Survival

XIV: Dragon's Fire

(Pic is kind of what the cell girl looks like :) Though you know in more dirty clothes and not looking so happy... You know kind of like you've spent around 5 years in a cell XD Oh and she looks a little older than that. Also FYI, I changed Adam's age to sixteen, matched his personality better)

Liam's POV.

I burst through the door scanning the room to quickly find Walker, Nicole, and Jasmin standing around, and of course, Jason who was only half-conscious on the table still. I had made Adam wait outside the room once we got there after he had fetched me saying something about how the girl in the cell had talked. It shouldn't really be a big deal, but I guess it kind of was at the same time. And since she was in here with them shyly sitting against a wall, I assumed whatever she said had something to do with Jason,
"What did she say?" I asked as everyone else was silent,
"Just 'Jason'" Jasmine lifted her hands and shook her head in puzzlement. I looked around at everyone to see Nicole staring off into space and Walker was just absently watching the girl. I sighed heavily walking over and kneeling down in front of her,
"Why did you say, Jason?" I questioned, not harshly nor kindly. She looked to her hands for a moment before silently pushing herself up onto her feet before giving me a kind of glaring command. I paused for a moment before stepping back watching her closely. She carefully made her way over to Jason who was gazing at her with half-closed eyes; she lightly rested the back of her hand on his forehead before turning him over on his back where a bandage covered his cut. Jason didn't protest, that or he couldn't protest as she examined him. After a moment she looked up at Jasmine before pointing to the white bandage covering Jason's shoulder. Jas looked up at Nicole who lifted his hand in motion to take it off. She carefully peeled it back and we were all met by a revolting smell, though the girl just moved closely moving her hand across the cut though not actually touching it. She looked up at Nicole, fear glazing her eyes for reasons I was not aware of, before stuttering,
"P-p...P-Poison," I was instantly curious as to whether she was stuttering because of fear or something else, and her voice was soft and light not at all what I had expected,
"Well, we already know that," Nicole said flatly shaking his head distastefully, but the girl shook her head in protest looking around the room. She gave a small smile as her eyes landed on a bookshelf pushed up against a wall behind Jason. She carefully walked over to it running her finger down the covers before pulling out a book. When she walked back over to where Nicole was waiting patiently I realized it was a dictionary. She put the book on top of Jason's chest and flipped through the pages before pointing to one and then looking stubbornly at Nicole. He leaned forward with his hands across his chest as I did the same to see she was pointing at a word that read 'venom',
"What's that supposed to mean?" Nicole questioned leaning back. The girl grunted before flipping through the pages for a little bit before point again, first, it was at the word 'poison' then she quickly flipped to another page before anyone could comment and pointed to 'and' then back to the first page she was on and pointed once more to 'venom',
"Poison and Venom?" Walker spoke up this time and she nodded excitedly before her smile faltered again as Nicole spoke,
"I still don't understand your point," He said dryly, he was clearly getting tired of this, "Why not just tell us? You can clearly talk," I thought he had a point though the girl just glared at Nicole with a 'humph' and looking through the book again and pointing at the word 'Aphasia' Before looking back up at Nicole and glaring profoundly at him with her arms planted firmly across her chest. I looked closer to see what the word meant, 'Loss of ability to understand or express speech, caused by brain damage'.
"So you have a speaking problem?" I asked just for confirmation, and she nodded excitedly flipping through the pages before pointing to two words 'similar to'. She then took a deep breath before making some motions with her hands,
"What?" Nicole asked once more lost,
"Sign language..." We all glanced down at Jason who coughed a couple of times before closing his eyes. He looked like a zombie,
"Oh yes!" Jasmine exclaimed, "Since she can't talk correctly she instead uses what's called sign language where you communicate using your hands and body motions," Jas explained,
"Well do you know it?" Walker questioned and Jas's head lowered,
"No..." She said fidgeting with her fingers,
"How about Jason?" I asked which came with an instant response,
"No... I just knew... Someone who had a buddy. That used it..." His voice faltered through talking but we were all able to understand him. We were silent for a moment before the girl flipped through some other pages before pointing to one, 'pen',
"Oh! That might work," We all gave Jasmine a puzzled look as she ran off before quickly returning and handing a piece of paper and a pen to the girl. I made an 'O' mouth as I realized what she had meant. We all patiently waited as she scribbled across the paper before handing it back to Jasmine who read it aloud, though slowly as it seemed the girl didn't have very good handwriting,
"Been poisoned with mix of poison and venom, slow down effects, cure is plant named... Dragon's Fire?" Jasmine then looked up at the girl in confusion who nodded looking shyly back down at her hands which she nervously fidgeted with,
"Do we have any plant books?" Nicole said finally unfolding his arms as they were getting somewhere,
"Yeah, we have like a million books in this place, I'll have Adam help me look," I said walking out the door with Jasmine close behind,
"Come on," Jasmine motioned for Adam to follow, he instantly jumped up off the wall and quickly followed us,
"What are we doing?" He asked with a grin, he obviously enjoyed having things to do,
"Looking for a plant book that mentions something about a plant called Dragon's Fire," I explained raising my hands in disbelief, what kind of name was that anyway? We walked through the halls before splitting up to look in different spots, I went to the second floor to a study spot where the Taipans had people learn new thing from books if they were inexperienced, or younger, kind of like I was. I suddenly had a flashback of sitting in this room with Bach. I had been complaining, not wanting to read or listen to Bach. He got tired of it pretty quickly so he instead put a book up high on a shelf and told me I had a minute to figure out how to get it, I wasn't tall at the time, and that if I didn't get it before the minute was over I'd get a cut on my arm. I'd agreed, he had also explained that we could stop as soon as I was ready to listen and read. Want to guess how many times I got cut? Five, I couldn't get the book five times in the minute I was given, but on the sixth try, I actually got it. Bach hadn't expected me to get it before giving up so he ended up putting it up even higher. I tried ten times... Getting ten cuts... Eight on one arm and seven on the other, after that I'd given up and let Bach teach me what he pleased. I let out a small sigh pushing the door open while kneeling beside the shelf running my fingers along the edge to read the covers. I went through probably half the shelf before I found a book about plants, and then it took me about five minutes to go through that book just to find out there was nothing about a 'Dragon's Fire' plant. I did this I think five more times before moving onto the next room and repeating. My guess? It was about a half-hour to an hour before I heard quick footsteps running through the halls opening doors and closing them quickly. I slowly got up wincing as my back stretched, not used to being in an upright position. Slowly, I walked out of the room to see Adam running back and forth between rooms,
"Adam!" I called, "What in the world are you doing?" I walked towards him with a less than pleased look. His head jolted up as he heard me and quickly jogged up with a book in his hand,
"Looking for you and Jasmine! I found a book that mentions that plant," He said proudly opening a page of the book where it showed a red flower, and at the top of the page were the words 'Dragon's Fire',
"Good job, Now come on let's find Jasmine!" I flung my hand back in signal to follow me and he did as we raced through the halls looking through the rooms. We eventually ended up finding her on the first floor flipping through a book. I explained that we had found the book, then we raced back to the room Jason was in to found Nicole half asleep and Walker still absently looking into space,
"Found it!" Adam declared slamming the book down on the part of the table Jason wasn't covering. Nicole jolted upright fighting back a yawn and leaning toward the book,
"Good work," He complimented dismissively as Adam opened up the book and his attention was turned toward it, the girl walked up to the table before simply nodding her head in conformation before going to sit back down and closing her eyes, leaning against the wall. I couldn't help but wonder what we were going to do with her now that she'd rather spoke or more so figured out why she didn't speak, I realized it would have probably been easier for her to keep not talking for as long as possible, it would have saved her a lot of drama that she now had to face.
"It says here that it can be found... Oh no..." Jasmine stepped back looking up at Nicole, concern, and fear written all over her face,
"What? What is it?" I questioned as Nicole sighed shaking his head,
"There near the swamps in the Ameeregas territory..." I cringed stepping back,
"Shit..." The Ameeregas were old-time rivals with the Taipans, they had fought many times in the past before finally deciding on splitting up the land so that we could both stop losing men. Nowadays we both stayed off the other's territory which everyone in each group was made clear of where it was, if a Taipan crossed Ameeregas border, or visa versa, then the Taipan would either instantly be killed or held hostage for information. Long story short it wouldn't end very well if we went over there looking for a plant...
"Well... What are we going to do?" Jasmine nervously fidgeted with her shirt her eyes clouded with worry,
"I will not lose another man!" Nicole suddenly shouted, "I lost Adalius instead of him... I went on a long journey to get him, and because of that we lost food supplies! After everything that's happened because of him, if he dies it will be by my hand! Not some idiotic poison!" Nicole turned and punched the wall behind him, his breathing coming out in quick bursts. We all flinched at the action silently watching and waiting to see what would happen next. The cell girl was still sitting on the floor though now her hands were covering her head and she was curled up in a ball. Slowly, Nicole's breathing steadied and he turned around running a hand through his hair,
"It was them, wasn't it?" He suddenly asked letting out an air laugh,
"What?" Walker quarried glancing at the girl from time to time,
"The Ameeregas! It was them who stole our supplies... Or they had something to do with it," He started pacing the room a hand on his forehead in deep thought, "They must have known somehow that we were leaving... So, they either sent some of their men that we wouldn't recognize or hired some random people to come and try to steal our supplies because they knew I wouldn't be here..." Nicole suddenly paused and I swear everyone held their breath,
"We're getting that plant. Liam, take Viper, Mikah, and Adam. It'll do Adam good to get out..." He paused before motioning for me to follow him. He led me out into the hall until we were out of earshot from the others,
"Liam... You've been here a while and you've always been loyal even after what happened in the past... I'm trusting you to do your best not to cause trouble, I want you to lead the others. I'll make it clear that they have to listen to you," He paced back and forth a few more times before sighing,
"I would send Batch... But I'm pretty sure that we have a traitor," His voice drastically lowered as he got to the last part, huddling closer to me he continued, "Which is why neither I nor Batch will go, we need to discuss things. Now, I'm trusting you with this information, I want you to watch out for anything out of the unusual. But, no matter what, do not let anyone know that I am suspicious of this in case we do have a traitor and they leave before we can get to them..." I nodded in agreement, for some reason it actually wouldn't surprise me if we had a traitor... Or would it? Everyone here had always acted like one big family even if it seemed like they were all heartless fuckers who just wanted to kill everything in their path at times, truly they were just trying to survive like everyone else, or at least most of the time... I couldn't help but think back to the time when they killed the lady just for her watch when we were coming back from getting Jason,
"What exactly do you want me to do with the Ameeregas?" I changed the subject,
"Go over to their border, there should be someone there as always, just get their attention and ask if you could have the plant thingy... If not ask what they would take for it. Now, I don't want anyone getting hurt so don't try starting a fight.
"I'll be having a talk with Viper, I want her they're to either seduce those fuckers or to help fight but I don't want her to instigate the fight, which is the part that she loves doing..." Nicole grasped my shoulder looking me dead in the eye,
"But if those bastards do get hostile... You have my full permission to kill everyone you see. But don't go any further into their territory, I don't want anyone getting seriously hurt and as I'm sure everyone has told you they aren't some weak unorganized guys like you're used to, these guys are always prepared and know how to fight, kind of like us which is why we always clashed and why the other hasn't succeeded in killing or driving out the other." I nodded once more in understanding, I had heard plenty of stories from everyone about the Ameeregas,
"Good, now go and get some horses ready... And take Adam, I don't think I'll need to speak with him, he already listens to everything you say," Nicole rolled his eyes, I chuckled lightly, he did have a point though, it seemed as though Adam always looked up to me. Nicole patted my back before walking back to the room. I looked around to see Adam a good thirty or forty yards away standing straight looking like he was guarding something. I chuckled again waving him over. I swear I could see his eyes light up from all the way overhear as he to catch up with me as I headed toward the kind of stables,
"What do you want sir?" He asked putting his hands behind his back as he walked behind me at a quick pace,
"What do you know about the Ameeregas?" I questioned not looking away from the long hallway in front of me,
"Oh, lots! Jasmine told me plenty of stories close to when I first got here," He explained. I remembered back to when he had first joined us, unlike pretty much everyone here he had randomly stumbled upon us fighting a group of people for supplies and just up and decided he wanted to join us. I glanced over at him, he had messy light brown hair with tanned skin, his eyes were a humble blue full of excitement. He had torn jeans and a grey shirt on with a blue and black jacket. He had a lean build, his torso and legs were about even though he was pretty tall, he also looked pretty strong holding himself upright. Overall? I think I rather liked him,
"Good, because we're going to go and ask them for a plant. Our goal is to not start a fight," I said sternly turning to him just to make sure he understood and he nodded quickly,
"Understood," He confirmed and I continued walking,
"The plant that we need, the one that you found, is the one that will cure Jason. But the problem is that the closest place that has it is in the Ameeregas territory." Adam listened closely as I pushed open a door and grabbed a saddle, Adam doing the same,
"Viper and Mikah are coming with us. You got your weapons?" I questioned after suiting up the first horse and working on the next,
"Just my knives... I wasn't expecting to be going out anytime soon," He explained lifting his shirt to show me a dagger on his belt than one inside his boot,
"Go get equipped, and bring me my double blade," I added tightening the strap onto a black horse. Adam hesitated before deciding to do as I said and ran off to get the weapons. I strapped up the last horse, the one I usually rode, a brown and white spotted horse named Mocha (). After situating her saddle, I put my foot in the stirrup and pulled myself up, she snorted flicking her head up, I pet her side smiling to myself. I've always been glad that the Taipans taught me how to ride a horse. I waited for no more than five more minutes before Adam and the others got here, I assumed Adam met Mikah and Viper in the weapons room,
"Here you go," Adam threw me a double-sided blade with a grip in the middle, I easily grabbed the handle. Out of all the weapons I ended up being quite good with a double-sided blade. I noticed that Adam had a Claymore Sword, a two-handed long sword, strapped to his side. Viper was equipped with all of her daggers, which was quite a lot I assure you, and Mikah had his spear with two curved blades on either side of his legs. I placed my blade on my back, I always had the strap set upon me for holding my double-blade. I looked around to see everyone else mounted,
"Let's head out," I ordered kicking Mocha in the side and she trotted forward, everyone else following silently, we all knew why we were out here, and deep down I knew it was more than just saving Jason now. The trip over was tense and quiet, but we didn't come across any trouble. The sky was slowly darkening only amplifying the already dark and tense atmosphere. The few trees around us portrayed long shadows that moved from the wind that slowly increased. Once we came across the stream that was about five feet wide we pulled the horses to a stop and waited. We had arrived at the Ameeregas border,
"What now?" Adam whispered pulling his horse up to mine,
"We wait... The Ameeregas will come out once they realize we aren't here to just sightsee,"
"Wait so they're watching us right now?" Adam questioned glancing around nervously,
"Yes, they are," My voice tensed as I saw someone in a cloak jump to the ground from a tree, silently hitting the ground. They walked up to us slowly until they were standing on the other side of the stream. Flicking their hood off I saw the scar the ran from his forehead to his jaw, running between his eyes. He had a strong build and I could see a sword from underneath his black cloak,
"What is your purpose here?" He questioned staring blankly at us, but I knew he wanted to kill as badly as I wanted to kill him,
"We need a plant that's on your territory, I was sent to discuss it," I said called across the stream heeling my horse forward, it walked a couple of steps before I turned it back and pulled it to stand sideways from the stream, keeping my back straight, trying to look as calm as possible, though I only realized now that I hadn't thought Nicole had so much trust in me yet to let me lead something like this,
"What plant is it and why do you need it so much that you came begging for it here," I held my hand up to my side to stop Viper from saying anything, I didn't even need to look over my shoulder to know she had been about to pull out a dagger. I made sure the other man hadn't seen the action though,
"It's called Dragon's Fire, and for which we need it is no concern of yours,"
"Oh but it is... That plant has two purposes, one is to use it as poison, the other is as a cure to a certain type of poison..." He said carefully a grin barely tinting the tips of his lips. I cursed in my head, I hadn't expected for them to know much of anything about it less than know more than us about it. I took a deep breath trying to think of the best course of action here,
"We need it as a cure, one of new recruits got himself cut and Nicole would prefer not to lose him after all the trouble that he had to go through to get him," As the man narrowed his eyes I knew that Nicole was right, and I knew this man knew exactly what I was talking about when I said 'trouble'. They were the ones to steal our supplies, because of them we had Adalius kill himself, because of them we had to send Jason out on a supply run, and therefore because of them get Jason poisoned. I suddenly wondered how much of this they had planned,
"Well... As much sympathy, I have for your new pet, for, of course, I've seen the effects of the poison... It isn't pretty at the end," He grinned before his face turned blank and unamused as he continued, "But I really don't give a fuck about what happens to Nicole's men, so I suggest you go look elsewhere," His hand went to the hilt of his sword and I heard Mikah's horse shift on its feet as it sensed the uneasy tension in the air,
"What could we trade for the plant?" I asked resorting to bargaining as Nicole had said, but the man just scoffed,
"Leave, leave all of your supplies, all of it, and leave, leave and never return to these parts,"
"I would rather die than do that! And I know Nicole and everyone else here agrees," It took all of my strength not to through a knife into his heart and watch him die. They had planned all of this! And I knew we had to have a traitor, there was no way they could have known so much without having an inside source...
"As I expected..." He turned around slowly walked away,
"That's it, he's a dead man!" Viper snarled bringing her horse up to mine with a dagger in her hand,
"Wait..." I said looking around, something didn't feel right... As soon as the man turned around with a smirk letting out a short high-pitched whistle I knew what was coming,
"Get down!" I shouted jumping off my horse onto the ground as arrows rained down on us. The horse reared up letting out high-pitched screams as arrows pierced their hides instead of ours, the sound was deafening. I looked up to see my horse start to topple over and quickly rolled out of the way to look back over and see the horse wheezing on the ground with arrows covering its once beautiful hide. I pulled myself up onto my feet glancing around, on the other side of the stream I saw a man fall from a tree with a knife in their shoulder which I assumed was from Viper and a horse that hadn't been too injured from arrows ran away. Turning around I saw Mikah tying a strip of clothing around his arm and I ran up to him,
"You alright?" I asked as he gritted his teeth but nodded,
"The arrow just grazed me... Though it hurts like a fucker," He grinned patting him on the shoulder before pulling out my blade as five men ran across the stream towards us. I spun a circle as the first man reached me and stabbed him straight through the back. I winced as a blade cut through my side, but I ignored the pain and turned around quickly, stabbing the guy in the gut, he instantly fell to the ground dropping his long-curved dagger. I kicked him into the dirt before spotting Viper on top of a guy's shoulders and I couldn't stop myself from cringing as she stabbed a dagger straight through the top of his head screaming like a mad lady. I suddenly realized I hadn't seen Adam yet and ran over to where his horse had been to it slowly getting up trotting off, underneath where the horse had been laying was Adam, wheezing as blood streamed out of his mouth,
"Adam!" I shouted running over to him and kneeling down,
"I-I think it broke my back..." He said as his teeth chattered together,
"Don't worry... We'll get you out of here... You'd be fine just wait and see," I sputtered as my heart rate accelerated, I didn't care about the blood that streaming down my side or the pain in my wrist that I hadn't noticed before,
"Liam... I'm glad I met you..." He coughed blood coming out, I could hear his lungs filling up with liquid... Most likely blood...
"No, no... No, don't say that!" I started to panic as he put a hand on my shoulder smiling up at me as a tear slid down his face. I sniffled trying to control my emotions like Nicole had told me to as Adam's hand fell limp and his struggled breathing stopped. I closed my eyes spitting through my mouth as I tried controlling my breathing,
"Fuck!" I yelled before closing Adam's eyes which stared up into nothing. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Mikah,
"Come on! We have to go!" I paused as he noticed Adam's still body but just shook his head before trying to pull me to my feet. Taking a deep breath, I nodded knowing that if we stayed here more people would die,
"Viper! Come on!" I yelled regaining my voice as she threw a knife hitting someone in the chest, she looked from me to the men that were continuing to run across the stream before letting out a growl and running past us without a word. I sighed glancing once at Adam before running with Mikah's help away from the border. I heard the man from before calling his men back before they crossed too far into our border,
"Tell Nicole that he's going to either give up his land or die! Either way, he loses!" I heard the man shout from behind us but I just ignored him clutching at my side that the pooling blood. My breathing was ragged as my vision blurred but I knew I had to keep running or else I'd die, so I did, and not for one second did I not see Adam's lifeless body in my mind.

Soo... Whatchu guys think of that one! :D A lot of information given in that one... What do you guys think is going to happen? How will Sylvia get Jason, or will Jason even survive? And will Liam want to stay with the Taipans or will he leave them to go with his sister who he thought was dead for around seven years of his life? A lot of things to contemplate... But anyway stay tuned for the next chapter. :)