Born Enemies

Chapter Seven: Cel

Something was poking him in his lower back and a heavyweight pinned him down, shoving the unknown object further up his back as he lay sprawled on a hard, surprisingly soft surface. Cel shifted, his eyes flickering open as his hand feebly rose to shove the weight off his body. It didn't move. A groan scraped from his dried throat as he blinked his eyes into focus. He peered down the length of his body, his sight filled with black. His fingers explored the silky mass and recognising it as hair. The head lifted from where it lay on his stomach and Cel bit his tongue to hold back a curse as black eyes fluttered open to lock onto his. It was one of the barbarians, the tall, darkly tanned one with thick midnight black hair, who pinned him down with his weight. Most of it lay heavily on his lower body and legs. Getting a good look at his face, Cel was taken aback at how handsome he was. Even the long jagged scar that ran along his right jawline wasn't enough to smear his image. He had a wide, thin mouth that seemed like it did not know what a smile was. His nose was slender and straight and thick, straight, black brows adorned above his eyes, which were framed by thick, ink-black lashes.

"Can you get off of me now?" He seethed through gritted teeth, barely holding back a shudder of repulse at having a member of the warrior clan, who'd killed a lot of his own clan family, lying on top of him. The barbarian slowly levered himself off his body and he sighed in relief as his weight was no longer hurting his legs. Cel didn't wait for him to move aside and simply shoved him away, his body relaxing slightly as it was freed. He looked around their unfamiliar surroundings, his eyes landing on another body a few feet away from them. Judging by the black clothes he wore, he was the second barbarian. Cel breathed in both relief and sadness when he saw that none of his friends or Adam and his people made it through the rift. It was just him alone with two of his deadly enemies. As the first barbarian went off to check on his still unresponsive friend, Cel slowly pushed himself onto his feet, the world tilting slightly as pain sliced through his skull. He gripped his head, swaying unevenly on his feet as he waited for the pain to pass. "Is he alright?" he forced out as the pain began to gradually reduce enough for him to think. "Yeah, he just hit his head pretty good." Barbarian # 1 said. "Okay" Cel didn't offer his service, it wasn't his concern if he died or survived. He turned his attention to investigating their unfamiliar surroundings, hoping to see if at least one of the tents had followed them through the rift. None did. He cursed Adam and his damn followers. If they hadn't sprung that surprise attack on them, they could have been better prepared for the rift storm, and maybe they could have been able to make it together rather than be separated. Now he was stuck with his enemies. He turned to find that Barbarian 1 had succeeded in waking up his friend, which was a pity. If he had died, then he would only have to deal with one. Why did he have to grab a hold of him and drag him into the rift with them? Now they were stuck in an unknown realm with nothing to prepare them for the beings that inhabited it. "I think we should find shelter for now and gather our bearings, maybe come up with some plans." Barbarian # 1 said.

Cel hesitated, his eyes flickering between them both before he reluctantly nodded his head in agreement. He had no choice but to trust them. For now, they were all in this together, which meant that they had a greater chance of surviving this ordeal if they worked with each other. They picked a random direction and began to walk through the dense, unfamiliar forest where they had ladened. As they walked, the two barbarians spoke to each other in lowered voices. Cel was lost in thought as he tried to make sense of what and why the rift clouds arrived almost a month earlier than scheduled and why the council did not predict it happening. He glanced up, jerking slightly when he felt a hand brushing against his side to find Barbarian # 1 walking closer to him than he felt comfortable with. "What...?" he began to ask, but fell silent when he shook his head, his eyes scanning the dark shadows surrounding them. "Neil," his voice was barely above a whisper. "Fine." Confused, Cel watched the exchange in confused silence, then flinched when the only other guy he could assume to be 'Neil' appeared on his other hand, his left hand clutching the same-looking blade he held to his throat almost over a month ago. Cel jerked his heart, thumping wildly against his chest as a large hand suddenly pressed into his lower back. He stumbled, missing a step, but his hand quickly wrapped around his slender waist, preventing him from falling onto his face. "Stop jerking about," his whisper was nothing more than a breath in his ear as he was held tight against his side. "We're being followed." Cel was instantly tense, his head jerking to look around, but Barbarian # 1 squeezed his waist, silently telling him not to move. "Amara, there's a cave just up ahead," Barbarian # 2, also known as Neil, informed him in a strained whisper. "How far?" Amara, Barbarin # 1 asked. "About four yards. Cel was impressed. He couldn't see anything in the rapidly darkening forest. "Okay, take the lead. On a count of three, run straight for the cave. "

Cel had no idea what was going on and the barbarians weren't explaining s**t to him. "One," Neil didn't wait for him to get to two before he suddenly grabbed his hand and made a mad dash towards a cave only he could see. Shocked, Cel could barely keep up as he was dragged along, but when he heard branches breaking as the unknown stalker chased after them, he allowed himself to be dragged along, even doing his best to keep up. Whatever it was, it sounded big. The ground vibrated under their running feet as if there was an earthquake as Amara brought up the rear. His hand was planted frimly against his back, pushing him to run faster while also stabilizing him. They ran, dashing through the unfamiliar craven, their pursuers hot at their heels. "Neil!"

"Less than a yard away." Neil quickly pant back. Now, Cel could see the cave in question. It had a small entrance, barely enough to let a body through. Two steps, less than a step away, a hard, sudden shove sent him flying. He collided painfully into Niles's back, who tripped from the sudden blow and they both went down, falling through the entrance of the cave. Arms wrapped securely around his waist as they trembled and rolled over the hard ground before they slammed painfully into something hard which stopped their fall. He was still gathering his wits when another set of hands pulled him away from the ones that were holding him. "Are you alright?" The voice he recognized to be Amara's inquired almost frantically as hands ran over his body, checking for injuries. Cel pushed away from him and, after stumbling a few steps back, he collapsed onto the ground. "Stop touching me." He snapped, all that touching was seriously making him uncomfortable. "You could at least thank us for saving your ass," Neil snapped back.

"I never asked you to."

"Stop!" Amara ordered. His voice remained calm, only rising a couple of octaves above its normal level. "Like it or not, we're all stuck in this together. We can not fight with each other when we have no idea what's waiting for us beyond these walls of this cave. We're all enemies, but we are no longer in our realms, so for now we'll call a truce and work together to survive this and find a way out of this realm. "

He glared at his friend, his eyes softening a bit as they moved to lock on to Cel's dark honey-gold eyes. Cel reluctantly agreed and swallowed down his angry words.

Amara watched him a bit longer before he reluctantly looked away, his eyes sweeping across the cave. It was a decent size. "I've cloaked our presence and sealed the cave entrance. We're safe from outside danger, but we should check to see if any hidden mechanisms could conceal any hidden tunnels. Neil, you start from there and I'll start from here. We'll meet in the middle. " Without saying another word, they both went to the cave's entrance and began to work counterclockwise from each other. Cel watched them from his position on the ground, his eyes jumping between them as they worked. "I think we should get to know a little about each other if we're forced to live with each other for god knows how long." He suggested breaking the silence. When he got no response back from either of them, he took that as their agreement to his suggestion. "I'll go first." He volunteered. Again, there were no signs of disagreement. "Right so, my name is Cel," he began hesitantly. "I thought your name was Celestine." Amara cut in, confused. He didn't understand why he didn't use his full name. He thought it suited him. It was a beautiful name for a beautiful person. "How?" Cel began to ask, but cut himself off as he remembered that they had been spying on them. "Don't ever call me that. I go by Cel. " He was deadpan.

"Why? It suits you. " The words once slipped from between his lips before he could stop them. Cel was taken aback. He hated that name, for he'd spent most of his entire life being ruthlessly teased for having such a feminine name. This was the first time he was told that it suited him, besides Master Neo, who had told him countless times that his name was beautiful, but then again, she was his foster mom. There had also been one other person. However, he instantly shook that memory away before it could completely form. "Umm, I go by Cel." He stressed. When he wasn't interrupted, he went on. "I'm a 22-earth cycle, an orphan, and I don't eat meat. " That was all he was willing to share. Amara looked over at his friend, signaling him to go next. Neil rolled his eyes but did as he was told. "I'm Neil. I'm 23 years old. I love to f**k. " He grinned, ducking when Amara tossed a stone at him.

"Your turn." Cel snorted softly as he moved his eyes towards him.

"Amara," he said simply, refusing to share anymore. Neil laughed, not surprised by his short answer. "You'll never be able to get into his robes if you keep acting like that." He whispered teasingly, with a knowing nudge to his side.

"For the last time," Amara swatted his elbow away. "I don't want to f**k him," he hissed back, annoyed. For the first time in his life, he wished that his best friend didn't know him so well. He was now acting like a donkey's balls.

Yeah, then why did you always have a man or two added to the mix whenever you bought some whores to spend the night? Huh? It can only mean that you were preparing for him. " He stated bluntly as he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Amara snorted in disgust and gave up trying to reason with him. Once he had a bit between his teeth, it was hard to make him let it go. It looked like he'd have to suffer through his teasing until he grew tired of it. Amara looked away from him, his eyes scanning the last inch of the rocky dirt surface of their cave as his fingers explored for any hidden latches that could lead to potential traps. "Found anything?" He asked, changing the subject.

"No, you?" He shook his head.

"No, but don't let your guard down. We'll take turns keeping watch in case something happens. "

"Yes sir. I'll take the second watch, "he volunteered shamelessly. Amara rolled his eyes, but he didn't argue.

"Found anything?" Cel asked when they returned to the middle of the cave as he set up their camp. He'd taken out various items from his storage pendant and was just arranging them in a semicircle. His tent was lost, but it was likely he'd never had a chance to lay out his bedding when Adam and his people invaded their campsite to harissa them.

Amara raised a brow, impressed that he'd still have so many things left even though he'd lost quite a few things in the storm.

"All of that wasn't just mine, but some of my friends' too." He explained when he caught him staring. Amara grunted in reply before he turned to get his equipment out of his storage ring. Cel paused to watch them work in silence as he nibbled absentmindedly on a hunk of moist bread. He took it out of his storage pendant. "You guys don't have any tents?" He inquired when he saw that they had only taken out their bedding. "There's no need to when the cave is our shelter," Neil replied sarcastically. Cel stopped himself from snapping back a sharp retort and simply ignored him.

"Did any of you pack wood by any chance? I never had the chance to, back at the campsite. "

"Humm," Amara pulled out some logs and sticks from his storage ring, then quickly arranged them into a fireplace. Moments later, the dim cave was lit with dancing flames as the heat began to fill the chilly space. The seal at the mouth of the cave prevented things from outside from coming in, but allowed things from inside to go out. So the smoke would not become to be a problem. Cel wasn't talkative, especially when it came to strangers, but he felt slightly unnerved as he sat there in silence, watching them whispering among themselves. He wished that at least Lora had fallen through the rift with him. If only he'd grabbed on to her when the storm hit, then he wouldn't be sitting here alone feeling jealous of his enemies. Wordless, he turned in for the night. Crawling into his bedding, he pulled the blankets over his head as he turned his back to them. However, sleep was a long time coming.