Eclipsed by Fate

CHAPTER 2

The wind whistled as the trees and they seemed to stir with the sound of a figure walking towards them. Selene felt her heart skip a beat, all her raw senses told her to flee, but she couldn’t. Not yet. Not when everything was on the edge of falling apart.

Marcus and Ronan flanked her, both looking ready for whatever was going to happen next. She could sense their stares and though the danger was coming from the arrival of the council, any tension between them had to be put aside for now. For now, they were one because their objective was to survive.

“They’re getting closer,” Ronan whispered, his eyes narrowing, checking the trees line. “We need to move. Now.”

“Where?” Selene replied angrily, “I don’t know, okay?” “They’re hunting me. There’s no escape.”

Marcus moved forward and his face was clearly contorted with anger. “I know a place. There is a trail which goes far into the hills which is not seen by the naked eye. “It will be safe from them there,” she said.

Selene looked at him, considering his statements. Could she trust him? The man who was a loyal warrior of the council is now the one giving her shelter looked too suspicious. However, what option did she have? The council’s enforcers were cruel and if Ronan despised her, he would not stand a chance if they were caught.

“Okay,” she replied, her tone very determined. “Lead the way.”

Marcus nodded and with a look at Ronan they ran into the forest, their footsteps barely audible. The silence was suffocating, the distant barking of the council’s hunters getting louder every minute that passed.

They hooked into a run and Lyra had difficulty following him, her breath short and quick. Selene began to walk slower and she decided to stop helping her friend and join her.

“Are you okay?” Selene asked, concern finally sneaking through the adrenaline.

Lyra looked at him with large, frightened pale eyes and nodded her head slowly, and weakly. “I had another vision… about the council. They’re not just coming for you, Selene. Thus, there is something else—something darker.”

Selene’s heart leap but she had no chance to ask anything. She looked forward at Marcus and Ronan who were struggling through the trees, their outlines barely discernible in the twilight. However much Lyra saw as darkness, Selene understood that it was only a matter of time before it hit them.

Marcus stopped after what seemed like hours of running to him and was now standing in front of a large rock formation. He pointed at a thin slit to the side of the pile of stones.

“This way,” he whispered to her. It is narrow here but it widens over there.” The council will not consider searching for us in the caves.”

Ronan glared at Marcus and said, ‘You know what?’ “How do we know this isn’t some trap you’ve set?” You have been a stout supporter of the council for many years. What have you got now that sets you apart from others?

Marcus’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t wince. “I’m not your enemy, Ronan. And right now, we don’t have time for this. If you want to survive, try listening to me.”

The two men looked at one another for a moment, the hatred between them as thick as molasses. Before Ronan could answer, a faint, but nearer howl rose, cutting through the night and the rustle of the trees. Its enforcers were the council’s.

“We don’t have a choice,” Selene said, getting between them. “We go.”

Not waiting for a reply, she elbowed Marcus aside and squeezed between the two large stones. The others went in similarly, the voices of their hunters rising as the four faded into the blackness of the cave.

Inside was dark, chilly, and musty, and a corridor expanded into a cave. The darkness continued to surround them, lit only by the light of the moon which was coming through the gaps in the ceiling. Selene leaned against the chilly wall, and she attempted to breathe deeply. She could not help but map a thousand ideas in her head – Lyra’s vision, Marcus’s conversion, Ronan’s hatred. But the most pressing question gnawed at her: What are the council really after?

“We cannot sit here for long,” whispered Marcus. “They will look for the area shortly.”

Ronan spoke suddenly, commanding the still air around them. “Why should we listen to you? We do not know whether you are leading us to a trap or not,”

Selene sighed, getting tired with all the action she has been into lately, it is starting to take its toll on her. “Enough, Ronan. We cannot afford to be fighting each other. If Marcus was going to betray us he would have done it by now.”

Ronan scowled, but said nothing. For now, they were united by an imperative, if no other thing could bring them together.

The sight made Lyra shiver and she moved closer to Selene. “I think you’d better hear the truth,” she told me softly, and her hands trembled. ‘The prophecy – it’s not what we thought.’ The council doesn’t just want to control you. They want to use you, Selene. You are the key to something far greater than being the Alpha Queen.

Selene’s blood ran cold. “What do you mean?”

Lyra pause for a moment before she said anything. The council is aware of your father’s death but the details surrounding it, they are keeping from you. Shadowvale doesn’t know you have an old source of power, but there’s a feeling they think you do too.”

Selene had the feeling that her heart was going to pop out of her chest. She had always thought there was more to her father’s death, but this – this was something much worse.

Standing by the entrance, Marcus looked at them and stepped towards them. “We have to continue,” he stated tightly.

“If the council wants that power they will go to any length to achieve it.”

Before Selene could respond the sound of footsteps filled the air and were getting louder.

“We have been located,” Ronan said through clenched teeth with his eyes turning red.

Selene’s heart raced. There was no way out but to fight or perish.