Conall

The inside of the house was even more impressive. Each room had a personality of its own. Conall couldn't help but shudder when he saw a whole room dedicated to war relics and all of Ana's family members that had gone above and beyond the call of duty for their country.

Ana told Conall to go outside the back and use the barrel of water to wash. He could throw on some of her brother's garments while she worked on his.

He left the clothes by the door before rushing outside. He just hoped Ana wouldn't look. The water was cold it stung the wounds that were littered all over his body, in the light of the sun he realised that they weren't as bad as he first thought. That was relieving.

The whole time he was washing he kept his hand firmly on his left shoulder right where his branding should be.

Not wanting to spend too much time naked he just scrubbed the worst of the blood stains off. Then he got out of the barrel and put on Ana's brother's clothes before entering the mouse again.

'' You didn't take long!'' Ana called from the kitchen.

''I don't like being without clothes,'' Conall said gathering his two pouches from a table in the hall. One for his money the other for his warra. He left his guitar where it was.

''Well you won't have to wait too long for your own,'' Ana told him.

''How long? I have to get going or I'm going to miss my deadline,''Conall followed her voice and soon found the kitchen where she was working with a sewing needle.

''It should only take me twenty more minutes. What deadline?'' Ana asked innocently.

''I'm meeting a friend in Icca so I have to catch the boat tomorrow.''

''They let you cross the borders? Why?'' Ana talked not even looking at her work.

''The privileges of being a talented musician,'' Conall was once again playing with the truth.

''Will you play for me?'' Ana asked she didn't even mean to she just did.

Conall was surprised at her sudden request.

''For you fair maiden, of course,'' Conall gave her a theatrical bow before leaving to get his instrument.

''Did you lose your six-string?'' Ana called after waiting a long moment for Conall to return.

Conall returned, skidding in the doorway ''Sorry I was tuning up. Meet Ceo,'' Conall said holding his guitar right in her face.

''You named your guitar?'' Ana didn't expect something like this from Conall.

''I'm weird, I know. But I don't really care,'' Conall started to play four simple notes before adding chords and strumming pattern.

Ana was mesmerized ''I think it's kinda cute actually,'' who knew a soldier make anything a gentle as the song that was being performed in her kitchen.

She felt her face heat up as what she had just said registered with her ''I mean that's a cute name! You're not cute. W-Well you're not bad looking, b-but,'' Ana stopped her panic when she saw Conall wasn't paying attention to her.

He was completely lost in his own world a world of chords and characters, songs and stories. As Ana let herself relax she felt lost in that world too.

The rest of reality seemed to fall away. Conall, the needle in her hand, everything was gone and she wandered aimlessly in this maze of motifs.

Then it stopped and she found herself sitting across from Conall his dark hair dancing in the wind that came through the open entry at one end of the kitchen. She looked down at her hands to find she had finished mending his clothes.

She must have given him an odd look because he shot her a silly grin before grabbing his garments and telling her not to come into the hall for a second.

He came back in moments later in his original attire. ''Sorry to be so abrupt but I'd better head.''

''Thank goodness'' Ana stood to follow him to the door only to get a shock when he shoved ten gold into her hand.

''Tal's tomb Conall this is a small fortune,'' She looked at the money in her hand and then to the pale musician that stood in front of her ''Are you sure you can just give it away.''

''I would buy drink it on drink anyway. I think you may have more use of it,'' He had noticed while inside the extravagant house that she did not have many essential such as drinking water.

''What rank are you?'' Ana had to ask the question had been driving her crazy ever since he had told her of his young branding.

''Then good luck to you Private Conall,'' She saluted him as he walked away.

''Bye shortass,'' Conall said as he turned feeling guilt start to storm his mind.

But he turned his thought towards tomorrow and the border crossing. Novice Guard members patrol it. Except for a couple of senior advisors.

But just as the sun started to set Conall started to shake, he ignored it at first determined to get as far as he could before having to set down for the night.

But he continued to quake violently and eventually gave in and took a flint and steel from his warra pouch before rolling some of his concoction in a small piece of paper and setting it alight.

He raised it to his mouth and took a small puff just to stop the shaking until he found somewhere to sit.

He found his solace under a tree placing Ceo beside him he settled down to lean against the trunk and began to take longer drags of his warra.

Suddenly the tree was alive. Its branches ensnaring Conall and thorns piercing his flesh. Conall tried to calm his heart rate but the branches around his neck just kept getting tighter and the thorns kept getting deeper.

He saw eyes emerge from the undergrowth around in him accompanied by growls and the gleam of white fangs. They were everywhere. There was no escape.

''It's just the warra,'' Conall told himself ''But what if it isn't?'' He asked himself. Suddenly he wasn't scared he was incredibly annoyed.

So he punched the tree. Turns out it wasn't a monster, that didn't stop it from leaving wound on his knuckles though. Next Conall turned to the collection of eyes staring at him and he jumped into the middle of them, none were real.

He could've sworn at some point during the night a goose challenged him to a fight

Conall spent the rest of the night boxing shadows and fighting illusions. Until the drug wore off and he fell asleep under the tree covering dirt and smelling of roses.

He woke up sprawled on the grassy ground of the forest. His hand hurt from hitting the tree but it didn't feel broken. His stomach rumbled and he contemplated on lying on the ground and waiting for Bá to take him away to a new home beneath the ground.

But he was far too impatient to wait for that. So he resigned to taking the two fillets of pork he had stole from Ana out from under his top. They needed to be re-heated after he retrieved them from their the spit atop her rooftop fire pit.

He wondered why she had made two maybe she was having company then it occurred to him that he didn't really care.

He sat up groggily, the numbness the warra caused had long worn off and now he was left to deal with the consequence of his addiction.

It didn't take long for him to break some branches from the tree, which he thought was fitting payback for scaring him, and quickly made a fire in the dry morning air.

He couldn't be bothered to make a spit so he just placed the meat upon the hot flame and kept giving it fuel. While he waited for his pork to heat he took to practicing his guitar by the fireside.

He plucked and hummed absentmindedly using the crackling of the fire as some type of broken metronome. The smell of burning pig flesh soon entered his nose.

He grabbed a stick and speared the two pieces of meat sticking the unoccupied end of the wood into the ground so the pork could cool in the open air.

His mind drifted to thoughts of his destination. The county across the sea, Icca.

The pork didn't take long to turn to a more appetizing temperature. He noticed as he ate it that it was a well-cut fillet. So Ana was good with a knife. He gulped.

The last part of his journey took him through an overgrown area of forest. The home of all manner of insects. But even before he emerged at the other end Conall could smell the sea air and soon the border came into view

It was a low wall. Only up to Conall knee. The Guard patrolled it constantly no one got in or out unless one of the seniors knew about it. Conall had to meet one of those seniors in particular. He was on patrol from two till four on Tuesdays so Conall's window of opportunity was small.

But just as usual Brendan was standing above his squad of four novices. Telling them all which part of the border to patrol in the small sector.

Conall began to play the four-note tune that alerted Brendan of his presence and gave a small wave as he caught the man's eye. The younger members were immediately dismissed.

Conall took this as his signal to approach. Taking the pouch of warra from the back of his trousers. He dangled it in front of the intimidating figure.

''Why you crossing this time?'' asked Brendan.

''Ingredients. Not that it any of your business you're only interested in the finished product,'' Conall answered giving the bag a flick.

Conall was soon standing at arm's length and knew the only thing keeping him from getting captured was the man crippling habit.

''You can't go an hour without this stuff can you?'' Conall as he held out his hand to receive his payment.

''Not for all the gold in Laí's pouch,'' As he said this, Conall saw the dishonesty in Brendan's face.

''Crap!'' Conall turned to run but found himself on the edge of the rifle of a novice.

''I hate you in a very special way,'' he told the rifleman.