Chapter Eight

It was late afternoon and the temperature had risen noticeably. Elise's legs felt like lead and her lungs were about ready to collapse. The air in the wide pass between the cliffs was simmering with heat, along with the sandy ground. Up ahead, the wagon came to a slow stop. She sighed gratefully and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"How long do you think it can possibly take to get to the palace? We won't survive much longer in this heat!" Elise moaned. She wasn't usually the type to complain, but the temperature was almost unbearable. Looks like she had taken over Lyra's job.

"Well, considering we are traveling on foot, and in addition with the heat, probably approximately two or three weeks left. Wren answered thoughtfully.

Elise's eyes widened so far that it felt like they were going to bulge out of her sockets. "I've been following the wagon already for…" She trailed off, uncertain. She knew it had to be at least two days. Maybe more. The last few days had been a bit of a blur.

"Anyway," she continued awkwardly, hoping a change of subject would help. "How were you following me so quietly? She asked, genuinely curious. "I was the best in my school, so if you snuck up on me, you must be pretty talented." She said with a sly grin.

A ghost of a smile touched Wren's lips and he held up his brown and gray cloak.

"It is magic." He explained. "It conceals me unless I want to be seen. I got it from an old Enchantress in the west."

"Can I see?" She asked cautiously, reaching out her hand. She had never seen an enchanted item before. In her town, magic was quite rare. Wren nodded, unclasped the cloak, and placed it in her outstretched hand. The fabric was silky and felt light in her grasp. Like spider silk. She handed it back to him and he replaced it on his shoulders.

"So, you travel a lot, then?" Elise asked.

"Yes. I left home when I was in my third stage to escape my abusive father. I traveled through the Neutral Territories until I built up the courage to venture into the Ash Nation. My mother sent letters calling me home, but not one word from my father."

His voice wasn't accusing or harsh, it was just the voice Elise now associated with Wren. She nodded, not knowing what to say. She was helpless when it came to people skills. That was more Lyra's field.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Elise's brain finally registered all of what Wren had said. He was from the Neutral Territories? Were his parents from there too? Or was he adopted? She was dying to ask him about it but she didn't want to be rude. On top of that, he had spilled his life to her and she hadn't even shared her name.

"Elise!" She suddenly blurted out.

Wren looked very confused. He swiveled his head around, probably looking for "Elise".

"That's my name."

A look of dawning crossed Wren's face and he nodded knowingly.

"That is but an honorable name."

The guards seemed to be taking a longer rest for the horses; they had been stopped for over twenty minutes now. Elise and Wren had been talking about various things over the break and she was finally finding it easier to talk to him. Maybe it was because she had told him her name, or because they had actually had the chance to get to know each other a bit more. All of a sudden, a question came to mind.

"Why didn't you pressure me to tell you about myself when you had told me so much about you?" She asked him, a little nervously.

He sat, thinking about it for a few seconds.

"I knew you would tell me when you were ready, and when you told me I found it was a sign of trust. But had I forced you to tell me, you would not have told me out of trust, it would have been out of obligation and I did not want that."

Elise nodded and all she said was: "I appreciate that."

They sat in silence for a while and Elise found that she actually liked his company.

Elise woke suddenly from her doze. She was leaning against one of the cave walls. Wren was sitting beside her, body tense, eyes alert.

"Did you hear something?" She asked him.

He jumped when she spoke and he swiveled his head to look at her. He must not have known she was awake.

"Yeah, it was above us. It sounded big." He said as he turned his attention back to the entrance of the cave.

"That's probably what woke me up."

Wren didn't respond.

"Do you think it could be another person?"

"Not unless they were terribly overweight." He replied, eyes still averted elsewhere. "Which would be hard if you lived around here."

"I'll go check what it is," Elise announced.

For the first time, Wren seemed to be fully focused on the conversation.

"No! You have to stay in here." He told her firmly.

Red hot anger rushed into Elise's cheeks and she clenched her hands into fists.

"Why? Because I'm female? Therefore I'm not capable?"

Before Wren could move to stop her, Elise swiftly stood up and rushed outside. She glared up at the ground at the top of the cliff. It was as if she was in school again, trying to reach the top first. Except this time there was only one opponent. She grabbed at a handhold about a foot above her head and found another one four inches under it. She put her left foot in a small dent and was about to push off when a hand grabbed her wrist. She shook off the hand and pushed the body away. Wren made a small grunting noise as he hit the ground. Elise started climbing. Left hand, right foot, right hand, left foot, on and on. She scaled the tall bluff with ease. She looked down. She was about eight feet off the ground and there were 20 feet left to go. Wren was just under her, muttering under his breath. She started climbing faster. Her breath started getting haggard and her fingers were ripped up. Her feet were aching and her clothes were drenched in sweat. It felt like ages went by as she climbed endlessly up the rugged cliff. Everything below started to shrink slowly. At six feet to go, a hand slipped and she hung there by a few fingers. The ground was now about 20 feet away and if she fell, she would certainly perish. Fear filled her brain and clouded her other senses as she dangled there like a bat hanging from the ceiling. She couldn't see anything but the endless black. She couldn't hear anything but the blood pounding in her ears. She couldn't smell or taste or feel anything except numb terror. Her brain flashed to dark places. She saw herself fall and hit the ground with a sickly thud. It felt like an eternity that she hung suspended in midair. Below her, Wren reached up to steady her, his hair was streaked with silver. But she replaced her feet on their holds and found another handhold before he could help. The terrifying moment was over and she kept on ascending up. Her hands and arms were still shaking so she slowed her pace a little. She continued at that pace for a bit, but she looked down and saw Wren swiftly gaining on her. She felt a rush of determination and increased her pace by double. She was a spider climbing its web with confidence. The rocks raced past beneath her hands. Her leg muscles were on fire and her fingers stung but she kept on climbing. She loved this feeling, of being high in the air, with the rush of adrenaline, knowing any second that she could fall. The height was really getting to her, making her giddy with excitement. She had so many weaknesses and heights were one of them. The feel of the wind in her hair, caressing her face and the crisp fresh air made her lose her cool. How her lungs had to work to suck in air and the fact that she could almost feel the clouds descending on her. She felt like she could fly. She couldn't help a brainless grin.

"Elise, this is madness! You can't take on a full-fledged beast by yourself!" Wren called furiously up at her.

"Wren, believe it or not, I know what I'm doing!" She yelled back.

There were only three feet left, then two then one. Elise reached the top of the cliff and clambered onto the solid ground. She winced as a scraped and bleeding knee touched the ground. She stood up and looked around. She was in a big glade. There were trees with white bark and dark purple leaves spaced out all around her. The ground was mossy with withered, sun-dried grass. A few colourful flowers popped up from the ground here and there. A small cave inhabited the right side of the clearing. She walked calmly over to a tree with enormous scratch marks on it. She leaned down to inspect it right as Wren reached the top. He was soaked in sweat and was shaking. His eyes were unfocused. He crawled away from the menacing cliff edge and lay sprawled out on the grass. Elise stopped what she was doing and approached him.

"Um, are you okay?" The anger towards him dissipated as she laid eyes on him. His chest was heaving; more than it should be after a climb.

"Water." He croaked.

She reached for the flagon of water tucked in at her waist. She unscrewed the lid and handed it to him. He took it with a shaking hand and downed the contents. Elise watched him with worry. When he was done, Wren swiped his mouth with his sleeve. He looked considerably better, but he was still shaking.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Don't like. Heights." He replied.

"You're scared of heights!?" She exclaimed incredulously.

Wren only nodded. Of all the things he was afraid of, it was heights?

"But why? It's a wonderful feeling to be up in the air. To feel the wind whipping at you and being so high up! I love it!"

Wren's eyes widened and he raised his eyebrows. Elise realized she probably wasn't helping.

"Childhood trauma I guess." He responded glumly.

Elise wasn't too surprised. He had a lot of that. It seemed like he'd been through a lot. In comparison, her poor little village seemed like a luxury. At least she'd had Lyra and her dad had loved her. She racked her brain, trying to come up with something comforting to say, but Wren spoke before her which was honestly a relief.

"So, do you know what creature lives up here?" He asked quietly.

"Well, there's some big claw marks in that tree over there and the underbrush is trampled over there which suggests that it's pretty big. I think it probably heard something and ran away to catch it. But it could come back any second." She replied, still feeling a little uncomfortable. Their eyes met for a fraction of a second and Wren smiled. It lit up his whole face. It gave his gaunt eyes more sparkle and his hollow cheeks more life. Suddenly there was a loud growl and Elise snapped her head up only to meet the savage gaze of a giant beast. The monstrous predator had the body of a mountain dog and the face of a bear. It's greasy brown fur was matted with dirt and some darker substance. It bared its teeth to show sharp brutal fangs, red with blood. The huge muscles in its shoulders flexed frighteningly as if about to pounce. But its eyes were the scariest part. They were the colour of sickly flesh and were smoldering coals placed roughly in its bear head. It turned away for a second, before bringing its head back around, dragging an unrecognizable form in its mighty jaws. It towed the shape to the center of the grove as if to show them how cruel it could be. Once the body was placed in front of her, Elise's heart skipped a beat.

"Lyra." The name escaped her lips with a sob.

She felt absolutely hollow inside as if someone had carved out her heart. She had lost her father, and now her best friend. How much could she lose before she couldn't go on? She glanced again at Lyra's unmoving body. No, now is not the time for sadness. She told herself. Beside her, Wren was standing stock-still. Elise clenched her fists and an anger so intense flared inside. She felt pure fury towards the world that everything was drowned out except her target. Her gaze started to go red. She was a full-fledged fire, racing to consume everything in her path. Wren seemed to notice what she was about to do.

"Elise no!" He cried out.

But she couldn't hear him. Not anymore. She grabbed a dagger from a hidden spot in her boot and lunged at the beast. The wolf-bear started charging. They met head-on and Elise got three cruel swipes at its chest before the monster clawed her side. She landed, not feeling the wound. The giant glared at her, daring her to come again, and she did. She raced toward it, and the beast stood its ground, ready to swipe her down. But at the last moment, she pushed off with her left foot, switched her blade to her left hand, and cut a clean stripe across the monster's side. It roared in pain. Now she was on the other side of the grove and could see Wren grabbing a similar dagger. She shook her head at him and he reluctantly nodded back. This was her fight. The wolf-bear swiveled to face her again and she made to stab its eye but vaulted over its towering head and onto its back. She brought the dagger down in a graceful arc, dealing a deadly blow. But not enough to kill the tough beast. She jumped off its back and danced away from its swiping claws. The wolf-bear reared up on two legs and came down hard. She was expecting this, but its razor-sharp claws still caught her on the leg. She backed away as the beast recovered. She stood as it lunged rabidly and brought her dagger up to her ear. Once she had it lined up, she threw the blade as hard as she could. It soared through the air with frightening precision and found its mark. The dagger came to a stop in the bear's chest, dealing the killing blow. Elise watched in grim satisfaction as it fell to the ground. She missed the usual excitement and adrenaline of a fight, which was now replaced with this fury and satisfaction, but it felt so good. At the thought of Lyra, she collapsed to the ground. Feeling her wounds and her grief all at once. Wren came racing over but Elise shook her head and pointed to her friend.

"See if she's." Elise choked on her words but continued anyway. "See if she's alive. If she is… treat her wounds and give her food and water. Don't worry about me."

Wren nodded grimly and leaned over Lyra, pressing his ear to her chest. Elise closed her eyes, not wanting to look, but she couldn't bear the suspense so she stood up and limped over to where Wren was crouched over Lyra's body. She gasped in horror at the sight of her friend. Her clothes were ripped to threads and deep cuts and ugly bruises covered almost every inch of her skin. Lyra's right leg was drenched in blood and her left arm was twisted at an odd angle along with deep bite marks on her shoulder. A wide gash ran from her right hip to her ribs, which were broken. A steady poor of scarlet ran like a river from the big slash. Was there any chance at all she would survive?

I'll check her pulse, Wren announced, an edge of doubt lining his words. But doubtful about what? Whether Lyra would live? Doubtful about her presence? Was Wren jealous that Lyra was here at all? She pushed the ridiculous thoughts from her head as Wren reached out his hand to Lyra's neck. Elise held her breath, fearing for the worst. Her heart rattled in her ribcage, going off fast as lightning. All she could think was:

Alive, alive, alive. Lyra, please be alive.