“I was never taught about such things,” Elan said finally as her eyes opened again with only a slight wet sheen across them.
“It’s been a long time since any knew enough about these things to teach them,” Kaern said curtly.
“You know.” Her voice was almost accusing.
“Aye, and I’m no teacher,” he grunted before sighing and bowing his head a moment.
Finally he looked up, past her, and changed the subject.
"Get some rest," he told her again, eyeing the sky critically. "We've been lucky, had good weather. But once we cross the cliff, I wouldn't be too surprised if we get rained on every second day. Ye'll need yer strength."
She stared at him, wide eyed, when he said that it might rain every second day, but nodded dumbly and curled up near the fire. Kaern watched her rest for a while, then turned his eyes to the skyline above them as the rising sun began to illuminate it. He watched the ridge carefully, looking for silhouettes, but didn't find what he was looking for.
Finally, he settled down himself, crossing his legs under him and letting his breath flow in and out in an old and familiar rhythm as he told his body to rest while his mind remained alert and waiting.
*****
The morning light came, as it was wont to do, but it wasn't nearly enough to wake Elan as she slept in the shade of the huge cliff face. A short distance away from her, Kaern rested in his motionless way, legs crossed and back ramrod straight as he let his body rest while his mind stayed alertly on watch.
After a couple hours of meditation, you lose contact with your body in a strange sort of way, and Kaern had reached that level several hours earlier. He could still sense his physical self, far in the background on his sensibilities, but it was distant and uncommunicative at the moment.
His mind was active though, sweeping through the eerie quiet induced when one lost contact with the physical senses. He could feel Elan's heartbeat, a low and easy rhythm down and to the right of him, while the life pulse of an eagle swept overhead, riding on the first thermals of the day. Other than those two, life was sparse in the desert, though sparse didn't mean absent, of course.
Insects flitted around, still active in the shade of the cliff face as they scrounged for what food they could find before the sun became too hot and forced them to cover. Rodents and small predators played their games of nature around the small campfire, mostly unafraid of human smell and certainly not threatened by the two motionless figures who inhabited it.
All of this passed Kaern's observation but didn't overly concern him. Life was life, such as it was, and it would have been disturbing if it hadn't been present.
The sudden flare of another intelligence, however, spun him around and made Kaern shrink his sense back into the confines of his body.
Where is it? he asked himself, casting out with slim threads of thought.
Out there somewhere he was being watched. He could feel the eyes on him, feel the signal tremble against the back of his neck as someone focused most intently on him.
They're close...no.. wait. Not close. Kaern would have smiled slightly if he still had active and actual control over his muscles. Using a viewer. Lenses? Maybe. Maybe magic. Where are you?
The sensation passed then, and Kaern knew that whoever it was had stopped watching him directly. Human probably, he decided, considering the identity of the observer. There were many species that were unconsciously telepathic, but they were rare in the world, and humans weren't among them. Not yet, and not truly, at any rate. Humans, however, had a knack of knowing when someone was looking at them…even when it wasn’t with eyes.
Any active telepath would never have been sloppy enough to send him that signal, that image of himself that alerted every warning in Kaern's mind to danger. Against most people, that image would have done nothing more then send a shiver up their spine. But someone had sent it, unintended though it probably was, and Kaern had received it.
Time to move.
He reached his mind back out to his body and felt the connections jump back into place, like phantom limbs regrowing in an instant. His eyes snapped open as he fluidly rose to his feet.
"Child," he said out loud.
Elan stirred, but didn't wake.
"Child," he said again, firmer. "Wake now."
She opened her eyes this time, looking at him in confusion as he stood over her.
He ignored her mumbled question, his eyes rising to the cliff face. "It is time to move. We are being watched."
That woke her up, her body tensing as she remembered the dangers that existed in the world. She threw the covers off her, making Kaern turn slightly away as she readjusted the clothing he had found for her and climbed to her feet.
We'll have to find more clothes for her soon, he decided, Even synthilk requires washing from time to time.
"What is it?" she asked breathlessly as she gathered her things.
"I don't know yet," he told her honestly. "Bandits, most likely. Humans, I'd guess."
"Humans?" she asked, face scrunching slightly as she focused on the word, confused. “Not demons?”
"Aye, humans. But make no mistake, there are damned few reasons to be watching a peaceful camp this far from town...and almost none of 'em are good reasons, if you catch my meaning, lass. Demons are not the only evil in the world, as you know too well," he said, speaking lowly as his eyes flickered along the ridge line above them.
Elan's eyes showed a hint of fear, of which Kaern approved wholeheartedly, and she nodded.
Good instincts, lass. He nodded in return, keeping his thoughts to himself.
Of course, she had been betrayed by one of her own kind just a short time earlier, and that would tend to cut into any blind trust one would be willing to extend. Kaern just pushed the thought aside and began to pack up his own few things, rolling the furs into a tight bundle and then carefully securing his sword to his side.
He noticed her eyes on his blade as he secured it for quick use, clearing the strap and seating it more accessibly on his hip. He could see a look in her eye that he knew well.
Kaern eyed her for a moment when they'd packed up their camp, such as it was.
"We’ll find you a blade as we can, lass," he said briskly. "Follow close to me. If we move fast, like as not we'll be able to outpace them."
Elanthielle nodded determinately, shouldering her pack and meeting his eyes.
"Alright," she said.
"Good. Let's go."
*****
"They're moving."
"What?" a gruff-looking figure demanded, striding toward the voice. "It's still early. No one who knows these cliffs moves before the sun dries them."
"Well maybe they don't know the cliffs," the first speaker suggested dryly.
The gruff man knelt by the edge of the precipice and drew a tube from his pocket. He jerked it fully open, the metal telescoping out to about four times its original size, and placed the smaller end to his eye.
A moment later he let out a muffled curse.
"Damned fools," he said, shaking his head.
"Yeah." The first speaker grinned. "They're going to split their heads before we can do it for them."
The gruff man snorted, still watching the figures in the distance.
*****
Kaern felt the hair on the back of his neck rise and resisted the urge to look around for the source.
They're back, he thought grimly, grimacing as he came to a realization. Amateurs.
No knowledgeable professional would stare at their target this long. It was stupid. Every experienced outrider knew that. It was better to err on the side of caution than to alert a potential foe who was observant enough to notice.
"We have to climb," was all he said out loud though, not wanting the girl to alert the watchers to the fact that they'd been found out. "Take care, it's early and it'll be slippery."