Xrpt: Stones in the Stream

"It looks like we're low on supplies,"Peter said, dropping the pack he was holding. It hit the ground with a lightweight flop, as though to prove his point.

"That's no problem,"Taylen replied. "I can fix that."

"How?"Peter asked. Taylen just smiled and walked out of the camp.

"All right, then,"Peter muttered to no one in particular. He sat down against a tree opposite mine. He sighed, looked around, then apparently decided he was already quite bored.

He drew one of his concealed blades, a slightly curved dagger, so fast I couldn't even tell where it came from. I watched, mildly fascinated, as Peter threw a few experimental swings into the air, then examined it closely. He gently ran his fingertip along the edge, then pulled a small whetstone from his pocket. It made a loud rasping noise as he began scraping the blade along it. It grated on my nerves, but I didn't say anything.

"I expect you don't have a plan,"Peter said quite suddenly.

"I'm sorry?"

"Well,"he said,"Taylen seems to have appointed you as leader of this little party, and I get the feeling that it was because he has no idea what to do. It seems like the extent of his plan was 'run out and hide in the woods'. Well, we're here. Now what?"

"Um, I was thinking we could head for Durandel,"I said. "It's a pretty quiet place. Even better, it's well away from everything... else." My voice trailed off as he shook his head.

"That's exactly where they'll expect us to go,"Peter replied as he continued scraping his blade along the whetstone. "They probably have people in each city, and to make things worse, they have a general idea of where we are right now. I propose that we skip Durandel and go straight for Helsebeth."

Taylen strode out of the trees with, much to my surprise, a recently deceased deer slung over his shoulders.

"Where did you get that?"Peter asked. "More importantly, how did you get that?"

"It was wandering around just north of here,"Taylen replied. He set the carcass down on the ground, then got up and dusted off his hands.

"But how did you get it?"Peter pressed.

"I just snuck up on it." Taylen gave me an aside wink as he knelt down and pulled a rope out of his pack. Peter eyed him suspiciously as he tied a noose around the deer's neck and tossed the other end over a tree branch.

"Yeah, sure. So how did you really..." Peter's eyes caught three large, vicious slash marks across the deer's side as Taylen hoisted it up. He hesitated, then asked,"Did something else kill that thing?"

Taylen stayed silent as he knotted the rope around a root protruding from the ground. He had a slight smirk on his face. Peter continued.

"It's really not a good idea to eat that if some wild animal got it already."

"Hey, relax. Trust me,"Taylen said.

"Trust you? I barely know you!"Peter burst out. He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Come on, just tell me how you got it."

"I snuck up on it,"Taylen said flatly, staring Peter in the eye the whole while,"and killed it with my bare hands. That's all there is to it." He reached out and began a vertical slice along the belly. I averted my gaze, feeling slightly nauseated by the squish-splat sounds that followed.

Peter stared at him disgustedly, then went back to passive-aggressively sharpening his collection of daggers.

"So,"I said, hoping to break up the tension. It was making me downright nervous. "We were thinking we should head to Helsebeth."

Taylen froze mid-cut. He looked at me and said hesitantly,"I can't be seen there."

"Wait, what?"I asked. I glanced over at Peter, but he was keeping himself busy--no, actively ignoring us with his knife and whetstone.

"See,"Taylen continued,"when your grandfather--recruited me, he--he sort of kidnapped me."

All of a sudden, it clicked. I knew why his name sounded so familiar. He was one of the Hellars, the family in the northwestern region. I had heard something vague about a loss in the family, but never paid attention to the specifics.

"Kidnapped?"I asked.

"Look at what he did with you. Did he give you a choice?"

He noticed Peter staring at us, confused, so he lowered his voice. "If I go back there now, I'll attract more attention than we can afford right now. I plan on going back when this is all over, but for now, I have to keep my distance."

"I still think we should go there,"Peter said.

Taylen glared at him. "You're just saying that to spite me, aren't you?"

"Maybe I am. So what?"Peter shot back.

"I heard your reason for not wanting to go to Durandel, and it's flimsy at best. There's obviously something else."

Peter bit his lip, then relented. "Alright, fine. There may or may not be a certain couple of smugglers whom I may or may not have neglected to pay the full amount. It's a bit of a long story, but to cut it short, they want my head on a plate."

"Great, so you're not just a thief, but a liar as well,"Taylen said.

"I am not a liar! I told you, didn't I?"

"Oh, you confessed. Aren't you the sodding saint? That's how you've proven yourself to be such a valuable asset to the team."

"I saved your bleeding hides back at Denahan, or did you fail to notice that?"Peter said indignantly. I noticed his accent was beginning to slip through again.

"You were using us as bait!"Taylen said. "You could have taken down the assassin long before he got to us, but did you? Of course not! You dallied about, waiting for him to find us."

"I was trying to take him alive, so that I could find out just who he was working for,"Peter growled. "We might have been better off if we knew what the hell we're up against."

"But you didn't catch him. And you know what I think? I think we might even be better off without you."

"Oh my, was that a threat now?"

"I don't know, did I sound threatening?"

They stood there, stock still, each with a knife clenched in their hand. The wolf-mind whined quietly with concern. It urged me to go do something. I agreed, got up and stood between them.

"Let it go, guys. It's not worth it,"I said slowly. I looked at both of them. "C'mon, please."

"You're right,"Taylen finally said. "He's not worth it." He jammed his knife into the the deer's chest. "Skin it yourself,"he said, then turned around and stalked off into the woods.

**

I sat against a tree with my head between my knees. I was literally shaking in my boots. They were almost quite literally at each others' throats. The last thing we needed was fighting within our little group.

Taylen was still nearby, probably in wolf form, stalking around the camp, because I could still smell and occasionally hear him.

Peter strode up to me. He stood over me, his arms folded. I was unsure how to respond. The wolf growled.

"Yes?"I finally asked.

"You know what he's not telling me. I want to know. Now."

"I can't."

"And why the hell not?"he said angrily.

"It's personal."

Peter took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "What about you?"he said presently. "You're somehow different from when I saw you before all this. What happened to you?"

I gulped. How could he could tell? "It's personal for me too,"I said, wincing at how pathetic I sounded.

He looked up at the sky resigningly, then turned and kicked at a small root with his copper-toed boots, completely unearthing it with a shower of dirt. "I am sick of being kept in the dark!"he shouted. "You two obviously know more than you're telling me."

I considered my words carefully. "Can you imagine,"I said,"experiencing something, something so big, that it not only changes a little bit of who you are, but what you are entirely?"

Peter stared back at me blankly. "So--what the hell does that mean?"he asked.

I looked away. "I'd--rather not say."

Peter's face turned absolutely venomous. He looked just like he had a few minutes ago with Taylen. The wolf-mind snarled defensively, and I could hear, faintly, just beyond the trees, a similar fearsome snarl going unnoticed by Peter.

"L--look,"I stammered out,"It's just something personal that--well--it's nothing big, I swear." Nothing big. Biggest lie of my life.

"That's complete bull,"Peter replied after a moment's pause. He then turned around and walked away. He headed straight for the packs, and started putting his belongings back in.

"I've dealt with professional liars for years, cousin, and you are nowhere close to their level. I don't appreciate being lied to, and I will not stick around where I'm not appreciated."

"Okay, listen. We do need you. And I'm not lying to you. It really is personal, and I'm sure you can understand not liking it when someone pries. Please just--stay. We need you." I didn't like having to beg, but I saw no other way.

Peter had stopped packing about halfway through my little speech. He looked at the bedroll in his hand, then set it down, got up and stared at me. He looked me over for a minute before speaking.

"Fine then, I'll stay," he said,"but only if that self-righteous prat keeps his mouth shut."

"I'll keep you two from antagonizing each other," I replied.

"Whatever, good enough,"Peter said, and laid out his bedroll. He lay on his back and stared up at the sky.

Taylen wandered back into camp a little bit later. He wordlessly picked his blade out of the deer's side, cleaned it off, and went back to skinning the carcass.

Things were quiet now, but quiet was always better than hostile.