"Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby." - Langston Hughes

Caith lies down on his back. Even though I highly doubt that the ground would be comparable to the soft mattresses I am used to, I join him. The fire's heat has been subdued to a comfortable orange glow emitted from the coal that keeps the biting cold at bay.

"At the beginning of time the heaven did not have many stars decorating it. The night was sparse and empty. My story might not seem at all significant in the grand scheme of stories collected under the heavens, but it is the story of a boy who still had stars in his eyes.

"Many moons ago a young boy lived on a farm with his family. Their farm was the largest in the region and the most fruitful. They had many workers living on the farm. There was no such thing as nobility in those days, but the boy and his family lived like kings on their farm, sharing their wealth with those dependent on them. The farm was beautiful and abundant. The boy's house was on a hill overlooking the farm. He could stand on his porch and see the sea of fruit trees, the pastures filled with sheep and the fields of vegetables.

"The boy was blissfully happy with his life, even though he had to work hard on the farm. His father and mother believed that they were equal to everyone working on their farm.

"He would wake before the sun woke and set to work with his daily tasks: milking the cows, collecting eggs and carrying water to his house. But when the sun rose, he stopped everything he was doing and stared at the sunrise with wide-eyed amazement. It seemed as if the sun was in competition with itself and tried to make its awakening more magical than the previous.

"One day the boy's father told him and his brother and sister that they had to leave their children alone on the farm for a few days as they had to go to a nearby town for business. The children didn't want to be left alone, but they dutifully helped their parents pack their cart.

"Days passed after their parents left. The boy grew anxious as the days stretched on. One morning he announced that he would be leaving to find his parents. His brother and sister argued with him, but finally they gave in and they left the farm hours later to trace their parents' footsteps."

Caith's eyes become faraway as he recounts the rest of his story. "What the boy didn't expect was to find the mangled bodies of his parents at the bottom of a nearby cliff. As the siblings mourned over the days-old corpses of Tryggvi and Vigdis of Smaller Hiraebev, a smoke started to rise in the distance. As the boy's brother struggled to tear him and his sister away from their grief, the air grew thick with smog. They arrived home to the ashes of their once beautiful and blessed farm. They struggled for years to rebuild their empire, and then everything changed yet again, but that is a story for another day."

The silent night stretches on between Caith and I. Sensing that now would not be the time to bombard him with questions, I reach out and gently place my fingertips on his upper arm. "Your story telling abilities are almost as abrupt as mine, but you have a good voice. That story sounds like something that should be part of The Book of Origins."

He folds his other hand snugly over my fingers resting on his arm. "Perhaps it should. It is, after all, where it all started."

*******

Caith wakes me more gentle than the previous time. He hands me an apple, the last of the bread, and a cube of sitam.

"What are you eating?"

"I ate the last of the fish and some sitam."

"We must get going. They are closing the distance."

I rub my eyes out. The day is not the only thing threatening to break on the horison. Miniscule black shapes seem to be growing closer by the second.

"Aebbé, we won't be able to avoid your pursuers for much longer. The moment we find a suitable place, we will have to make a stand. Will you be up for it?"

The sitam in my throat seems to get stuck. A nod follows my gulping. "Yes, I must."

The raising sun continues to beat on us as we ride forth. Even Caith breaks a sweat in the oppressive heat. "Hiraebev! How I hate these cursed lands!"

I smile at the thought of Caith being intimidated by the lands of my birth, until I see that he looks worse than the desert surrounding us. His cracked lips lift up in a smile as he sees me studying him from the corner of my eyes.

"Even though I might seem like a perfect and very attractive invincible man, I assure you that I could easily be overcome by the right combination of circumstance, and this horrid place with its lack of water is quite taxing."

"What are ypu complaining about? We've been following this stream for days."

"I am not just referring to water itself, but to the lack of life in this damn place."

As if in answer to Caith's cursing, dark storm clouds seem to gather out of thin air. He smiles broadly as the drops start to pellet toward us. "Come princess, a storm is coming." He gallops toward a cluster of dead trees where he halts and rummages his saddle bag for a large piece of material. He hands me one of the corners, indicating that I should tie it to the trees.

The flimsy material doesn't seem like it would be strong enough to withstand a thorn.

"This is another of those clever, magical elf things. It doesn't get wet at all. You can't even wash this." He hands me two pieces of rope. "The corners have holes in. You put the rope through the holes and then tie the rope to the trees."

Caith and I move away from each other to see which trees we should use to tie the rope around. Death has amputated the trees' branches, so we have limited options. Caith ties the two ropes at his corners around the remaining trunks of trees on his side. I do the same. We lead our horses under the cloth. The material is too low for them to stand, but Caith coaxes them into lying down.

Just as Caith and I sit down, the heavens break into a cacophony of thunder and lightning.

"Please teach me how to do something with water."

"I've told you that I wouldn't be able to teach you to use water. It doesn't work like that."

"Then how does it work?"

He whistles. "The moron awakens the power in you, yet doesn't explain it. His employer must be truly desperate." His crystalline eyes meet mine. "The different races of Ardam each has a different magic allocated to it. The magic existed before the Council did, but the Council truly unlocked the magic for the races. The Council's abilities and personalities have been combined with the magic. The Council members are the greatest harvesters of the magic.

"The First One is Fire. Flames are all-consuming. He is the Sovereign of humans. Humans share characteristics with fire. They have the desire to devour everything and have everything submit to them.

I don't agree with this statement completely. I know that there are men and women who thirst for power, but I don't agree with his generalisation.

"Flames also wither and die quickly, like humans, but flames are also warm and protects against the cold. Humans are inherently more friendly and accepting than the rest of the races. They protect Ligtland against the cooler nature of the other races.

"By this deduction, all humans should be able to use fire as a source and medium for magic, but as in all things, not all humans are equal. Some have more power than others.

"The Second One is Water. Water is stable, but it is also an element of nature, which means that it is still a deadly force. Elves are the same. They are constant in their beliefs and consistent in their practices, but one should never cross them. They can turn against you like a trickle of rain changes to a downpour. The magic of elves is rooted in water.

"The Third One is wind. Wind is silent and untameable. It is wild. Skados are the same. They live in the unrelenting marshes. They are almost like wild creatures. Skados move in silence. You can be followed by a skado without knowing it. You will only know of their presence if they wish you to know. Skados can manipulate the wind and do all other kinds of magic by using it. Death is also their domain. If they choose to, they could end a life by sucking breath out of the body. The cost for doingthis is too high, so luckily it is rarely done.

"The Fourth One is Earth, but she can only bring harvests and life to the earth, not manipulate the ground itself - that is Folki the Fifth's domain."

"I can't teach you to use water, because your body isn't made for water-magic. You are programmed for fire-magic."

"Why have I never heard of magic?"

"I suspect your father didn't want you to know about it, but it is surprising that you haven't started to show any symptoms of the magic's awakening in you. The fire-magic is really strong in the Vaubadon family, and your father was the most powerful fire-wielder in a very long time. Your brothers are also very powerful. Haven't you wondered why all your father's conquests happened together with a devastating fire?"

Hearing him say it, makes it real. All those horrible rumours about my father must be true. It all still feels too unreal.

His clear voice calls me from my dark musings. "The storm will retard our pursuers for a while.

I know that we're fleeing for our lives, and that there is a hellish rainstorm raging, but I have an absolutely genius idea.

Jumping up, I grab Caith's hand. "Come!"

"Where to, princess? In case you haven't noticed, there is a storm raging."

"Exactly!"

Caith allows me to lead him out from under the cloth. The moment we step out, we are drenched instantaneously.

The water isn't too cold at the moment, but I know that I will freeze when I return to the dry cocoon. I let go of his hand and turn to him.

He is smiling, with curls sticking to his forehead and cheeks. His clothes are drawn to the ground by the weight of the water. "You'd better have an excellent explanation for this!" he shouts over the wind.

"Whenever it rained, I used to make a habit of sneaking out of the castle and then just twirling around in circles in the rain. It annoyed everyone in the castle, because I would be sick for the next week, but I never stopped doing it until my father died. I just thought it might be fun to do it now."

"So I'm dripping wet because you want something fun to do?" A defeated sigh follows. "How do I do it?"

"Like this!" I stretch my arms out from my sides and throw my face up to the sky so I can feel as much of the rain as possible. "And then you turn around until you fall down or can't turn around anymore."

The world spins away leaving only me enjoying the breaking heavens. Out of the corner of my eyes I can see Caith turning in circles too. Once every turn our eyes meet with a smile.

The ground is slippery and I lose my balance quite often, but I don't stop.

I start to laugh. Everything else whirls out of focus. When my brain can finally not handle it anymore, I stop, but my head remains spinning after my body has stopped.

"I have never done that."

"Really?"

"Yes. My parents and brother didn't want me to get sick."

The ground gives way and the world topples as I attempt another spin. Floating in weightlessness lasts only a moment, before the world slows down, almost coming to a standstill.

Caith's steady arms catch me before I tumble to the ground. Everything around us cease to exist as I am drawn into his chest, his warm arms enveloping me.