When she turned to see Kael standing up, she panicked and went to her side, only to notice that sothing was missing, turning her head, there was a large weapon next to where Kael had just sat foot. A large saber.
The movent was abrupt enough that mud cracked on her sleeves. One second she’d been focused on the boar’s flesh, knife working fast, greedy, practiced, and the next she snapped around like she’d heard a predator breathe.
Her eyes hit Kael first, wet hair, bare chest, water still streaming down him, and then flicked away, searching for leverage. They landed on the spot by the bank where she’d clearly expected steel, his steel.
Empty.
He had none.
The panic sharpened, turning into a quick, desperate calculation. Soone who walked on you like this, without a weapon, wasn’t soone simple. He even ignored her own blade and moved toward her.
Danger.
Extre danger, more dangerous than all those that chased her down.
They had blades and weapons on them yet felt harmless.
He had nothing, but made her feel stuck in a tiger infested cave. Especially with that bored yet annoyed expression on his face.
Kael’s frown wasn’t anger. It was annoyance, the kind you get when you realize a problem just walked into your day without asking.
Kael frowned, then she grabbed the dagger, "I an no harm, just needed so food, I’ll be on my way." She said.
The dagger wasn’t much, short, chipped at the edge, the kind of knife you used for skinning, not dueling. But she held it like it was the only boundary between her and being swallowed. Her knuckles went pale, and the point of the blade lifted a fraction, aid at Kael’s torso because it was the biggest target she could see.
Kael didn’t rush. He didn’t even hurry his steps.
Water dripped off his elbows and ribs, pattering into the grass like a slow clock. His hands hung loose at his sides, empty, which only made the scene worse. A man with nothing in his hands and no fear in his posture was either stupid or dangerous.
"Quite the way to ask soone for food, no?" Kael approached her.
The angle of his approach put him between her and the hung carcass. Not fully blocking her escape route, he wasn’t that charitable, but narrowing it enough that she’d feel it. He watched her eyes flick to his hands, then to his shoulders, then to his feet.
She tried to keep her face hard. Tried to hold the dagger steady. Then her stomach betrayed her with a deep, ugly growl that cut through the river’s hiss like a confession.
Her face turned a fraction red, or maybe that was her complexion, Kael didn’t know.
Kael’s gaze stayed on her, but his attention moved to details: the way her weight sat too far back on her heels, the faint tremble in her wrist, the slick shine of dried blood on her fingers. Hungry people did dumb things.
Desperate people did worse.
He clicked his tongue, "Master’s gonna tear a new one for what you just did. He likes that part the most," Kael said. "Also, who are you?" He asked.
The ntion of his master wasn’t for sympathy. It was a warning disguised as complaining, Kael’s favorite style. He didn’t say I’ll kill you or back off. He said sothing that implied there were bigger monsters nearby than him.
"Just a passerby..." she said.
The answer ca too quick, too clean. Like she’d said it before. Like she’d survived by keeping words short and her story shorter.
Kael moved closer until he was towering over her. "Passersby don’t usually steal."
He didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to. The height difference did the work for him, and he made sure to use it, stepping in until she had to tilt her chin up just to et his eyes.
The dagger dipped for a heartbeat under the pressure of proximity, then snapped back up as she rembered she was supposed to be threatening.
"It’s not stealing! I was going to pay, but no one ca..."
Her words sped up with the kind of indignation that usually ca right before soone cried or stabbed you.
The knife point wavered, cutting a small arc in the air as if she could carve a path out of this conversation.
"So, you assud the hung boar was for grabs... quite the story, short thief."
He let the insult sit there and rot on the air between them. It wasn’t even a clever insult. It was just a push, a test to see where her temper lived.
"I’m not a thief! Also, I’m definitely not short."
The flare was imdiate. Pride, stupid, stubborn pride, surviving even when everything else looked like it had been beaten out of her.
"You’re like a Midget with heels..."
Kael’s tone was casual in the way only soone confident could afford. He didn’t even sound mad. He sounded bored.
"That’s offensive! And wrong," she said her eyes flaring almost, "I’m five foot eight! You’re the one who’s freakishly tall. Was one of your parents a giant or sothing!"
Kael almost snorted.
She had bite.
Kael looked her up and down like he was checking a asurent in his head and coming up disappointed.
"Five foot eight, stop pulling my legs, ma’am, anyway, tell , Kael said, "Lies, and thievery, you look like you’ve been in a rut. Bad luck hunting?" Kael asked then he noticed sothing.
He hadn’t intended to get close enough to sll her properly.
Now he did.
The river scent, cold stone, wet moss, was underneath it. On top was the stink of sweat and dried gore, old enough in places to have turned sour. But it wasn’t just animal blood. It wasn’t just the boar.
The cuts on her clothes weren’t that of beasts and monsters. And most blood on her had different degrees of darkening. Different sources of blood.
And it stank worse than prey blood... human blood.
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