Fallen Warrior (Fallen Trilogy book 3)

by Williams, Tess

  "I've no time for insects, and as for wild-cats, there's a den a mile southwest of here, but they're cougars, to be more specific."

  "Let's hope they don't mean to stop and get a drink."

  I rolled my lips in a scoff. "What sort of animal likes to drink warm water? It's for swimming isn't it? When I took Minstrel, he didn't hesitate to jump in. I only nearly saved his lyre from becoming soaked, since it lives so often on his back, that he forgets its even there."

  Cole cleared his throat (this was the third time now); he also nodded, looking the springs over again, but he didn't ask his question until he'd looked at me. "So he jumped on with his clothes and everything?..."

  I watched Cole for a moment, and then I grew a smirk. "Cole, are you worried I'm going to expect you to want to get in? Don't I know enough about Kanth by now? And of course he was wearing clothes. I was there. We live on an Isle; we've clothes for swimming. Though, it's true that when I come alone, I'll use the springs to bathe."

  Cole bent forward all of the sudden, hands still in his pockets, coughing short, just once, head ducking.

  "Cole?" I said, concerned. I frowned. "Did you get too close to the steam? You'll have to watch out for it."

  He didn't reply. He only stopped coughing well enough to wave me off and nod understanding.

  I frowned once more, then went on brightly. "I didn't bring any swimming clothes for today, since, like I said, I knew you won't want to swim, but I thought you could put your feet in or something. That's what I'm going to do."

  Without further pause, I jumped down from my boulder to sit on top of it. First undoing my belt of weapons, then working down the strings of my boots.

  I yelped a little when I touched my toes to the stone, then looked up to Cole smiling. He was still standing in the exact same position, staring at me. I frowned. "Not even your feet? You'll really have to explain once and for all to me why Kanthians cover themselves if you can't even show your feet."

  Cole shook his head sharp, as if waking from a daze. "No, it's alright. I was thinking that I will."

  "You'll put your feet in?" I followed happily. I was completely barefoot now.

  Cole nodded solid.

  My smile turned to a grin. "Well, good, I wouldn't mind so much to go on alone, but I was beginning to feel sorry for making you walk all the way through the cold for no reason."

  "I would always come with you to the jungle," Cole said, in the simple way that he said things, "Even if I were cold. Please don't go without me."

  I snorted. "Cole, really; I go all the time into the jungle on my own."

  He stayed still, his hands still in his pockets, but tenser. I tipped my head to the springs, and jumped down to them myself. I tested the water tentatively with one finger, and smiled at the warmth, then I sat at the edge and began to roll up my leather pants to my knees. I worried, for a moment, that Cole really wouldn't put his feet in after all, but only a second later, he was beside me. Leaning over to set his hand to the ground first, then dropping down and swinging his legs around all in one movement.

  I tried to pretend that I was concentrating on my own feet as I worked, I even attempted to actually do it, but I didn't. I was watching Cole, as he reached for his boot, and so on. It was small and thin, even smaller than my riding boots. They didn't need to be untied; he just slipped one off deftly. Then the other. And just as quickly as he'd done this he pushed his black cloth up his calves. His skin wasn't as dark as many westerners were, but it wasn't pale either. It was too red to be bronze, but the same sort of color, different than his hands. That was the amazing thing, because, even though I didn't think there was any reason I should have assumed any different, his legs, at least as much of them that I could see, weren't scarred at all.

  "Ouch," I yelped very suddenly, flicking my toes back up towards me as I realized I'd just dropped them into the water without meaning to. Cole reacted as swiftly to my cry as I had, turning, and grabbing for my body, as if to brace me from slipping off somewhere—though that hadn't been it at all.

  "What? What's wrong?" he said.

  "Just.... Nothing." I laughed at myself. "I just put my feet in too quickly. Look, yours are already all the way down. Isn't it too hot?"

  He glanced that direction. Seeing as I wasn't in any danger, he let go of me, then tipped his head up. "Maybe we have a lot of hot springs in Kanth. I'm used to hot water."

  I giggled further, put my palms flat, and carefully began to try my feet again, inch by inch. "What do you mean, maybe you have hot springs? You know, you say that rather often when it has to do with Kanth. How can you not be sure about your own country?... Or are you just trying to keep it from me?"

  "I don't mean to keep anything from you," he said, sounding suddenly sincere in his tone.

  I found it humorous, but I spoke on instead of laughing, since I was trying resolutely to distract myself from staring at his legs. "Then why not tell me about why you wear the robes, at least. I feel as if I could ask any other Kanthian and they would tell me."

  "I thought you met Kanthians before me," he replied.

  "Met, yes. And they explained its importance, but not the why of it. It wasn't as if I knew them well enough to ask. Not the way I know you."

  His feet had been shifting around in the water. They stopped, and he looked over at me. I lifted my brows patiently, still wiggling my own toes.

  "Well, you know the way I am with talking," he said, in a sigh. "I'm not sure I'm the best to explain it, but if you want..."

  I nodded resolutely.

  He moved back to pushing his feet back and forth in the water, but he looked straight ahead. "For Kanthians it would be that to show you their face would be like giving you a part of their soul...? I don't know how much sense that makes to others. When I first heard it, I... well, I didn't have much respect for the idea. I certainly didn't understand the importance. But... I learned to. We think so much of so many things. Names, and titles, ranks, abilities even; we hear these things and make decisions based upon them. But what are they really in comparison to what is here." He put his hand against his chest. He was still looking ahead, but he turned his head towards me, then he took the same hand and brought it up towards me. "What is here," he repeated, and hesitated only another second, he moved his hand up the rest of the way, till it was beside my face, and he was tracing his thumb along my skin. "All of you," he went on, his voice distant. And if I hadn't been holding my breath just then, I wasn't sure how I much of a response I might be showing. He moved his hand back suddenly, dropping it lifelessly beside him. "What I mean is, what it means for Kanth, the person is here. Our hearts. Who we are. Perhaps nothing marks our souls, but if anything did wouldn't it be our bodies more than anything else? A name is something, but it can change. So can titles, so can ranks. You can't change bodies. So for Kanthians to give that away to just anyone, to just some passerby, would be reckless at best, dishonoring at worst."

  He hesitated. He'd turned back to watch the forest. If he had been looking at me, he would have seen too strong of a reaction, so I was glad he hadn't. Only a little older than me? Was that possible? Was it possible someone so young could speak this way?

  "You said before something about whether Kanthian women wear the robes as well, and I told you they did," he said, his tone a little distant. "This is true," he confirmed, "But there's something... You might have guessed, but when two Kanthians are wed they're allowed to see one another. So it would be, apart from your mother and father, your siblings, the only person you showed yourself to. And that's part of the reason it's so important."

  He broke off, still watching out ahead; and didn't seem to mean to go on, while I was there, wondering at the answer.

  "Why?" I asked.

  He stayed silent. Then he looked over. "Because they become the person you share your soul with. Yourself with." He put a hand to his chest again. "You'd want to save it just for them. I'm more than my body here, Ellia. My soul is here as well. And if you saw me, yo
u would see that too."

  I took a sharp inhale.

  Cole's hand was still pressed against himself. His tone had grown more ardent with the last words. I could see his eyes well enough to tell that—though he must have noticed my reaction—they only stayed fixed on my own. I switched my gaze away from his, turning to face the water, steadying my breathing. "You make me feel as if I should have my own face covered, Cole. Truly."

  "No," he replied, almost right away, his tone plain, "Don't cover your face. I like to see it."

  I bit hard on my lip, still looking away from him. I turned my head as far as I thought I could manage.

  It seemed as if the forest had grown louder than it was even during the summer. There weren't any insects now, no growls or roars, or bird calls, only a little bubbling from the springs, but I thought I could have listened to the noise of it forever rather than break the silence with more words. What words would be enough after the ones that he had said? I'd never felt so much a consciousness of my own soul, right inside myself. Like I could press inside and touch it. Like the same could be done to reach someone else.

  "I was only surprised because you switched so suddenly in the way you were telling it," I informed Cole. "You were speaking so simply at first, I'd forgotten that these were your own beliefs."

  He didn't respond. I heard him take a sharp breath, like he might speak on, and I held mine for it. But when he didn't, I swallowed calmingly, then looked back at him, chin level. "I'd never guessed it could hold such meaning. Not that it wasn't important, I only thought that it might be more of a traditional thing passed down from your ancestors. I'm sorry if I haven't been sensitive enough to it before. I promise I will be from now on."

  He shook his head. "You've been more than sensitive, princess. I think you're the type to understand it better than anyone."

  "I've never thought all of that about souls," I said honestly, "If I were you I would be bragging about the reasons all the time, just to show the greatness of my country. I've hardly heard something so beautiful. Doesn't it make you uncomfortable to go around seeing faces all the time?"

  "I already told you it doesn't."

  This was his only reply, and he kept his eyes on me and he said it plainly. So that I couldn't help but think he was referring by this, to what he'd said about my own face. There were other questions in my mind, things I thought would be only right for a princess to ask after such an explanation, but I held back from asking them, feeling it was all past my depth; even unsteady, and a little cold.

  "Well,... shall I tell you something then, seeing as you've spoken?" I proposed lightly. "I didn't bring you here to no purpose. I had a mission about it."

  It was a second, and then Cole reached down and touched the water with his hands, flicking it about. "More secrets, princess?" he joked, "It is really true what they've told me about the people of Shaundakul. They like to keep their secrets."

  "Who told you that?" I countered. "Lucian?" I scoffed. "He likes to exaggerate it. The word is mysteries. We're diviners. Secrets, well, isn't it better to reveal it at just the right time?"

  "I might be quoting you on that in the future, princess."

  "You can go ahead," I scoffed, "I don't mind discovering any sort of thing for myself. As for my secret in bringing you here, it isn't so much of a secret at all. About um... Genbu," I broached less confidently.

  Cole looked my direction.

  "You know as soon as it's warm enough, I'll go there?"

  I couldn't quite see enough of Cole's face to judge his eyebrows, but sometimes his eyes sort of scrunched enough to tell that he was narrowing. "Right. So you've said."

  "So I must. Don't sound so grim about it."

  "I just think you should be careful that it's not dangerous. Since you don't know anything about the Genbu people. What if they're savage?"

  "From everything we've read, or any word of them, they sound just the opposite."

  "Still. You're the princess of Shaundakul. I don't think you should go with just Gael. Why not take Lucian and Estrid, or at least a dozen others?"

  "We can't spare that many. Don't you know how close we are to attacking Akadia? What Warriors aren't training, are transporting supplies to Karatel."

  "So, since there aren't enough chimera, they're just sending you off somewhere dangerous," he said pointedly.

  "I told you. It's not dangerous. Both the Byakoans and the Echrians were welcoming to me. There's no reason to think the Genbu people will be any different."

  "It's too great a risk," he argued.

  "It's not a risk..."

  "It sounds to me like you just want to go alone with Gael," he added sharply, almost cutting off my words.

  I scoffed, a low deep scoff. And then I looked from where I'd been watching the water to him. "I don't want to go with Gael at all," I said. "I'm trying to ask you to go with me. But if you're going to be this way, I'll just go by myself. I don't need an escort. I'm a Warrior as well as a princess."

  "What?" he said, his voice cracking. "What do you mean you're asking me?"

  "What do you think I mean?" I snapped back. "I mean that I need an escort, only because it's the proper thing, and I'd rather you go along than Gael. What more is there to say about it?"

  "He was alright with that?" Cole asked.

  I crossed my arms and scoffed. "He? Do you mean Gael? What are you best friends with him now since you fought? It doesn't matter one way or the other what he's alright with. I'm the representative of the Azure Dragons. I'm the one that decides who comes or goes."

  I hadn't noticed until just then, but Cole had ducked back and now he was staring at me, all around over my face, until I had to bite my lip.

  "It's, it's because he has a chimera as well," I added quickly, chin up, "If he doesn't go, then Yurei can be put to use for the war. But with you... well, you're as good as useless here on your own, aren't you? It's almost as if the decision's been made for me."

  "Would you miss me, princess?" he asked.

  "What?"

  "I would have missed you if you'd gone without me. I would have been sick from it."

  "Oh, Cole!" I shouted, rolling with a huff. "You just say the worst things!"

  Then I snapped up, feet and all, out of the water, dripping wet, then tapping my toes up and down as they touched the cold stone. But I hadn't been left for more than a second like that, then Cole had risen as well, and he scooped me up off the ground, spinning me around with a delighted whoop, then ending in a tight hug, and promising me how well he would take care of me when we left.

  Once I'd finished, both laughing and chiding him for surprising me, I'd only thought that he must have been wanting to go to Genbu very badly already; no doubt so that he could be of use in the war, no doubt because of his hatred for Akadia. No wonder he'd been worried about me going along alone with Gael. Was he afraid that I would fail, and it would risk the victory? He must have thought a lot of his own skills to feel so much better now that he was the one coming along...

  "So about the flight there," Cole said, bringing my mind back to the present, to my cabin, where he was taking the excursion to Genbu as seriously as he'd promised he would. "How long, exactly, would it take?"

  "You mean for Luffie?" I followed absently, stirring the soup I'd put together.

  Cole cleared his throat. "She's who we're taking, isn't she?"

  I nodded. "Yes. From what Gael said, probably, almost a full day?" I dusted my hands off and walked over beside him. I tugged out the map in front of him and bent down, pointing to it as I spoke. "See, there we are, just west of Byako. When we leave, we'll be flying straight out northwest. We'll almost pass directly over Shaundakul, just to avoid the skies above Akadia. Once we've crossed into Birmha, we'll head straight north. You see it's a line of mountains. But there's the pass.... It's close to Taelp, so Gael was able to speak with some of the people there that trade with them. They said the pass doesn't become trackable until the spring, but since we have Luffie..."
/>
  "We'll keep above it," he followed.

  "Right. The only thing we have to wait for is the cold." I bit my lip, then stretched my thumb and finger between Yanartas and Karatel. "It takes... around six hours to get so far. So I think... three times that much for Genbu."

  "Eighteen hours?" Cole repeated.

  I judged it again and gave a quick nod.

  "So when you say Gael told you it took a full day, that's literally a full day."

  "Near twenty-four hours, yes. Gael and I were going to stop to rest part of the way through. But now, since you and I will both be riding Luffie, we won't have to. We'll just take shifts."

  "Shifts?" Cole repeated.

  I nodded. "Yes. I'll stay awake first, then you. Whichever."

  "So I would... like, guide Luffie?" he asked.

  I smiled. "Luffie guides herself. Mainly you would watch for trouble below, or wake me if she seemed to be tiring. You'll have to make sure I don't fall off of course, as little chance as there is of that. A chimera in flight may just as well be a Cirali Warrior's second home. I've slept while she's flown before."

  "I thought the jungle was a Warrior's second home," he said, inexplicably morose, his attention on the maps.

  "Jungle, chimera. Sometimes it seems I have a dozen homes. They're all labeled as second next to Shaundakul."

  "So when you say a Warrior's second home, you really mean, your second home?" he pointed out.

  I twisted my lips tight, standing up straight. "Are you making so much fun of me, Cole? I won't like it if you do so the whole trip. You'd better think of much kinder things to say."

  "Or else you'll toss me off into the trees?"

  "I could leave you in Genbu," I threatened.

  He laughed short, and looked up at me, his eyes bright so that I was sure he was smiling. "Alright. Don't leave me in Genbu. I'll stop making fun."

  "There you go," I said contentedly. Then I walked back to the stove to finish cooking. I was pulling a strange sort of spice off one of the shelves, when he spoke again, back to his serious tone.