Broken But Unburnt

Chapter 27 - Calliope

Chapter 27: Calliope

Village of Khor Qurid, Ysuelt Valley

"Who are you?"

Calliope asked the question at the same time the woman in red asked another.

"Maverick, what are you doing here?"

But he chose to answer Calliope.

"Calliope, please. I can explain–" he started, taking a step forward. But Sebastian stepped between them, raising his chin in challenge, fingers poised over the dagger on his hip. Neva stepped forward. The man they called Maverick did not take his eyes from Calliope's, however. He just watched her, silently pleading with her to allow him the opportunity to explain himself. But she was too furious to give him that kindness.

"Let's go, Sebastian," she said, reaching out for her oldest friend's arm and pulling him away, back toward the dwelling. When she approached the bound chimera, she quickly muttered the phrase that had it levitating behind her, following her back to the Ysuelt. "Is bhaar ko sahane ke lie halka karen."

Then she stomped away with Sebastian right behind her. He stayed close to her side, making sure to stay between her and the offending liar, as they stormed from the village. Unfortunately, the woman in red and her companions had thought to bring two more horses for Neva and Maverick to ride upon. Even more unfortunately, Maverick wasn't the sort to give up easily. Despite Calliope's obvious unwillingness to speak to him. Despite, even, his friends' pleas to return home with them.

He mounted his horse in one smooth motion that only proved to Calliope what she had just begun to assume. That he was a man of means, perhaps even of title. He had been born and raised in the finery his friends prominently displayed, riding horses rather than walking anywhere he went. That was why he couldn't hunt, why he hadn't known which berries were safe to eat and which weren't, and why he had seemed so amazed by the wide world outside of whatever estate he had hailed from. The more she thought about it, the more her blood began to boil and she hardly heard him calling out to her all the way back to the keep.

His friends, who had begun the journey begging him to turn back, to go home with them and leave her behind, grew quiet the longer they journeyed and the clearer it became that he was not intending to follow their advice.

"Stubborn", she cursed him under her breath. He was so damn stubborn.

He had stopped calling out to her for a moment but returned to it in earnest once she and Sebastian reached the doors to the dwelling. Sebastian muttered the words to keep the chimera waiting outside as Calliope reached for the hidden entrance.

"Calliope, just let me explain!" he was shouting as the doors opened and she and Sebastian strolled through. But he was just as fast getting off his horse as he was getting on and he walked right in behind them, his long legs easily catching up to their pace. His companions followed with minimal hesitation, a true show of their loyalty to whoever he was. "If you would stop for just a second–"

They had reached the main hall of the dwelling. What had been a boisterous, pleasant mealtime died to near silence at the commotion they were creating. Gabriel, sitting near Bruin and closest to the entrance, rose to his feet, already assessing the threat, as his daughter stormed toward him, followed by the companions she had left with and three new, potentially unwelcome guests. Before she made it to her father's table, however, she whirled on the boy who had been following so hot on her heels that he had to stop just as suddenly or else he would have ran right into her.

Her lips curled into a sneer, she leaned forward so that their chests almost touched and hissed, "I don't like liars. So either tell me who you are right now or get out."