My, What Big Teeth You Have

Gone Rogue - 2

The Isharin was right. The heat is going to kill you. You fled from the ruins of your home with nothing but the clothes on your backs. There was nothing to take anyway.

You have walked only a few miles, but the sun is baking your back and the air seems to be dancing. You understand why you must put some distance between you and the Isharin, and you wish to the gods that the sun will go down quickly. You never cared much for the gods of either of your parents, but you pray to both of them now, Minrūn for protection and Vorqa for endurance.

If you're up there, help us.

Kalen is a few strides ahead of you, looking out for danger. The rocky walls seem to draw closer and closer, and your eyebrows furrow. This is why the passage to the desert is called the Canyon of Pain, you realize as you slip on the loose stones.

Travelers have to pass through the canyon to reach the deserts and vice versa, and your parents capitalized on that and built their home near the mouth of the canyon. They became very wealthy from trading with the Tariq, the clan that lives in the desert beyond.

"Kalen," you gasp, leaning back against the crumbling rock. "Can we stop for a rest?"

He doesn't say yes, but he doesn't say no either. As you sink into a puddle on the floor he paces like a caged lion, craning his head up to look at the rocky overhang. Besides being a natural death trap, the Cayon of Pain gives bandits a way to ambush travelers from above.

"I'm sorry," you say, gulping down a sip of precious water from the waterskin and wiping the sweat from your upper lip. "I'm slowing you down."

"My Lady, I'm here to protect you. I am not running to save my own head."

"But you could. You still can," you protest. "You know I won't stop you."

Kalen crouches down in front of you and the seriousness on his face is almost scary.

"You forget the oath I took," he says. "I consumed your blood and I am bound to you, as you are bound to me. If we die, we will go together."

You scrunch up your nose to try and hide the fact that tears just rushed into your eyes. For a person to give their life up is no small matter, and you feel like you certainly aren't worthy of that.

"Um," you say, standing up quickly. "We should continue."

"Do you want me to carry you?" Kalen asks, and that makes you laugh.

"You're underestimating me, Kalen Talath."

"Very well," he replies, and the journey continues.

You're determined to push until you get out of this damned canyon, so even when your legs beg for rest and your feet prickle with pain, you forge on. Thank the gods your nails are clipped short, otherwise they'd be broken and chipped with the way you have to keep reaching to the rocky walls to catch yourself.

Kalen isn't struggling at all, you think as you glance at him through the corner of your eye.

His back is straight and his eyes alert, sharpening at even the slightest movement of a dry tumbleweed. If he is weary, it doesn't show. Then again, he is from the Tariq clan. The desert is like a home to his people and he is used to physical toil due to being a bodyguard. He took his job seriously even though there were little to no threats to your safety. There were many nights that you stayed up to secretly watch him practice his swordsmanship.

"This canyon," you ask to fill the silence, "was it always like this?"

"If we are to believe the legends, then we are walking on the bottom of the biggest river that ever was," Kalen replies. "When gods still roamed the earth, one of them grew so thirsty that he leaned down to have a drink and emptied the river. A goddess passing through many moons later languished of thirst and found the river was drained. In spite, she cursed the land with an everlasting drought and it has been so since."