MARICAYANA: The Beginning [ONC 2021]

6: CAT & MOUSE

Wening woke up with a start.

Involuntary groans soon followed as her bones and joints creaked in protest. Just another reminder that curling up into oneself while sitting up was such a bad idea when it came to sleeping position. Especially without easing the bundled up kris that had been strapped on her back for who knew how long now.

Wening didn't remember falling asleep, but it must have been sometime before midnight, which was way earlier than her usual schedule. Who would have blamed her, though? It had been one hell of a long-ass day.

And as it always did whenever Wening had fallen asleep without intending to do so, a wave of disorienting sensation soon washed over her, temporarily screwing with her five senses. She had to blink for a couple of times to let reality soak in.

The first thing Wening noticed was that her surroundings were still dark. As she looked up to the inky sky eastward, however, she could easily spot the unblinkingly bright eastern star, lintang panjer esuk. So it was close to dawn then, although she couldn't hear any rooster crowing just yet.

The next two things came to Wening's awareness almost simultaneously.

First, there was something draped over her back and shoulder, which upon closer inspection, turned out to be her—relatively speaking—thickest, if not only surviving blanket. For a moment, Wening couldn't get why the piece of fabric was there in the first place.

Didn't she give it to Kelana Klawu earlier, right when he decided to turn in for the night after finishing the meager dinner?

And then there was the fire. It was still sporting a decent size of flame. Some of the thickest branches had barely even gotten their tips charred, which meant someone must have fed those woods not too long ago. Possibly more than once and in regular intervals since... well, since Wening first lit them up to make the bird barbeque. Otherwise, it would've been nothing but dying embers by now.

But who would've bothered to do so, this far from civilization? There were in fact only two living, breathing human beings currently in the vicinity, Wening herself included.

Realization slammed at her with no mercy.

Wening sprang to her feet and ran to her bamboo shack. With more force than necessary, she wrenched the door open until it fell off of its hinges, barging her way in.

Wening's stomach instantly dropped as the sight before her started to sink in. Everything looked exactly how she left them this morning; just pretty much an empty space with a curled up woven rattan mat tucked in the corner. As if no one else, dead or alive, had ever been there at all to disturb the scene.

It can't be...

Shaking her head in denial, Wening yanked the mat and kicked the damn thing until it completely spread open. Coming to a crouch, she frantically inspected every jengkal—a span of one's hand—of its surface. And yet, no matter how hard she squinted her eyes under the dim light, there was not even a single speck of blood in sight.

Wening swayed where she stood, feeling numb from the inside out.

So close. She was so close from getting the one thing that could help her avenge Father's death in the exact manner he was taken from her. 

And now it was gone.

'You should've seen it coming, though, what with last night's disastrous dinner.' 

Wening's internal voice chided, mockery dripping from each word. 

'You've seen the guy's face last night. Good job offending him, by the way. Now, now, don't even dream of becoming his disciple. Just be thankful Kelana Klawu actually spared you from sharing the same fate as the stupid bandit. Guy didn't even leave a bloody mess for you to clean up later.'