Calaistas

Day Ten

Leandrios had expected to be able to sleep like a log, but after a few hours he was awake. They were sleeping under the stars, out in the wild with trees and dirt and animals. It didn't feel like a burden anymore. The Greasy Snout was a forgotten memory, a distant dream. Unreal.

There wasn't a fire, C didn't want the smoke, but there was a heater that gave off a warm glow. They were each opposite one side, huddled in blankets. Last night had been cold. It was still early morning, very early, and Leandrios could tell by the form across from him that C was still cold. She was curled up with her forehead almost touching her knees, blankets acting as a hood and a cocoon.

He hadn't stopped to think about her. That someone was actually trying to kill her. Someone actually wanted her dead. Someone was hoping to wake up this same morning, hearing that she was dead. No more. Gone.

Leandrios felt a shiver run up his spine. He didn't like that idea at all. And he thought his life wasn't fair. Of course she was scared. Of course she wanted someone—

Leandrios shook off the next thought, hunching his shoulders and looking up at the sky. There were still stars. Stars that were like her eyes, eyes that someone wanted extinguished forever.

He puffed out an irritated breath, rolling onto his other side. He couldn't let himself think that C was still the same person who had hired him. Well, she was the same person, but not to him. She wasn't some mysterious innocent. She had lied and deceived purposefully, and she could clearly protect herself. She wasn't some little girl to be sorry for.

And then he felt guilty again. But what was he supposed to do, let himself get attached to what was essentially just a job, and one with a target on its back to boot? Neither of them would probably make it through this alive. And she still had secrets. Probably enough to get them killed twice.

Leandrios ground his teeth, flopping onto his stomach before rolling over again restlessly.

And there was that stupid stuff yesterday, that mumbo-mushy-jumbo that made his head spin and all the red flags pop up waving their emergency wave, and—

"No, thrash around some more, I don't think the world knows you're awake yet," C muttered from her lair under the covers.

Leandrios froze a second before quietly resting on the one side to look over at her.

"Sorry."

"It's probably for the best." She started to stretch, her face emerging from the dark folds. Her breath left its mark in the air. "The faster we move the more time we have to keep ahead of our competition."

Leandrios just looked at her, feeling that awful pang again like it was his fault. Or at least that it would be.

C looked back at him, pulling the blanket up to her nose and just letting her eyes stay visible. It was so much colder inside when the elements turned cold.

"You're not moving," he said after they had been locked in the staring match for awhile.

"I feel a little less like putting in the extra effort to stay alive today," she murmured.

Leandrios tried to swallow, but there was a lump in the way. He wanted to say something. He didn't know what to say.

"When I was a child," she said softly, making him reel at the idea that she might be telling him something personal, "things were... difficult. I had a father who had certain expectations. And a brother who met all of them. I never imagined I could be important enough to earn anyone's attention."

Her eyes flicked away from him, somewhere else.

"That's not true. I imagined it every day. That I would someday make all of them pay. That I would be... important."