She was knocking on the temple door when he caught up to her. Her surprise at his appearance was evident. Wren considered this for only a moment. That Leo would think him so easily fooled said something. He didn't know what. He didn't know about whom.
Leo covered the surprise on her face with a smile. "There you are," she said. She beamed at him. Her smile was like the sun. It left her eyes in darkness. Wren looked down.
Something was leaking from under the door. Wren had a very bad feeling. His heart started to pound. He drew his knife and pushed Leo behind him. She let out a muffled yelp. He ignored her outrage and opened the door.
Blood dripped from the doorframe to the dirt. A long trail of it stretched up the walkway through the center of the temple. A still form lay at the foot of the altar. Wren did not hesitate. He ran down the aisle. He crouched next to the body. He didn't have to touch the old sage to know that he was dead. Wren pressed his fingertips to the man's throat anyway, of course. Or, at least, what was left of the man's throat.
It was the worst thing Wren had ever seen. The ancient holy man had been slain so brutally. He held his own tongue in his left hand. His eyes were in his right. But it didn't look as if he had put up any sort of fight. Wren wanted to vomit. He didn't, of course. He had noticed something far too important.
The body was still warm.
He got up and ran back outside.
Leo climbed to her feet. She saw Wren enter the temple. She watched the blood drip from the doorway. It formed a small pool. Red and sticky. Even at a distance she could tell it was sticky. She wanted to dip her fingers into it. She thought about putting her fingertips into her mouth after. Leo wondered what the blood would taste like.
The pounding in her head stopped her. Leo frowned. Her hands were sticky, too. She looked slowly down at them. The world was spinning too fast. She thought that she would fall. She didn't. Her hands were covered in blood.
She didn't understand where the blood had come from. She didn't understand why her head hurt. She remembered everything, of course. It was just that none of it made sense. How had she come so far? Why had she come so far?
It had seemed so important. It wasn't important. She walked slowly forward.
She was at the temple door again when Wren rushed back out. She saw him see her hands. He looked at the blood on the ground. His shoes were splattered with it, too. She waited for him. He wanted to ask what she had done. He wanted to blame her for this, too.
Wren knew that it wasn't fair to blame her for this. It had never been fair to blame her for any of this. She hadn't known that her mischief could change their lives. He was the one who had learned to rely on her. He could have learned to take care of himself instead.
It had all started so long ago. They had met in that alley. They had both been so small then. They had both been so afraid. But what had he ever had to fear? Nothing real. What had Leo had to fear? Everything.
He felt like he was seeing her for the first time. She was so tiny and so broken and standing in front of him. He tried to remember who she had been at first. She wasn't the same girl anymore. But had she been the same girl even years ago? How long had this darkness been growing? How long had he resented her for being who he wanted her to be? Had she ever had a choice?
Her hands were covered in blood. The ground was, too. She had been so close to the top when he had seen her from below. Why had she only just arrived at the temple at the same time he had?
Could she have? No. He refused to consider it.
A part of him wanted to crush her. If he broke her, it would break the broken part of himself. There would be no Wren. He had been the only Leo once.
Wren shook his head. The scene inside the temple had gotten to him. He was Wren. She was Leo. She was his best friend.
The blood on her hands was her own. He saw that now. Something had torn through her clothes and ripped into her side. He searched for an attacker. He had only been gone for a couple of minutes.
Then he remembered. She had shouted when he pushed her. A sharp branch nearby was covered in blood. Was he the cause of this? Wren reached towards her. "You're hurt," he said.
She jerked away. She looked like a wounded rabbit. She looked at him like he was the wolf.
What could Leo be so afraid of? Three minutes ago, she had smiled to see him. Now, she feared him. This was his fault. This had always been his fault.
Wren would have been right to blame Leo, of course. She could see that he had decided not to. He had decided to blame himself. Seeing this made it worse. This was her fault. Just not for the reasons he thought.
Her head pounded. Her mind cleared. She spoke. "Do you remember the weather witch?" she said.
YOU ARE READING
sparrow and lion
Fantasya noble & an orphan meet in an alley & make a promise they were always doomed to break. new chapter every thursday. random letters at random times.