Over The Edge

Chapter 3

It was night now, the cool, mountain air pressed through heavy jackets and clawed at exposed skin.
He shivered in his own jacket, pulling the worn fabric closer to his body in an attempt to get warm. He glanced beside him, seeing his companion. Silvery moonlight danced upon her reddish-brown hair, and her green eyes gleamed excitedly in the darkness. She smiled at him, and he returned the smile with a cheeky grin. It was night now, and under the cover of darkness, they could finally begin to move.
"Are you ready?" He asked hoarsely, shifting the weight from his feet, into a crouching position. She nodded, swallowing anxiously. The cool, worn metal of the dagger he held felt familiar and comforting in his calloused hand. The girl's own dagger glinted wickedly in the moonlight. Turning his gaze away from the girl, he looked ahead of him, squinting to maybe make some sense of the scene before him. There was a small area of tents set up in front of them. It was deceptively quiet, only a few campfires flickered weakly in the growing dark. This was where they would attack, where they would make their final stand against those who wronged them. This was their land, and he was sure as heck going to fight for it.
He could hear the quiet shifting of bushes behind and around him, causing him to know that his group was here.
The rebels waited in stark silence, the only sound around them, the occasional shifting to relieve sore muscles, and crickets continuing their sombre song.
They waited anxiously, with bated breath for the signal to move. He looked again to the girl next to him, her wide green orbs looking back at him. He frowned, worried for what would be her fate that night. He opened his mouth to say something, anything that would encourage her, but just then, a shrill whistle broke the silence.
With the whistle, all chaos seemed to erupt, all the rebels surging upwards onto their feet. With billowing war cries, they rushed like water over rocks to the encampment. Their enemies met them halfway, seemingly materializing out of nowhere.
The boy gave a warcry of his own as he brought his knife down, slashing through an attacker before running to meet another. He had lost sight of the girl, and the fact filled him with anxiousness. He couldn't hear her over the roar of the fight anyway, so he brought his concentration back to his current battle.
These people had taken what rightfully belonged to him, and his people, and their was no way he was just going to hand over his land. So he fought with a fierceness that was frightening, he fought to avenge those already dead, and those who would die tonight.
He heard his name, screamed shrilly, cutting through the thick roar of the battle. It was at this moment he glanced upwards. And the sight that met him was crippling.
He looked up just to see the sword ripped from her body, and she was falling to the ground. He was to far to catch her, to far to help her, to far to avenge her.
He screamed her name, feet shuffling in dust as someone barreled into him, knocking the breath from his lungs.
He fell with an enraged yell, his back smacking painfully against the hard ground. The boy gasped where he lay, a knife heading towards his face.
He rolled away at the last second, the knife thudded harmlessly against the ground next to him.
He leaped to his feet with renewed ferocity, her death in his mind's eye. His heartbeat was his war drum. Tears mixed with the dust on his face, as he fought against his attacker with reckless abandon, no longer caring what happened to himself. The boy fought to reach her, to save her, to avenge her.

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I'm not quite sure what time it was when I had awoken, but I remember feeling as if something was off. I wasn't quite sure what it was exactly.
I stretched my sore arms, the stiff muscles pulled and popped. I groaned, regretting my hasty decision to sleep on the stool. Yawning, I blinked my bleary eyes, and smacked my dry lips. I waited for the sleepy morning fog in my brain to disappear. It was morning now, early I had guessed because Healer wasn't shaking me awake and demanding me to get working. Light managed to filter its way through the thick curtains lining our glass windows. The light illuminated the dust of the stagnant air inside our little cottage.
Suddenly it hit me. What was so off. The room was dead silent, I could no longer hear the Outsider's racking breaths. Frantically, I shoved away all earlier grogginess, and looked to where he had rested earlier, hoping against all hope he was still alive.
My heart skipped a beat when I caught sight of him, my breath stilled in my throat.
His eyes were open, looking at me, round and curious. They were hazed with pain, but alert nonetheless. He was awake.
I sat frozen like a deer in light, held fast in the strong gaze of his deep green eyes.
I swallowed then asked tentatively,
"Hello?"
My voice betrayed me and cracked. I swallowed nervously again. Get a grip, I hounded myself. This was the first time anyone in our village has ever seen an Outsider awake, let alone conversed with one.
For a terrible minute, I had wondered if he could even speak the same language as me. I mean, our two groups have not conversed before, like, ever. Well, maybe we have, but I sure as heck have never heard anything about Outsiders speaking our language. This fact really put a damper on my whole question and answer thing.
"Hello," his voice startled me, breaking the deep silence that had settled between us and sending shivers up my spine at the sudden noise. I'm sure his voice would have been deep, and rich, if not for the hoarseness that choked his throat. So he spoke my language. Great, that just opened up about a hundred new questions.
.
He blinked, long, dark lashes flickered over his eyes and he sat still frozen, just staring at me. I tried to open my mouth, to speak, but my all the moisture had been sucked from it, gluing my lips together. I wanted to scream for Healer, but that would probably wake up Ben, let alone the entire village. I wondered if maybe I should say something. Something that would not make me sound like an awestruck teenager. There were also about a million questions I could zero in on. Like how the heck did you survive like a zillion foot drop? Or maybe where the heck are you from?

The wisps of light filtering through our curtains lit up his fair face in a sort of eerie fashion.

His mouth worked as if it was hard to form words, let alone sentences. We lapsed into an awkward confused silence.
"Do.." He swallowed yet another time, and tried again.
"Do you have any water?"
Water? I mentally smacked myself in the head.
"Yes.. Yes of course,"
I moved to stand up, my sore legs groaning in protest. Flustered, I moved around the small room, looking around for the pot of fresh water that I was sure was left here by Healer. I could feel the outsider's amused glance that I was sure was trained on my back.
"Here,"
I held out a thick wooden cup filled with water. I was now thankful for the cold outside, because now the water I had to offer was cool instead of lukewarm.
He glared at me from under his thick eyelashes as I presented the cup filled to the brim with water, as if he didn't trust me. It was as of the idea that I suddenly wanted him dead and was trying to poison him popped into his head. I presented him with an equally devilish glare and stated,
"If we wanted you dead, we would have left you outside in the cold, the water isn't poisoned if that's what you're worried about. You did ask for it by the way"
I'd I had known better, I would have thought I saw an embarrassed blush spread across his cheeks. In truth, the Crimson only added color to his pale face.
Gingerly, he took the cup from me and began to drink, a few sparkling droplets spilling from the corners of his lips. He gulped down the water in almost a frenzied way, like a starving dog presented with is first meal in weeks
"Don't hurt yourself," I scolded, pulling the cup away from him. He didn't protest, but only laid back with a satisfied sigh.
I moved to put the cup down, and now that his thirst was quenched, he watched me warily, like a cornered animal.
"Do you have a name?" I asked, regarding him from the corners of my eyes, as I rubbed my stiff thighs.
"John Marcus," his voice sounded much more normal now, his strange accent far more prominent.
"John Marcus?" I asked. He answered me with a tight nod. John Marcus. It wasn't a strange name at all to me. We had plenty of people in our village named John before. Despite the familiarity of the name, this fact only surprised me all the more. The Outsider spoke my language, his name was familiar to me, I only wondered further if our villages had met before, or maybe originated together. I wanted to question him about it, my curiosity festering like an open wound, but I decided to withhold myself. There would be plenty of time to question him later, and maybe he didn't even know the answers himself.
"Liana," I said when he didn't ask.
"What?" His brows were furrowed with confusion.
"My name. It's Liana,"
He didn't answer me, but instead looked towards the window even though there was nothing to be seen through it. I sighed to myself. I should probably wake Healer, or maybe get Theo or something. Muttering to myself, I ran a hand through the fallen pieces of my hair.
"Where am I?" His voice cut through the thick, heavy silence that had fallen between us.
"You're in the Valley," I answered even though I felt as I should be the one to ask questions. I didn't fail to notice his grimace as he avoided my eyes.
"Where are you from?" It was my turn to ask a question.
"The top of the mountain," came the succinct answer.
"Well I figured out that much, I mean how did you survive the one thousand foot drop?"
"It wasn't a thousand foot,"
He had fallen into a painful bought of coughing, clutching his side. I let out a frustrated puff of air.
"I'm going to get Healer,"
His somewhat calm demeanor vanished in an instant.
"Who?" It almost came out like a squeak.
"Don't worry John Marcus, she's my grandmother," I explained. He seemed to relax again, but I could see the muscles coiled and ready under his skin, and there was an uneasy look in his eye.
"Alright."