The Beast Within

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

They spent the most of the day at the riverside, it wasn’t like there was anyone to miss them back at their huts, Ceraun’s parents would be hard at work, the same with Adrik’s mother who had to work twice as hard.

By the time the sun was high in the sky, they were already worn out, seeking shelter from the scorching sun behind a slanted rock, the sun reflecting off the slow moving water.

“I wish we had fish.” Ceraun muttered in the haze of the afternoon heat.

“Well we might have had.” Adrik fired back, still upset about it. “But you made me lose the only one I caught.”

“How was I supposed to know it would be the only one?” Ceraun defended himself.

Adrik shrugged, he too had been shocked to find the river next to empty save for a few weeds, perhaps it had been pure luck that brought the first fish to him or…

“Maybe you stared into the river for too long and scared the fishes away.” Ceraun mused, an arm thrown lazily over his face to protect his eyes from the glare.

Adrik did not rise up to this taunt, too exhausted to do so, not to mention famished. “Or, maybe, Thrika is cursed.” He murmured in a spooky voice.

This made Ceraun sit up, a familiar curiosity in his endless black eyes as he swivelled his head to stare at the other Mage. “Cursed?”

“Yes, think on it.” Adrik urged him. “No plant grow save for these accursed wild lotus, even this close to the river, it barely rains and the ground is so hard it snaps tools in half.”

Ceraun 'oohed’ at this, he had not thought that far, he was about to agree simply because he believed that the non-Mages would definitely have them brought to a cursed Town.

Adrik continued monologuing, talking more to himself. “If they had not destroyed our historical books, we might have known more of our past but now we know nothing, absolutely nothing. What little we know that is being passed down through the generations by word of mouth is not only having lots of alterations but also being slowly lost to human fragility ....”

Ceraun just watched wide eyed as Adrik chatted away, he could swear that this was the most words he had ever heard the dark haired Mage piece together.

He could barely follow the hastily spoken words but it reminded him of something, a buried memory.

Dew…

She was the only one to talk like this, to talk in earnest and at length about her very strong views on almost everything… Ceraun didn’t think that Adrik listened to her, much more enough to make it his ideals.

Ceraun liked to simplify things, it helped him concentrate and carry out things easier. “So you want… a book?” He asked nervously, scratching his cheek.

Adrik fell quiet, wondering why he even bothered, if Ceraun had understood his speech, he would have been worried that the sun was getting to him besides he was not exactly wrong, all Adrik wanted was books.

“Yes.” He responded in a patient voice, voice dry.

“But you can’t read.”

“You make it sound like you can.” Adrik accused.

“I didn’t… Of course I can’t read, I haven’t ever seen a book in my life.” He replied with his typical honesty. “Why do you make it sound like you have?”

Adrik just fell backwards on the ground, already done with their aimless banter. They were both fully dressed now, tunics back on as a necessity if they didn’t want to get their skin burnt off their backs.

Adrik knew they should be headed back soon but he wanted to enjoy the peaceful solitude a little bit more, he didn’t get a lot of that now.

Back in Coldmaw, he could always come out at nighttime - before the Siren incident -and just watch the waves quietly crash against the shore, moonlight gleaming off the dark waters.

“We should be getting back.” Ceraun was the one to make a decision for them, staring longingly at the river.

All their fishing attempts proved futile, they were still imprisoned in the town so trying to cross the river to get to the other side of it to see if by chance there would be any fishes there was an impossibility.

They couldn’t even follow beside the river bed either upstream or downstream for that very same fact, Adrik was certain that it was also not allowed of them to take it back to the Town anyway, they weren’t given meat as a part of their daily rations and as someone who grew amongst a constant supply of seafood, he could tell how hard this was on Ceraun.

‘Well, it served him right, he should not go around poking into other people’s businesses’

“Fine.” Adrik agreed reluctantly, getting up from the hard ground.

“We will come here tomorrow, right?” Ceraun asked with renewed energy as they began their slow journey back to the inhabited parts of the Town.

Adrik wondered how he still had so much energy to spare, considering that he had done the most of the gruesome trainings, over and over again.

“Yes.” Adrik answered simply instead of the sarcastic quip he had been going for, there was the highest chance that his sarcasm would go over Ceraun’s head and he would end up being stuck in an annoying conversation.

“Oh!” He signaled to Ceraun just as they were about to part ways. “Keep your magic a secret.”

Ceraun froze up at this, visible surprise on his face. “Even from my parents?” He asked with a fragile expression.

Adrik caved in. “Fine, tell them but not everything, like how your eyes don’t glow or how powerful your lightning gets, we never know who might be eavesdropping.”

This Ceraun could understand so he nodded and waved off his friend, the sun was already getting low in the sky, yet it felt like it had only been an hour since they started on their journey to the edge of the Town.

He knew how dangerous it was to be a Mage in a time like this, even worse when you were one with pretty decent magic.

He had heard rumors of how Mages had simply disappeared from their huts, he didn’t want that to happen to him or his parents.