The Blade and The Bird

Chapter 5

The sun was streaming through the trees when Sidra awoke. The was a deafening sound of birdcall from the canopy above, and she let out a groan as she sat up, her back stiff from sleeping on the forest floor.

She blinked her eyes a few times as she began to recall what had happened the night before. There had been a massive tree, a coffin, and a person that crawled out of it. She sat up and looked around for the boy, unsure of whether the events had truly happened or were just a dream. She caught sight of him sitting several feet away, who raised an eyebrow when she saw the wide-eyed look she was giving him.

"Ah, you're awake," Baron said. He was twirling a branch through his fingers nonchalantly as if he hadn't risen from the dead just hours before. Sidra noted that, though they had both slept on the forest floor, he still looked perfect. His hair looked intentionally tousled, rather than knotted like hers. His clothing wasn't crumpled, and his skin still had a near-perfect glow to it. Sidra couldn't help but feel envious. She glowered at him and tried to press out some of the wrinkles in her shirt, before accepting defeat and standing up.

"I am awake," she scowled. Sidra grabbed her bag and dug through it for a moment to find a loaf of bread, she was starved, but it was the last one she had. She looked at it for a moment, considering, before she decided to rip it in half and offer half to Baron.

He seemed surprised by this offering as he leaned forward and took the bread from her hand.

"We'll have to find more food from the next city," Sidra said, "I don't have much money on me. Did you happen to be buried with any?"

Baron nods around a mouthful of bread. "I checked my pockets last night. I do have a bit."

"Good, we'll need it," Sidra said, taking a bite into her half of the bread.

The two of them ate their bread in silence. Sidra kept giving Baron suspicious glances as she finished up her bread. She stood up when she had finished and slung her backpack over her shoulder.

"We should go," she said to Baron as she stepped around some ferns to look for the trail she had left the night before. She could see it peeking out between some trees and began to walk in that direction. She didn't look back as she began to leave, but she could hear the loud clamor of his steps as he got up and followed after her.

"Hold up a minute," he shouted after her. She looked back in time to see him trip over an upturned root, he stumbled forward but caught himself. Baron stood back up and tried to regain his computer, shooting a glare in Sidra's direction as she waited for him to catch up.

"Your lack of social skills never ceases to amaze me," he sneered as he got closer.

"You're just embarrassed because you tripped," Sidra retorted. She turned back toward the trail and began to move toward it again. Baron didn't say anything, but she heard him as he walked up next to her and the two began a steady pace on the trail through the forest. They walked for about an hour in awkward silence when Baron spoke up.

"So tell me about your sister, why is she so important to you?" he asked.

"I don't want to talk about her with you," Sidra said. She kept her gaze on the trail ahead and tried to ignore her unwanted companion.

"Oh, come on. I just want to know about the person I'm contracted to save," he pouted. "We'll be spending a lot of time together, you might as well talk to me. This is your fault, anyway."

"Oh, shut up," Sidra snapped. Baron fell back a few steps and Sidra felt a slight twinge of guilt for snapping. He was right, they were going to be stuck together for a while, Sidra didn't know enough about Magick to know where to begin when it came to breaking the contract earlier.