Firewind

Chapter 15-Kathra

The blue writing glittered in the moonlight. I glanced towards my uncle to make sure that he was still sleeping. His chest was still rising and falling evenly. I turned to the letter again. The blue writing said this:

Greetings, Rocky,

I advise you to flee as far as you can. There is no escaping the wrath of the Silhouette but you can avoid it and temporarily postpone it. Maybe, with luck, it can even be forgotten for a while. But for now, you and your loved ones are in danger. Keep them hidden, keep them safe and do not let them know more about you than they already do. We care about your safety but do not reveal your location. The Silhouette has its way of retrieving information from the minds of its enemies.

Stay safe brother,

Ice Queen

I was shocked. Whatever my uncle was involved in was dangerous but it was also far more elaborate. And it involved my family. What else was he hiding from us? Whatever it was, I hoped that it was worth putting my family in danger. Or could my Madara be right about him? I laid back on the bedroll and tossed and turned all night. The next morning I barely felt rested.

My Okur on the other hand was almost giddy at the prospect of going to find Mei. He was up with the sun and had made some berry bushes appear. He made me go through the exercises he taught me yesterday with the fancy dagger until I was close to collapsing. As soon as he was certain I would be alright on my own when we went to the abarif's den, we set off further into the ravine.

It didn't take us long to get there. The rocks had scorch marks and claw marks the further we went into the ravine. Later, there where weird mounds of volcanic rock but no volcanoes in sight. We knew we were getting closer when we could see dark smoke rising from the rocks. It started smelling awful. We still hadn't seen any sign of the abarifs when we got to an opening in the ravine. It was like a huge bowl. There were round plate-like mounds of volcanic rock that looked like nests around the outsides and on rock shelves alongside the walls. And in the middle, there was a wide-open space with huge claw marks and scorch marks as if it was a fighting arena.

There was not a single abarif in the clearing.

"Mei!" I called.

"MEI!" my uncle yelled.

We didn't hear a reply. Why weren't they here? They clearly lived here. Where else could they have gone?

"Where are they?" I asked my Okur.

"I don't know," he sighed. "They could have another nest somewhere else in the desert. We should head towards the oasis in the middle of the desert. Just to make sure we have enough water."

"Do you think Mei is still alive?"

"We can only hope."

***

I miss home more than I would care to admit. It may have been dull at times or annoying but I liked knowing for sure what would come next. Now I don't know what to expect. Will we find Mei? Will we make it out of the desert alive? Will we even get to head back to Aniath?

The desert suns were glaring down on us. Each their own level of heat. I wiped the sweat from my forehead. This had to be the hottest day in the desert yet. There was still no sign of the oasis. My uncle said it would be another day before we got there. We still had enough water to last another day so he wasn't too worried. He passed me the water flask when we stopped for a break. We had left the ravine. It was a steep climb but we managed.

"Why can't you tell me about your past?" I asked for what seemed like the thousandth time. "I just want to get to know you!"

"I cannot because it would put you and others in danger!" he exclaimed.

"Is it because of that Ice Queen person?"

"How do you know about that?"

"I found a letter in your room. On a pale blue piece of paper."

"Oh, that."

"There's other writing on it too. But it only showed up last night."

"You took it with you?"

"You said there was no reason to be suspicious about you. But right now you are hiding something."

He rubbed the back of his neck. He was clearly nervous. But why?

"I still can't tell you. I wish I could Kathra, I really do. And I trust you completely. But if I told you I'd be putting you in danger."

"Well, at least I know why you don't have a last name. What about the money? Where do you get it?"

"I sell ores," he said as casually as if he were talking about eating an apple for a snack.

"How do you get them? Who do you sell them to? There are not many people in Aniath."

"I sell them to a wealthy merchant that sets up shop on the East coast. I fly there every now and then when I need more money."

"Oh."

"What did you think I did to get the money?"

"I don't know. I tried not to think about it."

"Your mother is convinced I'm a trained assassin," he smiled and shook his head.

"Is it true?"

"What do you think?"

I rolled my eyes. My mother could come up with the most ridiculous notions.

"I think that you drink too much to be able to kill someone efficiently and silently."

He chuckled.

"You're not wrong," he laughed.