Feather

“We’ll teach you and show you more of the caves when you come back.”
“Rather not now eh?” Kian’s hand tightened around the black silk scarf Tashayin had given him.
“And go through all that trouble just so you can get speared by a one horn? No way. Let’s see if you can survive and THEN we can discuss interior layouts with all this fuss behind us.” Yin laughed as she grabbed the scarf from him and tied it neatly and intricately around his head so that only his eyes showed.
“Ah dis fus behund me you mean,” Kian mumbled through the material. He opted for easier methods of communication. What is the scarf for? he thought.
“It’s so that you don’t get unwanted attention from some creatures with acute senses of smell who’d like you as a meal.” She stood back and surveyed him.
Ah. Kian thought as he bent down and but on his boots. Apparently having slid through so many caves and crawled in them had made him extremely dirty and he was subjected to a luxurious bath. Dark elves didn’t like baths and he had yowled when Yin actually came into the bathing chamber, her appearance which forced him to submerge himself.
Haung came into his room where he had let Kian have some of his clothes…the ones that didn’t depend so much on length at least.
“Done?” Haung asked. Yin nodded and grabbing Kian by the elbow she pulled him outside.
You seem eager to be rid of me, Kian thought but he smiled underneath the scarf.
“Yes, I’m very eager for you to try and meet this fated storyteller and have you torn limb from limb by carnivorous lake monsters.” She was leading the way down the passage and she took so many turns Kian became confused.
You don’t think I’ll be able to do it? The scarf was becoming stuffy and he fought the urge to rip it off.
“I know you will try your best. I just hope that will be enough,” Yin said without humour this time and Kian glanced at her but could just see the back of her head. It was quiet for a while except for the insistent drip in the background that seemed to be present in every area of the caves.
“We’re taking a different route from what you used when you came in. That one works its way down from the highest cave but this one stays level because we’re not going up or down but straightforward to ‘ground level’,” Haung said suddenly from behind them breaking the uncomfortable silence, “Just in case you were wondering.”
You know that’s not what I’m wondering about. Kian thought that sounded snappy and apologised.
“That’s fine. You probably have the least pleasant job of all of us,” Haung chuckled but he sounded grim.
I doubt any of them are pleasant.
“Yes, you’re right. They aren’t.” Haung grimaced. “Should I outline what you should do and not do?”
No; I know. Thank you.
They walked along in silence for at least half an hour before Yin said sunnily, “For sake of conversation and because I’m curious, why were you on your way to the sanctuary in the first place? I can’t believe I never asked before.”
My friend was killed when she attempted to help scout within the sanctuary. And my brother ,years before that was killed, we assume as much because he didn’t come back when he decided to be stupid and risk his life for a bet. Since then I’ve vowed to take revenge and getting inside the sanctuary and learning the whereabouts of the sorcerer before anyone else could was my main intention. I knew it was too much to wish for his death at my hands; even I’m not that much of an idiot.
“Lovely. You could’ve been killed and their deaths would’ve been in vain.” Yin craned her neck to look at him and scowled.
But I wasn’t killed. I’m here now and very much alive.
“Hmm…Let’s hope it stays that way. No suicidal heroics alright?”
Agreed.
“We’re at the exit to the forest,” Yin said stopping in front of a large circular patch of stone darker than the stone around it. She placed both her palms flat on the smooth surface and muttered something too soft for even Kian’s ears to catch. The stone glowed beneath her palms and the high pitched screech that emitted from it caused Kian to feel oddly sick.
“Just a security precaution. The sound is hurtful to the ears of certain prowlers in the area and makes them flee the temporarily. If it makes you feel nausea just think how bad it is for them.” Haung stepped past Kian and jumped through the man sized hole that had appeared in the stone. For Kian it seemed as if he had leapt into just another ill lit chamber but when he followed Yin he found it was indeed the exit to the forest. Leaves crunched beneath his feet and the smell of living things rose to meet him. For a moment he just savoured the unfamiliar smells around him. The smell of the sanctuary was so unlike that of his usual hunting grounds that he wondered it they’d stepped into another world.
“It will seem like that even more so the deeper you go in. After this point I advise you not to expect us to talk; the trees have ears,” Haung whispered and Kian found he could see his friend very clearly for the moon was three quarters full and hung like a bright lantern in the night sky. Yin and Haung both grabbed an arm each and steered him towards some unseen path.
This does seem like another world. The moon shouldn’t be on its second last round yet, Kian thought but of course in the present circumstances neither of his friends would answer him and they went through their journey up to the destination in silence. One moment they were moving silently past looming twisted trees and thorny shrubs and the next they had emerged in open space fringed by weeping willows that hung their long strands forlornly in the still surface of the lake. The grass was springy beneath their feet here, flowers poked their odd heads into view and Kian could imagine how beautiful the lake area looked in warm spring sunshine.
He followed his companion’s example when they crouched down and began scratching around in the longer grass near the water’s edge. Kian found and touched the smooth carved surface of the canoe and pushed it until he was knee deep in the water. Haung gripped his shoulder and Yin hugged him in farewell and seconds later Kian found himself alone with croaking frogs.
He pushed the canoe further out and scrambled into it. He picked up the paddle inside and dipped it into the calm water causing little ripples of disturbance to race from each other.
He was alone, at least in the context, without the company of friends, but yet…he wasn’t alone. In the context of, with the company of others, others he was sure didn’t wish him well.