The Journey: Chapter 5

 

    I observed a lot of waving around of arms over where Danicio was. I smirked to myself at the sight of Danicio, knowing in the back of my mind that my behavior was childish. I was still hurting over what happened to Gramama, and I just needed to lash out.

    Silverleaf held up a hand to stop him and softly inquired something. Danicio stood still, frozen. After a few minutes of listening to Silverleaf talk, he stomped off toward the horses and began to groom Swift. To ensure that my victory was complete, I moved myself to the inner fire circle and began mending one of Talut's tunics. Silverleaf gave a swift look but didn't comment. Talut had just watched the whole thing grinning.

    When Silverleaf passed out dinner, Danicio started back toward the fire, but stopped, seeing me there. I gave him a raised-eyebrow glance, and Danicio balled his fists and retreated to the horses. Silverleaf sighed and walked over to give Danicio his food. Talut roared with laughter, while I sat primly in my seat, delighted in the sour taste of victory.

    Later at night, I was still in the fire circle, wrapped in one of Danicio's old cloaks, staring sleepily into the fire. Danicio was still steaming over at the horses. I heard a soft pad of feet and looked up to see Silverleaf standing over me. He sat down beside me. “Care to talk?”

    “Um, sure.” I began to get nervous. Even though I could best Talut and Danicio at witty responses, Silverleaf was someone whom I never wanted to find myself in a verbal battle with.

    “So, do you mind explaining to me what that was all about?” Silverleaf's forest-green eyes held mine steadily, and I dropped my eyes in guilt.

    “What what was about?” I replied, fixing my eyes on a pair of interesting ants scurrying around in the dirt.

    Silverleaf's voice became stern. “Tyra, don't play games with me.”

    I concentrated on the ants. They seem to have no sense of direction whatsoever, just scampering about every which way in search for food. “Oh, you mean what happened between me and Danicio?”

    “Exactly. Care to explain?”

    “Well, he wouldn't tell me what was going on, and I wanted to know,” I said, wincing at how childish that sounded.

    “Is that all?” Silverleaf asked quietly. I hesitated, then nodded. Silverleaf raised an eyebrow. “So only childish reasons?” I winced again.

    “But its not fair!” I argued.

    “Why?”

    “Because I want to know what's going on! I'm not going to follow you around blindly without some idea what's going on!”

    Silverleaf sighed. “Have you ever considered the fact that Danicio doesn't simply want to tell you, but that he can't?”

    Surprised, I asked, “What?”

    “Danicio is under orders not to tell anyone outside of the Order of the Golden Arch anything revealing the movement of the enemy, and what Intelligence reports have said about certain people throughout the land,” Silverleaf said quietly.

    My mind whirled. “Oh,” I said slowly as somethings clicked into place. “And you and Talut are also in this Order of the Golden Arch?”

    “That is for me to know, and me only,” Silverleaf replied. “Now, do you believe your behavior was irrational?”

    “Yes,” I muttered.

    “And that you owe Danicio an apology?”

    “Yes.”

    “And you will stop and think before you cause anymore uproar in this camp? Everything is not as it seems here, after all.” Silverleaf's piercing eyes urgently tried to tell me something, something important. I felt puzzled, not exactly knowing what he meant. I would later, though.

    “Yes,” I finally said, reluctantly.

    “Don't make promises you can't keep.” He smiled suddenly, and I gaped at him.

    “You set me up for that one!”

    He shrugged and walked away to sit beside Talut. I grimaced as I remembered my vow never to get into a verbal battle with Silverleaf, for he will always best me and make me seem like a fool.