Changing Their Ways

Chapter 4 - The Third Party

Caden.

Trudge, trudge, one foot in front of the other. I didn't want to get home particularly quickly, not home to my older sister ranting about her boyfriend and cussing about the Foacen. Not home, where my hole of a bedroom, tiny and messy, would be the only place to be alone with my thoughts.

Where I wanted to go was back to her. God, why? She was Iseabail Grace Caolinn. One of the Lienti's most wanted targets; we were supposed to be trying to kill her before she got hold of the Caolinn power. Which meant one of her family - one of the most powerful in the Foacen community - had killed my cousin. My fists clenched. How could I even think of wanting to be around her?

The trees whispered around me, spreading secrets I could not hear and would not know. Iseabail's words came back to me, the words that had made me long to be able to agree, to bridge the chasm between us.

'Yeah. This entire war is stupid.'

My mind was made up - she was on my side, the side against the war. A side with, at most, two people on it.

I raced back to the clearing. I hadn't walked quickly, and I hadn't walked far, but she had come and gone. I smelt her trail. She had walked in from the North, following the trail she had left with, then circled the writing. She then made a beeline for the note I had left, and, hopefully, read it. Then she had exited the clearing, heading home, I guess.

I followed her tracks, almost unwittingly, like I did when my family hunted. But this time, I wasn't thinking of hate, or the war, or the dead. I was thinking of her, and our third party against the war. Or was it just me, making things up, reading too much into a small comment? I don't know. But I needed to find out. Whether it was just me, on my own, or whether I could raise a two man/woman army.

But if I raised an army I'd be just like them. And that was the opposite of the point.

I crept up behind her, just like I had done the first time we'd met, but skidded to a stop and burst out laughing when I saw what she was doing - sniffing her arm. She spun round, her brilliant eyes flashing.

"What are you doing?" She snapped, but her heart didn't seem into it; she just seemed kinda relieved.

"Following you, what else do I have to do in my spare time?" Wrong answer, I knew, but, oh well.

"Stalker." Very matter of factly, seeming not to care, she leant against a tree, watching me with critical eyes. Seemingly uncomfortable, she moved slightly closer to me, pushing off the tree. "Why do you keep on following me?" I stared at her for an unmeasurable second.

"You're the only one who hates this damn war." It was a bit of a guess, as all she'd said was it was stupid, but I had guessed right. Her eyes closed and her head tilted forward, thinking. Her fringe fell forward as she opened them and her eyes found my face. Definitely a third party. Or a trap. Either way, I didn't care. I wanted to believe her.

We looked at each other for a moment, then away, and I chuckled, embarrassed.

"So," she said, "Caden." I nodded.

"That's me. Like the name?" She nearly growled - I knew my way-too-confident tone annoyed her, and it wasn't failing to do so now. "Of course you do."

"Bite me."

"Are you actually making an offer? You know I could..." I leaned forward, stealing her private space, stepping forward when she stepped back, until she was pressed against a tree. They were close packed here, it only took a step or two.

I felt like the stalker she had called me. I shook my head. Trying to sort out my brain. It wasn't working. I was a mess of instincts and feelings, all mixed up like a scrambled egg.