Carnival Souls

The River Cantus

           

The sky had darkened to a deep velvet crimson on the horizon by the time the three had made it across the plains and stopped on the banks of a river. It wasn't a very wide river or particularly fast-moving, but it was unlike any river Lira had ever seen.

Its waters were a dark purple that wound through the dry grass like a satin ribbon. It murmured secrets over a bank of rainbow pebbles that seemed to glow softly in the dusk that pressed upon them. Lush golds, rich crimson, amber-tinted oranges, and blue-black stones shifted under their boots, their clacking and tumbling adding to the voice of the river.

"It's beautiful," whispered Lira. It seemed a place for soft-spoken words.

"We'll camp here tonight 'n follow the river upstream in the morning," said Genzel. Setting his pack down on the grass, he began to unroll a sleeping mat and unlace his boots with practiced ease. "Once you've settled, start collectin' some o' that grass for a fire. It burns longer and brighter than wood does."

He pulled two machetes out of a side pocket of his pack and handed one each to Lira and Owen. Lira tested the weight of the knife in her hand, briefly uneasy when she thought about what other things may be hidden amongst the pockets of the old man's bag. "I'm getting too old for all this walkin' and campin'," he said, waving them off toward the field.

As the carver laid out a meal of bread, cheese, and dried meat, Lira and Owen hacked away at the grass until they had gathered a respectable pile of stalks stacked on the riverbank. Genzel threw a match on the kindling, which caught almost immediately; the fire that sprang up was green around the edges. A column of sweet-scented smoke rose straight and unwavering into the air without any sort of breeze to alter its course.

The trio ate with little conversation between them until, with a gruff goodnight, Genzel laid back on his mat and went to sleep.

Lira turned her back to the fire, enjoying the heat on her sore muscles. Her feet dangled off the edge of the bank, just over the multi-colored rocks, as she looked out into the wide expanse of the spirit world. She was glad for once that it never truly got dark here and she could still see the muted shaped of boulders and trees in the distance. She didn't know what or if anything was out there, but it would be harder to sneak up on the travelers in the half-light of this world.

There was a rustle as Owen sat down beside her.

"Can't sleep?" she asked.

"Something like that," he murmured.

Genzel's throaty snores mingled with the gurgling of the river, creating a curtain of sound around them in the still air. Lira reached down to pick up an orange stone, it's surface smooth and surprisingly warm against her palm.

"What you said before—about not knowing each other. I've been thinking...maybe we could fix that." Heat rose in her cheeks even as the words left her mouth and she was glad for the low-light. She liked Owen, but more as an irritating older brother who always thought he knew best. She didn't want him to get the wrong idea.

He leaned back on the heels of his hands and looked up at the sky. She took note of the markings that had begun to creep up his skin, spreading over the muscles and tendons that stood out in his flexed forearms.

"What do you want to know?" he asked. "You already know my dad left and my mom is more of a roommate than a mother."

"What's your brother like?" said Lira. She didn't have any siblings of her own, but she had often imagined what it would be like to have one—preferably a younger sister who could ease some of the pressure Lira was always folding under. Or at least someone to talk to about it.