Sixteen

Barque stepped up his pace as Ember reached his side.
"I know what you're thinking," he called back to her, as Princess coiled herself behind his back to add on an extra glare.
"But it's not going to work," he continued.
"You're wrong," Ember grunted, struggling to keep up.
"Then why are you trying to stick so close?" he countered.
Ember nearly stopped to let him continue by himself. She did slow a bit, asking herself why indeed was she hurrying to stay with him, rather than linger behind with the more compatible Edeline and Baudry. Maybe he was right, that she was more interested in following his movements up closes, to get a feel for the way he moved and acted and reacted as he made his way through the trees. Her interactions with him in the past had been limited to last minute lunges, when she'd jumped on her intuitions and rushed to prevent him from scoring. She had to admit, to herself if not to anyone else, that there had been many more times when she'd done the same thing and he hadn't been there, nor had any other Striker. Her saves were well-known. Her false alarms were a secret.
It wasn't easy being a Savior, always having to guess where the action might come from, constantly scanning the field to account for the players, the goals and balls in play. Even now she was reviewing the scenes in her mind as she hastened along toward the lake. She let Barque go on but tried to keep him in sight, at the same time trying to remain accountable to the others. She'd attempted to get the team to agree on a series of signals, sounds they could make to keep each other informed of their movements and whereabouts. Baudry was in on the plan, but Barque had only grudgingly accepted the idea and she didn't believe he would ever follow through. She gave it a try, emitting a short bursty shout, and heard Baudry's response, but not Barque's. Fortunately she could still see him ahead in the scrub.
They were nearing the lake. Here the land was more given to small hills and valleys, the trees had thinned out so there were broader vistas of sky. Gurgling creeks could be heard and songbirds were plentiful nearby. Ember had been to the lake many times. It was a decent sized body of water, large enough that swimming across would be out of the question for most. An athlete like Barque might attempt it, but otherwise most people went out on rafts, or some on rough hand-made canoes. For some reason it seemed to rain all the time in that area, and so not many people decided to live there. It was more of a vacation-type spot. You might go to swim or paddle about and try to catch one of the very rare fish. Ember had seen a fish only once, and that was so long ago, back in the days when she and her grandmother traveled together, before The Hidden One could no longer move, and decided to plant herself underground.
Hearing Baudry's response, Ember knew she could count on him to keep up, so she ran up ahead and caught up to Barque once again. This time he didn't shake her off. There was something he wanted to ask her.
"What do you know about Watchers?" he said, to Ember's surprise.
"Watchers?" she asked.
"I thought so," he said. "You don't know everything, do you?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Watchers," he repeated himself. "A small band of creatures - I suppose they are people - that follow and listen from high in the trees."
"Follow who?" Ember asked, "and listen to what? You mean demon-gossips?"
"No," Barque replied. "Not demon-gossips. Watchers, I told you. They're some of them now right above us, but you're blind to their presence, I'll bet."
"If they're not in the game," Ember shrugged, glancing up at the trees but not seeing anyone up there.
"What I want to know," Barque went on, "is what game they ARE in. It's somebody's game, I would bet. I could catch one," he said with a smile, and with that he came to a stop, whispered something to Princess, who reluctantly slid down his side and coiled up in the ground. Then, with a sudden leap, Barque was up in the trees, scaling high without making a sound. Ember stood looking up as he vanished.
"He's a shifty one," she thought and for a moment was certain she heard Princess voicing agreement from behind her.
Less than a minute later, Barque dropped from the sky, carrying a small child over his shoulder. He hadn't caught Squee, but Soma, who hadn't reacted quickly enough to his warnings. Soma was struggling, trying to break free, but Barque held her fast, even as he landed and hoisted her onto the ground. He kept hold of her arms as she squirmed. The two little girls faced each other. Ember and Soma could have been twins, with their dirty blond hair and their pale blue eyes, their rough scabbed brown faces and slender fit forms. The main difference between them was the glitter that sparkled upon Soma's forehead and shoulders.
"You his boss?" Soma asked rudely to Barque's consternation.
"How come I don't know you?" Ember said. She hadn't meant it to come out like that.
"Why should you?" Soma scoffed. "I don't know you, either."
"What's her name?" Barque demanded of Soma, who, before she could help herself, blurted out,
"Ember."
"So you do know me?" Ember said, taking a step towards the girl, who squirmed even more.
"Let me go," she ordered Barque, who didn't reply but tightened his grip.
"Why are you following us?" Ember wanted to know.
"Just because," Soma said. She had hit on a plan, and relaxed just a bit. Soma remembered what Squee had once told her, if she ever got caught, what to say, that some people didn't like to be spied on.
"It's fun," she went on. "Me and my friends like to play it. We call ourselves Watchers."
"Fun?" Barque snickered. "More like sneaky."
"Sneaky is fun," Soma twisted her head to inform him. "We try to see who can do best."
"Guess you lose," Barque said snidely. Soma shrugged.
"It isn't important," she told him. "It's just a game."
"I don't believe you," Barque said. "Who is your leader?"
"Leader?" she replied. "Who needs one?"
"What's your name?" Ember put in, and Soma turned back to her.
"Soma," she told her the truth.
"How long have you been here?"
Soma shrugged. Time had no meaning for her. Ember and Soma stared at each other. Soma was no longer struggling, and Ember decided there was nothing to gain from further discussion.
"You were right," she told Barque. "I didn't know about Watchers." She gestured at him to let her go, and for a moment he seemed puzzled, then decided the same for himself. He released his grip on her arms, and in a flash, Soma was gone. Just then Baudry and Edeline caught up to the others.
"Who was that?" Baudry asked.
"A Watcher," Barque told him.
"Oh yes, little Soma," he said. "I thought that was her."
Barque and Ember gaped at the old man.
"You know her?" they both said in unison.
"Sure," Baudry said, "She's a good one. They aren't all good. Some of them like to play tricks, and some will do anything to get a gold star."
"What are you talking about?"
"What gold stars?"
"From their uncle Bumbarta," Baudry explained. "That's what they call him. I knew him as Gowdy back in the day."
"Gowdy the writer?" Ember asked.
"That's the one," Baudry said. "Goes by Bumbarta these days. The Watchers feed him stories. That's what I hear. They feel sorry for him. He can't make them up anymore for himself."
"Like you and your music?" Edeline asked. Baudry smiled shyly.
"Kind of," he admitted. "Maybe so," he continued, after a moment.
"Well, that's all very curious," Ember declared, "but it doesn't have anything to do with our task. Let's get going. We should be at the lake in an hour or so."
They set off again, after Princess had reclaimed her rightful position around Barque's neck. They couldn't have known that Soma would get there first, or that her 'uncle' would be nervously awaiting their arrival.