• Chapter 2
    Friend or Foe?


    I was paralyzed.

    I couldn't find the strength to utter a single word or even move a muscle. All I could do was stare at the violet, supernatural blade threatening to slit my throat. Of all the people I had expected to see, a Witch was not one of them. It appeared that he hadn't had the same sentiments which made me wonder how long he had been watching me.

    The smirk he had been wearing darkened to a suspicious frown as he eyed me critically. "Who are you and what are you doing in this forest?" He finally questioned briskly. This seemed to make my muscles relax for some weird reason and I was finally able to move my jaw and vocal cords.

    "I should be asking you the same," I replied with a calmness that I did not feel, "but since it's you with the upper hand I guess I should answer first. My name is Lera and this forest," I motioned with my arms the area surrounding us. "is my home. Your turn."

    His reply was a growl, "I don’t have to tell you anything." I flinched and couldn't help but notice how tense his muscles were as he spoke. His tension was understandable but I found it unnecessary for him to be so protective of his name. What good did it do him? He was an outlaw like me wasn’t' he?

    I rose my hands up in a surrender position. "Alright, alright. No need to get touchy. You know the hostility is really unnecessary. I'm not going to attack you unless you force me to." Everything about him was hesitant about complying but he finally lowered his hand but let the force continue to surround his hand. I followed suit and relaxed a bit as well. "Now was that so hard?"

    He glared at me and clenched his jaw to restrain from launching a string of insults at me. I waited patiently as he gained back control of himself. "Where are you heading to if this is your 'home'?" The suspicion and distrust was still evident in his voice and eyes but I wasn't going to let it bug me. I didn't trust him either.

    "No where you need to concern yourself with." I answered, my voice void of any emotion. He scowled and looked as if he was ready to threaten me again so I added quickly, "It's none of your concern because if I told you I would have to make sure you didn't tell anyone. That means either you wouldn't be able to leave my sight for the rest of my life or I would have to kill you. Quite frankly, neither sound appealing to me and I'm certain you have the same feelings."

    There was a slight shift in the glint in his eyes. Amusement? I decided to roll with it. "Well then if you wish to continue this interview why don't we do it by a warm fire? As you can see, I'm not in the best of health and you must be tired from stalking me all the way here." The last part made him flinch a little but I didn't comment on the matter.

    "I suppose that would be alright…" Was all he said before following me to my shelter. He lighted the fire with a lighter he had been carrying after I stacked a few spare branches I had found. Now that there was a better source of light I could see him in more detail. He was older by a couple of years. Five was my guess but the ruggedness of his appearance probably added a few years. His eyes were practically black but I could see the flecks of his Force that gave away a Witch for what they really were. Dark, short, scraggly hair grew to the nape of his neck and sometimes fell in front of his dark eyes. A few scars marked his cheeks, two of them creating an X at the corner of his right eye. His muscles were well toned from years of pursuit and living in the wild. Around his waist he had a belt that held a handy collection of tools. Now that I noticed these things I saw him as the spitting image desperation and survival. I found myself secretly giving him respect for that.

    "You're well equipped." I commented motioning towards his tool belt.

    "And you're black and blue. Do you always state the obvious?" He answered icily making me recoil a bit.

    "I'm just trying to make conversation. It's been a while since I've met another Witch…" I could hear the hint of hurt in my voice and it made me feel embarrassed. Must I always sound so weak?

    He examined me for a moment and sighed. "Whatever…" I frowned and looked into the fire feeling a bit empty inside. Why was he acting like this against one of his own? We were on the same side for heaven's sake! It just didn't make sense to me…

    Then, suddenly in such a low voice that even I could barely hear, he asked, "Why didn't you attack those hunters that were chasing you?" I immediately looked up at him surprised.

    "What?" It was all I could say. He had been watching me even then? Why hadn't I noticed?

    He rolled his eyes sighing again but more exasperated. "The hunters; why didn't you attack them?"

    I was silent for a minute or so as I processed the question. I had never really thought about why I didn't just full out fight them. I spoke the answer as it came to me. "I guess… It's because I didn't want confirm that I was the dangerous freak the government made me out to be…" He gave a stiff nod and looked deeply into the flames. There was a silence between us again but this time it was a little lighter. However, the silence was light but one thought on my mind was not. When it's weight became too much I finally had to speak up. "Why have you been following me?"

    He his eyes flickered to me for a moment before shifting uncomfortably and looking back into the flames. "I was curious." He answered stolidly still avoiding my gaze. I wasn’t' going to accept the evasive reply though and gave him a pointed look.

    "Curious people" I said with a small knowing smirk, "don't threaten the life of the person they're curious about." It may have been a trick of light but I thought I saw a bit of color rise up in his cheeks. He knew he had been caught but there was some pride there that wouldn’t' let him fess up to it.

    "Well that's the only answer I have for you." Part of me tensed with suspicion and the other part wanted to laugh. I felt like I was talking to a toddler that got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Only the cookie jar contained a secret that I didn’t' know about. The thought sent goosebumps running up my arms despite the warmth of the fire. When I looked at him again he was examining me again but this time there was an air of pity about him. With out a word he went into his pack and retrieved some food that had obviously come from one of the cities. "Here. You look like death itself." He said quietly holding out a bag of chips.

    I stared at him blankly, shocked by the gesture. He gave it a jerky shake signaling me to hurry up. "Do you want it or not?" He barked impatiently. I hesitantly took it from him and eyed it critically, looking for any sign of tampering. When I found none I quickly opened it and took out one of the richly flavored snacks. After having two I finally returned my attention to him.

    "Thank you." He only snorted as a response. I quickly finished the bag and leaned back with contentment. The man still had a distant look to him, as if he were contemplating some major problem in his mind. It made me feel uncomfortable. "Excuse me- whatever your name is- are you planning on staying the night here or spend the night out there? I wouldn't feel right having you sleep outside after you have given me food but, then again, I don’t' know if I want someone who threatened my life just an hour ago sleeping next to me so I'd like to know which one I should feel more upset over." The corners of his mouth turned up ever so slightly but that was the only thing that betrayed his amusement with me.

    "Well, Lera, I'd hate for you to feel discourteous and I certainly can't let you out of my sight now, so I suppose I shall stay here with you." His voice was as smooth as satin and provoked a deep irritation in me that hadn't been there a minute ago. The pompous, sneaky wretch. He had been expecting me to offer my shelter to him! I was about to turn him down and tell him that I would never let him sleep anywhere close to me in a million years when a thought came to me. Oh what a sweet and wonderful thought that was.

    I smiled a business woman's smile and said just as smoothly, "Well then there is one condition. If you are going to stay here you need to tell me your name and why you were following me." His expression darkened immediately and he glared at me evilly

    "I guess it shall be outside then. However, I will answer one of your questions before I go since you seem so insistent about it. My name is Zeach." With that he quickly got in a crouch and began to slide his feet to get to the exit. I wasn't going to let him leave without answering one more question though.

    "Why would you tell me your name?" I asked with the confusion evident in my voice. He turned back towards me and for the first time flashed a real smile.

    "I told you because I figured you should know the name of your new traveling partner." Then with that he disappeared into the darkness before I could even open my mouth in protest.

    I let out a huff of frustration and thought a moment before finally shouting at the top of my lungs, "And what makes you think I'll let that happen!"

    My only reply was his distant laughter.



    The next morning I was even more sore than the night before and smelled of burnt wood. I was well rested however and that made things a bit easier as I could have my Force act like ice packs on the worst of the wounds. Around me the forest was quiet except for the calls of the many birds that litter the trees. As I sucked in a deep breath I could taste the freshly laid dew on my tongue and smell all the vegetation it had dampened. This wasn't a beautiful morning, the place was far too bland for it to be beautiful, but it was peaceful and those could be rare in this life style so I was grateful.

    I only lingered on the ground outside my shelter for a few minutes to wake up a bit more before taking off for another long day of gliding. It wasn't long until I remembered Zeach though and came to an abrupt stop. I scanned the area looking for any sign of him and to my displeasure his presence became known all too soon.

    "Good morning, Lera." He said pleasantly as he emerged from a cluster of branches. I barely stifled my gasp when the sunlight touched upon his face. In daylight he didn't look nearly as old as he had by the fire. In fact I was certain he could be my age. His hair now looked a little bit messier than I had first thought and the scars didn't look nearly as taunting as before. His eyes were still solitary and held many things that he wished others not to see but at the same time they didn't look murderous as they had the night before. It was almost as if I was meeting him all over again in a sense.

    I suddenly realized I had been silent for a little too long and shook my head. "Morning… You're in a good mood…" My voice sounded a bit awkward to me but I tried not to let my mind linger on it.

    He shrugged indifferently. "I suppose I am but I'm surprised you're not in a worse mood. You look awful." I scowled and turned away from him to start gliding again. There was no way I would be able to live with him out here. He kept pace with me easily which only worsened my mood. "I'm sorry did I insult you?"

    I looked at him incredulously. "What do you mean: 'Did I insult you?' Of course you insulted me you idiotic prat!" I snapped before adding irritably, "Why in hell do you want to follow me anyways? I'm really not that interesting."

    He frowned and rebuffed a bit more bitterly, "You're right. You're not that interesting but you are weak." I opened my mouth to insult him but he quickly cut me off, "Have you seen yourself lately? I'm surprised you haven't dropped and shriveled up to die yet."

    I glared back and answered acidly, "I don’t know, have I seen myself lately? After all you are the one who's been following me for the past twenty-four hours. And you don't exactly look like a model for a Beauty-Spray ad yourself. Bathe much?"

    He smirked and gave another shrug. "I do when I get the chance. Why are you getting so defensive? I was only telling you the truth." I wanted to punch then and there. I wanted to sit there and add a broken nose and two black eyes to his list of wounds but I had to stop because we had finally come upon just the thing I had spent all afternoon looking for the day before. Instead I grudgingly landed and settled for slamming my fist against a tree's trunk.

    He looked at me questioningly. "This is the type of thing I was looking for yesterday." I said turning my attention the landmark. It was a large boulder that I remembered seeing a few years back when I was heading towards one of the cities bordering the forest named Fervatori. There was a formation on the northern side of it that looked like a hand pointing off towards the distance. At the time I had found the comparison eerie and later that night dreamt of the stone hand reaching for me, to hold me until the sands of time turned me into dust. Since then I was unnaturally weary of stones.

    He ran his hand over the stone fingers, frowning thoughtfully. I watched him, a little curious to what he was thinking. Zeach was such a mystery to me. It seemed almost as if his personality had changed over night and that unnerved me a bit. How much of him was real? I bit my lip and looked away towards the rising sun. When he finally spoke it made me jump. "So now what are we going to do?"

    I was very aware of the fact that he had used the word we instead of you but I didn't see much point in trying to get him to not follow me. "Well, if I remember right, there is a river that is near by. I'm going to go there to refill my own water battles and wash up. Then after that I'm going to go home to recoup and examine the equipment I managed to steal on my last raid. As for what you're going to do, I'm not sure."

    "Well I-" Zeach was cut short by an arrow that zoomed past his ear and stuck in a near by tree, still sparking with electricity. "Lera! Get down!" He shouted whirling around with his force excreting out of his body to form menacing tentacles.

    "I can take care of myself! Thank you very much!" I snapped back having my own Force materialize of my body. Mine formed almost a wing like pattern on my arms with nothing but blades upon blades of each other and an armor shape on the rest of my body. When I allowed it to fully exit my body it always seemed to take on that form so I guessed that it was the same with him. His was much more like a vicious beast than a controlled weapon as it lashed about, searching for its first victim. I felt the same goosebumps rise up on my arms as last night. As an arrow that was clearly aimed for me passed my torso by inches I was suddenly pulled back to the reality of the battle.

    There were not nearly as many hunters in this pack as the first but there were enough to be able to do damage on us and I had a feeling there were more coming. "Zeach we need to get to a better vantage point! We're like sitting ducks here!" I yelled at him and as if to help me make my point another arrow hurtled at me and found purchase on the tip of my right wing, shattering it instantly. I felt a sharp pain run through my fingers, making me wince. My Force quickly mended it's self together but I could still feel the pain in my fingers and I watched as blood began to drip from the tips of them.

    Zeach seemed reluctant to make it seem like we were giving our opponents ground but quickly began to retreat with me. "Where exactly do you suggest we go?" He growled leaping into the air to glide. As the force kicked up in his feet about five tentacles disappeared.

    I did the same and my wings lost a few inches. "I know a spot where there's an old, crumbling highway. We'll have plenty of cover there but so will the enemy. However, if we can out last them long enough for them to run out of arrows we should be able to flee. If that's not an option then we'll the advantage in a fight." He gave me a critical look that I returned defiantly.

    "Shouldn't fleeing be a last resort? I don’t think these scum deserve the satisfaction of thinking they managed to scare us off." He said sternly still not taking his eyes off me. As such I served as the eyes for both of us and kept looking ahead for oncoming trees.

    "They are only trying to protect their families from a potential threat. Besides, I will not stoop to the level of the government and kill without considering the fact that they have feelings and families. I will not be a heartless human." My voice remained even and strong as I said out loud a thought I had repeated to myself many times when dealing with hunters. It was the only way I remained able to control myself and not kill every human that tried to harm me. God knows that I wanted to. I was just so tired of being the bad guy.

    Zeach finally looked ahead for himself and smiled a bit. "You are far too compassionate for your own good." I smirked and glanced at him again.

    "No I just hate the human race too much to become like them." He mirrored my expression and nodded. We fled in silence the rest of the way to the ruins. When we finally arrived there I quickly led him to a crevice I had used once before when I was in a similar situation. After a while of waiting he looked at me questioningly.

    "Shouldn't they have been here by now if they were going to attack us further?" He whispered leaning closer to me. I shook my head and drew a deep breath.

    "They are planning. Our heads are worth far too much for them to simply give up on us. Besides, hunter are far too noble to allow us go endanger any sister cities. They must slay the beasts." My voice was dripping with sarcasm on the last part and it made him give a short chuckle. "Look here are our great knights now…" I whispered pointing out an area where the vegetation was rustling.

    "Let the games begin." We both smiled simultaneously as the first of our opponents appeared on the battle field.




    Author's Note: Well that's it for chapter two but I wanted to clear a few things before moving on. Lera's name is pronounced Leer-ah and Zeach's is pronounced Zeeck (not like beach). ; ) That's it for now besides me saying thanks for reading and don't forget to vote! Have a wonderful day/afternoon/evening! xd