Hiraeth -- Eleceed FF

Chapter 3

Cain adjusted his grip on the rock face, sweat-logged strands of long dark hair hanging around his face. Not for the first time, he questioned his decision to take refuge in this area. He had chosen this hill for the fact that it would have been unclimbable for a normal person– there was a sheer rock face at its base, which he had used his awakened powers to jump above, and above that the hill continued to slope sharply, albeit with a rougher edge that provided shallow handholds. On the other side of the rock face was a wide rushing river nestled in deep forest, completely unfordable for any but the most skilled Awakened ones.

Lancelot was having an easier time of it than him, and Atsali the osprey had just flown up. Cain tilted his head, looking up the final few metres, where Lancelot sat at the top of the rock face grooming himself. Cain gritted his teeth. His arms were burning, and his fingertips were raw. Damn it. I should have anticipated this.

The panther let out a halfhearted brrt, stood up, and started to pace along the edge of the cliff. Cain could have laughed at the way he was pretending not to care, but there were more pressing matters to focus on right now. He hauled himself up a few metres by his fingers, scrabbling for a foothold, then pushed off to catch a handhold near the edge as the rock he had been standing on fell away. He dragged his weight up onto the plateau on the top and lay there, too tired to move.

A moment later, Lancelot leaped nearly onto him, and that was when Cain allowed himself to smile. He reached out to scratch Lancelot behind the ears. "You should get us something to eat," he said, standing up on shaky legs. "I'll walk with you."

When he raised himself to his full height and looked around, he could see that they were in a clearing, though the forest pressed in greedily around it. A stream ran through the clearing, with a small lake pooling just beside the edge of the forest. The sight of it made Cain remember the dryness in his mouth– he hadn't had a drink in almost half a day. Beyond the lake, the slope ran downwards, and he couldn't see what lay there. They walked slowly towards the lake, Lancelot half supporting Cain.

Cain sat down by the lake as Lancelot walked away. He was so thirsty, but wasn't sure if he should drink the water; on closer look it was not completely clear, and on its banks dark mud mixed with the water. Cain looked away towards the forest where Lancelot had gone, wondering what unfamiliar animals might lie in wait here.

Suddenly, he heard a rustle of leaves behind him, and turned around, but too late– he felt himself jerked backwards by his hair, and cold steel at his throat. "How did you get here?" hissed a female voice. Cain tried to turn around but stopped as he felt the knife dig into his flesh. He was still for a moment, breathing heavily, and then was seized by a sudden impulse to laugh. Imagine scaling the mountain just to die here. The thought went away just as quickly as it came.

Quietly, almost in a whisper so there would be no chance of it being taken for aggression, he said, "Who are you, and what do you want?"

The grip on his hair didn't loosen; the person didn't say anything either. Cain forced himself to be still. Come on. You've been trained for this. For a moment, they were held in a stalemate, she for some reason unwilling to hurt him more, he unable to do anything.

Then he twisted with a shout, and everything happened so fast that he could only remember it afterwards.

He had meant to jab her in the throat, but she reacted so fast, leaping away from him, that his hand went past and met only air. Then the bushes behind her parted, and Lancelot sprang at her. She turned around at the sound, raising her hand, and somehow a wave of water from the lake was flinging Lancelot back. The panther landed on his feet at the end of the clearing, snarling.

None of them moved. In a strange moment of clarity, Cain saw that the person who had been holding the knife at his throat was a girl, about his age, with wavy brown hair sliced short, and deep green eyes. She stood with her back to him, one hand held with palm facing Lancelot, water at her feet from when that wave had passed in front of her.

An awakened one. Cain dared not move; he didn't know how powerful she might be, and Lancelot– who could withstand even getting hit by a car– had been thrown aside so easily by the power of that wave of water. The girl turned back to him. "Tell him to stand still, or I'll drown him the next time he moves."

Cain swallowed and nodded. "Look– I mean you no harm. I didn't even know you were up here."

She scoffed. "You're clearly an Awakener. There's no way you would've made the journey up here, anyway, unless you were sent to kill me."

"I came here because it would be inaccessible for a normal person and easy to lose... any pursuers otherwise. I didn't want to be followed," Cain said, looking her in the eye.

"The only reason I didn't drown you where you sat was because I couldn't believe they would send someone so young after me."

"I don't understand. Who are they? Why is such a powerful Awakener hiding out here?"

The girl gave him an incredulous look. "Very personal questions to ask for a first meeting. I might ask you the same. Why are you here?"

Cain shrugged. "Long story," he said. "But I suppose I have to convince you I'm not going to murder you. My name is Cain Luterain. Until recently, I was the heir to my family– you might know that we have the ability to commune with animals." 

The girl nodded, which surprised Cain: there seemed to be more to her than a lone Awakener who did not understand her powers. The power she had demonstrated with that wave, and the control she implied she had when she had threatened to drown Lancelot... He pushed those thoughts out of his mind: he could ask her about it later, if she didn't kill him. 

He continued speaking. "Events transpired, and I was disinherited. My panther is an heirloom– I received him when I was very young, but when that happened, he was taken away from me. Anyway, I got him back, though not with the matriarch's sanction, and fled my home. And now I'm here."

She continued to eye him suspiciously. "Luterain, you say? I thought your ancestral home was in northeast India. That's a long way from here, and you mean to tell me you managed not to be tracked with such a conspicuous animal?"

"Exactly what my family would think. They likely thought I crossed the Nepalese border, sought refuge with a community in a neighbouring country who would pay dearly for the secret of my family's force control. I had no shortage of money, so I chartered a few private jets, and paid extra for the pilot's silence. We flew for almost four days. As I said earlier, I wouldn't know you were here, and even if I did, why would I want to harm you?"

The girl looked up and away from him, running a hand through her messily cut brown hair. "I shouldn't be doing this, but I'll believe you for now. It's going to rain, anyway, and if you aren't who you claim to be there'll be a lot of water for me to throw around at you." She smiled suddenly and fiercely. "I suppose you'll have to come with me. But leave the panther outside." She turned around and began to walk off.

Lancelot bounded to Cain's side, seemingly unhurt. Cain forced himself to move his legs, hurrying after the girl. She was nearly about to go down the incline. "Wait-- I don't know anything about you. What's your name? Why are you here? How do you control water?"

She stopped and stared at him. "You're very nosy for someone who isn't interested in doing me harm. I'll tell you my name, and the rest will have to wait." Cain walked up beside her, Lancelot between him and the girl. She shot the panther a glance, and moved subtly sideways. Cain gave a small smile. 

The girl pretended not to have noticed. She picked up the pace, and they started making their way down the incline; Cain could see a circular hut at its base. "You can call me Nathalia."