27 Lapis Valley

The first time Falcon had sat on a horse, he was tired, sweaty, and five years old. He had hated the animal instantly, the stink of horse manure coming off the body of the brute in waves, hovering like an uninvited guest near his nostrils. If it hadn't been for her, he would have whined and flailed his arms and legs to throw a tantrum, but it was the first time she had agreed to bring him along with her to the stables and he didn't want to hurt her feelings.

His mother took care of the racehorses and had given in to his pleading with much difficulty, afraid he would hurt himself in the commotion of the stables. Now that he was there, he had instantly wanted to ride the majestic black stallion, which belonged to the gigantic man with the big muscles, who had tickled his belly and clapped him on the back for picking the "manliest horse 'ere".

The beast had yet to take a bath and Falcon wished he had come here another day when the horse was a bit cleaner. As if reading his thoughts, the stallion turned its head around, the mane of silky black hair dancing in the playful wind, and preened at him with its bulbous eyes from beneath long, dark lashes. Falcon had let out a shriek, falling off the horse's back into a pile of dung.

He felt the brute's head nuzzling his neck and his heart contracted in fear, his entire body frozen as the blood in his veins turned to ice. The warm breath of the horse wafted over him, and he curled into himself until he heard her come over to him, the sweet scent of lilacs taking over the stink of manure. He clung to her neck as she rocked him gently, muttering a soothing lullaby before she dried the tears from his eyes.

The muscular rider guffawed loudly, neighing in his ear and Falcon shivered in his mother's arms. She ran a hand through his hair and kissed the tip of his nose before she snapped at the man.

'It's not funny, Byron.' She said, and Falcon felt intensely proud of his mother.

'You needa not get all riled up, Orchid. Jus' helpin' this young fella 'ere man up.' Byron showed his moss-covered teeth.

Orchid had glared at him, her eyes ablaze before she turned on her heels and strode away so violently, that he bounced in her arms. She brought him a sugar cube, and then called him "her brave little warrior." Though he didn't feel so brave, he loved what she had called him, and repeated the words over and over in his head until his heartbeat calmed down. Then, he rode the black stallion around the stables while his mother and the other riders cheered his name loudly.

'Let's come back here again.' He chirped merrily as they left in the evening, the insides of his thighs bruised but his heart singing loudly.

'Next week.' She promised, kissing his hand that was wrapped around her pinky.

She was gone the next week, and Falcon never trusted a promise again.

XXX

The clip-clopping of hooves on the stones was like a thundering in his brain, a continuous blow to the last of peace in Falcon's mind. The carriage was jostling slightly, but he was gripping the edges of his seat like he was sitting inside a rollercoaster, which was winding up and down a perilous track.

At least you are not ON the horse right now, he thought, a little of relief making its way into his wildly thumping heart.

Beside him on the narrow seat, Autumn slept on, head resting against the side of the carriage, a few sneaky rays of sunlight dancing on her eyelashes, making them look golden. This was the first time he had actually seen her in her sleep. She looked oddly peaceful and he wondered how someone could just fall asleep like that, wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted to. If it was him, he would be writhing about by now, his only show of emotions when he was most vulnerable and deeply in the grip of nightmares.

A sweet scent suddenly clouded his nostrils and he turned his head slightly. The sight outside the carriage made his heart stop for a second, his mind unable to process what he was seeing. The ground was completely covered in a blanket of white, like fresh snow, the pearly surface catching the sun and gleaming brightly.

He realized he was looking at flowers, rows and rows of snowy white buds bowing the ground, the petals fluttering slightly as the wind teased them.

'Snowdrops.' He whispered. It was as if the flowers were floating inches above the ground, the stems dancing merrily, while fresh buds poked their way out of the leaves.

Falcon turned around and shook Autumn vigorously. She swatted his hand away from her shoulder, complaining incoherently, something that sounded suspiciously like "disturbances." He started tapping her knee in rhythmically, until she opened her eyes and glared at him with murder in her eyes.

'Are there more of your friends following us?' She snapped.

'What? No!' he exclaimed. 'Look outside.'

She turned her head slowly, like it was causing her huge inconvenience to glance outside the carriage door. Falcon waited for her to exclaim in surprise or delight, but she turned back to him with a rather dull expression on her face. 'Seriously, what?'

His mouth fell open in shock. It was hard to believe she hadn't found anything of interest in the field of flowers. It wasn't until her eyes narrowed in suspicion that he realized they were headed towards her home and she must have seen the snowdrops countless times to actually be unfazed by them.

'Nothing.' He sat back quickly, hoping his cheeks weren't flushing from the embarrassment. 'Are we there yet?'

'You woke me up to ask me that?' her nostrils flared, and she fell back against the seat, resting her head and closing her eyes.

He shook her again, mainly for the delight he felt when she got irritated, her eyebrows furrowed and that death glare in her eyes.

'Stop. You are muddling up my thoughts.' She opened her eyes slightly, shaking her head as if to make the thoughts fall back into place.

'You are not thinking, you are sleeping.' He stated bluntly. 'How much time is left?'

She held up ten fingers to answer his questions, muttering a "wake me up after…." and closing her eyes again, her breathing evening soon enough.

Falcon wondered what miraculous addition ten more minutes would do to her sleep as he let his eyes close and breathed deeply in the scent of the flowers, a calm tide washing over him and stripping away part of his anxiety. He felt the sudden urge to set a brush against a canvas and color it with the beauty of the field outside.

Stop it, he shook his head. Don't think of art.

Because art brought into his mind a certain someone and he didn't want another wave of guilt to take place of whatever calm remained inside him, while his heart struggled to find a pattern to beat on to.

The carriage rolled into a town, the cobbled street running under an overhead archway with a large sign, decorated with flowers and neatly trimmed vines.

'Welcome to Lapis Valley.' He murmured.

Falcon jerked up with a start, he remembered LAPIS VALLEY from somewhere, but his sleep-muddled brain refused to remind him where he had read about it. Beside him Autumn stirred, her eyes opening wide as she saw the sign.

'Home.' She smiled contentedly. Falcon saw happiness and satisfaction take over her features, she seemed much more at ease now, the stiff demeanor she had kept on slipping away as the carriage moved deeper into the town.

Neat rows of houses slipped past as the horses clip-clopped towards the town square. A young girl raised a hand and waved at Autumn who smiled widely, waving back at her vigorously even after the carriage passed away. Falcon grabbed her arm to prevent her from falling outside, she looked like she was about to get off and run over to the girl.

The street opened into a wider area and the carriage rolled around a huge fountain with the words TOWN SQUARE carved into the stone. The fountain was of a man wearing the same gear as Autumn but he was not holding any weapons. In his left hand was an open book and his wise eyes were cast on the pages, the face perfectly molded to look like he was engrossed in the words. The pen in his left hand was sprouting a steady stream of water, which was tinkling like music as it hit the puddle by the man's feet.

'Because the pen is mightier than the sword.' Autumn said wisely when she found him staring at the statue.

He heaved her backpack onto his shoulder as they got off, turning into a street, while Autumn hummed merrily to the musical sound of the bubbling water in the fountain. He had covered his face with his mask again, pulling the cap low over his eyes even after Autumn had told him he would scare the townspeople away. He didn't want to take any more risk.

Villagers were bustling about him, talking and laughing loudly and Falcon kept his eyes trained on the ground, staying a few feet away from Autumn because she kept stopping every three seconds to greet people. An elderly woman kissed Autumn wetly before proceeding to preen in his direction and Falcon felt his stomach turn. He wished heartily she would just ignore him when she cackled loudly.

'And who is this sweet little thing?'

Falcon's heart stopped. If she had called him a sweet little thing when he knew he looked downright intimidating, she was no doubt expecting him to have a nice little conversation over a warm cup of tea.

'Oh, that's Jason.' Autumn said, looking over at him and gritting her teeth for him to come closer.

He shuffled over quietly, keeping his eyes firmly on the ground when the lady said. 'Now, that's a fine man you have here, Aurelia dear. Another one of your slayers, is he, now?'

He barely registered the amused look on Autumn's face at his discomfort. The old woman had just called Autumn Aurelia, did that mean Aurelia was her real name, or was it just another pseudonym?

'That's right, Aunt Sylvie. He's a trainee.' Autumn chirped.

He nodded along with her, his skin crawling when the old woman sized him up, her eyes raking over his body, no doubt looking for a flaw to point out.

'He looks like you will take him down in a second, my girl.' She said finally.

'Oh, he does have a lot to learn.' Autumn sighed.

Falcon cast her an annoyed look but the glint of mischief in her eyes caused the corners of his lips to turn up into a smile behind the mask. He sighed in relief when the woman finally went away, but not before she gave Autumn another kiss on the cheek and Falcon turned his head away from the squelching sound.

'You are so rude.' Autumn lamented, glaring at him. She didn't sound angry, just amused and slightly proud, as if it was an achievement to be able to talk to an old woman for more than two minutes. 'Why didn't you say anything?'

'What? And get kissed like that? No, thank you.' He said. 'And she's your aunt so you have nothing to be proud of.'

'She's not my aunt.' Autumn laughed. 'I call her that out of respect.'

'That makes no sense, Aurelia.'

Autumn stopped walking abruptly, and Falcon bumped into her back, jerking at the sudden contact. 'You are not allowed to call me that.' She stated coldly.

Falcon was surprised at the sudden hostility. He had thought she wouldn't mind, with all the importance she gave to trusting each other and being friendly. Turned out, it was all just bullshit.

'I couldn't care less.' He snapped, before brushing past her, hitching the backpack up and grasping the strap.

'That's because you haven't told me yours. And...that's the wrong way.' She said.

Falcon turned around and glared at her coldly. All at once he was feeling greatly annoyed and somewhat confused. He couldn't understand this new emotion in his heart, much like hurt but that wasn't possible, was it? Why would he be hurt?

'My name IS Falcon.' He said.

'No, like your real name. The name your parents gave you when you were born. You weren't always Falcon, were you?'

'I was.' He shrugged like he didn't care.

The truth was, he knew he had a different name then, but all he remembered was his mother calling him a brave little warrior and the riders cheering something that had slowly morphed into a chant of 'Falcon' over the years. But he knew he used to like his name, because Orchid had said it was so much like him.

Autumn snorted and turned away, breezing past him into a side alley he hadn't noticed before. The street was lined with potted plants, the green leaves brushing his arms and tickling the little amount of bare skin on his hands. While Autumn walked in the middle of the street, he preferred to stay in the shadows of the houses, because the plants were comforting, but also because if someone stopped to greet them, he could always bend over one of the pots and pretend to water it.

'Almost there.' Autumn said and his heart jumped. He realized he was going to meet Renatus the Demon Slayer soon and something akin to excitement made his skin tingle, but he forcefully shrugged it away. He must not connect to anything related to Aurelia.

Autumn, he corrected himself. She was Autumn and he was Falcon, and names were not a big deal.

Falcon had just reached the end of the street where Autumn had disappeared when he heard it. A low growl, like a snarl of a wolf right behind him, as hot animal breath washed over his nape. He wondered how big the beast must be to reach his neck, as his heart started beating like a drum inside his chest, the thumping making his entire body shudder.

Falcon turned around slowly and was greeted by the sight of long fangs, dripping drool right in his face.