Riiga

Somewhere in the mountains, far from any town or village...

Drip. Drip. 

It smelled like rich dirt and clean water; at first thick and choking but refreshing once gulped for the first time. 

Drip. Drip. 

The sound of water gently lapping echoed through dark stone halls, carved roughly and undeniably by nature yet holding the essence of some great cathedral foyer. 

There was a large, flat, smooth stone slab leading into the water like a vehicle ramp. On this slab, with his bare feet tickled by water, was a boy. He was lying on his back, eyes closed, seemingly unconscious. Light was spewing in through a small opening where the water left the cavern and seemed to go outside, and this sunlight bounced off the blue water, rendering the cavern walls bedaubed with brilliance. 

Drip. A tiny, icy cold drop splashed on the boy's forehead.

"Hello?" went the echo. Or at least, it seemed like an echo; it was a child who sounded like Cliff but it also sounded different. It also sounded close. 

Opposite the stream, the rocky wall was very jagged and layered, and from behind a rock stepped a figure. It was a girl. Black eyes stared at Cliff, for a moment, wide, and then she moved forward slightly. 

"Tex?" she said softly. Then she squinted, as the sparkling light on the water behind Cliff made it difficult for her to see him. Then she seemed angry and she rushed to him. She wiped her sleeve on his mouth, invading his personal space, and then pushed him back by the shoulders a couple steps. 

"Did you drink the water?" she asked, her voice stabbing like a knife. "Well? Did you? Tell me you didn't!" Then she called out over her shoulder, "Larr! Larr! Come quick!"

[1]

She wasn't happy with the reply. She crossed her arms and stayed her ground. "Who am I? Who are you? How did you get in here without us seeing you?" She stared him in the eyes the entire time and twirled her blond hair with her fingers. 

A boy came from wherever she entered and looked at them both. 

"Joy? Who is..." The boy, presumably named Larr, observed Cliff and went and stood by her. Some moments of silence passed; Joy didn't seem to attack Cliff while Larr was there. "Did you come from the water?" he asked, his voice much kinder to hear than hers. "Or somewhere?"

"He was just standing there," Joy said, significantly calmer now. "I thought it was Tex at first. Or my brother. But it's this boy. I thought he drank the water, but he said he didn't. I don't trust him anyway." She glared at Cliff and looked back to Larr. "What're you waiting for, Larr? Are you gonna tie up his hands or not?"

They both stepped back and watched Cliff stumble. Neither of them went to help him up. Joy seemed as though she wanted to kick him, but she skilfully refrained. 

"Kid nap? Are you tired? You want to nap?" Larr glanced at Joy and frowned.  He didn't seem to understand at all what Cliff was saying. 

"Tie him up!" Joy stressed. "Have Arka throw him off the Great Rains! He must've come from the water. He must've."
 
"We don't know that." Larr scratched his head. "I think Arka would know for sure, though."

"You want him to meet Arka? But this boy is dangerous! Tie him up!"

Larr turned to Cliff. "I'm sure he will just follow us if we asked..." Larr said, holding out his hand for the boy.

Larr pulled Cliff to his feet but then withdrew his hand. 

"My name's Larr, and this is Joy," he said with a smile. "There are others but I'll tell you later. There's too many names to remember at once." 

He laughed and began to lead them out of the cavern. Behind the rock from which they entered was a tunnel which they had to bend over to get through, but on the other side of that, the tunnels were much wider and longer, more like the average cave. They were also, however, quite dark, but a torch had been left just outside the water cave. Larr picked it up and led the way. 

"Next to me," he said to Cliff. "Where we can see you. This cave is one of the shorter ones, so you'll see everything soon. We live with others like us in a village called Gondarash. The water back there leads to one of the lakes, and the river which runs from that lake also runs past Gondarash. It's a bit hard to explain, but you'll see."

"Why are you talking to him as though he's going to be staying with us?" Joy asked from behind, keeping her distance. "He's a stranger. Remember the last strangers?"

Larr looked over his shoulder at the girl, "Yeah, I do. Of course I do." He turned to Cliff. "She's always like this. Don't worry about it."

The walk to the exit was awkwardly long. Larr had elected to fall silent and Joy complained for most of the rest of the way. Throughout her complaints were many names which Cliff would not know, but she spoke so unclearly that many could not be discerned. The streaming sunlight of the outside world was a welcome sight to all of them. Larr placed the torch in a large, specially-placed ceramic jug. They climbed a small slope and emerged into the blinding white. After adjusting, it became evident that they were standing beneath a high cliff with sprawling trees before them. Behind the miniature forest were fields. A sparkling river went from their right and trailed off into the distant left view, cutting through a massive grassy field. Behind that were powerful mountains, seemingly sheltering the valley from every angle, though they only had about 180 degrees of view, if that. 

"It's another couple hours until we reach Gondarash at most," Larr said. "I hope you're not very hungry, because we only brought this." He reached into a bag which was hanging from his waist and pulled out a small loaf which seemed dotted with herbs and fruits or something similar. It was enough for a small meal for one person. "But I'm not hungry, so you can have it." He handed it to Cliff. 

"Larr! What if I'm hungry?" Joy said. 

"But you ate the other half of it," Larr said, smiling wryly. He looked at Cliff. "Don't worry, it's not poisonous or anything." He reached out and broke a fragment off, and then popped it in a mouth. "See?" he said, with the bread inside one cheek.

They both stopped and watched Cliff when he stopped. Joy seemed ready to pounce on him if he tried to run, but Larr just seemed concerned. The trees around them were tall and strong; a peculiar blend of bright conifers and what seemed to be oak trees. The undergrowth was mostly leaves and sticks, but there were large bushes and lush bundles of tangling branches. 

"Hey, he's got no shoes," Larr pointed out. "Did you step on something?" 

He forced Cliff to a halt and Joy sighed and folded her arms across her chest. Larr sat on a stone and tugged off his own shoes, which actually seemed very well made; tall, sturdy boots made of studded leather and painted with red lines around the top. He tossed them on the ground before Cliff and stood up, shifting his feet in the soil and leaves. 

"I don't need 'em," he assured the other boy. "Not for such a short walk, anyway. Come on, let's keep moving. We'll get there after dark at this rate." 

He took the lead again. The forest was small in comparison to others which were visible from the bottom of the cliff but it was large enough to be able to get lost in for at least a couple of hours. Larr seemed to be heading south constantly, which was clear due to the sun -- apparently the afternoon sun -- being on his left. Eventually the forest began to thin out a little, and there were clearings off soft grass, glowing green in the sunlight. Larr stopped at one of them. 

"Either of you want to take a break?"

Joy dropped to the grass and lay on her back, resting immediately.

Larr smiled and dropped himself beside Cliff. There was another bag strung over his shoulder, and there was a long capsule attached to the back, like a quiver. He pulled it around, undid the cap, and drew out a parchment. On unfolding, it could be seen that it was a map. Joy's eyes widened when she saw Larr show Cliff the map but she said nothing. 

"This is a map of our valley. We're in here," Larr said, pointing to a collection of squiggles that supposedly represented trees, just to the right of the word "Gondarash". Just above where he pointed was a line -- possibly a cliff -- and it had numerous indents which could have been cave entrances. Larr didn't point out anything else, but simply let Cliff observe the map for a few more moments. It could be calculated, however, how long it would take to reach the only visible way out of the valley; a river to the southeast. If it took two hours through forest to reach Gondarash, it would take several times longer to reach that corner of the map... possibly between seven and nine hours. 

"We only have two maps," Larr said as he rolled it back up and placed it back in its case. "One is here and one is at Gondarash. Soon we'll see the river and then we can cross Salleg Bridge. Just as a warning, not many people will like you coming into our community. Just assure them you didn't come out of the water and they won't throw you off the Rains... I hope." He forced a smile and looked up to see Joy standing near the edge of the clearing, staring into the forest.

"Oh, I mean... The water in that cave, it's called blue water. It's special because the roots of that big tree on the map enter the water. So it's different. It flows into the river near hear. I doubt they'd let you drink blue water, which means you need to get your water from the mottorn river. I mean, not you as in you, 'cos we already have some mottorn water in our camp. But that's what you need to drink. I guess you're lucky we have some, huh?"

Larr shut himself up and kept watching Joy. She slowly walked around the edge of the clearing, as though hunting something. Eventually she approached the two boys. 

"Can we get moving now?" she asked. "Arka is gonna wonder where we are soon."

"Arka always wonders. That's his job." Larr stood. "But yeah let's get moving again." 

-------------------------------

The term 'village' was an overstatement. With the lake to its left, trees to its right, and a small field between it and the three children, it was more a gathering of homes; a settlement. Larr stopped and explained the buildings from a distance. The largest and longest was more like a giant tent, and that was the commons, where they gathered and eat. Beside that were two huts used for storage. There were three other tents; one for the oldest boys, one for the oldest girls, and another for the youngest. As well as this, there were several other tents, but they were being aired out apparently. And that was it, as there were only a dozen citizens of Gondarash. 

"Oh! What's your name?" Larr asked Cliff. "You didn't tell us before. They definitely won't trust you if you haven't told us your name after all this time."

Larr's eyes showed confusion more than disbelief. He curled his lip at the foreign names Cliff was throwing at him, and didn't seem to recognise any of them. Thinking the boy may have hit his head, he said nothing about it. Then he, too, turned to see someone approach them. It was another boy, visibly older than Larr and much taller than all of them. He had black hair and dark clothing, and locked his gaze onto Cliff with intimidating fierceness. He stopped a short way before them and then looked at Larr. 

"I was just told to go and look for you," the boy said. 

"Yeah, sorry, we came across... something. This boy. His name is Cliff. We found him in the cave," Larr said. The other boy didn't seem very convinced. 

"Did he come from the water?" the boy asked. 

"No," Larr said quickly. "And he didn't drink it. I'm sure." Joy crossed her arms but said nothing. The tall boy glanced at Cliff again and then turned around. "Tell him, Cliff," Larr said. "Tell him you didn't come from the water."