Chapter 18

“Huh, that’s lucky?” Silva exclaimed. It was already close to the time they had to return. Sun was already heading down and soon it would become dark.

Silva had returned to her attempts of trying to speak with her ability active, much to Mika’s displeasure, as she had been left with Steven. “Poor, poor Steven…” When she had left Mika had quite forcibly stabbed him with a sharp rock splinter in the arm.

What she had stumbled upon was a wounded hare. It was slowly bleeding out in the grass and without Mika’s help, there was no doubt that one of the fast breaths it was taking would be it’s last.

Silva's stomach rumbled reminding her of the long-forgotten lunch. "It also looks kind of delicious." She scanned her surroundings but did not find the source of the wound. It did not look like it was made by a predator, but she also knew that she was not the best judge of that.

After another scrutinizing look around her, Silva decided to hurry up and return with the hare back to Mika, so that she could help the poor creature. It would be quite sad if while she was away the source of this wound found its prey. Also to get the idea about roasted meat out of the head.

The hare was panting and lying down on the ground when Silva grabbed it. The sudden force scared the creature badly and it struggled to free himself from the hands that were holding him. At least Silva had sparred him the scare of getting picked up by an unseen force. The struggles were in vain, as the creature quickly ran out of its last strength.

Silva looked at the creature she was holding while heading back to where her friends were. The hare was looking back with its unblinking eyes, making her feel uncomfortable. “It will be alright. My friend will fix you right up.” She cooed.

It seemed to work as it was barely moving now. "Oh... Oh! That can't be good!" Silva realised and broke into a sprint. She called for Mika hoping she would hear and come towards her. It would be a pity if the meal would die.

Silva soon saw Mika rushing towards her. She quickly closed in and started to explain to her friend what had happened. Mika did not tarry and after Silva laid hare on the ground she started to heal it. Silva loomed over Mika's shoulder looking at the process with morbid curiosity.

The healing was slow, but after a few minutes the wound had closed up and hares breathing seemed to be normalizing. But before they both could take a breath of relief a snap of a branch behind startled them. Silva immediately spun around only to freeze in horror. Mika followed her suit as she too was left speechless.

The stifling silence lasted until Silva heard someone else joining them. She idly noted that it was Steven, now only wearing his shorts with some blood splatter colouring them. He moved in on them until finally was in front, trying to shield them with his body.

Silva had to admit that he cut an impressive figure, with broad shoulders and wide back. His muscles glistened from sweat, but his breathing was even. Not a hint of earlier torture by Mika was visible. She almost felt safe. Almost. If only there wasn’t a giant wolf standing in front of them.

It seemed to regard them with mild curiosity, it's eyes full of intelligence. But Silva's attention was not on his magnificent figure or glistening fur. It was focused on its gigantic fangs. The wolf was panting revealing the full glory of its arsenal. On the back of her mind, Silva wondered if the wolf could swallow her whole. But otherwise, her mind was racing to find a solution to the problem at hand.

She knew that there were no known causalities and everyone who had dealt with the wolf had lived to tell the tale, but now looking at the being from up close she had to wonder if that was really true. From behind her, she heard Mika getting up and she joined her, standing side by side. Then Mika started to speak as she waved her hand in an uncertain greeting.

“Greetings! Can we help you with something?”

Silva was about to point out that the wolf would not be able to answer, but an answer came. Only the one who spoke was not the wolf but a man standing beside it. Silva had not noticed him appearing, but now he was there by the wolfs side as he was gently stroking its fur.

“Greetings!” The man's voice sounded almost unnatural. “It seems that you got something that was meant to be my dinner.” The man vaguely gestured at the hare that lied on the ground, forgotten behind them. It seemed to have lost its consciousness. “We would like to have it back.”

Silva noticed that the words the man spoke did not match the movement of his lips. The problem was not only the huge wolf and unknown man but also the fact that he had clearly seen Mika using her ability. Even if they somehow got away it was another person that was a risk to their safety. She noticed that Steven was now slowly lowering his posture. He seemed to be ready to pounce on a moments notice.

“No need for hostilities.” The man raised his hands in a placating gesture. “We mean no harm!” He nudged the wolf with his elbow and it slowly laid down, still, its eyes were following their movements intently.

Only now Silva gathered enough courage to take her eyes off the wolf's teeth for long enough to inspect the man. He was a great deal shorted than Steven if Silva had to guess he was about the same height as Mika. She guessed he was older than them, but it was hard to tell just by how much. His skin was dark brown, his head bald and he wore warm clothes that covered his whole body. His face was long and thin, with sparse eyebrows, squinting eyes and straight nose. He clearly looked foreign, and the uncanny way he spoke only further seemed to cement Silva's suspicions of that being the case.

“Oh, that is nice to hear. Then it would not be a problem if we left, wouldn't it?” Mika probed

“You can leave.” But before they could draw a breath of relief the man continued. “But, I think before that the introductions are in order.”

“I am not sure that we have any need to go that far, we have met only by a coincidence, and don’t plan to return here either.” Mika tried to find a way out. “We can pretend that this never happened.”

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“That won’t do healer.” The man rejected the notion and confirmed that he had seen Mika using her ability. “The courtesy demands that I introduce myself first. My name is Pintra Esha Kreelansgam, you may refer to me as Esha, and I have come here on orders of my late master ‘Long Lasting Pillar’ Erg Svalan.”

It seemed that Esha was expecting some kind of a reaction upon his master’s mention, but seeing that there was none his gaze turned puzzled.

Silva's head was full of questions now. Lately, it had become a trend in her life. Too many questions with barely any answers. The man also seemed to wait for them to return the introductions, but Silva did not know what to say and feared that is she would she could reveal something she should not. Steven was still eyeing the wolf with suspicion and had no intentions to speak. That left the task of answering to Mika.

“Stan, Sheila and I am Maria.” Mika threw random names out, leaving only the first letter the same. The wolf, however, when he heard the words seemed to snort and Esha's face turned sour.

“There is no need to lie to us. My friend can tell your words are not true. Refusing to answer was acceptable, no need to hold us as fools.” Esha shook his head. “No matter, I wish to speak with your teacher.”

This time it was the trio’s turn to be puzzled. It seemed that the man was someone with ability as well, seemingly something that involved dealing with the wolf. What’s more there seemed to have been a master that had guided him once, but there was no one who the trio could call theirs.

“There is no one who teaches us.” Mika carefully gave a truthful answer not wanting to anger the wolf.

A slight shock seemed to show on Esha’s face until the expression changed to one of wonderment, then to pondering.

“I see that the girl behind has advanced once by herself, I express my admiration.” Esha bowed his head. It seemed that he could tell that they all had an ability. “However, you should seek out a master soon. If not your talent will rot and decay.”

“What do you mean by that?” Silva blurted out.

Esha looked at her blankly and seemed to consider. “Growing takes time and the right method, without it there is only so much one can do.”

Mika moved closer to Silva and whispered in her ear to be careful with the words, before speaking with Esha.

“And you? Can you teach us?” her voice sounded a bit like a challenge.

But Esha only shook his head. “No, I am too only a student. Two blind men can’t find the right path without someone leading them.”

“And where could we find such a teacher?” Mika wanted to find out more form this person. He seemed to be very knowledgable, if reluctant with sharing his knowledge.

Again the question seemed to stump Esha as he returned to his pondering look.

“I can not say. I have only known my own master, but he has said that there are many great people scattered around the earth. I assumed that you were led by one, as it is impossible to have three of our kind be together by chance.”

“Not that impossible,” Silva muttered as she thought of the implications of what Esha had said.

“Are we that rare? We met someone recently who said there were at least a few more in Oldsteel alone.” Mika remembered the encounter with Aramaleo.

“In this city? I do not think there are people like us there. Who gave you such information?”

“Aramaleo.” Silva did not see any reason to hide it.

“The name is unknown to me. But he may be someone like us.” Esha allowed. “Did he mentioned anything else?”

“He gave us a number and told us that he can help us with our problems.” Steven spat out.

“This…” Esha opened his mouth but closed it immediately. “I apologize, I can not say anything more.”

“Oh? How come?” This time it was Steven speaking. His voice carried dangerous undertones. He clearly was unsettled by the situation and did not trust Esha one bit.

“It is not that I do not wish to tell, but that I carry the will that prohibits it.” Esha shook his head.

“Isn’t there anything you could tell us?” Mika inquired.

“I… Have to think about it. It would take time and consideration. How can I contact you in future?”

“You can’t.” Mika interrupted. “I don’t think we should trust your words that easily.”

“You will have to trust someday. What makes me different from your friends may be only the time we have known each other” Esha pointed out, but Mika only scoffed, making Silva wish she would not antagonize the duo. “Why so much distrust?”

“Is it not normal for us to be wary of strangers with unknown powers?” Mika countered.

“One’s gift is not revealed lightly.” Esha shrugged, “But as I learned of yours without your permission I will allow an exception. My gift allows me the ability to communicate with animals. Doesn't make them like you though. My friend here is an exception.” he pointed at the gigantic wolf.

“Doesn't that mean he is dangerous?” Mika turned to examine the wolf. “If you don't control them.”

“This one is not. He said that it would be a great danger for his kind to anger humans. Too many risks he said.”

“Then what about the way you speak with us? Is it part of your ability. What we hear is clearly different from what your lips say” was pointed out by Mika.

This made Esha give a chuckle. “Is it because you think of humans as animals? But no, this is not something that my gift gave me. Instead, it was taught by my master.”

This was curious, it seemed that there was some merit of getting a master, but instead of asking about it a different question came out of Silva’s mouth.

“Does he have a name?” she asked regarding the wolf.

“If he has he has not told me. Well, maybe I should just give him one.” Esha laughed and the wolf smacked his back with the tail. “Right,” he coughed from the sudden impact. “Well, he does call himself something that would roughly translate to 'King'. That is not his name though.”

A sudden ringing of a phone interrupted the conversation. Everyone's eyes turned to Mika, whose phone was the one that rung. Mika went a bit further back to answer it. While she was away a silence hung between the two parties. After a short while, Mika returned.

“It was my father, we have to return.” Mika gave a short explanation. “One last question. Is the thing you are tasked with any danger to us?”

Esha looked at her for a while before answering. “No. But it is also complicated.”

“Then, is there something we should be avoiding?” Silva wanted to know to be susceptible to trouble.

A sigh escaped Esha's lips. “I can not say, but you should avoid these mountains. The city itself should be safe.” Then he saw Mika giving a sign to her friends that they should leave. “Before you go, if you want to meet me again you can return to this place. My friends in the woods will notify me of your presence. Keep in mind that I won’t be staying in these mountains for long. Let's go too, my biggest friend.”

Silva watched as Esha and the wolf left. Soon they vanished from their sight in the bushes and Mika reminded that they should be going back. They were mostly silent on their way back to the car, only exchanging scant words from time to time.

Only when they entered the car Silva exclaimed. “What the fuck was that! Can't a week pass without a new revelation happening?” She was really getting fed up by the rapid changes around her.

Her friends could only shrug in response. Steven started the car and soon they were back on the road 'enjoying' the ride.

“Do you think he was dangerous?” Mika finally asked. “He was sure that we all had abilities, only not about what kind of. Maybe that was the only thing stopping him.”

However, Steven denied the hypothesis. “Did you see that wolf? He could bite trough all of us in a single bite. I think it was more than what he said was true. All of it. Even if he harboured some devious thoughts the wolf was probably not entertaining him.”

“Okay, are you now also an animal expert?” Mika shot back.

“Just a hunch.” Steven took another turn a little too fast. “And it is not like we did not learn a lot of new things.”

“If what he said was true.” Silva ominously added. Steven opened his mouth once again to argue. The rest of the return trip was spent as quarrelling about the earlier meeting. Even then, Silva could tell, that the relief of getting away safely was palpable in the car.