Chapter 87: A Puzzling Interrogation

"I have some questions for you," I exclaimed, slowly revealing herself from behind the crate, clutching the belly of the axe in my right hand.

Cliff turns and sighs in relief, "Whew, Ember… it's you. Glad I'm not the only one here. Where's everybody else? And why were you hiding?"

I raise my axe, "I'm asking the questions here, understand?"

Cliff’s merry expression quickly vanishes, and I notice his brawny right hand clasping the sword's grip much more firmly than before. And even though I could deduce that Cliff was prepared for a fight, the sword remained at his side, unmoved.

"Very well," he coldly replies, his gaze steady.

"First and foremost, where's Blue?" I ask, slowly wrapping around to the front of the crate, wanting to take away any space that Cliff could take that would reveal the other girl's locations.

Also, considering how this may be a risk for herself due to Cliff’s long reach and more lethal weaponry, I mentally justify this action by telling myself that everything I do now could be considered a risk. Holding my position and unsure about so much, I consider that the current situation may escalate quickly if I don't navigate things correctly.

Awaiting Cliff’s response, I didn't once avert my gaze. And during that short period, the two of us made eye contact, but the stressed creases emerging on Cliff’s face spoke for themselves. It was evident that my question had touched a nerve, and whether that nerve festered something inside Cliff was yet to be seen.

"He was killed by Ace yesterday. Ace... burned him to death."

Did he say, Ace? Ace also attacked Blue and Cliff? Based on Sky's story about yesterday… Ace was with Crow when he attacked Sky's group. This doesn't make any sense, though. Cliff and Blue took the western path, while Sky's group took the Eastern one… the one in the complete opposite direction.

For now, I'll assume Cliff and Blue traveled a decently far distance before they were attacked… let's say they walked for three hours. If that's the case, Sky's group should theoretically be six or more hours away from them on foot. Unless Ace and Crow had some sort of method to travel at speeds beyond what an average human is capable of... it shouldn't have been possible for them to locate and ambush Sky's group and Cliff's group in such a short time window.

Needing more information, I decided on my next question, "What time of day did you encounter Ace?"

"You know… I never really paid attention to that kind of stuff. Blue was the more attentive one between us. But if I had to guess, just past noon? It had gotten hot out, so it may have also been early into the afternoon. Sometime around there."

Noon huh? Shoot, when did Sky say her group was attacked? Hold on… let's think about this logically. When her group was attacked shouldn't matter because she had returned to camp before us. But if that's the case… would that mean Sky's group was attacked in the morning? No, that's not possible. At least, it shouldn't be. If Cliff and Blue had encountered Ace before Sky's group did… Cliff should have returned long before Sky. Right? Damn it. The timeline is all jumbled up… I can't figure out what happened when!

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The sudden rhythm of taps drags me out of my thoughts, and I wonder what I could have just heard. It was three beats in quick succession, but I was too preoccupied thinking about yesterday to have listened to the taps clearly.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

There's no mistake, that time I heard it for sure! It came from behind me. Relax, Ember, you can’t show Cliff any sort of reaction. Honestly, he may have also heard it, but let's assume he didn't. Those taps must've come from either Sky or Faith, who are both aware of my extraordinary hearing capabilities. They were risking exposing their position by tapping the ground, but if they tapped it so quietly to where only I could hear it… it must be a message! Three taps. Was it a message to alert me? Or was it intended to inform me?

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Think. One of them tapped only after Cliff responded to my question about what time of day he ran into Ace. It wouldn't make sense for Faith to try to inform me of anything, so I'm banking on the guess that it was Sky. So, if Sky read that far ahead on my thoughts and realized I must've been working out the timeline, the three taps must indicate a time only about her. Could it be something along the lines of like... three hours before or after noon? Hmm... it being 'before noon' wouldn't make any sense, and 'afternoon' suggests the time of 3pm…

That's it! It doesn't matter what the specifics behind her signal were! If her intent was to relay any kind of message about time… she's trying to tell me that her group was attacked by Ace and Crow after Cliff and Blue were!

So why didn't Cliff return before Sky? It doesn't add up. If every group had ventured a few hours away… even if Sky had sprinted back to camp, Cliff should've returned long before her.

"I thought you were asking questions…" says Cliff, growing irritated at the lack of conversation and taking a step toward me.

"Stay back!" I affirm, clasping the axe and taking a battle-ready stance. Recognizing that I was serious, Cliff stepped back.

Shit… I don't have time to work this out right now. I need to move on.

"Was Ace alone? Why did he kill Blue?"

"Ace was with Crow. And Ace… was like a completely different person. I have no idea what occurred overnight, but he killed Blue as revenge for getting him exiled from camp. After that, there seemed to be a disagreement between Ace and Crow, but I couldn't hear any of it. I was too focused on getting out of there before they got me too."

As I thought, Ace was with Crow all day. If Cliff is telling me the truth, that is…

"Where did you get your weapons?"

"Crow… had brought them to our… fight. It was like he was running some sort of a test. He told Blue and me to use these weapons instead of the ones we had brought from camp. And our goal was to kill Ace. He claimed these new weapons would make the fight fairer, but that was total bullshit. We were both completely overwhelmed by Ace's fire powers, quickly finding ourselves helplessly subdued and at Ace's mercy. That was when Blue was killed, and I barely managed to escape."

"Then why didn't you return yesterday? If you escaped, why didn't you return to camp earlier?"

"I was sure that it was only a matter of time before Ace and Crow would eventually recognize that I had disappeared. I thought they would attempt to intercept me on my way back to camp. So, I went further out, hoping to throw them off my scent.”

“And you didn’t think to circle around the long way?”

“I considered it, but then I saw another signal fire. I thought Crow and Ace were trying to deceive me; Ace has fire powers, so it wouldn’t have been hard for him to set something on fire if they picked up on our plan. Another signal fire went off a few hours later, and then another after that. With every signal, I became more confident that I made the correct decision to stay put. I waited 'til sunrise and then made a run for it. I didn't get a wink of sleep. I didn't even have the luxury of feeling relaxed after what happened to Blue. He's gone. There one moment, and gone the next… it all happened so fast," says Cliff, his melancholy voice one note and worn out.

I want to believe him, but… it doesn't add up. His quiver is still full of arrows, and his sword looks pristine and unscathed. Did a fight really take place? Perhaps Cliff wanted to draw the battle into close-quarter combat, opting not to use his bow at all, but that wouldn't explain why his sword still appears to be brand new. Maybe Ace was just quick enough to dodge every attack of Cliffs? Even if he was, Cliff claimed Ace was using his abilities. There isn't a single mark of residue on his sword. In fact, Cliff doesn't even look remotely injured.

Also, was he wearing his backpack during the fight? No, he couldn't have… that's unreasonable. But didn't he claim he was desperate to escape? Why would he risk grabbing his backpack before going on the run? It’s a stretch; his backpack might've been just a foot away from him or something, close enough to where he could've easily picked it up without drawing attention to himself. I guess Cliff could have worn it during the fight… who knows if he even had time to take it off? However, looking at it now, his backpack's bulkiness and stagnant entrance into camp directly contradict that belief.

Perhaps I should just give Cliff the benefit of the doubt and assume that he returned to the fight's location and his backpack, which he should have left behind, was still there. Be that as it may, it doesn't explain why it's stuffed to the brim, looking like it's about to burst open. He's definitely lying about something, but where his lies began may be much more complicated than I could figure out right now.

How much has he lied to me about? Where and when did they start? Have they ended yet? Can I believe even a word he has said? Was it sheer coincidence that he mentioned Ace and Crow being together, the same thing Sky said? What about going forward? Just how much trust should I give him?

I maintain my position.

I guess, most importantly… what is it that Cliff's hiding?