The Forgotten Light

12. Ritael

The Stranger was a selfish idiot. It didn't take much to get one's head around it.

Ever since they set out from Salome, he hadn't spoken once. He walked tirelessly through the wilderness a few dozen meters ahead of her, apparently not giving a damn about her at all. Ritael was annoyed as she had never been in her life. If the boy didn't know something crucial about what she was, about these Aeternals, she wouldn't have cared at all about following him. Heck, she would have escaped him easily a few hours ago, and he wouldn't even have realized at what point she disappeared. After all, the idiot didn't even look back to see if the girl was still behind him. That made her feel like a crazy person stalking him, and yet it wasn't like that at all!

Ritael was not one of those who complain and get tired quickly. But with darkness covering the area, she found that she'd had enough of it. She was really tired of the non-stop walking in the full sun and the broken promise of the hypocritical asshole who walked relentlessly in front of her, as if he were strolling and admiring the surroundings. He said he would tell her something about the Aeternals, yet he didn't breathe a word at all! Above that, she was as hungry as a wolf.

"Selfish idiot. Just like that" she muttered under her breath, wiping sweat from her forehead.

"I heard that!" he shouted from the front.

Ritael was really impressed by his sense of hearing. However, it did not change the fact that the guy was getting on her nerves.

"Good! You were supposed to hear it!"

They were separated by almost a hundred meters, but she heard his annoying laughter. Ritael clenched her teeth and raised her head, looking at the gibbous moon. Even it had preferred to slowly retreat into the shadows of clouds, rather than witness what awaited her.

She had long wondered why the boy was so anxious to get to Sedona? What was there but unmoving rock formations? After all, there was no camp or rebels there. None that she knew of.

Later she stopped asking herself questions, busy fighting and pushing away her fatigue. Several times she asked the golden-eyed boy for a short break, but each time she stopped for a while, he only moved further away. Now, however, she didn't care anymore. She was dead on her feet. She stopped. "Yo, Stranger! I don't know about you, but I'm not going any further today."

But he, as if he hadn't heard, walked on. He climbed the stone hill and looked at the path ahead. Ritael was perfectly aware that her voice had reached his ears. She threw her hands in the air and shouted "Great! Adiós, then!"

And she fell to the ground on her back right where she stood. She closed her eyes as she felt an overwhelming sense of relief. Finally, she thought. She would be able to fall asleep right away. She was so tired that she barely paid attention to her empty stomach.

She already felt herself falling asleep when someone nudged her lightly on the calf.

"Did you die again?" asked the Stranger cuttingly.

Ritael sighed lingeringly. So he did turn back. "Twice is enough," she muttered.

He sat down quietly on the stone next to her. She heard him unzip his leather bag, and a moment later a waterskin landed on her stomach. She jumped up and straightened, instantly roused. She sent the blond man a death glare, and he, with a wry smile, just lifted his canteen as if for a toast and sipped.

"You're terrible, you know that?" she muttered, putting the bottle to her lips.

He pointed with his chin to her black gloves. "You have that cool personality that it freezes your hands?"