Soul of the Phoenix

Chapter 15

Sakiya decided to interrupt Sylis' questioning as she felt the tension growing within him. "I'm sure we can talk about this another day. Considering we could possibly be on a death mission getting away from there, now is not the time for us to get all in our feelings." Sakiya said, causing Sylis to end his hurt and save it for another time. Sakiya turned to Maranda, linking her arm in hers, and nodded her head towards the front rails of the boat. She wanted to watch the movement of the water and their surroundings while they had the chance. There was no one else in sight so far, but she had a feeling they would come across someone eventually.

Sakiya closed her eyes, holding onto the rails as the wind swept through her hair. She felt so free in this moment like she never had, and she didn't want to lose that feeling. It was short lived though, as there was another boat that looked like it had armed men occupying it from a distance.

"Uh oh, looks like trouble might be approaching." Maranda stated warily. She knew something was up, even though she didn't know the extent of it, she knew this wasn't good news. Sakiya and Sylis both looked worried, as neither one had planned on getting caught, nor having to deal with others this soon. "Get down to the cabins, quick." Zachary told them in a small panic while watching ahead of him. As they all ushered into the lower deck, they were coming upon the other boat, and they all knew there could potentially be a problem with people of the kingdom finding out they had escaped back home. They ddn't want that. After all, they had just started this mission. Sylis, Sakiya, and Maranda all 3 single filed throughout the boat, reaching the rails of the bottom cabin quarters as Zachary ccontained his composure in case he was approached by the obvious incoming guards who seemed to be enforcers of the water and wildlife. Their looks had spoken power in a sense, so they had to carefully avoid any type of confrontation that resulted in anythign more than normal. Once they had all disappeared to the cabins, Zachary followed his closely scenting nose to see if he could determine the depths of the beings coming at him. Unlike the three who had just rushed to the bottom deck, he knew there was more to this world other than humans, especially he himself knowing he was a shape shifter. He didn't want to out that about himself or others yet, sensing how he knew he wasn't the only one. He couldn't reveal any of it just yet.

The approaching boat had gotten closer, and Zachary had to keep his composure. He was used to being on the water, considering he was always fishing or doing something consisting within the water, so he had seen alot around here and normally had no issues. This time seemed to be different though, as the man at the base of the other ship floating past had stared into his boat as if they were looking for something. Once they had aproached within earshot, Zachary smiled and waved at them. "How are you doing on this beautiful day, gentleman?" He asked, the smile never leaving his face. The main man on the other boat looked intently on his deck for a moment. "We're on a mission, Sir. Have you seen any teenagers running around here today? We lost our tracking in the woods and it lead us here within the waters. We haven't had a sure tracking since. Nothing out of the ordinary, I assume?" The man questioned. Zachary shook his head. "Haven't seen any kids around here, captain. They're ususally partying somewhere close if that were the case." He replied, winking his eye. He tried his best to show his confidence and superficial nature so they wouldn't be suspicious. They stared at his face and expressions, which he assumed they had expected to change, but they didn't. "Is there anything I can do to help, Gentleman?" Zachary asked. They didn't answer him right away, but the first and second gentleman locked eyes before looking back at him. It was as if one of the men wanted to find some kind of dishonesty within his eyes, but found none. Zack knew how to hold his composure when he needed to, in this scenario out of all that he's encountered. This wasn't his first tie on the water, no doubt. Zachary felt his heart rate speed up as if they had known he had unwanted passengers on his vessel, but he didnt let it show on his face or make an expression to give it away, regardless of his feelings inside. He felt his blood pressure rising ssteadily, but calmed himself until after a few moments, the second gentleman that was staring into his eyes decided to answer him. "No thanks dude, enjoy your ride. If you come across any teenage kids, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We would appreciate any leads given to us." He replied in an aggravated manner, thinking he would have some type of intuition on the three runaways. Zach let his guard down, but not enough to be stupid and give anything away. He saluted the two gentleman and continued on his way through the waterway.

That was close he thought to himself, glad that he hadn't encountered anything that would give his position away. As he drifted away from the warden's boat, he wiped the incoming sweat on his forehead that he'd been holding back. He had never been put in a position such as this before, that is, until his significant other's disappearance. She had went through something similar, but he had failed to save her in time. With all the guards that were looking for her and those who were aware of their love, it was almost impossible to hide her without suspicion. This time was different, he had refused to make the same mistakes twice. They had known of his connection with the Cohen's boy and his friend, but they knew Zachary's son was having a meeting there soon, so they didn't suspect him knowing as he couldn't have been aware already, so they extended those circumstances to his father on the boat. It had only been hours since their disappearance so far, so they were trying to keep it low key so the teens wouldn't know so many were on the lookout for them.

Once Zachary had drifted away from the warden's boat, he took a break from the steering and decided to go to the bottom deck to inform the others, quickly of course, of what had just happened. He decided to have Maranda come up first, as he knew no one was actively looking for her yet, she was just a passenger on the ride as far as he was concerned compared to the other two. Especially since Sylis had briefly explained to him the details of the situation over a burner phone he had acquired. Sakiya and Sylis were both nervous in their own right, and Zachary told them he would send Maranda down with more information. After he brought her up on deck, he made sure the other two knew not to come up or make themselves known as he wasn't sure if anyone was watching him at this moment. The confrontation he had with the Warden's boat made him a little nervous already, but he could handle that as it was. What he couldn't handle was anyone finding out that the runaways were on his boat, and him willingly accompanying them.

"What's going on? Can you fill me in, please? They still haven't told me anything of significance. One moment Sakiya and I were talking about leaving town, the next thing I knew my phone was broken and we were traveling through the woods to meet a random person on a boat." Maranda pouted, crossing her arms in front of her. She was a little upset that she was kept in the dark thus far. "Let's put it this way. The young girl, Sakiya being her name? She was locked in a small prison as far as I'm told. Sylis decided he had enough of their family's antics and abuse, and gave me a call. The rest was history. Now you're here, and we have a journey to commence."