7 May 2012
I recognised that voice. "Kieran! I'm here!" I cried. "Thank the heavens! I thought you were hurt." said the mane of red hair coming over the ridge. The hair was then followed by an angular face, and then the body of the most successful hunter in our clan: Kieran. He raced his way up to me and started to check me over. (And by the way, in case you were wondering, he was twice my age. But that didn't stop me from fancying him. Him and his ripped torso, his muscular arms... I could go on like that, but it would sound too much like a vampire novel... and we wouldn't want that.) "Ok, let's get down to the basics, Lily. Are you hurt?" I mumbled a negative as I planned how to spring the surprise of a teenage mage on him. "Are you in any way shocked or concussed by the fight with that beast? Because if you are you aren't the Lily I know. " I replied with the same response as before, while suppressing a laugh (of course). "Ok. So what's up? What possessed you to get First Hollar to go into a panic and get me to hike up here? I'm waiting for an answer, Liliana." His voice was annoyingly parental, but I forgave him for it, as it was justified. "Kieran..." I steadied myself. "I need to tell you that... that's exactly why you're here." He looked confused. "What?" "You know? The possession? Oh... well... basically there's a mage that I found while looking for the wyrm and I got attacked and he saved me and then he went all possessed and now he's asleep and he needs our help..." I trailed off. How was it that I could be so articulate in front of my peers, yet be reduced to little more than a helpless, gushing girl by some abs? Luckily, Kieran was used to that sort of thing. "Where is the said mage?" he inquired, politely choosing to ignore my gush. He knew I was better than that Finally, I could regain control. "He's... he's behind the bush." (Yes, I dragged the sleeping body out of sight. What else could I do?) "Not much of a specimen, is he? And he's human." came the slightly incredulous reply from behind my back. "On first appearances, yes. But he has an extremely powerful reserve of magic which saved me from death by having my throat ripped out. Impressive, don't you think?" "Indeed, but don't you think it would be best to just..." He paused. "...leave him here?"
I had to admit, the offer sounded tempting. It would save me a LOT of trouble when we got back to camp, as there wouldn't be any awkward questions asked and the clan could continue life as usual. But a part of me felt strangely compelled to help the sleeping adolescent, and his possession problem, and to find out how in the first place he was up in the wild mountains anyway. I pondered for a moment, and the decision was made. "Sling him over your shoulder, Kieran. We're going back to camp."
A Hunter • Opuss № I