“I like this bear,” I said.

“Of course you do. Don’t fall off, it’ll trample you without a thought,” Krift warned from below.

Sitting not too far from the wooden platform, I clung lightly to the leather harness wrapped around the bear. Right in front of me was the bear’s neck, and the top of its head was a little below that since it held its head so low to the ground.

Thanks to the way the bear slouched, I was able to clearly see Krift. He was walking in front of the bear, guiding it along with the reins.

Guiding the great bear, and thus me, farther out into this supposedly endless prairie of dried grass and shrubs.

Like all Caravan Bears, the thing I sat on followed the one pulling its reins without question. Yet even though far bigger than most, it seemed…

“It’s a little slow though, isn’t it,” I said honestly.

Krift said nothing, but I saw him nod.

We’ve been traveling for a good portion of the day. The world wasn’t growing darker yet, but it wouldn’t be too long before the sun started to set. Yet even though it’s been so long, it was only an hour ago that the colorful sight of RiftWarren had faded from view.

Though if I was able to see directly behind me, I may just be able to still make it out…

With a glance behind me, I took in the sight of the odd thing that sat a few feet from me, blocking the view.

Wrapped firmly by rope and leather, was what looked to be a large box. A misshapen box, at least.

The fur that was wrapped around… whatever it was, looked odd. It looked spiky, and sharp. But what was oddest about it were the little tiny strands of light that seemingly sprouted from all over them.

At least, I hoped whatever those little strands of light were… was just the leather. The way they moved, unnaturally flowing against the wind, made me shiver.

They looked similar to long-legged insects or maybe even cobwebs floating in the breeze.

“Leave it be.”

Looking back to the front, I found Krift staring at me. His hard eyes dug into my own, as if accusing me of something.

“It’s glowing,” I said, worried.

In fact it was also… making noise. I couldn’t tell what it was, but it almost sounded like whispering.

And that was frightening far more than the weird cobwebs.

“Leave it be all the same. Don’t touch it,” he furthered then he turned away.

Looking back in front of him, Krift deemed the conversation over.

I wanted to ask what it was, and why it was seemingly so dangerous, but he wouldn’t tell me. All he’d tell me was to leave it alone.

“Where are we going?” I asked, choosing a different topic as to try and keep my worries at bay.

“The canyons. RiftCliff, near the edge of the Rift Wall,” Krift said.

“The edge? Is that far?”

“At this pace…? Yes,” he said with a sigh.

Shifting a little, I flinched when the rope wrapped around my waist tightened.

Krift had been the one to wrap it around me, and he had also tightened it far too much. He’d done so as to potentially keep me safe on the bear and not fall off, but… It was starting to become very uncomfortable.

There was a little piece of the rope, near the bundle of knots, that he said I could pull on and it’d unwrap itself… but I had no way of loosening it. And Krift hadn’t really cared that I had thought it was too tight.

Glaring at the man who was causing me the only discomfort I currently felt, I wondered if he was a full-blooded power or not.

He had no horns, but no male power did. At least, so my mother had told me.

But I’d never seen a man of my kind before. At least not up close. And my memories from mother’s teachings were… foggy to say the least. Most of what she had taught me about my own kind had been when I was young. She had stopped talking about our people completely and had even grown to become irate when I asked about them later on.

So…

Was it rude to ask?

“Krift?” I got his attention, deciding it was worth the risk of being rude.

He didn’t say anything, but did look at me.

“Are you a power?” I asked.

“Yes?” he asked, as if it was a stupid question.

“A full blooded one, I mean?” I corrected my question.

“Oh. Yes. I am,” he said. The way he answered me, and the way he looked back in front, told me he hadn’t been too bothered by my question.

In fact, it seemed he understood why I was asking it.

“Do you recognize me? Or who I could be related to?” I asked him.

“No. I’ve thought of it, but I don’t. But… I don’t know every house. Far from it. So don’t let that worry you,” he said, obviously understanding.

“I see. I heard there weren’t many families, though? That the whole population of the Lands of Powers could fit in a single capital city here,” I said.

“Rumors. Or well… not too far off from the truth, honestly. For every one power there are fifty or more humans. It’s why our kind lost the war,” Krift said.

“Oh? We lost it? I thought it was so bad for both sides that everyone agreed to stop?”

Krift glanced at me, and for some reason it made me sit up straight. As if I was a child being chastised. “We were the ones who crossed the Rift. To wage the war. We lost more on the journey to and fro, than we did in the actual war. One could argue we would have won easily had we been able to field our whole army without the Rift… But that doesn’t matter in war. All that matters is how many deaths you incur compared to your opponent. The Rift may have killed most of us, but they were losses all the same,” he explained.

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The knowledge was somehow daunting. How come no one ever talked about such a thing? Maybe it was obvious, and I had simply never put one and two together…

For our people to wage war, of course someone would have to cross the Rift…

After all it was thanks to the Rift that our two people could interact with one another.

“Did you fight in the war?” I asked him.

“I did.”

Although I had expected it, that meant he was almost twice my age. At least. Not a real surprise, since our kind lived for much longer than humans… but it was still daunting.

Even though I had been born during the war, if he had been fighting in it he would have already been grown. Maybe not a fully grown man, but close enough.

The other powers I had met, back when I was still a child and my mother still alive, were both young. They had been venturing throughout the lands, on some kind of duty from their government.

I couldn’t completely remember the conversations from back then, but I could remember clearly the several dozen knights and soldiers that had accompanied them. Soldiers of the Lands of Man. Guiding them, through our nation, as to enforce the peace.

It was why my mother and I had hidden ourselves when they had arrived in our town. She had been so, so worried…

“Why’d you become a Guide?” I asked him.

“Seemed as good a job as any. And I’m a riftborn, so it’s natural for me,” he said.

“Aren’t there lots of riftborns? Why aren’t they all guides too?”

Krift sighed, and looked up at me. “Full of questions, aren’t you?” he asked.

“Just trying to pass the time,” I said.

“Braid your hair. Sew something. Do you have a book in that bag of yours?”

Smiling at him, I wondered if he found me annoying. Maybe in his eyes I was akin to a little child, incessantly badgering him.

“Where’s your crest?” I asked.

He looked away, but not before I noticed the way his look changed. “Where’s yours?”

“My mother wouldn’t let me memorize it. She sold the only dress she had with it, before I really understood what it was… and then after that she refused to draw it for me,” I said.

For a few dozen steps, Krift remained silent. The bear shuffled along behind him, its long claws scraping in the process.

“You’ll learn that some powers don’t have crests. You’re not as rare as you think,” Krift said after a moment.

Although his voice sounded firm and fine, I knew better than to press him for it. This conversation was bothering him.

Everyone had a secret.

“What color horns did your mother have?” I asked.

Krift paused for a moment, and turned to face me. As he did, I expected a growl or an angry outburst… but instead he was smiling. “You’re quite something. She had bright golden horns,” he said.

I found myself smiling back. “I’m sure they were pretty,” I said.

“As are yours. You’ll find yourself to be quite a looker on the other side. Most powers are taller. You’re done growing at your age, so you’ll be seen as exotic. Foreign born. Foreign raised. You may be the first of your kind,” Krift said.

“Rather than exotic, I’d probably be more of an oddity. Something to gossip about,” I said.

“Ah, but that’s what our kind loves the most. Gossip and rumors are worth more than gold over there.”

“Oh? I thought we were more stoic? Lacking emotion and whatnot?” I asked, intrigued.

“Says you? I’ll admit it’s been a long while since I’ve seen a woman break down and cry as you had, but it wasn’t that shocking to me. Humans think we’re devoid of emotion because most powers they meet are the odd ones. The ones who are willing to venture into the Rift, or are soldiers ordered by their leaders. Those trained to control themselves, those that are hardened,” he said.

“Don’t powers want to come over here? As much as the humans want to go over there?”

“No. The humans somehow think that by simply surviving a trip through the Rift, they’ll gain fortune and fame. Or power. And no matter the amount of deaths that prove otherwise, they still foolishly believe it,” Krift said. Krift shook his head, and I could tell he had much more to say about such a topic but was letting it be. He must find the desire of crossing the Rift for power and fame to be a foolish one.

Yet he guided such people often. Odd of him.

Though he didn’t look too odd, honestly.

His clothes were common. A little more leather than one usually had, but nothing about his appearance screamed power or even a riftborn. Or that he was one of the greatest rift guides to exist. In fact, if we had passed one another on the streets of RiftWarren, I’d not have noticed him.

Especially since he had no crests on his person.

He had a nice sized knife hooked to the back of his belt, but many men who traveled had such a thing. He wore no gloves, and even his shoes looked… normal.

Honestly if not for Lena’s people very clearly recognizing him, I’d have wondered if they had brought the Caravan Bear to the right man. And me along with it.

Though I do suppose he was a little taller than average, but he was a power so that was supposedly common. Even that woman I saw yesterday had been his height. His hair was dark, maybe a tone of black, and he was clean shaven.

For some reason I found him out of place. As if he was dressed oddly, or looked odd, yet…

He didn’t.

Maybe I had expected more from the man of rumors… but what?

The Caravan Bear came to a stop, thanks to Krift also stopping. For a moment I wondered what he was doing as he looked around.

“Krift?” I asked.

The man stood silently, ignoring me, as he stared at something off in the distance. I tried to see what had caught his attention, but saw nothing but the same plains as always. Endless, bumpy, half dead grass was all that was around us.

After a few good moments, Krift finally returned to walking. And with a grunt the bear followed.

“We’re being targeted,” he then said.

“We are?” I hurriedly looked back to where he had been staring. I still couldn’t make anything out in the distance. What had he seen?

“They’ll probably round us, and go ahead of us and try to lay a trap. Which means they know I’m here,” Krift said calmly.

“You sound awfully calm,” I said. He had spoken just as if we had been talking about the weather.

“And you sound worried enough for both of us,” he said back.

“Why would someone try to trap us? And why would it matter if they know you’re here?” I further questioned.

“To take what I’m delivering. A normal group of bandits, or a raid, will just have a bunch of people swarm their targets. Overpowering and stealing as much as they can, then running off. The fact that they’re not outright attacking us, even though it’s just the two of us, tells me they know who I am,” he said.

“I thought ambushes were common?” I asked.

“They are. On the roads. Or places that people frequent. Not out here, on paths that can go empty for years at a time…” Krift didn’t sound too worried, but for some reason that made me worry even more.

“So? What are we going to do?” I asked.

“We?” he looked back at me, smiling.

“I’m in danger too aren’t I? So yes. We.”

“We keep walking. Just as we are doing now,” he said, looking back ahead.

“That’s it…?” I didn’t like the sound of that.

“Uh-huh. You agreed to this, so don’t go panicking on me now,” he said.

“I’m not. Yet…! I’ll start panicking though if you don’t make sense. Are we really just going to keep walking, without a care?” I asked him.

“Yep. For the same reason they’re laying a trap, instead of charging at us,” he said.

“Which they’re doing because you’re here,” I said, unsure of what that even meant.

“Yes.”

“So… since you’re here, we can keep walking calmly?” I tried to make sense of his reasoning.

Krift nodded. “Exactly.”

Somehow I failed to find any of the reasoning behind his confidence.

But… maybe this was going to be my price. To employ him as my guide.

I couldn’t properly afford him, but there was something I could do. Something that earned me his service.

To trust him.

Hopefully I’d live to do so.