Flight of the Warrior- 4

Folly

She woke very early. The quality of her sleep had been poor. She had dreamed she was standing at the foot of a cliff, with waves and spray crashing around her. She needed to run quite a distance before she could fly. Certainly no hope of that on this craggy rock. It was not a safe place to be and her only choice was to climb the cliff. The wind was icy and strong, trying to knock her off her feet so the water could drag her in, and then crash her back against the rock. They seemed to be working together.

Every time she attempted to climb up, making a grab, the rock felt like hot coal in her hand. Ugly burns covered her fingers and palms. The tide rising silently behind her the waves crashing closer and closer. No hope...

Then a man appeared out of nowhere. He flew as well. He grabbed her on a pass close to the cliff face. She watched the waves diminish beneath her as she rose quickly above the water, caught in a strong hold around her ribs that restricted her breath.

But rather than be glad she had escaped this terrible place, she was filled with horror when she saw the face of the man who had saved her. And her scar burned as if it was re-opened again.

She had woken way too early. Perhaps an hour to go before the sun peeped over the ridge and began to warm the still cool air. There was no way that sleep would come again to her so she began her morning ritual. The fire was still burning feebly so she stoked the hearth and prepared her breakfast. She tried to focus on the day ahead.

She planned to go to the forest, and try to locate the man. He had smelled so strongly of spruce she felt sure he had been sleeping there. And when she found him she would ask him... what? Hopefully the words would come.

The flight was quicker than she expected, the wind behind her all the way. The forest was expansive, so she decided to land at the perimeter furthermost away from her local village, and sweep towards home. She did not wish to draw attention to herself but carrying her jian drawn. Instead she had a kaiken hidden in the folds of the heavy sash around her waist. It had been her mothers, given to her when she married as good luck. She still had her jian slung concealed in a special leather sleeve. It fit snugly across the line of her spine, the hilt in easy reach just below her left shoulder blade.

Her hands were shaking slightly, hidden in the long wide sleeves of her traveling robe. For a moment, just a moment of clarity, she wondered what the hell she was doing. Then she was angry again, seeing his impassive face as he slipped his hand beneath her outer garment and felt her skin. Bastard.

She began moving briskly, alert for any noise. Twice she stopped alarmed by movement close by, only to see a bird fly into the air in surprise. She was jumpy.

Cresting a small hill she saw a thin curl of smoke, barely discernible. Someone was cooking breakfast perhaps, and they were close, maybe one mile away. She crouched down instinctively. She could not be seen from this spot but she felt somehow exposed. She took a moment to try and concentrate on the wind. She asked, is there danger? Nothing. She pleaded, am I in danger? Again, no response.

Standing she shook her head looking down at the ground, almost closing her eyes. She was making a mistake again she could feel it. This was stupid, a meaningless chase for what? She turned her back on the smoke, on the possibility of finding the man, and took a step forward. That is all she had time for.

He was only three feet away looking at her with that same impassive expression, hood off this time. It occurred to her that he had been there the whole time she was crouched down. And then she felt that awful heaviness, as if anchored to the spot.

"You have questions for me and I have questions for you," he said, low and rough. "It is not the place to have such a conversation, in the open like this."

Before she could answer he strode off past her in the opposite direction to the smoke. She spun on her heels but did not step forward, still feeling heavy. She was looking in the direction of the smoke, wondering why he was going the other way. "Thieves camp, you do not want to be going there. Four of them, heavily armed. Not the place for a lady."

She stared back at him striding away. There appeared to be a choice, but she needed to make it quickly. Yes she had questions, and if it meant she had to follow him, then that was what she would do. Jolted out of her stupor she jumped forward down the hill. She ran behind him to keep up, following his long strides. After sometime the forest changed, there was more moisture in the earth, she sank slightly with each step. Moss covered stones and fallen branches. There was a dampness in the air. She heard the sound of a small brook, but could not see it. Rounding a dense patch of spruce where the giant trees were closer together and the light was dull, they came to a place where the earth opened abruptly and the small brook could be seen snaking along the base of a chasm, maybe twenty feet down. The man disappeared behind a large rock and she took the opportunity to pull the small dagger from her sash and reverse it in her hand so it was hidden by her sleeve. This done she stepped behind the rock.

It was a small cave, no taller than the man, and wide enough for them to both sit as he was doing, tending to a small fire in the centre. Instinctively she looked to see where the smoke was going. He glanced up from his task and said, "The smoke goes this way, into the hill, and finds it's way out a fissure in the rock about a half mile away. By then it is merely a waft. We are safe. We have not been followed and no-one will find us here. Here, sit and I will make us tea." He motioned to a small rock, too close to him for her liking but near to the opening so she could run if she needed. She sat down.

In the muted light she could see the shine in his eyes as he looked at her. Her body, muscles usually alert and ready to flee were deserting her again. Heavy, so heavy.

He handed her some tea. She sipped it and felt a little less numb. Only slightly. She would need to, must, stay alert.

"I am a tracker, hunting the man who hurt you." She inhaled as if winded. She felt dizzy again.

"He has killed many people. He killed the wife of a rich man. Well he raped her, then killed her to be precise. I am to find him and bring him to my employer." He took a gulp from his cup. It occurred to her then how tired he looked.

"Do you know who he is?" her voice sounded croaky. She was unsure of herself. Her mind was befuddled. She felt slightly drunk.

"Yes." So he was not going to tell her. She looked down at the fire and tried to focus on an ember radiating weakly at the edge of the small pit. This helped her take the focus away from the sickness she felt in her stomach.

"Why did you....touch me?" It was his turn to look away this time. She felt she had won a small battle, and clarity began to return. He was not sure what to say, she could see that. When he did say something his eyes remained on the ground at his feet.

"I needed to know if your wound was from the same blade. It was. You are very lucky to be alive....to still be alive." Now her heart was racing, now she needed to know.

"Will he come back for me? I mean do you think he will?" God she was so scared, but she had to know.

"You are the first he has left alive. I am not sure why. Was he...interrupted?"

She did not expect to have to relive this memory, particularly in front of a stranger. She closed her eyes and exhaled long and slow trying to prevent the wave of terror. She wanted to run, to get into the air. One more breath, just one more. She opened her eyes and said simply, "I hurt him before he could get me on the ground. I ran. He did not catch me." He did not need to know the whole truth, about what the man had done to her, laying her over a boulder face down. She was ashamed of that, so ashamed.

He looked surprised. He stared hard at her, a stony disbelieving look. It was then that she saw it, in a flash he reached out to grab her left hand, the one concealing the kaiken. At the same moment he looked to block her raising her right hand to her jian. But she was quick, and rolled back onto the earth behind the small rock she was seated on. Before he could stand and reach for his own katana hanging loosely from his hip, she had drawn and raised her jian, tip below his jaw, kaiken in her left hand low and ready to strike. Crouched below him. She really wanted to run now.

The tea spilled on the ground soaking into the earth, sending a little puff of steam in the air.

"A test? You could have believed me!" she was very angry now. "And you could have also introduced yourself at the market....before...." Her voice trailed off.

"I have to know why he left you alive."

"Right now you should think more about keeping yourself alive."

"True." He laughed. "You do have me at a disadvantage."

She felt hot, anger bubbling dangerously close to the surface. He was laughing at her. She remembered another time a man had laughed at her. She was clutching at her nightdress as the blood oozed slowly from her side. She had been more concerned about her modesty than the pain of the wound. It had made him laugh. Her eyes stung from the memory and she stood up, worn out by it all and placed her jian back in it's leather sleeve. Then she took the kaiken and loosening the sash stole it away beneath a fold, pulling the sash firmly around her waist. She looked like a normal peasant girl. Except she had red hair and pale skin, burning with a memory she did not wish to recall.

They looked at one another for a long moment.

Then she said, so quietly he could hardly hear her, "It was very foolish of me to try to find you. I have learned nothing I did not know. Foolish."

She turned and walked out of the cave, quickened her pace to a run and leapt into the air.

He stood staring at the space she had left.