"And you didn't tell me about it?" Founder tugged at his jacket.
"Keep your voice down someone might hear you," I pleaded untying a sheep from a tangled thorn. "Besides we didn't get a chance to speak to each other yesterday, remember."
"Okay, so tell me what happened," his eyes bulged with excitement.
"Fine," I grunted before telling him of my horseback ride with Ramul Angus. I told him everything not keeping a single detail from the boy.
"What did he smell like?"
"That's an odd question to ask about a boy who is barely thirteen."
"Wait, Ramul Angus is thirteen?" he asked surprised at the news.
"Incase you haven't noticed yeah. He is little."
"What did he smell like anyway?"
"You seriously don't want to give up on this."
"Just answer the damn question."
"Rain, Founder, he smelled like rain," I replied dryly walking to the end of the valley with the sheep grazing behind us.
"Seriously?"
"Well you wanted to know and now you know."
"I expected something more..."
"Like what," I said turning around to give him a sad smile.
"I don't know, maybe he smelled..."
"Like rainbows and lilies mixed with a tinge of Tallilies Poison apples?"
The look on his face fell making me wish I hadn't made fun of his inquiries, "Forget it. Let's go back to tending to the sheep."
"Founder, he smelled like rain, what did you want me to say?" I noted sadly.
"Sometimes you need to know when to cut the jokes Reya," he whined, walking to the oak tree to get a shade from the afternoon sun.
I wanted so badly to run after him and apologize but knowing Founder I figured that would only make things worse, so I walked to the valley sitting on the cliff with my legs dangling from the edge.
"Are the both of you fighting?" Aurora asked with a surprised tone.
"I think I carried the joke too far," I answered, shifting my gaze from the horizon to my hands.
"He'll come around, I know he will. Pranks are a huge part of his thing," she grunted, taking a seat by my side.
"I hope so," I sighed in resignation. Amongst all my siblings, Founder was the only one I connected with, we were inseparable. Wherever he was I was and wherever I was he was as well. We rarely ever fought and whenever we did it made everyone uncomfortable. They were so used to us being each other's strengths that being against each other was seen as a taboo. It didn't make any sense but nothing made any sense to me. I was weird. We were both weird.
Something moved in the forest below as a man ran up a tree in panic. Two men joined him at the bottom of the tree talking with him in whispers. Oddly enough I could see them from the distance and hear their conversations as I engaged with it.
"Reiner you have ten seconds to come down from the tree or we would tear it down ourselves," one of the men threatened.
"Please... I didn't do it on purpose I swear," the man in the tree pleaded hastily.
"Six seconds," the other continued.
"Tell the master that I'll atone for my sins."
"Tell him yourself."
"He'd kill me," the man went on.
"Three."
"No."
"Two."
"Please!"
"Your time is up," the one on the ground said, nodding to his colleague who brandished a sword from his back. The sword had markings on it and the more he waved it around, the more I could see dark shadows enclosing the sword.
"I'm sorry," the man with the sword spoke for the first time slicing the tree in half causing the man to jump out of it reflexively. The other one moved around like a blur punching the tree man into the ground breaking the rocks below.
"Please!" he cried out but the men were not out for mercy, they were out for blood.
The man with the sword waved his weapon for the last time, stabbing his target squarely in the chest.
"Ardebit in cinere," he whispered as black flames from the sword engulfed the man burning him into nothing.
When their target was no more, they blurred out of sight leaving me to see nothing but a broken rock showing that what I had seen had actually happened. I had witnessed a murder I thought, my hands shaking from the trauma of what I had seen.
"Did you see that?" I asked in fear.
"See what?" she asked calmly before taking a good look at me. "By the gods Reya, you are sweating..."
"Did you see what just happened?" I pointed to the trees below. "Down there."
She squinted her eyes following my index finger, "I'm sorry but it's not possible to see anything down there from up here."
"I just saw them kill someone," I muttered absentmindedly.
"Who?" she asked, her eyes wide open.
"Two men."
"Reya, we're on a mountain. From down there this valley would look like it touched the skies," she noted. "There's no way you can see anything down there from up here. I think you have a fever."
My mind spun in circles causing me to wonder if what I had seen might have actually happened or I was hallucinating.
"You might have caught a fever from staying out under the rain yesterday," she reasoned. "When we get back, I'll boil some..."
Her voice faded away while I played the scenerio over and over in my head. Who were those people and what did they want?
Something caught my eye, a tiny ring with inscriptions written on it. I had to take a closer look and find out what it was.
"I'll be right back," I excused myself as I got up to leave the valley.
"Where are you going?" she asked in concern.
"I dropped ummm... a flower down the cliff. I'll be right back let me get it," I lied sprinting away from her.
"Can't you pick any other flower on the valley?" she asked pointing to the large array of flowers swaying in the field behind us.
"No, I want that one," my voice wavered. "It's, ummm... special."
She narrowed her eyes sceptical about my whole story but resigned when she saw there was no use in carrying on with the argument.
"Well hurry up!" she yelled after me. "And take a pony with you. It'll be faster."
"Sure," I replied heading for the pathway which wounded down the mountain.
***
The cliff was steep as I held onto the rocks trying to avoid falling off of it. The normal path down the mountain would have been easier but it would cost me an hour by carriage ride to get there and two hours if I decided to walk. Climbing down the cliff even though it was very dangerous would take me twenty minutes. Knowing me, I took the rough but faster route. I would go down to investigate and clear my doubts then be back before it was time to take the sheep home.
A rock gave way under my right feet causing me to shift my weight onto my left. Following the rubble as it fell down the cliff, I saw it higher than I had imagined it to be. I was still high up from the ground, any fall from this height would be lethal.
"That was a close one," I breathed a sigh of relief tracing my steps carefully while skimming past a sharp rock.
Taking my time to avoid unnecessary accidents, I came across a large gap with no foothold or rock to hold on to. It was possible to make the jump to the other side but any minor mistake would result in my permanent end. I peeped down to see how far I had gone only to realize that I wasn't even close to reaching the base of the mountain yet.
"I can't do this," I moaned starting to retrace my steps back to the top. "Tomorrow I'll try again through the other way."
As I began my ascent, my hand slipped from a rock I had latched onto leading me to fall down to the bottom. I screamed for help but no one could hear me from where I was. The fall took well over ten seconds with the trees breaking my fall before I hit the ground with my back first.
Something warm which I reasoned to be my blood poured out of me soaking me up in a warm bath as immense pain washes over me in every joint and muscle. I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe and I couldn't feel my limbs, the only thing I could feel was unbearable pain. I wanted to scream and I could have conjured enough power to do so if a long branch had not pierced through my neck during the fall, blocking my airflow and throat from making any sound.
There was nothing more to think about but to admire the wonderful scenery of the white cliff above while I died a slow, silent and painful death.
I could hear the voices of my brothers and sisters playing at the top of the cliff and I wondered if they would cry for me if they found my body.
What would they put on my tombstone? Reya the brave or Reya the stupid. It didn't matter, all that mattered was that I had a family that loved me and wanted the best for me.
My eyes started to go dim with the light becoming dull with each minute. I had so many regrets in the world, one of which was that I never got to search for my real family and know who they were. At sixteen I was about to leave the world but that didn't matter much, children died alot during diseased times as well as wars.
If I had a second chance at life, maybe I would...
***
"...completely. That could create a war between the two families." a female voice warned.
"I know but I'm not giving up now," a familiar voice replied back.
I opened my eyes to see a dark sky filled with stars. I wasn't dead, I thought. What was happening?
"Oh great, you're awake," he whispered to me.
Ramul stood over me with a girl whom I couldn't see in the dark for she wore a cloth over her mouth. She had the physique of a young girl with a hair which shone white under the night sky.
"How am I alive?" I asked as he helped me up to my feet. At first I felt unsteady, staggering about while he helped me balance myself. My bones were no longer shattered and I could feel every limb in my body like I had not fallen off a very high cliff. "Am I dreaming?"
"By the gods this is pathetic," the girl sighed raising her hands in frustration.
"Umbra be calm."
"I'm tired of being calm Ramul. It's been sixteen years that she's been like this and I'm sick of it."
"She'll learn."
"You've all been saying that for a very long time and I am tired."
"Don't be like that."
"We might as well be dead before she finally knows what she is. I'm tired of being a secret. If the world is not ready to see us then what are we doing here in the first place?" the girls voice snapped venomously with each word. She was angry at something except I didn't know what it was.
"I'll let you and Dominik handle whatever this is," she said waving her hand at me, "while I focus on handling the other pressing matters we have going on."
They bantered on and on with the girl exploding in frustration and Ramul trying his best to calm the girls raging emotion.
"Ummm, I don't know what is happening but I'd like to go home now, please," I said softly interrupting their conversations.
"Yes sist... I mean Reya," Ramul corrected. "We'll take you home now."
"Thank you," I smiled.
"Will you do it or should I... nevermind," the girl said walking up to me with disappointment in her eyes before carrying me in her arms. "Hang on."
While I still wondered about what she was about to do, she leaned back, squatting close to the ground before jumping into the air explosively. I had never seen anything like it before for it was like we were flying, until she reached the top of the cliff in no time landing gracefully on her toes. Tossing me onto the grass like a sack of potatoes, she put her hands on her waist staring at me in disappointment prompting me to speak to her out of curiosity.
"Have we met before?" my voice whispered in the night air as the question was met with a horrifying cackle. Ramul came flying in seconds later landing gracefully as the girl had done.
"Okay, how are you guys doing that!?" I exclaimed in amazement at what I had seen. What were they?
"I'll explain when we meet again," he smiled before walking to me with his hand stretched out. Tracing a hand down my chin he pressed against the side of my neck causing me to fall over drowsily.
Before I fell asleep, I watched the two of them jump down the cliff making me wonder if I was still asleep or being spirited into another world after the afternoon cliff incident.