Day 86, Season of Spring, 511 AV
Tsuye had told Kit many things, and she had proceeded with equal vigor to ignore his, because generally it was dull and useless. But once, sitting by a low campfire in the dying evening light, she listened.
"We light fires, not simply to warm ourselves. This is the mark of sentience," the Lhavitian said. "Beasts know our fires. In most places, the wolves prey flee when the predators come, and when we come, they too run."
Kit had been imagining home, imagining the echoes that her footsteps made in the Temple of Ionu when she walked there alone and the rancor of the city streets in its wildest moments. She sipped on her broth, grimaced and dipped a finger in the liquid. "So," she said, only half paying attention. "What you're saying is; we're safe here." Kit took another drink, and it was sweet as honeyed wine.
"No." His words felt cold in Kit's ears. She peeked up through her hair and saw his face. Orange light danced in his eyes. "We are not safe. To the things out there, we are simply prey."
Her thirst was gone. The shadows around them seemed very deep, and very dark. Anything could have hidden there, and Kit would have never known until it came for them. "Then . . . Why the fire?" She turned back to Tsuye, confused. It would just let them know where they were.
"It tells them that we're ready," he said, and his eyes were somber. "It doesn't matter what sort of beast they are, the ones that lived are the ones that fear the fire in the forest. We're prey," he repeated. "And we're ready. They're not mindless, Kit. They're waiting along the edges. Looking for an easy meal."
"They don't want the whole caravan. That would be hard, it would get them hurt. Some. Just the stragglers. Just the ones that don't pay attention, that wander too close to the edge." He looked into her eyes. "We will lose six, at least. We always do, through here."
"Six men," Kit repeated, and her eyes touched the darkness again.
"You are in Taldera now," he told her, showing a ghost of a smile. He prodded their fire and made it roar.
The sound of the forest was all around them. |
by Kit Rowan on May 29th, 2011, 3:35 pm 
