Survival

XV: Diversions

(Pic is kind of what the landscape looks like around where Sylvia is, though in this chapter the fog is way worse ;) Enjoy!)

Sylvia's POV.

It was just past midday and still raining... It had rained all night, and all day so far as well. It wasn't super stormy or anything, just raining... Raining... And, of course, more raining... I frown creased onto my face as I squinted up ahead, even if Widow's Cove was only twenty yards away I wouldn't be able to see it for a heavy mist blanketed everything. And on top of that Corny's tooth had suddenly started aching last night and he wouldn't shut up about it... I'd finally ended up yelling at him to keep it down if he didn't want me to rip it out of his mouth already. So now he was leaning against Mare quietly whimpering to himself... I shook my head, this was a mess, literally, everything was soaked, Corny was in pain, and we were both cold and not sure if we were even heading in the right direction or not. It slowed us down a bit too as the horses' loads were heavier with the added weight of water weighing everything down. My head hung down as I absently watched the ground slowly move past me, the horses' hooves splashing in the mud as they steadily walked on. I could see Simba on the edge of my vision, his tail and head drooping as he panted, traipsing beside the horses. Oh, and we were all covered in mud; I went to wipe the water from my face only wipe mud in its place. I cringed in discuss spitting to the side and trying to clean it off with something that was cleaner,
"We need to find shelter," I finally declared looking around,
"Yeah... If there was any..." Corny grumbled sounding like he was only half aware of the things around him. This was the most depressed he had been since I met him and it had me a little concerned. Simba randomly let out a small growl but I instantly shushed him snapping my fingers,
"Well... We should be getting close no-" I was cut off as I heard yelling,
"This is a fucking disaster!" Came the masculine voice from somewhere up ahead, I instantly pulled the horse to a stop quietly and made a clicking sound to grab Corny's attention. Once he noticed the voices his eyes widened and he stopped looking around. I leaned over my saddle quickly grabbing Simba's mussel right before he let out a bark, so that's why he had been growling...
"Calm down, we both know you can't think clearly when you're this frustrated... And why are we even out here!?" A different voice exclaimed, also sounding male,
"Because we needed to talk away from everyone... You are one of the only people I trust completely," Came the first voice again, it was silent for a while before the second voice came again,
"Come on man... Let's head back, there's no use in trying to figure this all out in this weather, besides, we can't discover anything away from all of the drama," I heard the sound of mud squishing before slowly everything turned quiet again except for the sound of the rain falling. I waited ten minutes after that just to make sure they were gone before speaking, though even then I kept my voice low,
"I'm pretty sure that was someone from the Taipans... I want you to take my horse and wait by that tree we saw a little bit back; can you do that?" I was thinking fast, I couldn't do anything yet but I wanted to at least scout it out, see what I was getting into and how far away to stay,"
"Yeah... I remember where it is, how long will you be?" He asked slowly getting off the horse as I motioned for him to do so with me,
"Ten... Twenty minutes? Depends on how far away their base is, just no matter what you do keep the horses and Simba with you and do not leave that tree if you aren't there I won't be able to find you in this whether..." I hesitated for a moment, "And... And if I don't come back by the latest, tomorrow morning... Then you can assume that I've been captured. If that happens then your best option is to just leave... Pretend you never met me, do you understand?" I questioned sternly, but still quietly, and he nodded sadly, the weather only added to this depressing vibe,
"Don't worry... It's doubtful that'll happen, I'm too smart for that." I said patting him on the shoulder, a smile slowly crept back onto his face before he hugged me and I hugged him back,
"Now get out of here and don't forget anything I told you! Oh, and make sure Simba stays quiet," I said looking down at Simba who was still staring off into the mist, his ears alert, before I handed Corny Maple's reins, but not before grabbing something out of my bag. As I walked off into the mist I looked down at my hand, a small smile creeping onto my face. Sure... It was a stupid move to listen to music right now, but I wouldn't be able to calm down unless I had something to change the vibe, because if I was tense there was a ten times higher chance I'd get caught, I never worked well under stress. Putting one earbud in my right ear and turning it as down as it could go I turned it on and my smile only grew as 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" started playing. Trying to be as silent as possible I slowly made my way forward, listening for any sign of trouble, the mist was both helping and not helping me. I continued like this for about five or so minutes when I started to see a shape forming in front of me, and a little later I was standing in front of a wall. I ran my hand along it following it to the right Until it turned inward. I stopped and slowly looked over the other side, it was the entrance to the inside of the city, through the mist I barely made out the shape of someone sitting upon a building looking around, I quickly turned my back hitting the wall and my breath hitching in my throat as their gaze turned toward me. My heart raced as I waited for a moment before looking back over slowly and kneeling down to see them looking in a different direction and not sounding an alarm or anything. I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding and scanned the area, it wasn't a big city but it was well fortified, I was pretty sure the wall went all around it and there were at least five or seven really tall buildings, then a allot of smaller ones which I couldn't count as I couldn't see all of them. I carefully back up looking around me to make sure nobody had become aware of my little visit. I made my way back along the wall as the song changed to 'Seven Nation Army' by White Stripes started up. I took a deep breath trying to calculate my thoughts, going through the math I figured this was probably about maybe a quarter-mile from where Corny was at the tree, maybe a little less maybe a little more, I wasn't entirely sure. I also assumed that they had more guards that I hadn't seen, and was starting to realize I had no clue what I was getting into... They could have twenty men! Maybe even more! I assumed more if they had been doing what they had done to me throughout the years... Seven years... After seven years I couldn't believe I was actually here... This close to finding out whether m brother was dead, this close the getting revenge for my family... I gulped taking another deep breath before I worked myself up too much and stormed in there. I laughed silently, that wouldn't well. Looking around again I picked up a rock and turned to face the wall remembering something my parents had told me...
"If you ever get lost or want to let us know you've been somewhere or leave a secret message, just write our last name backward and then at the end the first letter of your name pointing to where the secret message was, and if you can't leave one just leave it out." My father's voice rang in my head, I gulped again before lifting the rock and in a few seconds, I had scribbled 'Dnaballa S" with the tip of the 'S' pointing a little upward and little to the right where I saw a piece of paper. Lifting it up I wrote 'LJ if you're still alive and here, don't be a prick and wake the fuck bastard. PS: LW' The 'LJ' stood for Little Jackal, which was Liam's secret word, mine was Little Wolf... I looked down at the pendant that still hung around my neck, the one Jason had given me... I almost laughed as realized how much the wolf actually meant to me. Letting out a sigh I regather my thoughts and made sure no one was around before slowly walking back into the mist towards Corny. I did my best, but it was really hard to be quiet in mud... I was actually thankful for the rain kind of helped hide the sound of my footsteps. In about ten or twelve minutes I smiled as the tree I'd spotted before came into view, I hadn't realized how much slower it was walking than riding a horse to it took me longer to get back than expected. My muscles suddenly tensed and my foot halted in mid-step as I noticed another shape beside the tree... Than another... As I realized they hadn't seen me yet I quickly knelt to my knees trying not to squish the mud underneath me. Taking out my earbud and putting it away I listened to what was going on,
"Pfft... I don't know what you're talking about, I'm just walking through here all by myself without any companions at all, so I am most certainly not sitting here and waiting for someone," I facepalmed, fucking Corny,
"You don't look so certain," I heard a deep voice slice through the air and I noticed a shape walking around who I assumed was Corny as it shifted from foot to foot. I Slowly pulled out one of my long daggers hooked to my leg silently watching like a leopard in the shadows, and once again if you're wondering how I even know what Leopard is- Reading my friend... Reading...
"Nope! I am the most certain that anyone can be!" Corny tried defending himself, though I knew these guys were probably much smarter than him. Silently glancing around I looked for Simba, I'd assumed he'd be growling but wasn't... A second later I spotted a mound beside the tree where the horses were... Its side slowly moving up and down and I couldn't help but grit my teeth wondering what they did to him,
"So... You're saying that you acquired all of these by yourself?" The man drawled again motioning towards the two horses,
"Yep! Who else would have gotten them?" I heard another man blurt out a laugh and a couple of voices joined in,
"Look, kid... You're on our territory... And whatever is on our territory is ours," The man's voice quickly shifted from easy going to holding a threat in each note. When they said territory though it made me wonder if these were some of the Taipans... If so I wouldn't have a problem killing them,
"Well, that doesn't seem very fair..." Corny noted and I could just imagine the face he makes when he's trying to figure something out,
"Life isn't fair," Came the voice and I could just make out the glint of a curved sword from one of the people behind Corny raised in the air. Without a second thought, I raced forward my blade on the main speaker's throat in a flash before anyone could even move,
"Eh eh eh..." I said looking directly at the person who held the blade behind Corny. Cornelius' face lit up when he saw me,
"Sylvia!" I exclaimed doing a little jump. I inwardly sighed, as much as I liked his enthusiasm now wasn't the time...
"Nice of you to finally join us," The person who I held spoke calmly as if I wasn't pressing a blade to his throat,
"I would suggest that you take your little buddies and let us be unless you'd like to meet Death very... Very soon," I said sinisterly pressing the blade harder to make a line of blood drop down his neck, though he just chuckled softly as the person who had been behind Corny suddenly put his blade across his throat before I could even take action... If he'd gone a second slower I would have killed both of them, but now Corny's life was at risk, or more so more at risk, everyone's lives were always at risk,
"Now... You could kill me, and maybe even everyone else here, but this little guy over here wouldn't live... That I can assure you for certain," I scowled trying to figure out the best course of action, "So... You can either surrender and we might let you live... Or you can, well you know, kill some of us but most likely get yourself and your friend killed,"
"I'm not sure... I'm liking my odds here, no offense but a lot of your men look like pussies, and I'm pretty sure if your life near here... You're who I think you are which means I have a personal vendetta against each and every one of you... So, I might just take that risk..." I whispered into his ear with a small grin, maybe it was my time to just die... And Corny- I sighed, I would feel bad about that if I lived and he died, but I still thought there was a chance I could save him as well,
"You're very interesting... I like that, so I'm pretty sure I'd remember if I'd done something to offend you so," He said simply, still acting as though his life wasn't in grave danger,
"Then... If you aren't I have no disagreement with you, though I do still need my equipment to the horses to help me, so... Sadly I can't just let you take them," I stated grimly eyeing the people around me, waiting to see if anyone would make a move. The man sighed as if bored,
"Well, sadly I can't let you get away, and fairly as much fun as this conversation is, I'd rather like to get out of this rain," Instantly knowing they were going to do something I whistled and Corny let out a high-pitched scream making the person behind him flinch just enough for him to roll out of the way. I'd told him to do that on the way here in case something like this happened... And Luckily it worked, but before I could slit his throat the man quickly pulled my arm away and behind my back, but before he could gain too much control I kicked him in the shin and pulled away through one of my smaller knives at the guy behind Corny. It hit him in the shoulder, lucky, I thought with a smile. The horses neighed and reared up but couldn't run away as they were tied up, which I was personally thankful for. Corny tried running out of the way but ended up slipping in the mud, though the guy that was trying to gain control of him was coincidently too close and Corny knocked him down, not on purpose I assure you though, and the man went half unconscious. Turning a circle on my foot I kicked a guy in the stomach before he could slice me with his dagger. He clutched his gut grimacing. I turned again successfully cutting a guy in the side with my long-curved dagger. I was just about to go and make sure Corny hadn't gotten himself killed when something hard hit me on the top of my head. My vision swayed as my knees gave way, though someone caught me and I looked up to see the face of the main guy grinning sadly at me,
A nice try I must admit... But just not good enough..." His voice was wavy and I could barely make them out at all, but they were so familiar... The guy that had been leading the group who got Jason had said something so similar... Maybe even that exact same line... The last thought I had was of whether or not Corny had gotten away as I sputtered, "Bitch..." Before everything went completely black and I lost consciousness.

Oh jeez- What's gonna happen next... Sylvia is once again knocked out and reminded about Nicole almost killing her and Simba as well as taking Jason... Can you guess who took her and perhaps Corny? (Let's all face it... There's probably no way Corny would escape- XDD Besides I doubt he'd leave Sylvia...) But how'd you liked Corny in this chapter? Have you ever had really bad teeth pain? I kind of feel bad for him... :( But let me know your opinions down in the comments! And what'd you think of the main speaker? Anyway! I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! I can't believe I have fifteen chapters already... Stay tuned for the next one! :)