"Hey," the girl said suddenly. Her voice was hoarse, but it was distinctly young. She turned and looked Silas in the eyes. He jumped, shocked that she was able to see him. But instead of frowning or acting hostile, she smiled in relief. "Do you know where we are?"
Silas stepped out from behind the tree, hiding his pebble in his sleeve. He didn't step out of the shade, hoping that it would at least partially obscure his face, so that if the girl turned out to be an enemy working for a hostile group, she wouldn't be able to fully identify him to her companions. However, one look into her perceptive red eyes told him that she could see him in full.
"Look, I don't know who you are, but I'm kind of completely lost here. Believe it or not, but I just woke up in this clearing and I have no memories or anything of how I got here or what happened to me. Do you know where we are and where the nearest town is? I'd like to figure out what's going on as soon as possible."
Silas raised his eyebrows. So this girl was in the same situation he was in, or at least that's what she was saying. But it would be a completely stupid idea to just up and say that you had no memories and were lost to a random stranger you just met – that was just a recipe for disaster. What if you were kidnapped and held hostage? Silas deduced that this girl wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. Either that, or she was privileged and naïve enough to believe that any old stranger she met in the forest would help her in the way she expected. There still was the possibility she was playing dumb to achieve an ulterior motive. Silas had to play his cards very carefully.
"What's your name?" Silas asked, making his voice sound deeper than it actually was in an attempt to mask his identity. He avoided answering the question, instead preferring to gather information before reaching a conclusion.
"Saya Brookes," the girl said without missing a beat. Silas let out a breath. Last name, too? Is this girl completely insane?
"You can call me M," Silas said. His name did not have a single M in it, though. The letter was unrelated to his identity. No way was he going to give this random girl any hint to who he was and how vulnerable he was, lost just like her.
"Okay, M!" Saya said with a slight chuckle. "Mother wasn't good with names, I suppose?" She was trying to make small talk, but Silas knew that what she really wanted was information about who he was and why he was trying to hide himself. If he told her who his mother was, she'd be able to determine his background, right? He resolved to not give this suspicious girl any leeway.
"My, you're not the talkative type, I suppose?" Saya said, tilting her head to one side. "That's fine. I don't really need to know who you are or what you're doing here. I just want a little bit of help. Oh! Unless you're lost too. You aren't lost like I am, I suppose?"
Saya's habit of ending her sentences with "I suppose?" was really starting to get on Silas' nerves.
"Do you have any survival skills?" Silas asked, avoiding the question. He wanted to extract as much information as possible out of Saya whilst keeping his own bank of knowledge under wraps.
"Oh, yes!" Saya perked up. "I'm a great hunter. Give me a crossbow and I'll bring in enough game to last us months!"
That piqued Silas' interest. But where would they get a crossbow, and where would they find the game? He didn't even know where he was, let alone what the local fauna was like. Were there even any animals they could catch and eat out here? It seemed like whatever hunting skill Saya had would be useless. Silas felt a sense of disappointment overcome him. But then he had an idea.
"Come with me," Silas said. He kept his voice cool and calm as to not make her suspicious. He wouldn't have ever told anyone, but the boy was secretly a little proud of how confident he could sound when he had no idea what he was doing.
He led Saya along the trail he had paved with his magic. He let her fall into step beside him – he made sure to never let her leave the corner of his eye, or to leave his vulnerable back exposed. He could feel Saya's warm, trusting red gaze on his shoulder and it irked him to no end. It went against all self-preservation instincts Silas had.
They came across a bush with some berries, gleaming red. Almost artificially red. The trees here were a little less green than what Silas had glimpsed at the oasis, instead tinted with a rust color. When Silas looked at the berries intently, he couldn't remember what they were. That meant that he had no experience with them in their past life. But maybe Saya did.
"Do you know what these berries are?" Silas asked Saya, turning to her. He tried to sound gruff in order to hide his insecurity.
"Oh, those are yew berries. If you think it's good to eat them, you're dead wrong. Those things are poisonous to us humans. Especially the seeds. You wouldn't be able to get through two before dropping dead, I suppose." Saya let out a light chuckle, but her eyes were dark. It was obvious she wanted to stay as far away from the yew berries as possible.
"That's good to know. We need to find a source of food if we want to survive. Food and water and shelter. The next inhabited place is several days' journey away."
"Oh, but if you're all out here alone, several days away from any inhabited places, and you don't even know what yew berries are, you can't be from around here, I suppose?"
Silas cursed himself. Of course, he shouldn't have shown Saya the yew berries. She would have made that conclusion. Even someone as daft as her was perceptive enough to figure that out.
"Oh, no. I already knew what the yew berries were, I was just testing your survival skills. If we are going to survive together, at least for now, you're going to have to know how to find food and water by yourself without my help. I don't want you picking up any yew berries and bringing them to our camp."
"Don't be silly," Saya laughed. Then she pressed her face up against Silas. He could feel her hot, gentle breath in her ear. He broke out in a sweat.
"I can tell when people lie."
Saya let out a relaxed laugh, completely unfazed, and put her arms behind her head. She stretched. Silas started to shake slowly. He was right, this girl was dangerous. And she could see right through him. For a human, she was incredibly perceptive. She was aware of his presence as soon as she woke up and she could apparently see through the games Silas was trying to play. But if that was the case, how could Silas avoid her if she tried to harm him?
"But don't worry. I've been gifted with an amazing sense of perception. Like, seriously amazing. I can see and hear you coming a mile away. I can tell what you're feeling and if you're a good person. I've got that great of an intuition. It really comes in handy sometimes. Or at least, I feel like it's come in handy a bunch. Anyway. I can sense that you're a good person, just really lost and scared. So I'm not going to hurt you. Let's just work together and try and figure out what the heck is going on, alright?" Saya winked and whipped out a thumbs-up, striking a cute little pose. Silas found himself looking at her red eyes. He wondered if her red eyes had anything to do with her incredible awareness.
"Alright, alright, you got me," Silas said, preferring to pacify her rather than try and argue. "But I still won't tell you my real name."
"That's perfectly fine by me, I suppose," Saya replied, smirking. "Though I bet it's pretty cute."
Silas blinked.
"Feel free to roll your eyes," Saya said, gesturing with her hand. Silas just stared. Saya's shoulders slumped.
"Honestly, you're like a metal wall. You're so tense and wound-up. Seriously, if you relax, it'd be so much easier to cooperate. You walk like you're chronically constipated!"
Silas tensed up even further at that statement, his cheeks growing red with embarrassment. But that only served to prove Saya's point.
"Let me guess, you're trying to use me to figure out which berries are good to eat, cause you have no idea how to survive in the wilderness. And you also have some sort of elemental magic, that's how you were able to create those ruts. Ooh, and you lost all your memories like me, but you're trying to hide it cause you don't know if you can trust me or not."
Silas shuddered. She had gotten everything precisely correct, despite his attempts to remain unreadable. He was unsure if he should feel impressed or terrified.
"So? How many did I get right? Judging by the look on your face, probably all three, I suppose?"
Silas didn't answer, too embarrassed to admit he'd been outfoxed.
"I can read you pretty easily, so don't try pulling anything funny, okay?" Saya warned, a cheeky smile on her face. "Oh, and if you wanna know, there's an apple tree a few hundred meters to the northeast."
"How did you know?" Silas asked in wonder. Saya spread her hands wide and grinned.
"Magic," she said, poking Silas in the chest, right between his ribcage. It kind of hurt. "No, seriously. I have magically amplified senses. Pretty cool, huh? With your elemental magic, and my heightened awareness, we could be a pretty fearsome duo, I suppose."
"Well, first we have to find food, water, and shelter," Silas stated bluntly, trying to keep the embarrassment out of his voice. The fact this girl was so carefree made him all the wearier. It was like how an eye of a hurricane was perfectly calm but heralded something much more sinister.
"Well, you can check food off the list. The apples I can sense are pretty juicy, and lucky us, they also happen to be ripe. And not only that, but I bet I can find a plethora of other fruit for us to chow down on. I don't think food will be that much of a problem."
"What about meat?" Silas asked.
"That should be easy. I might not have a crossbow on me at the moment, but my gut tells me I'm still pretty good with a slingshot."
"What kind of animals can we hunt, though?" Saya's happy-go-lucky confidence was starting to get on Silas' nerves.
"Ferals, of course! The small, cute ones, though. The bigger ones are kinda scary, not gonna lie."
The instant Saya uttered the word "ferals", Silas' mind immediately conjured up a frightening image of a rampaging monster, not unlike a tyrannosaurus rex. Several times taller than him with long, lethal claws, ferals seemed like nightmare beasts he never wanted to come across. And yet, Saya was saying that they could find them easily and even eat them. Her confidence made it seem like it was an easy task, but Silas wasn't ready for that level of trust yet. What if her confidence turned out to be reckless arrogance and got her killed? If they fought a feral like the ones Silas was imagining, it probably wouldn't stop after it had mauled Saya's body. Silas would be next on the menu, and he definitely wanted no part in that.
"Ferals?" Silas asked quizzically. There was no way Saya was planning on tackling even a miniature version of those things.
"Uh-huh! See, I might not remember things I've done in the past, but my gut instinct tells me I have great gut instinct. And my gut instinct has never been wrong before. Or has it? I can't remember. Anyway, what I mean is that I have this feeling, that if we attack the smaller ones that look like racawns, and not the giant lykanors, we'll have our meat source, easy!"
Silas apparently had no experience with lykanors nor racawns, so trying to imagine them made him draw a blank. He looked at Saya with a dumbfounded face. Saya put a hand behind her head and chuckled awkwardly.
"Okay, yeah. I don't sound very convincing, do I? That's fine. How about you go and find a shelter, and I'll figure out how to make a slingshot and gather some food for us. Then, I'll come and find you with my incredible tracking skills!" Saya waggled a finger in front of Silas' face. "Don't even think about deserting me, m'kay? I've got your scent." She pointed to her brain, then to her gut. "You can't fool these boys. Meet back in a few hours, I suppose?"
"If you can just come find me, why not do that?" Silas asked.
"Okay, maybe you're a bit more logical than I am. But still, can't fool my gut!" Saya laughed. "You're right. I'll just come and find you. I can't wait to see the look on your face when I come back with a literal feast on my hands."
"Sure, sure," Silas said. It seemed like Saya was draining Silas' energy and making it her own. His shoulders slumped. But, he reasoned, he could have gotten worse.
"So, have we got ourselves a partnership, M?" Saya reached out her hand. Silas stared at it for a second, then glanced at Saya apologetically.
"Sorry, Saya, I don't think I can accept that just yet." Saya pouted, puffing out her cheeks for dramatic effect. She looked cute, but also utterly stupid.
"You're no fun. I'll make you smile, someday," Saya said with a wink. Then she leapt into the air and dashed off. Silas' eyes widened at how fast she disappeared. She made no sound and navigated the terrain like she knew it by memory. In a matter of seconds all trace of her had completely vanished. It was like she was a ghost. Silas shuddered. He looked at the dirt path he had made, and reoriented himself, determining the way to the oasis he had spotted.
So far, Saya hadn't made any outwardly hostile movements, just vague and defensive threats. She definitely was a force to be reckoned with, and Silas would prefer she be on his side instead of his enemy from the very beginning. That in mind, he decided he'd explore the oasis and eventually show it to Saya. Hopefully, she wouldn't stab him in the back.