Morning Diamond

Trouble Always Follows

“Mike, let’s go I’m here to save you.” She moved towards him, intending to grab his hand and pull him into the safety of the trees before his guards had time to trap them both.

At first he looked stunned, but then it seemed to dawn on him what she wanted. He rushed towards her. Instantly Mark was at her side pulling her arm and forcing her into a run. She looked back and smiled with satisfaction to see Mike right behind them. However, so were the men that had stayed with Mike when the commotion in camp had started.

“Never listen to a damn thing anyone says. Pretty boy is not worth a bucket of spit. You’re risking everything for that scumbag,” Mark seethed as he pulled her along. She feared he would rip her arm from her socket as she struggled to keep up with him.

“Over here!” Keith yelled. Mark changed course pulling Claire into a faster run. They dodged a couple trees and jumped over bushes trying to keep out of reach of Leishmann’s men. Claire wanted to look behind her to be sure Mike still followed, but it took all her concentration to remain on her feet. “Duck,” Keith ordered and hurled a knife. It zinged past Claire’s head just as Mark pulled her to the ground.

Mark didn’t give her time to catch her breath before yanking her to her feet and forcing her to sprint. Claire quickly sneaked a peek over her shoulder. Several men gathered around Mike, forcing him to his feet, while another man picked himself up off the ground. Claire looked into Mike’s eyes and he sent her an unspoken command, turn and run. The knowledge that they had recaptured him caused her to stumble.

Mark’s hand tightened on her arm and propelled her forward. “Watch your footing!” He commanded harshly. How could he expect her to concentrate on where her feet landed when all she could think about was that Mike had been recaptured? She knew he could be severely punished for attempting to escape.

It took several minutes, but eventually she was able to clear her mind enough to hear the heavy beating on the ground behind her. She ventured another look over her shoulder. Two men still pursued them.

“Mark, they are still coming.” She stated; her voice shrill with panic.

“Stop looking back, it slows us down.” He ordered and gave a sharp tug on her arm to pull her closer. He wrapped an arm around her waist and propelled her into speeds she had never before accomplished. Her feet only touched the ground once to his three steps and she felt disoriented being half dragged across the forest floor. She watched the forest speed past her and noticed Keith veer to the right. She expected to follow, but when Mark continued his straight path through the foliage she stumbled again. Mark tightened his hold on her.

“Wait! Keith went that way.” She exclaimed.

“Up ahead there will be a small break in the trees. I want you to cross it without stopping. Find a tree to climb and stay put until Keith or I come for you.” She didn’t answer, but waited until she saw the light twinkling through the trees.

Once the glow began to outline the forest around them, she prepared herself to dart across the clearing. However, she was not as prepared as she should have been.

Mark and Claire broke through the trees at a dead run. Mark assisted her halfway across the small meadow before letting go of her. Without Marks support- and the sudden decrease in speed- Claire stumbled. She was forced to scramble across the tall grass, struggling the whole way to get her feet under her. Finally she pulled herself up and ran for the safety of the woods. A few steps into the encompassing forest she heard angry shouts vibrate off the green pines. Instantly Marks orders were forgotten and Claire turned back to the meadow.

Her eyes widened in shock. Mark fought against two soldiers with a skill Claire had never seen before. Her whole life her brothers had gotten into fist fights, but she now realized their fights had only been games and tomfoolery compared to what they were truly capable of.

Mark fought energetically against his competitors. His fist sure and they found their mark time and time again in a violent onslaught of stealth and superior skill. But when one of the soldiers produced a knife and sliced a large gash across Mark’s shoulder, Claire felt a rage she didn’t recognize grow within her. She quickly found a rock, ran closer, and sent it soaring across the meadow.

The stone hit its target and the knife fell to the ground, its owner crying out in pain. Claire quickly sent another nugget flying into the man’s side. The man turned on her, his anger reminding her of the dangerous situation she now found herself in. She faced, for the first time in her life, a true killer.

Claire desperately searched for another rock, but the meadow had few to offer and without the added protection the distance between her and the soldier offered, she knew she would be forced to fend against the man charging after her. She sent a worried look towards Mark, but he was still occupied with the other soldier. Determined to make Leishmann’s minion work for a victory over her, she moved into a defensive stance and prepared herself for battle.

Claire focused her mind on all her training, pulling from her memory the skills she had been taught since childhood. She had never actually used her abilities in a real attack and prayed she would be able to fight off a person intent on harming her.

When the man closed in on her, she allowed her instincts to control her movements. With one governed shift, she swept his legs out from under him and watched with satisfaction as he landed hard on the ground. His eye’s widened in surprise when Claire stood over him.

A strange sense of power filled her. She felt exulted by the adrenaline rushing through her body and pulsing through her veins. She kicked the man-testing her strength and trying on a cloak of aggression- and with sudden clarity her mind accepted what needed to be done.

Claire looked down at her own surprise, anxiety, and anger reflected in the face before her. Her mirrored emotions stared back at her with an intensity equaling her growing rage. She had once heard that a person sees red when their emotions become uncontrolled, but all she saw was brown. Big brown eyes implanted in the face of a man with thick shaggy brown hair and brown whiskers cluttering his chin. It was the anger in his eyes that encouraged her to overcome the unwanted fears that had been forced upon her the day her home was attacked.

Each time she slammed a fist or foot down on her unwanted feelings, she felt invigorated and soon all her stressors drained from her shoulders and transmitted to the man cowering beneath her.

She lost herself in the haze of combat and continued to beat her opponent with superior skills and unforgiving vigor. Somewhere in the depths of her mind she knew she should stop, but she could not find the strength to walk away.

Her mind had taken away the ability to recognize the bloody man as a person and instead saw him as every one of the personal insecurities she had fought against for days. To her, she was not fighting a man, she was combating her circumstances. Claire was unsure how long she introduced the man to her fist, but when a strong arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her free from her path of destruction she recognized her neglect in being aware of her surroundings. Now she needed to escape the man attempting to subdue her. She struggled; determined to send her new attacker to purgatory and free herself from whatever horrible fate he had in store for her.

“Claire!” Mark called her name three more times before she realized it was his strong hold that held her captive. She stopped struggling.

“It’s okay.” He said softly. “It’s okay. You’re safe now. I have you.” Mark turned her in his arms and cradled her head against his chest, guarding her from viewing the man she had just beaten. She allowed him to hold her for several minutes as she struggled to regain her composure. Finally she pulled back.

“I’m okay now.” She took a deep breath before summoning the courage to look at what she had done. The soldier lay on the ground unmoving, his blood pooling around his head. He had not been overly large, and had underestimated her, making him an easier victim than he should have been. His face visibly showed signs of swelling and she knew that soon he would be barely recognizable. She held her breath, waiting for the rise and fall of his chest. When it finally moved, she shuttered; relief rushing through her.

“I can’t believe I did that.” She said quietly, wrapping her arms around her middle in an attempt to ward off the sudden wave of nausea. Tears stung her eyes as she looked up at Mark. “I could have killed him and not thought twice about it.” Marks eyes were filled with combating emotions. Pride and sorrow.

“I would have let you if we were in Danyon, but no man can die in a world that is not his own without the universe suffering.” Her eyes reflected her confusion. “I’ll explain another time. Right now we need to dump these two someplace where their friends can find them.” She looked from the soldier she had beaten to the other who lay unconscious several feet away.

“Where’s Keith?” She asked as she allowed Mark to take her backpack and fish out some pieces of twine to tie the two men.

“Not sure if you noticed there was something going on back at the camp. He went back to investigate. Here help me tie this one.” Claire bent to tie the string around the man’s hands and feet while Mark bound his partner. When they finished Mark picked the smaller man up and deposited him beside his friend.

“How do you know he returned to the camp?” She watched him check then tighten the twine.

“It’s a twin thing.” He tapped his head indicating he knew his brothers thoughts.

“Is it safe for him to go back to the camp?” An uneasy feeling began to creep through her. What if he was hurt? Or captured?

“If it looks too risky he won’t go.” Mark shrugged as he finished with his task.

“Looks like you two had fun.” Keith announced from the far side of the clearing. Claire let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding and allowed relief to wash through her. She turned a giant smile of welcome on her older brother.

“Yeah, Claire is a bit feistier than we gave her credit.” Mark teased, but Claire didn’t appreciate the joke and gave him a pained look. She felt sick by what she had done to the man. Mark noticed the distress in her eyes and stood to wrap a comforting arm around her shoulder. “What did you learn?” He asked Keith to change the subject.

“Not much. There seems to be a great commotion in the middle of the camp, but I couldn’t get close enough to discover what it was. I think it calls for further investigating, but it will require your skills.” Claire looked from one twin to the other hoping for an explanation. “Mark can make himself disappear anywhere. It’s a skill that he has had since childhood.” Keith shrugged it off like it was no big deal, but for Claire, that tid bit explained a lot. Mark could always sneak up on people without them knowing he was even around.

“It won’t take long for these men to be found if we leave them here. I’ll go back to Leishmann’s camp and see what I can discover. You take Claire to the small bunch of cliffs just before the drop off and wait for me there. I’ll come as soon as I can and we will figure out what to do from that point.”

Mark moved off towards the camp and Keith led her into the woods.

“What’s the drop off?” Claire asked.

“It’s where the land separates and drops about a hundred feet to the most beautiful valley that is completely surrounded by cliffs. It’s called “The Bowl of Maikel” by some. The only way in or out is through the one canyon, unless you choose to repel down the cliffs.

“And the cave is inside the bowl?” He nodded.

“There are hundreds of caves and the bowl would take a good month to cross. If we had time I am sure we could find another way to get inside, but we don’t have the time, and we don’t have the equipment.

“I see.” They reached a set of rocks that could be considered a small cliff, if you used your imagination.

“Here I’ll help you up.” Keith offered his linked fingers. She stepped on and he boosted her up and over. Once on top she looked around. The rocks looked cozier. They were covered with a soft moss instead of the sharp pine needles that littered the rocks they had slept on the night before.

“Why didn’t we sleep here last night?” She asked when Keith joined her.

“These cliffs are too close to the camp, plus we would have had to pass the camp in the dark. It would have been too risky. And it’s too hard to gauge what is happening when you can’t watch the camp.” She nodded and looked towards Leishmann’s camp as though to confirm his words. He was right it would make it difficult to know whether a group of men left the camp to search for them. That realization alone gave credit to Keith’s words. He led her to a small cavern that would provide some protection from discovery.

“So now we wait?” She sat on the ground and folded her legs beneath her.

“No, now I chew your butt for your foolishness back there. What were you thinking?” He attempted to stay calm, but Claire could sense a hurricane of pent up anger lingering below the surface.

“I don’t know. I guess I thought ‘Hey there’s my good friend who has been captured by a gang of merciless thugs who have probably tortured him only because he was at my home at the wrong time.’ I wasn’t about to let him suffer because of me!” Keith opened his mouth to retort but closed it. Claire did not miss the sudden alarm in his eyes, nor the way his mouth formed a silent cuss word.