"You are dead" she reflected though he didn't seem to realize it, not yet.

The deer was nibbling at the grass leisurely, just on the edge of the forest. Every now and then he would raise his head, crowned by majestic antlers and listen. At times, it seemed to Lirr that the animal was looking right at them, as his eyes as black as shiny pieces of obsidian, surveyed the surroundings thoughtfully but with no trace of fear. It was just an illusion though. They found a perfect hideout among huge ferns and the delicate breath of wind convinced her that they were on his leeward, and there was no way the cuckold could sense them.

„You are dead," she thought again, with sadness, clutching her fists nervously. She did not want to watch this. For the hundredth time this morning she promised herself never again to touch roasted deer.

Cael ducked his head in his arms even harder now and kneeled deeper in the ferns looking for a better support for his shot. He was an accomplished hunter; one good bolt was enough for him to knock down even such a powerful animal. Involuntarily Lirr imagined how the shiny black eyes freeze in fear of death and felt a sudden, stabbing anxiety.

Ever since she lived on dry land, she would venture out hunting with Cael on countless occasions. She even taught herself to use both the bow and the crossbow and she could shoot decently enough, she never really shared his passion for hunting.

She bit her lip, suppressing a sigh when a single ray of light pierced through the thicket of trees and lit the dark golden antlers for a moment. The stag looked as if he was wearing a crown of gold. He was far too magnificent, too innocent too... thinking to die. It seemed to her that she could see a flash of soul and something more in his black eyes, something hard to grasp, mysterious, something that hypnotized her and took away her reasonable thinking. She felt like an intruder.

Oblivious to her thoughts, Cael seemed to be in his element. Noiselessly, he stretched himself forward in the ferns and clung to the ground, leaning his face on the trunk of a fallen tree, covered in soft, emerald-green moss. Lirr was crouching so close behind him that she could feel how he freezed suddenly, focusing on his crossbow and his aim. The forest seemed to freeze as well, holding its breath and going quiet. The girl leaned forward, unconsciously and lightly touched his arm.

„Run away!" she thought, clenching her teeth to calm herself down. Suddenly the stag looked right at her. She would swear that he was looking directly and deliberately into her eyes as he abruptly stopped his slow chewing of the grass. Finally, she took her eyes off him and looked fidgeting at Cael's back wondering if he would hold her guilty if the deer should run away. There were few things he would take as seriously as hunting and such majestic antlers would definitely elevate the rank of the prey.

The girl moved closer and squeezed Cael's arm, dead-still in his shooting position. He stirred slightly though not moving his crossbow even by an inch and glanced at her sideways, his sapphire eyes revealing a peculiar expression of amused curiosity. He raised one brow and smiled at her from behind a fern. He seemed in high spirits today. Lirr started frantically debating what she should do next. "Whaleshit...!"

„Run away!" she repeated in her thoughts feeling that some bizarre tension was now hanging in the air. At the same time, she could not tear her eyes of Cael, whose even one look was usually enough to make her feel dizzy. She could not help smiling back at him, even though, the racing of her heart was rather due to the deadly danger of the crossbow and the premonition of death.

The stag stirred as if alarmed by a sudden noise, but strangely, the forest was overwhelmingly quiet. He shot a side glance in the direction of their hideout and waggled his ears. Without any sound, Cael propped himself up and glanced at Lirr. The girl bit her lip and felt blood pounding in her ears. „Now or never!" the thought crossed her mind in a flash and then something completely unexpected happened.

From behind the trunk, the very same one against which Cael was leaning, from the mighty, shady ferns, a great crow emerged. The first couple of flaps of his extensive wings quickly thrusted him up with a loud swish of moved air, flattening the ferns around and ruffling Cael's blond curly hair.

The crow let out a piercing shriek and began to break out through the tangle of pine branches towards the crown of trees. Rays of morning sunshine peering through the green here and there brought out strange cobalt reflex on his infinitely black, glossy feathers. The deer watched the crow just for a short second only to take flight a heartbeat later. With several swift jumps, he disappeared in the woods, the lush green swallowing him like an abruptly dropped, heavy velvet curtain.

Cael jumped to his feet and looked with disbelief at the crow now perched on a branch a couple of meters above them. The bird cocked his head and watched them contemptuously from his spot. It was magnificent, huge, bigger even than the rock eagle. It was a true beast with sharp claws that could surely tear at the flesh of its prey and an impressively massive beak. One shining eye winked knowingly in their direction. Lirr couldn't help thinking there was something ominous in that look.

"Abominable beast!" he blurted at the bird furiously through clenched teeth.

"It's just a coincidence" Lirr smiled soothingly even though she had to force herself not to laugh out loud with crazy, happy laughter.

She felt the fear and tension slowly abandoning her and a wave of happiness and relief replacing them. As if in reply the crow shrieked loudly once more. It almost felt like an insolent retort directed towards the hunter and for Cael it seemed decidedly too much. Even though for a second he seemed aghast by the whole occurrence and his unexpected failure, the hunter's instincts quickly took control over his distracted consciousness. He looked up and raised his crossbow in one swift motion, squinting his left eye for the shot.

The bolt fired up so fast and quiet that Lirr didn't even realize what was going on. It dug deep into the pine's trunk, inches from the crow and barely grazing the tip of his wing. One glossy cobalt feather fell down rotating around its axis and landed softly on Cael's tousled hair.

"Krrrr.....!" the crow mockingly commented while shifting slowly from one foot to the other and tilting his head right and left. Lirr could have sworn little sparks of ironic smirk were playing in his eyes. Could a crow smile at all? Obviously this one could.

"Damnation!" Cael engulfed in rage.

"Let it go" Lirr smiled, again doing her best not to burst out laughing.

"That was a childishly simple shot..." he rubbed his brow anxiously.

"That was extremely unfortunate" Lirr approached him "or rather extremely lucky" she added in her thoughts.

"I haven't seen such antlers for a long while." he sighed and slumped his crossbow down, basing it on the ground absentmindedly.

"And I have never seen such a crow" she chuckled and delicately snatched the feather that got tangled in his hair right above his right ear. She raised it above his eyes turning it over and over with her fingers and boldly looked into his eyes with a slightly ironic smile.

Suddenly Cael caught her wrist with a sharp motion and snatched the feather from her with his other hand. Unexpectedly he slowly traced the shape of her face with its black, velvet rim. Lirr felt a frantic spasm in her belly and a new rush of adrenaline. They were now standing face to face, only an arm's length apart. Lirr froze, just like the deer a moment ago and squinted her eyes in disbelief. Cael seemed serious but then, there was something flickering in his look, something resembling a suppressed amusement. He often looked at her like this, which at times would drive her mad.

"What?" she couldn't stand the tense silence between them.

"Oh, nothing" his eyes still tried to fight the smile but one corner of his mouth shot up mockingly. As if hypnotized Lirr leaned gently forward into him, in the direction of the sapphire eyes, mocking lips, tanned face and hair kissed by the summer sun, all that she knew so well. Cael, however, instead of kissing her, surprised her again by tickling her nose with the tip of the feather.

"Achoo!!!" she sneezed, the involuntary come back to reality almost making her lose her ground.

"Bless you!" he off-handedly tucked the feather in her hair above the ear, picked up his crossbow and simply took off. - "It's a good thing that at least we have the partridges" - his voice had no trace of the smile that irritated her so just a moment ago.

Lirr sighed inwardly and followed him lingering some. She has been friends with Cael almost from the first moment since she reached Ysborg. It was thanks to him that the castle did not seem a prison to her anymore, of course excluding the times when his mother's behavior painfully reminded her that it was not her real home.

Cael taught her how to live on dry land, he introduced her to the forest with all its marvelous trees, blooming plants and wild animals, the streams rushing through stony slopes of the mountains surrounding the city, lakes hidden in the green quagmire with water so frigid and clear, some dark as new moon some azure as the sky watching its reflection in the mirror of their surface.

That over time she developed stronger feelings for him seemed almost inevitable. She could not even remember when exactly she started feeling this way; when did she start falling asleep thinking about him and waking up hoping to see him? Since when every moment alone with him was making her so shy, shyer than ever with anyone? Since when did get into the habit of lowering her eyes anxiously and blushing like such a girl, every time he came to close?

She smiled to herself remembering the intensity of his eyes, but she quickly let it pass and sighed frustratedly. Cael seemed completely oblivious to the feelings that slowly but surely started taking control of her. Maybe he just realized that all in all she was only a hostage in his castle, a guarantee of mutual interests of his mother - the Duchess of Ysborg and the influential Corsaire - Hego. Lirr bit her lip in internal exasperation. She meant to ask him finally about his feelings, to come forward, honest and bald, no more excuses and dodgings, but the right moment never seemed to come.

"Maybe you just lack the courage!" some small internal voice teased her. She felt like kicking something. She felt like kicking, smashing, destroying, stabbing... She felt like growling, screaming, stamping her feet, creating chaos and ravaging. Why did Cael's proximity always turned her into such a timid little sheep? Hego would have a good laugh at her.

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