I stood silent for a minute, letting this word roll over me. Raditaj....
I broke my own silence suddenly, remembering that we had to keep moving. "Hey, we um...we should get moving. We don't have daylight to waste." I said seriously, half telling the truth but also half just wanting to get away from there. Iekare stood for a moment, as if thinking about something herself then sprung up. "If I'm correct, and don't count on that, we should be about....a day away from the closest village." She said slowly. I jumped a bit.
A village meant fire, safety, and shelter. We could finally have a home again I thought, but then another thought struck me. What if they won't accept us either? I shook my head, reminding myself silently that I needed to keep my cool lest Iekare notice and she get worried too. I was too late however, and when I looked back at her her moon grey eyes were staring into my pinewood eyes, with a worried expression on her face. Silently, I took her hand and laced her fingers with mine, and we continued on.
When the sun started to dawn, we began getting tired. My legs and lungs both felt like hot embers, and Iekare had long ago unlaced our hands and now trailed worryingly far behind me. I decided to stop, an plopped myself down on a damp tree stump. Iekare sat herself down beside me, and rested her head on my shoulder. Her forehead felt clammy, and she was shivering a little. Before I could question her, she spoke in a hoarse, small voice. "Lieli...my leg still hurts a bit in the um...flesh. I didn't want to tell you earlier because I didn't want you to worry, and then make me stop and rest. I want to get to the village as soon as possible....but you know what?" She smiled at me.
"What?" I questioned softly. Her expression softened and effectively melted my heart "I think we could be anywhere, doing anything and I'd still be happy as long as we were together. So even if I was wrong and we don't find that village...please don't worry about me, okay" Her words felt soft and warm and comforting, like apple cider. I wrapped my arm around her, and then planted a soft kiss on her cheek. "But we will make it, okay?" I said, trying to be comforting. Quietly, we lay in eachother's arms, just enjoying the togetherness.
This tranquility was broken suddenly by the snapping of a leaf nearby. We both whirled around to see what is was, and saw a large, catlike figure. It was watching us curiously. "Lieli, that's an um...a lynx, I think. They are uh, predatory animals." Iekare whispered to me as the animal got closer and closer. Something felt....off about this animal somehow, and I could just barely sense a sort of humming coming from it. But I dismissed that.
Suddenly, when the Lynx was standing right in front of us, it stopped dead in its tracks. A warm silver light had burst from it, but it looked familiar almost. The light started to form itself into a human shape, and then the light disappeared suddenly, as if it was a popped bubble. I closed my eyes and blinked twice.
Standing in front of us now was a tall, lanky person. Their skin was a warm tan, and their hair hung in soft light brown curls that stopped at their shoulders. Their honey golden eyes bore into me as they spoke. "Oh, do excuse me if I frightened you. I am Jauturie. If you don't mind me asking, what are you two doing so far out from town alone?" The radiant creature asked.
"We've been alone for a year now, and we came from a village called Netan...." I answered, not putting in that we had been banished. Jauturie's expression dropped. "Did you say Netan? Oh dear...you must not have heard then?" They moved their hand forward as if contemplating putting it on me, but they stopped themselves. "H-heard what, exactly?" Iekare asked, trembling but still trying to act tough. "Netan was attacked by....something. They were all frozen, some...stabbed through with icy spears. Last anyone has heard, there were no survivors." They said softly, glancing down.
My heart froze for a second and a lump formed in my throat. It was probably a coincidence but ice? And an attack that scale would require a lot of magic, I guessed. Suddenly I had a vivid vision of a small boy, no older than I, dressed in long violet robes. It shimmered and I then saw the boy again, but older, and with a crazed expression on his face. Beside him was a pile of ice...no, a body. It shifted again and I saw the village and ther-
Suddenly a great ache pierced my skull and I fell to the ground. I felt drained. My vision was blurry and dark and my head buzzed with a million different thoughts, but I tried to stand up. I fell again, and this time just lay there and squeezed my eyes shut until I felt a little better. This time when I stood, I did not topple. When I looked over to Iekare and Jauturie, they both had shocked expressions on. Jauturie, on the other hand, looked pleased almost. They gave me a smile.
"Well well Little Pine, I didn't know you had that much energy. You are very promising indeed." They said. I furrowed my brows. "What in the Stars are you talking about?" I asked, not having any patience for anything at the moment. Their expression dropped a little again. "You don't mean to tell me that you've no clue what you are? Just how isolated from magic do they keep you in Netan?" They sighed.
I paused, thinking. They can't possibly be talking about that...what was it...radish business, right? I asked myself. "I think that I might have some idea, actually. Are you insinuating that Lieliski might be a raditaj?" Iekare spoke up.
Jauturie nodded. "That's exactly what I'm saying. Very perceptive, you are! I knew from the moment I saw you, Little Pine, but I'd no idea you harbored that much energy. You are so very young after all." They explained. "My name is Lieliski Sajak, by the way, and that is Iekare. And what do you mean, so very young? You're only like, what, four years older than me?" I growled, still exhausted.
They shook their head. "That's where you are wrong, Lieliski. You are only fifteen, yes?" They started. I gave a simple nod as my answer. "But I am turning 1,456 this year, and other raditaj are much much older than that. Do you understand now?" Jauturie said. I stared at him, bug eyed for moment before nodding.
"Anyhow, we've got a village to go to, yes? Each of you grab something on me, I hope you two don't get motion sick." They said quickly, after glancing at the receding sun. Unquestioning, we each grabbed one of their arms, and squeezed our eyes shut. Suddenly I felt Jauturie step foward, and then a dim light, an unbeatable heat...then hard wood. I opened my eyes. We were sitting in the back of a wagon. When I looked behind us, I realized that we were only about 5 yards away from our previous location, but we had gone over a hill. Or through the hill? Above it? My head started to hurt when I contemplated that, so left it alone.
"Wait, you decided to teleport or whatever, just so you didn't have to walk over a hill?" Iekare scolded them. "Why yes, yes I did thank you very much." They replied. I could feel that Jauturie's energy was a little weaker. Suddenly,they disappeared in a blazing flash, and reappeared on the horse driving the wagon. They promptly fell off. I held in a laugh and instead just snorted. "Good job, kitty." Iekare joked. He stood up and rubbed his head. "Ow, okay, I still need to work on accuracy I guess" They hopped on the horse the normal way.
"Mortal village, this way!" They said cheerfully, and then we were off.
