Chaos

Chapter 5 : The Beauty in Hitch-hiking

Leaves from the nearby bushes and trees rustle and sway harshly forward by a sudden wind passing by. Blurred figures of people and different shades of brown silhouettes run with an agility not known to men through the woods, twigs snapping beneath their feet.

"We're halfway there. Hurry! Before the dragons take off" a familiar redhead commanded the others through the mind-link.

Two wolves joined the platoon from their left. "Scouts, anything?" their leader asked as they blended into the group.

"No sir, the dragons are far behind but, it won't be long before they surpass us" one alerted.

"What about the demons? Sorcerers?" Darius further questioned.

"The sorcerers were deployed to start furthest to the left, sir. We weren't able to sense them. We could have gone and covered more distance but there was the risk of meeting head on with the demons" the same soldier reported.

"About the demons sir." the other scout started. "They seem to be headed off course and they're putting distance between us. If this continues, we'd lose track of their location and the demons and the sorcerers will be crossing paths soon"

"That will prove beneficial to us and give us a lead. The faster we finish this off, the better. Don't forget our actual objective" Darius reminded with a grin, somewhat satisfied with the news. "Keep your guards up to an ambush and noses in the air. Report as soon as anyone not of our race is detected"

"Sir the dragons are catching up. They'll be overtaking us in about a mile" a wolf at the back gave out a warning.

"Perfect. Pick up the pace soldiers. The ones who can't make it will be left behind and the ones left behind will work according to plan. Get rid of any nuisances that you come across and the stealthiest three go and back up Max and Adrian. The rest stay guard here and try to block the others from getting their eggs into the manor. But remeber not to run into your own deaths. Let them pass if you're at a disadvantage. We don't need unnecessary deaths reducing our manpower when there are three more tasks left" he barked out the orders as the group of 30 ascended towards the highest peak of the mountain range up ahead.

The heavy flapping sound of wings emerged from behind and drew closer within a short while. The branches from the trees bend even further from the force of the wind as if a storm was brewing in the area. Dark shadows befall the place like clouds in a thunderstorm as they reached the highest point.

"Jump!" Darius shouted out loudly, haste in his voice as he did the same. Every joint and bone in his body cracked as he shifted to his human form mid-air before he grabbed a hold of a dragon's hind limb. His free hand caught one of his teammate's who missed the timing a split second too late, dangling by a thread and threw him over onto the back of the dragon's before he himself climbed up with a grunt.

"Alright let's do this" Darius got up from his crouched down position, ready to fight off whoever was on the dragon.

"Um...sir? We have a situation" Romulus, the wolf whom he helped to get on said meekly.

Darius looked around to see roughly about 12 of them made it onboard which was just about what he bargained for. The problem was, there was no one else.

"The tamers are missing" the young boy stated the obvious.

"I have eyes, Romulus. I can see that" Darius breathed out heavily, getting his thoughts together. "The situation is that there is no situation. Dammit. Where're the other two dragons? Did anyone get on them?" he demanded an answer.

"No sir. The other two were far out of reach to jump onto. And they flew away, heading East while we were m.hitch-hicking"

"Hitc- no. One, East is where the cave is and the dragon we're on is heading North which is in the wrong direction. And two, it's called getting a lift. We're all headed to the same destination" Darius snapped in frustration.

Vibrations rattle from underneath their feet as a low growl resonated. They crouched down on all fours and wedged their fingers into the back scales as the beast took a dive.

"What the hell is it doing?" Darius yelled over the howling wind as they fell at a lightning speed.

"Sir?!! We do have a situation of getting stuck on a four-legged, wild creature with wings which has got no tamers in sight and the potential risk of falling to our death" Romulus screamed at the top of his lungs.

Kid, watch who you're talking to" the older one snapped with gritted teeth, an arm blocking the front of his face in an attempt to break the force of the wind.

He was thrown back suddenly and felt as if someone punched the air out of him as the dragon halted abruptly with one final swing of his wings, making the trees just several furlongs under bend outwards in ripples.

(A/N : 8 furlongs = 1 mile)

"Is everyone alright?" Darius sat up and glanced around to access the state they were in. A few 'alright's and grunts sounded from his troops, some having bruises and minor concussions from the unanticipated turn in direction.

The expressions of a couple of uninjured facing his way turned to horror as someone whispered into is ear.

"Boo"

Darius did a 180 turn and jumped a few step backs, snarling at whoever was standing behind him. His face turned into that of a suprise when he found out the identity of the person.

"Medeis" he hissed, his eyebrows knotted into a frown and glared with wariness. "How the hell are you here?"

"You could've started with a thank you but uh, my mistake for even expecting it. Anyhow", Raidan straighten his posture and snapped his fingers. "It's 'how the hell are 'we' here' ".

A dozen more people appeared out of thin air one after another. The shapeshifters sprawled about on the back of the dragon scrambled up in alarm, ready to attack the new faces.

If the tension in the air between the two could be cut with a knife, a person could suffocate from it right at that moment. No one dared to move an inch. The two sides observed another's movements, one waiting for the other to make the first move.

"Hold your horses. I'm here to offer you the same deal from before" Raidan raised his hands up, in an attempt to show that he meant no threat.

"And why would I change my mind now? Last time I checked, you wanted to stab a hole through my heart" a growl emitted from his throat.

"Oh I'm sorry, did you misinterpret something?" he chuckled mockingly. "I'm not interested in boys in the first place, let alone breaking your heart"

Darius stared at him and the nerves he had in disbelief.

"Alright, speaking seriously?" Raidan rolled his eyes and smirked. "I changed my mind. I still do want to stab that silver into your heart and twist it soooo bad. But we've got bigger problems. We're outnumbered. The tamers will be waiting at the cave. Although they're only human, they've still got more people, plus two dragons. We've got to add up the two dozens we got to even it out".

"I thought you were taming this one" Darius patted the scales of the dragon twice. They were now back, high in the air and flying to the East at a steady speed.

"Just a bit of a spell work. She'll come around when a tamer gets the control back. Maintaining the spell takes too much energy and I'm just barely keeping her going so don't expect me to lead her in battle" Raidan closed his eyes in concentration, pressing his palm against the neck of the dragon, strengthening the hypnosis and accelerating the speed.

"And how do I know you're not playing your dirty little tricks? For all I know, you're not the most trustable person and will try to stab our back every chance you've got" Darius raised an eyebrow in skepticism.

"Now that's the fun part" the blue haired boy grinned and cracked his eyes open in a slit, glancing at Darius from the corner of his eyes. "You don't. Life is all about taking risks. And if you think about it carefully, I'm in the driver's seat. You need me to get there in time. Besides if we were to brawl right now, who'd you think would win? Your soldiers would take at least two hours to fully heal even with your regenerating skills. I say you'd benefit better from this. So, what do you say? Truce?" he extended his hand out.

Darius checked his people one more time to see a lot of them struggling to stand straight. As much as he'd hate to admit, what Raidan said was true. Clenching his teeth hard and swallowing his pride down, he advanced a few strides forward and gripped his hand tight.

"Truce. Just until we get the dragons out of the way" he threatened, staring straight into Raidan's eyes.

"Deal. Now that's cleared and sorted out, why don't you tell your lot to sit back and, you know? Relax. Enjoy the journey. The scenery is beautiful" he sat down, leaned back with the support of his hands and threw his head back lazily, squinting his eyes occasionally when the sun rays hit his face through the cracks in the clouds.

Darius glimpsed at his soldiers who were still waiting for an order, expecting to start the attack. He motioned with his head for them to stay at ease and although they'd dropped their defensive stance, many were unsure about how to proceed next, glancing around with questioning looks and uncertainty on their leader's decision.

He sighed, defeated and sat down at an arm's length from Raidan, leaving them to their own thoughts. The wind racked threw his scruffy red hair, making it even messier than before. Strings and sections falling onto his face, meddling with his vision and tickling his senses.

Yet, the view from atop was never less magical. Thin mists still amass in the low of the valleys although noon was drawing closer, hovering over the flowing rivers dancing from one curve around a mountain to another as if searching for a path out of the maze into the open. Sometimes it splits into two when a mountain comes directly into its path and after it passes, the two streams seem to find their ways back to each other at the further end. But, it doesn't always turn out that way. At other times, a fork may choose a different path or another river from somewhere else might join in forming a confluence. Rarely, a waterfall will take a vertical dive, forming a pool at the bottom before it joins one of the branches. Droplets of water escaping the fall hit the path of the sun and color the air into a rainbow, adding life and decorating the endless green. Nevertheless, at some point sooner or later, even from different locations they all flow into a single water body. In this case, a still-water lake.

"You got out-smarted by the kid huh?" Raidan snickered.

"What do you mean?" Darius said, confused.

"The vacant ride? Why else would they leave a whole dragon with no tamers on it and made it fly closer to the mountain peak than the others?" Raidan said in a 'as a matter of fact" tone.

"I thought-"

"You thought we fought off the tamers and seized the space? I appreciate how you think highly of me but as much as I hate to say it, you and me had the same idea. All we did was a little teleportation spell to get here and a cloaking spell" Raidan cut in, not letting him finish his sentence.

"Why not just teleport to the cave?" Darius questioned.

"Yea. How about you go there, draw one of the twin circles for teleportation for me?" he replied sarcastically.

"If you could only teleport circle to circle, how are you on the dragon?"

"The dragons landed at the manor the day before the test" Raidan's eyes glistened with humor giving Darius a knowing look.

"You.....drew the circle on a dragon that day?" Darius cringed.

"Took a whole lot of sneaking around. These big boys are sharp" he grinned smugly pointing down at the dragon.

"And look where that took you. You got out-smarted by the kid, all the same" Darius seemed satisfied he was not the only one.

"Oh shut up. That makes the two of us" he grumbled clearly unamused and changed his focus, watching the scenery shifted.

After the harsh ups and downs of the steep mountains where light snow had started to collect at the peaks, hills over hills of green grass ran to the horizon, bathing in the pastel yellow light of the afternoon sun.

"As I thought, I still prefer ours" Raidan chuckled softly. "Head a little off further East from the cave and there's the beach. The main dock is bustling and crowded with fishermans, sailors and rows of anchored ships. Then there's the ocean" he has a full blown grin on his face, quite the contrary from his usual smug looks. "And if you pass the border, the Islands of Crusiana. Home".

"Getting sentimental are we?" Darius stared at Raidan the whole time he talked as if he was a whole new person.

"Nah. Just a little homesick" Raidan replied in a way that made Darius confused if he was being genuine or not.

"Speaking of which, you sure do seem to know a lot about this territory. Been here before?" he pried, hoping to uncover something.

"Maybe. Maybe not" Raidan gazed off distantly to the far away place he called home.

For a straightforward person like himself, Raidan was like a book with mismatched pages. Just when he thought that he understood a sheet, the next page turned out to be a completely different story.

"The northern lights" Raidan's voice cut him off from his own trail of thoughts. It was already night before he even realized it. "You hardly see them from anywhere else".

Gradients of purple mixing into blue-green lights swril at just a reach out of their hands. Darius has seen them many times whenever he went for a run in the night to take things off his mind, but never this close. Nature is magic itself when one would just stop to admire the beauty it offers. Although the lights are misaligned and woobly, it doesn't make them any less alluring. There is exquisiteness in their flaws itself.

"We have them back at ours if you travel to the south enough" Darius caught Raidan looking at him weirdly after he talked. "It's called the southern lights back at ours but it's practically the same thing" he grumbled out an explanation.

Raidan snorted laughingly.

"Will o' wisps" he said after a while. The other boy looked at him in confusion.

"They're like our version of these lights. You'll see them guiding you when they feel like it at our islands. Follow them whenever you're lost. If they even appear for you at all" he snickered, returning back to his egotistical self.

Darius rolled his eyes at Raidan's snarky behaviour which by now, he had grown familiar to. He looked over his shoulder to see Romulus and all the others sleeping soundly as him and Raidan stand guard, against anything else and one another.

"Why don't we get some sleep? It's a long day ahead tomorrow. Promise I won't kick you off" Raidan flashed his pearly whites, coaxing the person beside him to agree.

"Dream on. That sounds like something you'd do" Darius scoffed and heard a barely audible laugh in reply before everything falls into a comfortable silence.