though not one many get to see, she was a Mistrik."
All three guys murmured in understanding but Emy and I were no wiser after his words and held our hands out.
"And that is?" Emy asked.
"They are mostly troublemakers, tricksters, they play pranks on unsuspecting travellers, usually through forests, mountain passes or anywhere they can hide out. They only have a limited level of magic and do no mean any harm, they are tuned into the worlds energy, however..." He trailed off and shook his head as he stared at the spot where she disappeared.
"Oh," I started, "What did she mean when she said 'sensed the shift'?" I thought back to her watery grey eyes staring at me and it gave me shivers.
"Yeah and why did she keep staring at me and Cass like that? It's like you're all obsessed!" Emy added, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes.
Merkell looked at us and sighed deeply, "Again, these are questions I cannot answer, I am sorry."
He took his bag off and took out the water and cups to share out.
I leaned over and whispered to Emy, "I'm getting really tired of all this secrecy."
"There is one thing I do not understand," Blaike spoke while we were all having a drink and a rest.
"Only one? Lucky you," I muttered to myself, feeling agitated about my questions going unanswered, again.
Emy snorted and nudged my side but nobody else seemed to have heard my comment as they watched Blaike and waited.
"How Cassandra..." my name still sounded strange coming from him, "Could tell the Mistrik was there when the rest of us couldn't."
He turned his gaze to me and I frowned, what was he trying to say? I looked down at the cup in my hands, I could feel everyone's eyes on me.
Merkell answered before I could think of something to say, "Cassandra seems to have exceptional instincts, enhanced by- well never mind but she could feel Kaleb and yourself watching them at Kayle's party."
Blaike's eyes widened, "That was a fair distance away and we were looking all over that building, we could barely see either of them."
My eyes widened this time, so that was where the feeling came from, they'd been watching us while we were inside as well.
Merkell smiled, "Yes, like I said, exceptional."
I looked up from the cup to see everyone looking at me as though I was a different person.
"What?" I asked in a less than polite tone, not liking everyone staring at me.
"It's just a feeling I get, like a shiver across my neck and down my back, then the thought that someone is watching me, or us in some cases."
They were still looking at me differently, I peered at Emy and she shrugged, she didn't know any more about this than I did.
"Why are you all looking at me like that? Everyone gets that feeling."
I couldn't understand their reactions to something so trivial after what we'd been going through. Merkell looked deep in thought, he'd been staring at me but he snapped out of it when I looked directly at him.
His mouth curved into a small smile, "Yes, they do, Cassandra but they are usually just paranoid. The reason we are this surprised is because nobody can sense Mistriks, not even with magic, that's why they are so very good at what they do. Unless you can catch sight of one like Kayle and Blaike did, you are not going to know one is there... and yet you did."
Now I was the one to stare, how could I be the only one capable of doing that? Merkell began packing everything away while I was stood there dumbfounded. He acted like nothing had changed and shouldered his bag.
"Time to get going, we've been delayed too long already, my senses will be on high alert from now onward so be warned."
We began walking and I could see I wasn't going to get any of the answers I wanted, not yet anyway.
We walked for the rest of the day without stopping and into the night. We moved slowly in the darkness, the cloud covered the sky made it difficult to see. I was exhausted and so was Emy from the sounds of her yawns, we hadn't slept properly in the last few days and it didn't look like we were going to get any real rest anytime soon.
We trudged on through the night, my eyes were half closed and with the darkness all around us, it made it much harder to see where I was stepping. I didn't see the tree root sticking up until my foot caught on it, I stumbled forward when hands grabbed me just before I face planted the ground.
It was Blaike, he pulled me up and looked down into my face. "Are you alright?"
Why did he look so concerned? He barely knew me and I'd only tripped over.
"I'm fine," I replied, blinking the tiredness away so he wouldn't be able to tell how exhausted I was. "Thanks for catching... me."
I was betrayed by a yawn I couldn't stifle and it gave me away, I swore internally when he turned to Merkell, who had stopped behind us.
"I think we need to rest awhile, Cassandra and Emily are entirely exhausted."
He glanced over at Emy, she had her head down as though she was ready to sleep while we walked. Her head lolled against me, only further proving his point.
Merkell observed us both, meanwhile Kayle had come to stand with us.
"We are very late already and it is becoming more unsafe everyday we are out here," he glanced ominously at the sky.
"Sir, with all four of us here and especially you, we're very safe, we can afford one rest stop."
Kaleb's voice sounded far away now, I was starting to drift off and didn't even care about Kaleb calling Merkell 'sir' now too. My eyes were open enough that I could just make out Merkell watching Emy and I with a calculating expression. I stared through half open eyes and he seemed to decide something, he came closer and spoke quietly.
"Emily, Cassandra? Do you think you could manage a little further? There is a ridge and a small clearing not far from here. I would feel better about us resting there."
I tried to blink away some of the tiredness and peered at Emy who was almost asleep on her feet. She yawned which caused me to yawn, I tried to look back to Merkell.
"We can but... if it's too far, we might collapse before we get there," I smiled sleepily.
"That's alright, we have plenty of arms to help in carrying you both," Blaike said with a small smile.
"No thank you, we'll manage," I said through another yawn.
I was surprised at how agitated I sounded towards him and he frowned at me. I looked away quickly before he asked about it and checked if Emy was alright, I could still feel his and the others eyes on me.
Merkell finally broke the growing tension, "We should get going then, it's not far so you'll both get there just fine."
I turned my eyes on only Merkell and he was smiling kindly at me, no judgement in his eyes. I smiled back, feeling reassured that I wasn't turning into a whining, moody, brat.
"We shall keep the same formation and speed, the sooner we get there the sooner we can all rest."
Merkell gestured for Kayle to take the lead and we started walking, I had to keep myself from side glancing at Blaike. I knew I shouldn't have snapped at him like I did but I felt weak when he suggested carrying us. I hated the idea that he thought of us as dainty and fragile, I'd have to show him how strong Emy and I could be sometime, and also apologise to him.
It took what felt like hours for us to reach this ridge, Emy and I were linked as we were trying not to trip over our own feet. When we were finally able to stop, Kayle leaned against a tree looking around the open area.
"Are we alright here, Goof?" Kaleb asked while looking for himself.
"Yeah, there is nothing here that I can see, do you sense anything, sir?" Kayle asked presumably Merkell.
"I do not, maybe we should ask Cassandra and her instincts."
I lifted my head at the mention of my name. "I don't feel anything except tired," I shook my head to get rid of some of the drowsiness clouding it.
And with that, we settled down on the ridge, we couldn't have a fire because it would apparently attract too much attention from any passersby. Emy and I laid down with our heads on our bags, the guys were spaced apart where they were sat, with Merkell closest to us. I laid staring at the few stars I could see between the clouds, I was exhausted but something was keeping me awake.
Emy's sleepy voice suddenly whispered next to me, "You can apologise to him later, get some sleep. He'll still be here when you wake up."
I turned to face her, she was curled up in her cloak with her eyes closed. She knew what was wrong with me without even looking, I smiled at her.
"Love you, Emy," I whispered as I slowly drifted off.
"Love you too," I heard her sigh out before I fell into a sleep filled with images I forgot as soon as they appeared.
When I woke up it was bright and I could hear talking, I didn't sit up straight away and I could just make out what they were saying.
"You must understand the stress they are both under, having their whole lives turned upside down, leaving everything they have ever known. There are bound to be short tempers and bad words said but you have to know she was just exhausted, there was no malice behind her words." It was Merkell's voice and I knew exactly who he was speaking to.
Sure enough Blaike's voice replied, "I... don't understand it, but I can imagine all the same," he said hesitantly. "It's just that every time I try to help her, she resists it even when she needs it, now that I do not understand."
Merkell chuckled quietly, "Cassandra is a very strong minded and independent young lady. I do not think she likes to show any weakness, especially in front of strangers such as yourself and Kaleb. She is unlike any of the girls you have grown up with, despite the fact that she was born in your village. She was raised in a different world of different values." Merkell sounded thoughtful and for a moment, I wondered what I would have been like if I had grown up in this world.
"Oh I can tell that already, sir." Blaike stated quietly and I couldn't tell if he thought that was a good thing or not.
"Give her the chance and she will keep surprising you." Merkell sounded very happy about that.
"I don't doubt it sir, I saw her in the other world doing some rather peculiar things on our visits."
Merkell chuckled again, "For example?"
I could hear shuffling, like someone was moving something then it stopped as quickly as it had started.
"Well once, she was walking down a street with very strange earmuffs on, despite the fact that it was warm. Her mouth was moving, yet she wasn't talking to anyone." He sounded really confused by this and I had to smile at something so ordinary being so confusing to him.
"They are not earmuffs, they are called headphones and they are used to listen to music. Which Cassandra and Emily have a fondness for, from what I have heard after living nearby these last two years." I could hear the smile in Merkell's voice and I realised he must have heard our stereo. I didn't know it had been that loud, nobody complained to us about it anyhow.
"Why don't they just listen to music from people and not machines?" Blaike still sounded confused by my behaviour.
"It is more for personal use than anything, so you do not disturb others with your music who may not want to listen to it." Merkell explained and Blaike made a noise that might have been understanding or befuddlement.
"There were other things too, for example she was walking down the street on another occasion and a dog walked out onto the road while one of those big metal vehicles-"
"Cars, Blaike," Merkell interjected.
"Yes, a car, was coming along at a fast pace, she ran out and picked up the dog to save it from harms way."
He sounded entirely baffled by what I'd done. I remembered that day, now that he mentioned it but I didn't remember a feeling of being watched.
"She risked her own safety for that of an animal, now that cannot be normal for that world?" He sounded almost angry now but I couldn't fathom why.
"No that is not normal, that comes more from Cassandra's personality, she does not see anything wrong with risking her life for an animal and would most likely do it again if she saw the need to."
The smile in Merkell's voice sounded like it had widened. I was starting to see how perceptive Merkell was and how much he knew Emy and I, he was generally quite accurate and most counts.
I could imagine the puzzled look on Blaike's face while they spoke and it made me feel a sense of satisfaction. It was nice for the scales of confusion to be tipped for a bit.
"They will certainly make the Shift a lot more interesting," Blaike said the word with a kind of reverence and I focused in on it. The Mistrik had used that word too, what 'shift' were they talking about?
"I just hope that it is the Shift we are hoping for because if it goes the other way, we-"
I didn't get to find out what would happen if it went the other way because at that precise moment Emy fidgeted next to me and sat up.
"Good morning Emily, did you sleep well?" Merkell asked, clearly not wanting to continue his conversation with Blaike now that she was awake.
Emy stretched out, "Morning, yeah not bad considering everything that's going on, and the ground isn't exactly comfortable."
I held back a smile at her bluntness, even though I was irritated that she couldn't have slept just a little longer.
"We will reach the end of this forest by tonight and then we will have somewhere better to rest," Merkell's voice had grown serious. "Would you wake Cassandra, please and Blaike would you wake Kaleb and Kayle, please? We must get ready to go."
I heard them shuffling and moving about, Emy nudged my arm and called my name to wake me up. I let her do it a few times and then pretended to wake up.
"Okay, I'm awake," I said in what I hoped was a sleepy enough voice to be convincing.
We had a quick meal with the last of the food that Merkell had brought, I looked at him worriedly when the last bits had been eaten. He smiled but said nothing to reassure me. He shouldered his bag and we started off in the same direction and formation. The forest was starting to thin out now, more light was pouring in and the cool breeze had returned to take away the chill of the night.
The food situation was still playing on my mind when I was distracted by a blueish glint in one of the trees ahead of us, it looked metallic almost, how could Kayle have missed it? I tapped Emy's arm and pointed at it, she saw it straight away and quickly tapped Kaleb's arm to show him. I was about to do the same to Blaike when I remembered I hadn't apologised yet. Instead I turned to see what Kaleb would do. I had to blink a few times so I knew I wasn't seeing things, he was grinning at us both.
I looked back at the blue glint and it was still there as plain as day, Kaleb stopped walking and spoke quietly.
"Everyone, stop," his deep voice carried far enough for them all to hear, they stopped and turned to look at him. "We have a Mirowing up ahead and I think it may have alarmed Cassandra and Emily." The others looked around to where he pointed out the blueish glint, which hadn't moved and they all smiled.
Emy was just as annoyed as I was that everyone else was in on the joke.
"Yeah, so what's a Mirowing? Why didn't you see it Kayle? And how many more things are we going to come across that will scare us and you will still find amusing?"
Their smiles disappeared, I think our outbursts were becoming a little too frequent but I'd have said it was their own faults.
Kayle came closer to stand in front of us and he leaned down. "I did see it up there but they are harmless to us so I didn't see a reason to alert everyone. I'm sorry but there are a lot of creatures around here and I can't alert you to every single one when I see them, otherwise we'd be here forever." He sounded agitated somehow and some of our own agitation seeped away.
"It's alright," Emy said with a sigh, "We're just really frustrated with this whole situation, it isn't your fault though and we shouldn't take it out on you."
"Or anyone else either," I added, quickly glancing to Blaike when I said it. We locked eyes for a few seconds before he gave me a nod of acknowledgment.
"How about a basic wildlife and creatures lesson while we walk, to pass the time and also to avoid anymore alarming situations like this?" Merkell suggested and Emy and I eagerly agreed to it.
I had been wanting to learn more about this new world ever since we'd crossed over but there hadn't been much chance for that. Merkell smiled and instructed us while we walked, he told us all about the different creatures we might encounter on our journey and the others filled in any little pieces he missed. There were quite a few that were the same as our world; dogs, cats, horses- which were the main mode of transportation.
"Wait," Emy interrupted, "We don't know how to ride a horse."
We'd always wanted to take lessons but never had the time or the money to do so.
Merkell smiled softly at us, "That does not matter, you will learn."
I grinned eagerly at Emy and he carried on with his wildlife lesson. A lot of the same woodland animals as our world; deer and foxes, bears and wolves, that excited me a little. I had always loved wolves but never seen one in person. Next, he went through the more unique creatures, starting with the Mirowing we'd just seen.
He painted an image as he spoke, a beautiful bird with reflective wings and they came in an array of different colours. He only mentioned the animals that we might come across on our journey, but I got the feeling there were a few that he was leaving out; whether it was because they were dangerous, or something else, I couldn't tell.
It was late in the day when he finished telling us about the wildlife; ending with a pig-like creature mostly bred for meat, they had three horns on top of their heads and a shriek that made your ears ring.
Kayle slowed down when the trees started thinning and a moment later the forest abruptly ended. It opened out to rolling green fields, hedgerows and dirt roads separated them and the forest spread out on either side.
Kayle stopped and turned, his expression was alert and his voice clipped.
"How shall we go on? We will be out in the open."
He seemed to be asking everyone but was looking at Merkell, who stood silently and appeared to be deep in thought.
"We should stay in this formation, it has worked so far and now Cassandra and Emily are clear on what is or isn't a threat." Blaike said to Kayle, glancing to Merkell then back again.
"We only need to reach Hawksend, then we can relax and probably get a full meal," explained Kaleb, smiling at the last part.
Emy and I shared an uneasy smile while Blaike and Kayle considered his words, glancing to Merkell as we waited for his opinion.
He frowned, apparently not liking the situation. "I agree with your plan, mostly," he eyed Kaleb who smiled sheepishly. "However, the formation needs tightening and we are not stopping until we get there. I don't want to be out in the open too long, so have a quick rest now, we will be moving fast."
Emy and I didn't need telling twice, we took our bags off and leaned against a tree while the others surveyed the fields. Blaike stood nearby, checking his sword and bag, and I knew this was my opportunity to apologise. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I walked closer and waited for him to finish what he was doing, even then he didn't look at me.
I decided I'd just have to go for it, "Blaike, I'm sorry for snapping at you before. Like Emy said earlier, we're just frustrated with this whole thing and worn out. But that doesn't give me the right to take it out on you, so... I'm sorry."
He gradually looked at me while I spoke and his expression grew more relaxed.
"I honestly did not mean to offend you in any way, I was trying to help," he said in a sincere voice.
"I know you were and I'm grateful, but I'm not used to needing help from anyone, maybe Emy and my parents but that's it. It's my problem to sort through though, I just needed to apologise for taking it out on you."
I looked up to see him half smiling and he nodded, "It is fine, all is forgiven," his smile widened and my breathing faltered.
I pushed it away and nodded back, "okay," was all I could manage, I hated what that bigger smile had done to me and I buried it deep down inside of myself.
I turned around and walked back to Emy before he could see the colour rising in my cheeks.
Emy was giving me that look again, "You're bright red, Cass," she stated quietly as I leaned against a tree. "You like him, don't you?" She asked under her breath, smiling at me and I stared at her blankly before I answered.
"No, of course not. I don't even know him, he's just nicer than I first thought and it surprised me... that doesn't mean anything."
My words rang true, I didn't know him at all and I couldn't like someone I didn't know anything about.
"If you say so..." she smiled widely and shrugged but I knew she didn't believe me.
I moved away to check on my bag, trying to calm myself and the redness of my face.
Minutes later, Merkell picked his bag up and gestured for the rest of us to follow. He seemed to brace himself, watching us get into a tighter formation and muttered something just loud enough for us to hear.
"Time to go. Swift and careful."