The cascading curtain of cold water fell before me, hiding my refuge behind its hidden current. Many desire to live where I live, but this water is mine. The Wars of the Waters have raged for many years, bringing only more desolation to the land and drying up more water sources in its wake as the embittered defeated bombed the headwaters of the rivers, scattering them and often stopping the springs.

A figure passed in front of the fall, shadowed before my eyes and I watched with bated breath for any sign of recognition. My people know my callsign and will respond correctly when I issue my challenge. I called out the birdsong challenge and waited for the proper response.

Seconds ticked by as I waited, readying an arrow on my bowstring as the response took longer than I allowed. Silently, I drew back the string.

Again I whistled the cardinal’s alert song and waited for a response, but nothing came. The shadow grew closer to the fall and I could begin to distinguish legs and arms from the body. I aimed for a leg and waited for the person to pierce the falls, my hair beginning to stand on end. A wet face, followed my a shapely body entered my lair and I hesitated.

She scanned the dark chamber and her eyes lit on me as I drew down on her. She put her hands away from her body, indicating that she was unarmed, and I relaxed the bow. “This is my water,” I explained.

“I see that,” she replied, “but I needed shelter; there are men chasing me. Please just let me hide here and I will tell nobody of your water.”

“Okay,” I said, tentatively, “but once you have eluded them, you are leaving.”

“Deal.”

We sat and waited, watching for the shadows of her pursuers to appear on the watery curtain. After a long span, the two figures appeared as I expected and approached the falls. I drew back the bowstring again and targeted the leading figure, calling out the birdsong.

I waited and waited, not expecting an answer, but hoping nonetheless. None came, so I released my grip on the string, sending the missile through the water and striking the man, making making him stumble and fall. I readied another arrow and fired it at the second shadow, receiving a similar result.

I stood to reconnoiter the bodies and felt the cool touch of naked steel against my neck. Looking toward the woman who I had defended, I saw a new look in her eyes which unsettled me. “Why?” I asked.

“I need the water, and you were an easy solution to a problem I already had. Those men were actually chasing me, though not for the reasons I had you believe.”

I looked into her eyes and tried to see her motives while planning my next move. There was nothing but steely resolve and she seemed to have ice in her veins as she held me at the edge of her blade. I tightened my muscles for a burst of movement.

Now or never, I jerked myself away from her and started to run toward my own blade that leaned against the wall, unused.

I felt a separation in my back as she must have swung at me, and I collapsed in the floor. There was nothing pain as I lay there, but I could feel a warm liquid puddling around me as my vision began to tunnel and she entered the field of my vision to scold me for trying to fight back.

“You shouldn’t have done that. I didn’t want to kill you, but you left me no choice.” She raised up her long blade and I watched as she cut through the air before the blade bit into the flesh of my neck.