ASRAN SERIES- ACROSS THE BORDER

Chapter - 26

Sussan then helped Brenda wash her eyes and ears after handing her paddle to David.

David continued to row the boat while checking the surrounding area near the stream. It all looked plush green even though the water was piping hot a few minutes ago.

He somehow felt that the location seemed different compared to earlier. He soon came to know that they had left the ‘Secare’ forest and entered some other place. He tried to row the boat to the shore to see what was on the other side.

When Sussan looked around her, she shook her head in disappointment. She now realized that they had been brought even further away from her kids.

The stream right away disappeared, once the boat hit the edge of the water body and reached the shore. They all got dropped down along with the Dinghy at once. The place around them was completely covered in red as if it was spilled with blood everywhere.

“David, did you notice? We moved further away from our kids. I am afraid if we will ever see our kids again?” Sussan said with tears spread across her face.

David hugged Sussan and tried to console her but words just would not come out of his mouth. How much ever he tried, he could not bring himself to give Sussan a false hope. He already knew that it was nearly impossible to cross the border right now. 

Especially, after he was warned by his sister to not enter the border as it would only mean that they would lose their life.

....

“Do you need my help? I could help you with whatever you want but... only if you allow me to help,” A small voice said from the other corner of the cage where the kids were locked.

Everyone turned around and stared at the person who just spoke. The young girl crawled near them on all four with her hair hiding her face.

"Don't tell me... You are the Yunacel, the old witch was referring to earlier," Robert exclaimed in a low voice as he almost lost all of his physical strength.

As ‘Yunacel’ are known for their beauty, they could not believe the one in front of them. She was crawling close to them which made the kids move even further away from where they were sitting.

“I can help you”, The girl spoke again and tried to look in between her hair locks.

As she noticed their hesitation, she stopped crawling anymore and kept on looking at them in between her fallen hair with expectation. She was confused about whether she needed to go ahead or stop where she was right now.

Her shabby clothes and her hidden face behind her long overgrown, unkempt hair made Elly screech in horror and she immediately went behind Robert to hide from her.

But Peter walked towards the ‘Yunacel’ without any fear and asked her, “Are you sure you can help my friends get better?”

"Yes, I can. If not, then I promise to give one of my life, in case I fail." She declared. 

Peter looked at the young girl in front of him without blinking his eyes. He found something attractive about her. So, after hearing her say that she would give one of her life, he at once said,

"No... You do not have to. But if you are confident that you can get my friends together before the next attack, then, please help us... I trust you."

Robert was shocked when he heard that. Peter was not someone who would place his trust on just anybody. So, he was completely rendered speechless after hearing him say that to a strange girl who was a 'Yunacel'.

Before he moved any further towards Nameless, the young girl thought to introduce herself to the people inside the cage.

“My name is Nina. I am the daughter of Nigin and Gina. I swear on my dead parents that I could cure them hundred percent if not I will lose one of my life,” Nina proclaimed in a serious tone and she stood up from the rough surface.

When she stood next to Peter, she did not even reach his shoulder level but the way she spoke made the atmosphere turn heavy. Her voice had some soothing tone but also gave a Royal feeling to him.

After hearing her announcement, they all laughed at what she said and even Elly came out from her hiding place. She then extended her hands to hold Nina’s arm and even pulled her towards Robert.

"We trust you too. Since my brother trusts you, I am also going to place my faith in you to cure our friends. Also, even if you cannot, we won't blame you and you don't have to give your life. My mother had always told me that even if you have a thousand lives to live, live each of your life to the fullest and with no regret. Also, do not throw away your life for anyone so easily as it's one of the most precious things you have." Elly said to her.

Nina smiled but then no one could see it as her face was hidden behind her bushy hair. She took a small magical horn out from her pocket and blew it. In a few seconds, several hundreds of miniature figurines marched from the small window next to the cage and stood in straight lines.

She then made different horn sounds which made the miniature figurines nod their heads and marched towards Nameless. But before they could reach him, they were all pushed backward by some unknown force.

“Your friend is hiding something inside his pocket. Ask him to take it out and throw it aside,” Nina said while looking at Peter.

Robert pulled both his pockets inside out to indicate that he had nothing on him.

“Not you but the other one,” Nina said and pointed at Nameless.

Robert with great difficulty slowly moved towards Nameless and put his hand inside his left pocket. He did not find anything inside the pocket. 

"Oh! I recall now! I saw the yellow cloth that our mom used to have inside Nameless's pocket," Elly ran towards Nameless and pulled out the yellow cloth. She then handed it to Nina but she did not take it in her hands.

“You, who stand tall like a tree, come and pick it up from her,” Nina pointed at Peter and ordered him.

“I am not YOU! My name is Peter and I don’t like people ordering me. If you could request then I may think about it”, Peter said coldly and made everyone look at him in awe.

As Nina did not speak again, he stomped his feet once and took up the yellow cloth from Elly's hand. At that time, Nameless opened his eyes and extended his hand towards the yellow cloth. He struggled to get it back from Peter’s hand but he couldn’t even lift his hand enough to touch it. 

“Do not stress yourself. My Minia’s will try to put you both together. So I want everyone here to stay far away from the twins,” After saying that Nina took out the horn once again and blew a few more different tunes.

As per her commands, the Minia’s made Robert and Nameless lie down next to each other. Then they started drawing circles around them at lightning speed. Nina said a few words in some unknown language that Peter could not understand and made a blank face.

Robert and Nameless got lifted high in the air and they started rotating around themself. At one point, no one could see them other than strong wind circling the area where they once saw the twins.

Peter wanted to move forward and make sure that Robert and Nameless were okay. But Elly held his hand tightly and stopped him. When he looked at Elly, she shook her head and pulled him down into a kneeling position. Peter looked confused and wanted to ask her, 'what’s wrong?' 

But Elly put her fingers on her lips and shushed him. Peter rolled his eyes at her and wondered, 'what secrets is she hiding now?' 

As he could not understand what was going on around him anymore, he just laid on the ground and looked at the circling wind above his head. He missed talking to Robert as he would know everything that's happening right now and even explain it to him.

Once the spinning stopped above their head, Robert's body alone hung in the air and then was brought down by Nina. Nina made the Minia’s to make a ‘Cowa tree’ leaf bed and made him lie down on it.