King of Darkness and The White Flame

Chapter 8

“Are you ready for what we might possibly find?” I know what she’s referring to. I don’t say a word. “Word on the street is, you’ve fought these things before, and survived. By yourself. Without a scratch.”

“Ok, who told you that?” I’m going to hang that person, nobody was even witness to what had happened. 

“Doesn’t matter. Is it true?” 

“I refuse to be interrogated about things you know nothing about. Mere rumor's if you ask me.”

“If you’re going to lie to me, at least do so without twitching.” Was I twitching? I’m tired of this conversation, so I start walking ahead of the others. We’re only about 8 in our team. Jessie decided on 8 as well. Many others stayed behind. Some had heard the rumor's about the beasts dwelling in this forest. I can’t blame them, if they knew the true strength of these beasts, I’m sure they’d want to join Jessies band wagon and go home. Who knows what those things are capable of. 

The forest surrounds The Society along the inside perimeter. The wall is just beyond it, separating The Society from The wilds. The Wilds were also survivors from the great fire, the only difference was, that we wanted order and they wanted chaos. Not that there is much difference anymore between The Skulls and The Wilds. I went walking among the street people one night, the night I had The Dream. For the first time my eyes were opened to the chaos that surrounded me. Everywhere I went, people were falling over, tripping over their own feet, in bubbly bliss and a lot worse. We were no different from the people beyond the wall. No wonder I wasn’t allowed outside the castle gates when my parents ruled. 

“Sir, you need to come see this!” Agathon called. He was one of the three Skull soldiers that had decided to join me, the other two were Indra and Atticus. The three Chosen soldiers were Ranger, Hunter and Bear. They stayed as close to Lilith as they could without getting a death stare from her. I walked up to where Agathon was standing. He was standing over a large pit. Inside, there were three dead bodies and a marking on the tree closest to it. The marking looked like a crown, and underneath it was a piece of paper that stated “Here lies King Jo Bones, May he never rest in peace”  I swallowed past the nausea. “Do you know who they are?” I ask Agathon. “They look like a few of our men, Sir. I recognize one of them as a nearby neighbor. I think his wife travelled with him, but when he chose to follow Asher, he told her to stay put.” I shook my head “tsk. What a waste. Close up this hole and let’s move on. Have you spotted tracks nearby?” 

“Yes Sir, headed East.” He called Indra and Atticus and the three of them closed the hole. “Then we keep North.” I say. 

The other three kept jumping when they heard a rabbit or squirrel run past. “Sir,” Atticus falls in step with me as we head North of the hole we found. “Are you not concerned about the warning?” I give him a stern look “with all due respect Sir.”

“Let me ask you another question, Atticus; Where were you when I was attacked by not one or two, but three beasts?” Atticus’ face turns the color of beetroot, he falls back immediately joining the others. The sun is at its highest. I glance back to see how Lilith is keeping up. I know better than to ask her how she’s doing. Her breathing is labored, she trips more than once with the walking stick still in her left hand. 

“Right, I think we can rest here for a while!” I call out to everybody. Lilith wants to argue, I can see it on her face. She struggles to catch her breath though, and Hunter hands her a bottle. She smiles a little too widely at him and my anger flares. 

“Hunter, run ahead 500 meters and see if the coast is clear. I give you 1 hour, if you’re not back by then we’ll consider this route a bust and start heading back.” Lilith’s eyes flash for a minute, with something I can’t quite place and it’s gone before I can decipher what it is. Hunter doesn’t argue. He takes orders quite well I observe. He runs quite fast and is out of sight when I turn my head  back in that direction. Lilith comes toward me, she sits on the rock beside me and takes a long drink of the liquid inside the bottle Hunter gave her. 

“I’ve known Hunter since I was a kid, you know.” she doesn’t wait for a response and I get the impression she isn’t looking for one. “When his mom died, his Dad was destroyed. Hunter had to join the army sooner that he’d have liked to put food on the table for his little sister Mary. Some nights, he’d be so busy training that Mary came to eat by us. My Dad loved taking in people, helping the community the best he knew how.” Bear took a roll of bread out of his bag and said a little silent prayer. He divided the bread up and gave each person a piece. Indra devoured the bread as if he hadn’t eaten anything in weeks. It seemed to not have been enough for him because he got up, grabbed Bears bag and reached in for another roll. He didn’t bother sharing. Lilith looked at me, her eyes wide with disbelief. “Are you not going to do something?” she asked me. I shrugged “What do you want me to do? Take bread out of a hungry man's mouth?” 

“That is not the point” she huffs and storms off to sit beside Bear. Am I supposed to guess what the point is? I can’t seem to do anything right.

I decide to walk West a few meters and hope we’re still protected under the shield of some of these trees. There doesn’t seem to be any tracks on the ground on this side. A lot more trees have fallen making the logs difficult to climb over. Lilith wouldn’t be able to climb over this many obstacles, best to stick to a direct route I decide. I hear a stick c***k nearby. Afraid that the beasts are near, I fall flat behind a fallen tree stump. I hold my breath when footsteps come nearer. “Where’d he go?” I hear someone whisper. The sound of the footsteps start to dwindle and I take the risk to see who it is. Raising my head slightly, I see the backs of Indra and Atticus. I’m about to get up and call out to them when I hear Stay down. The White Flame’s voice is unmistakable. I decide, I’m too tired to have a standoff with it, especially since it saved Lilith. I lay low and try to be as quiet as I can. The sound of footsteps return. 

“That’s strange. He can’t have run off that quickly.” says a voice that sounds like Indra, his voice is deeper than the others. “Maybe he knows.” Atticus says, sounding frightened. 

“How would he know? Don’t be stupid.”

“Maybe he overheard the others telling us.” Atticus says “What if they come after us next? What if, when we give him up-”

“Stop it Atticus!” Indra reprimands. “We were given orders. We stick to the plan. Subdue Jo, tie him up, leave him here. They will do the rest.”

“But what about his girl?”

“He always goes walking off on his own, it'll be easy . And if she asks too many questions or decides to go look for him, we’ll just hand her over too.” 

The last part makes my blood boil. These lying, conniving snakes! I want to get up again and teach them a lesson. Stay down. The voice says again. I can’t help but obey. It feels like my chest is being pinned by an invisible source. 

I hear a low growl. 

“It’s coming,” Indra whispers. 

“Let’s get out of here” Atticus says. The sound of hurried feet shuffle and grow quieter. The growling becomes louder. My heart pounds in my chest. The thump, thumping I fear will give my position away. I hear a deep sniff and another growl, this time, it sounds like it’s right above my head. I gulp, too scared to open my eyes and see neon colored eyes staring back at me.