The next morning they packed up their camp and left the safety of the plateau that Kilama had known all her life for the lowlands. They had to leave the horse with a messenger group and draftees heading towards the Central base, as it wouldn't be able to follow them down.

The Ficate child followed the horse with her eyes until it was out of sight, a slightly sad expression on her face.


The way down the precipitous cliff had been carved over a thousand years before, supposedly by a tribe that no longer existed. It was common reasoning that the Kaninin had killed them off just for this staircase and ones like it. After all this time, it still barely showed any wear at all. Unfortunately, the staircase was not built for ease of use, but for ease of defense. It had steep, close together steps and no landings all the way down. So although it took them most of the day to get down, they could not stop until they had.

By the time they reached the rocky plain beneath, the Ficate was carrying his younger sister, and not even Kilama could hide her fatigue. The Taempui suggested a rest, which all agreed to, the Ficates gratefully and Kilama grudgingly.

The Ficate child flopped down on her stomach on a patch of grass and declared that she was hungry. Kilama barely refrained from making a snide comment, and busied herself with pulling a flask of water out of her sack. After drinking sparingly, she walked over the sparsely vegetated ground to the red horse that the other messenger group had left them tied to a stake near the bottom of the stairs. She secured her bag to its saddle and watched the Ficate try to cajole his sister into eating something.

She decided after a short while of studying the sun that they had to leave soon to reach the mountains by nightfall, and strode over to the Ficates. She grabbed the piece of dried meat from the older and thrust it at the younger. "Eat it, or by whatever god the heathens down here worship, I will drag you back to the plateau."

The young Ficate took the food and ate it silently without complaint. Her brother scowled at Kilama. "She would have eaten it soon without you threatening her."

Kilama smirked. "Yes, but my way was faster." She turned on her heel and walked back to the horse.

This, Kilama decided, must be the most evil revenge ever designed. With another body on the horse, she had to hold onto the Taempui to just not fall off. Every bounce of the horse hurt her legs, already aching from the ride the day before. She gritted her teeth and hoped the elusive mountains in the distance grew larger soon.


Even with Kilama's 'gentle' prodding, they had not reached the mountains by nightfall. The Ficates and Taempui fell off the horse with a groan and began to go about setting up camp. Kilama lowered herself down gingerly, and couldn't help letting out a short yelp when she touched the ground. The older Ficate turned to look at her.

"Do you need help?" he asked.

"No." she said between gritted teeth. "I'm perfectly all right."

Without even thinking about dinner, put out her bedroll and crawled into it, falling immediately into a deep, dreamless sleep.


The next morning was even worse. She was completely stiffened up, and could barely move her legs even if she had wanted to. At the moment, of course, she did not want to move at all. She wanted to roll over and die. Before she could get around to figuring out how to accomplish that feat, the Ficate, sensing her predicament, had picked her up and put her on the horse. Kilama scowled at him, still wrapped in her blankets. "I don't need your help."

The farmer looked at her for a moment before grinning. "Of course you didn't. I just felt like it."

Kilama bit her tongue to keep herself from uttering a sharp retort. She picked at the horse's mane, and noted that she was seated in the front today. The Kaninin was pleased with this until the Ficate pulled himself up behind her and put his arms around her waist to get to the horse's reins. "I know how to ride." She snapped, snatching the intricately tooled leather reins from him.

The Ficate sighed and put his hands around her waist instead. Kilama stiffened and convinced herself that the only reason she refrained from stabbing his hand with a knife only because that would mean she would have to let go of the horse. She kneed the horse into a slight trot and they were off.

As the mountains loomed larger, Kilama decided that she hated the plains. Although they looked like her home, the range of mountains to the west dominated the whole landscape. At home, the sky continued to glow for hours after the sun went down. Here, the sun couldn't be seen after mid-afternoon. She began to get uneasy in the falling twilight and urged the horse forward.

Luckily, at that point they were already close enough to the mountains to reach a Seect outpost. After the sentry looked at their credentials, he let them inside, making several obvious glances in Kilama and the Taempui's directions.

They were ushered to the communications officer of the outpost, who blanched when told who they were being told to draft.

"Y-You do realize who he is, don't you?" she squeaked.

Kilama, struggling to keep her patience, nodded her head. "Yes." She replied curtly.

The group watched as the officer looked down at her trembling hands, and composed herself. "We will send a dispatch off to the capital tonight. Will you wait here for the reply?" she asked, suddenly businesslike.

The Ficate replied for them all, "No, we will be leaving in the morning for the capital. We have orders to report to the fort there, and find the other recruits as well."

The officer swallowed, and stood. "Very well then," she said, walking to the door. "I will find someone to take you to a place you may stay at for the night."


Kilama was amazed that they actually all fit into the tiny room they had been given for the night.

"I bet we would have been given something better than a glorified closet if we'd agreed to stay here until the prince arrived." The Taempui grumbled.

Although Kilama privately agreed with her, she felt compelled to say, "If we'd stayed here, the bastard prince never would have arrived. Every message we had sent would have gotten strangely 'delayed'."

The Ficate smiled. "You don't have enough faith in the honesty of others, Kilama." He remarked, trying to coax his tired sister to go to sleep.

Kilama bristled. "And you have too much faith." An uneasy silence descended until the child Ficate, still not resigned to sleep, renewed her fussing. Kilama sighed impatiently. "Can't you make her be quiet?"

The Ficate rolled his eyes. "What do you think I've been trying to do?"

Kilama stood up suddenly and pulled on her cloak, and threw the Ficate his. "We're taking her on a walk." She opened the door and ushered the small child, still in sleeping attire, out into the night.

The Ficate child, reveling in her newfound freedom, squealed and raced off.

Kilama followed her slowly, waiting until the child's brother caught up. Concentrating on watching the child, she wouldn't have noticed him coming to join her if he hadn't spoke.

"This will probably make her even less likely to go to sleep." He said quietly, falling in step beside her.

Kilama shook her head. "It's the cold that is going to make her want to go inside and get wrapped up in a blanket. She's already tired enough to go to sleep, she just doesn't want to go to bed." She glared at him through the twilight, daring him to make a comment.

Even though it was dark, she got the strangest feeling that he was laughing at her.

She stiffened. "Does something amuse you?"

The farmer was silent for a moment. "You remind me of someone, that's all."

After a few more moments of silence, Kilama tired of waiting for him to elaborate, and asked, "Who?"

The Ficate turned to face her. "Who what?"

"Who do I remind you of?" Kilama reiterated, trying to keep her impatience out of her voice.

He was quiet again. "Never mind, I shouldn't have said anything." His tonetold Kilama that he wasn't going to say anything else, so she remained quiet as well, and they watched the child together until she came back over to them and demanded sleepily that her brother pick her up.


Later after everyone else had gone to sleep, Kilama remained awake, thinking and watching. The Taempui's face relaxed when she slept, but the Ficate's faces became sad and anxious.