The Four

Kalick

Starling tried to stare Jacobi down, but he was the one being in this world who could make her back down. Turning her eyes from his she saw his triumph before her vision was filled with something else entirely. Something that sent alarm running through her.

Jacobi wore a self-satisfied expression only long enough to witness the change in hers. He readied himself immediately and turned to see what her gaze had caught, the thing that made her pulse race.

A... child...? Jacobi didn’t know what to make of this, and for a moment he was startled into inaction. That moment was long enough for the child to act.

‘Kalick!’ Starling thought. How was he here? It wasn’t possible. She had left her home in the early morning hours, on her horse! He couldn’t have kept up with her, and yet there he was. Brown head of hair, cocky grin that always seemed to say ‘I know something’, that swagger that always made her want to knock him flat.

“What the hell are you doing here, Kalick!” her voice boomed from her and seemed to echo through the clearing. She had the satisfaction of seeing him balk a bit, but then that swagger returned.

“Ha!” he said, “Great horse thinks she’s so smart, sneaking away from the village while everyone was asleep.” His swagger had brought him closer, but only a bit.

Starling smiled, seeing his swagger for the act it really was. She could smell his fear from across the clearing. Her smile disrupted his swagger again, but he regained his composure quickly. She had to give him some credit, he had gumption.

Tilting her head to the side she regarded him blankly, letting nothing she was thinking through. “Why did you follow me, Kalick?” her voice was very even.

Jacobi still kneeling next to her, naked, had said nothing upon learning that Starling knew the young human, he just waited there and watched.