Leaving the Wagon

While her face hurt, she didn't feel the need to get back in the wagon. Which she took as a good sign. She just wished there was something that she could do about her face.

Aside from a few small rocks that had embedded themselves into her face, the girl felt more of a throbbing pain in her face. She wondered if she should just wait there for the pain to fade, but at the same time, if the bird wasn't a figment of her imagination, then whoever she was being warned about could potentially show up.

So, even as the world tilted around her, she stood up and started waking in the direction she was facing. She had no idea which direction she should be going in, just that any direction was as good as another with that fact in mind.

She didn't like how the sun was in her eyes, but she hoped that she'd be able to find a place where she could rest soon. Somewhere out of sight of the wagon that had at least some water for her to drink.

As she thought of water, she suddenly remembered having been walking towards a lake or river or something. She didn't know what happened to it, but for some reason, she recalled that the wagon was about where that body of water was supposed to be.

She didn't know if that really meant anything or not, but neither could she say that it mattered to her right then. Not when she didn't really know what was going on in the first place.

She continued to walk over the barren stone ground, feeling like there should be more vegetation, even if only growing out of the cracks in the stone. She didn't know what there was ahead of her, just that the wagon was behind her.

Eventually, she saw something in the distance. Since she'd always had the sun in her eyes, she was confident that she'd been heading in the same direction. So, she picked up her pace, hoping that she'd find something with whatever it was in the distance.

However, as she started to get closer, she started to get a sinking sensation in her stomach. She could see that what was ahead of her was a wagon that looked almost the same as the wagon she'd just left. In fact, she would be willing to bet that it was the same wagon. Even though she knew she'd been moving almost directly away from it for however long she'd been moving.

Not only that, but she could see someone near the wagon. While it didn't look like that person had approached it from the same direction she was, she also couldn't be sure that this wasn't the person she'd been warned about. Especially since she couldn't recall anyone else approaching the wagon, even though she had no idea how long she'd been in the wagon in the first place.

The girl slowed to a stop, unsure what she should do at the moment. She looked around her, not seeing anywhere she could go to hide, or at least observe the wagon without being in clear view from the wagon.

It also didn't help that she was starting to feel like the sun was trying to cook her alive. That her throat was complaining about getting too dry. That her face was still hurting, and in fact the pain was getting a little worse.

She really wanted a place to at least sit down that was out of the sun and had some water she could drink. She didn't know if she'd be able to find a place like that, but if nothing else, the sun would at least set sooner rather than later. Which meant that she'd be able to stop getting baked by it before too long.

She wasn't sure if she made a noise or something at that moment, but the person she saw near the wagon suddenly looked in her direction. She wasn't sure if the sun had cooked the good sense out of her, but she wasn't able to feel anything about that fact. Like it was another mosquito that landed on her to collect a meal of her blood.

Still, she didn't move towards the person, even as they walked towards her. Part of it was that she couldn't find the motivation to expend the energy to do so, while another part of it was that she just didn't know what she should do right then. Especially since she knew that it was pointless to try and hide at this point.

As he got closer, she noticed that he had brown hair and grey eyes. She couldn't help but feel like he was familiar, even though she couldn't place him. Yet, one thing that she couldn't deny. With that sense of familiarity came a sense of deep trust. That she could trust whatever he said, even if he turned out to be the one that the bird had warned her about.

"Glad I found you," he said, as he got closer.

The girl didn't reply. She wasn't sure what to say in response and for some reason didn't feel that it was necessary.

"You know, you're a lot closer than I would have expected," he continued, making the girl wonder what he was talking about. "Why haven't you returned to the camp?"

She wasn't sure if she really should know what he was talking about, but kept her silence. She didn't know if she really should say anything anyway. While she felt like she should trust this stranger, she was rather hesitant to do so when she had no idea what was going on in the first place.

"What's up with the wagon?" he asked after a minute, turning to look at the wagon. "Who would leave a wagon like that out here in the first place?"

Even though she didn't care to say anything, she found herself shaking her head slowly. She had no idea why the wagon was there in the first place. She even realized that she should have been suspicious about it when she'd first arrived. When…

The girl felt her thought trail off on its own. She even felt odd, like she shouldn't even be aware that her thought had trailed off. It felt confusing.

She wasn't sure if it was because of that, if the heat of the sun was starting to get to her, or if it had just been too long since she had some water to drink, but she suddenly felt dizzy.

The person put an arm around her shoulders, which helped steady her. She couldn't help but feel grateful as he gave her something to lean against while she waited for the wave of vertigo to pass.

"Don't worry," he said gently, giving her shoulders a gentle squeeze with his arm. "We'll get this figured out. You'll be okay."

The girl nodded, not sure how else to respond. She still wasn't sure if this person was someone she could trust or not, but she was really starting to lean in that direction. They hadn't moved from where she'd been standing, but she was feeling like they'd moved miles from where she had been in relation to this person who was a stranger to her, but felt like he was someone she had known before.

How she knew him, she wasn't sure. Just that he felt familiar and somehow seemed to know her as well. Which she could only assume that it meant they had known each other before. Though, she hadn't a clue as to how or even what happened to her so she didn't know who he was.

A thought came to her suddenly that made her feel like she could speak. A thought that she wasn't sure why it took her so long to have in the first place.

"Did you send the bird to warn me?" she asked, wondering if that's how he knew she was there.

"Bird?" he asked. "What bird?"

The girl shrugged, suddenly doubting that this stranger and the bird were connected. "It was a falcon, or at least like a falcon. It's feathers looked like they were fire themselves."

The man nodded, looking rather thoughtful. The girl couldn't say what he was thinking, but she didn't want to say anything more. She was pretty sure that he might know more about the bird than she did, but wasn't sure if that was the case. At the very least, she hoped that he might be able to help her find that bird again so she could thank her.

"Let's move away from here," the stranger said, after a few minutes of silence. "We probably shouldn't stay here for very long."

The girl nodded, not sure where to go from here. If this stranger knew, then that might be good for her. As at least then she'd be able to avoid whoever it was that she had been warned about.

Though, there was a question that she needed to know. Something that she knew that she couldn't just wait any longer to ask.

"Uh, what's your name?" she asked, a little nervous about how he'd react.