20

Calliope and Mido returned to the abandoned house, lost in their own thoughts. With no sign of the king and his army, the villagers had begun to prepare to move on. Maria met Mido and Calliope outside.

"Agrimony?" she asked impatiently.

Calliope handed the herb to the woman and Maria smiled to her.

"Knew I could count on ya, Calliope," she said. "Mido would have brought me some useless ivy." She turned to Mido. "Ian decided we needed to move on," she said to him.

Mido nodded. "'Bout that time, I guess," he said.

Calliope stood out of the way as the villagers mounted their horses once more, ready to continue their journey. Mido approached Calliope, the reins of a young horse in his hands.

"Hop on," he said. She took the reins from him and smiled. He grabbed her waist and helped her on the horse, then he mounted his own. Mido and Calliope led the group through the forest. They traveled well into the night, stopping when they arrived at the bank of a shallow river. They set up camp at the water's edge for the night. Sleep came easily to some while others stayed up talking quietly amongst themselves over the sound of the river's steady current.

"Since you've been careless with conserving your powers, you might need this." Mido handed Calliope a sword.

"Thanks," she said, taking the sword from him with caution. She bounced it carefully in her palms. "It's heavier than it looks."

"You get used to it," he said. He watched her turn the blade in her hands and smiled.

"Better sleep with one eye open," she said. "I'm armed now."

Mido laughed. "I'll be sure to do that." He winked at her. They stood in silence for a moment. Mido put his hands on his hips and cleared his throat. "So, how about a fire? Do you have enough power in you to get one going? Or am I on my own tonight?"

"I think I can manage that," she said. They gathered some kindling and within seconds, a fire was burning brightly. Calliope and Mido sat by the fire, talking in hushed whispers amongst themselves.

"What are your plans after we defeat Scarletta?" Mido asked.

"If we defeat her."

"When we defeat her."

Calliope smiled and turned to the fire. "I don't know," she said slowly. "I haven't thought about it. My only plan was to leave the kingdom and try to make a life someplace where no one would recognize me."

"I think you should stick around here. The people will welcome you here after they learn what you've done for us."

"Well, maybe I don't like them."

"Ouch."

Calliope smiled at the fire.

"They're not that bad," Mido said. "There are some decent people around."

Calliope met his gaze. "Like you?"

"You think I'm decent?" The corner of his mouth pulled up into a partial smile.

Calliope shrugged. She couldn't help but notice the way he often smiled at her, in that crooked way, and she smiled.

Mido watched the smile on her face grow. "What?"

Calliope shook her head. "Yeah, I think you're decent, considering you wanted to kill me not too long ago."

"That I did," he said with a nod. "But I guess you're not so bad."

"Well, if they're like you, I guess I could stick around."

Mido felt his face grow hot and turned away. Calliope studied him for a moment, unable to decipher his subtle actions; the way he smiled at her, or why his gaze lingered on hers. She did not understand what it meant when he turned away or when his brows knit together. She found herself studying them quietly as they went about their business, but she couldn't help but to wonder what they felt or how to interpret these small actions.

Calliope turned her own attention to the fire and considered her own reactions. She felt something strange when Mido held his gaze on hers; she often felt the need to break the trance and look elsewhere. Perhaps this was a similar sensation that Mido felt, but what did it mean? In her short life, she was really only sure of a few emotions; the anger and fear she felt towards Scarletta, and yet a greater feeling of respect. She felt remorse for the kingdom she attacked, and she was certain of the distrust many of them felt in her. She had learned these things, mostly from Scarletta, but they felt even more real as they unfolded before her as she studied the humans. 

Her mind turned back to Mido and she questioned the feeling in her chest that she had not felt before. It didn't feel like a bad feeling; no, it was a good feeling, but a confusing feeling. She felt safe with him. She felt the trust the others must have also felt. It was something she sensed in her chest. She couldn't quite place it, though.

"Mido." Her voice broke the silence, catching Mido off guard. He looked over to her.

"Mhm?"

"What are emotions like?"

Mido paused and looked up in thought. "They're quite frustrating if you ask me."

"Why?"

He said nothing for a moment, his gaze locked on hers, as if he were deep in thought. "They're confusing," he finally said.

"Why?"

"Don't you feel any emotion?"

"Well, yeah, sure. Of course. But..." She paused. "I think my emotions were based on Scarletta's emotions. I only felt what I thought I should feel. I felt angry a lot. Scared. Confused." She shrugged. "That's all I really knew, I guess."

"So why do you ask?"

"I don't know," she muttered. "I just don't know how I feel right now. It's not any of those things."

"You haven't gotten into any of old those bottles at the house, have you?" He smirked for a moment, then shook his head when Calliope raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"What are other emotions?" she asked.

Mido though about this. "Embarrassment," he said

"What's that?" she asked.

"It's when you do something really awful and everyone laughs at you."

"And you feel embarrassed when that happens?"

Mido shrugged. "I guess so." He smiled. "Like when you trip and fall in horse shit."

"You've done that?"

"What? God, no. But don't bring it up to Ian. His face'll get beat red, even do this day."

"What else?" she asked.

Mido sighed and thought for another moment. "Pride."

"What's that?"

"When you do something really great and feel good about it."

Calliope considered that emotion as Mido continued.

"And there's regret. When you feel bad about doing something you shouldn't have done. And hope. And love."

"What's love?"

Mido hesitated and watched her. He leaned in and whispered to her. "Love is a load of horse shit."

Calliope scrunched her nose and Mido laughed.

"Is love a bad emotion?"

"Not at all. Nothing wrong with love. Love is what you feel towards other people." Mido paused and shrugged. "I don't know. You can't explain love. It's just a confusing mess. It's like every emotion rolled up into one." He rolled his hands in front of him. His eyes seemed to sparkle as he explained. "Its happiness and excitement and proud and hope and sometimes anger and embarrassment." He turned his gaze back to the flames. "But those things are different when love is involved," he said slowly. "When you love someone, you'd do anything for that person, to make them happy and safe."

"Do you think Scarletta loves me?" Calliope asked.

Mido scoffed. "God, no."

Calliope looked taken aback and Mido cleared his throat. "I mean, that's different. She's just using you for her own revenge."

Calliope seemed to look disappointed at this bit of information.

"You don't need her love," Mido assured her. "There's better love out there."

Calliope questioned the feeling in her chest once more, but a splash in the river brought her back to reality. She spun around to see a group of Scarletta's Nequam in the river. Mido sprung to his feet, his sword in hand. He called to Ian, waking him up. Men jumped up, grabbing their weapons as the Nequam rushed towards them. Calliope grabbed her sword, holding it with two hands and suddenly, the Nequam surrounded them. Two rushed towards her and she swung her sword forcefully at them. She tried to summon her powers, but she could barely feel the magic in her body; it pulled painfully in her chest as she tried to will her magic out of her. She swung the sword again at the Nequam, catching one in the arm. They closed in on her, but she continued to swing at them forcefully. They pressed closer and closer, separating her from the others until they ended up downstream. Calliope could hear the rush of the river's waterfall as they neared the edge of the cliff.

Mido raised his sword and brought it down with force, slaying a Nequam. It collapsed to the ground, screaming in agony. Mido thrust the sword into the Nequam, finishing the creature. He looked up and searched the battle for Calliope. He spun around and saw her fending off two Nequam downstream. He rushed towards her, another Nequam hot on his heels. He spun around with his sword, but the Nequam dodged it and threw himself at Mido, thrusting a dagger into Mido's gut.

Calliope swung her sword towards the Nequam surrounding her. They jumped back and Calliope turned to run, but stopped suddenly and stared in horror as she saw Mido's body falling into the bloodied water. She clutched at her chest as her heart seemed to burst inside. She struggled to hurry towards him, but the Nequam jumped in front of her, blocking her way. She thrashed the air with her sword, but the Nequam dodged each swing. Calliope fell to her knees, the sword suddenly feeling much heavier. Two Nequam stood over her as Mallius pushed past them and gripped Calliope by her hair.

"There you are, witch," he hissed in her face. "I'd take you back to Scarletta myself, but she's on her way as we speak and would much rather you watch as she destroys your little friends." He threw Calliope down and called to the other Nequam, leaping into the air and disappearing over the trees.

Calliope pushed herself up and splashed through the water towards Mido. She pulled him up and out of the water, letting his head rest on her lap. She tried to stop the blood spilling out of his wound, frantic, her hands shaking.

"I'm fine," Mido murmured as he drifted in and out of consciousness, his breathing shallow and forced. Ian rushed to her side and inspected the wound.

"We need to get out of here. Maria can help him back at the house. We need to bring him back there quickly."

"Scarletta's on her way," Calliope said, panicked. Her heart raced in her chest and her head spun. She squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to sort through the chaos. "She knows where we are. She will find us at any moment."

"We won't stay here," Ian assured her.

"We can't leave while he's wounded."

Mido groaned as Ian lifted him onto a horse. "We'll fix everyone up and then leave."

"She'll be here before we can leave."

Ian spun around. "Do you want him to die?" he yelled to her. His eyebrows pinched together in anger.

"Of course not," she said, her heart twisting in agony in her chest. She suddenly felt helpless; she was only a burden to them.

"Let me take care of this, Calliope." Ian turned and mounted his horse, leaving Calliope standing alone. One by one, men and women mounted their horses with the wounded and followed Ian through the forest. Calliope watched as they galloped away, then walked to her horse. She took the reins and patted the horse's neck. She scrambled onto the saddle pathetically, then kicked the horse towards the forest, bringing up the rear.