The Far Wilds

Part 3

Speaking of Flame, it had been a week, and that hijacked feeling still hadn't faded. Compounding the mystery, War, the man in the mask, looked achingly familiar, like she'd known him in another, better life.

She tried to put the issue to the back of her mind. These kinds of things had been happening ever since she had bought the bracelets several months ago. She had been having strange impulses, such as to lead, to nurture, and to build. She had been craving company, and now, soon as she got it, the bracelets took over again. It didn't help that she couldn't physically get rid of them- whenever she tried, warning bells screamed in her head and she stopped, panting, every hair alight with panic.

So, resigned to this new reality, she started adding rooms for her new guests. Her house was small at first: a front room with the front door, kitchen, storage, and her bed, with a ladder leading down to her mine and a tunnel that was connected to a natural cave she had bumped into by accident. War and Smevy settled in a couple rooms at the bottom of a ladder off the main room, while Wolf and Mold set up their areas in the cave.

Daily life with her new roommates was as simple as it was slow. They farmed, gathered wild animals from the surrounding countryside, then ate some of them for dinner. The rest were stored in holding pens for later.

Flame's pet chicken, Leonard, seemed undisturbed by the new arrangement. He did what he had always done- wandered around the outside of the base, squawked indignantly whenever someone walked by without petting him, and was generally everywhere you didn't want him to be.

Like pecking at the feet of the strange woman walking up the path to Flame's house. Flame, who was organizing her storage at the moment, heard the commotion and rushed out, assuming that Leonard was trying to eat Mold's head again, but stopped short.

The woman was near Flame's height, had appeared entirely unbothered by Leonard, and wore dark clothes coupled with a confident, slightly nervous expression.

What stopped Flame, however, was the deep instinct that suddenly flooded through her. She glanced ruefully at the bracelets. The woman appeared very young, and a strong, almost maternal feeling pulsed through her like a second heartbeat. Protect. Protect. Protect.

It wasn't that Flame didn't feel like the new woman was incapable of taking care of herself. It went so much deeper than that- like the woman was part of Flame's family, that she had a duty sewn into her DNA to make sure she was okay.

With a great effort, Flame pushed the feeling away, though it still persisted in pulsing through her spine like natural shivers, and asked, Who are you?

Candy, said the woman, projecting through Mindspeak. Flame nodded and said out loud, "I'm Flame. Do you have any reason for coming here?"

"I was in the area," Candy responded, "and heard the sound of voices coming from here. I was wondering if I could stay the night- it's been lonely out in the middle of nowhere all by myself."

"That should be fine," said Flame, "but it's not just up to me."

"Why?"

"Follow me- I'll introduce you to the others."

They walked up the path, opened the door- and were confronted with an alarming sight.

A pedestal had been erected in the middle of the room, near the entrance to the mine. Mold was standing behind it, his bearing proud, his head bent over a paper. The other three men were scattered along the room, War closest, Smevy next to him, and Wolf standing near the door, poised like a runner starting a race. As Flame and Candy entered, Mold looked up and said, "oh good, Flame, you're here. And you brought a friend, all the better!" He looked around the room (well it appeared that he looked around, it was honestly hard to tell). "Everyone ready?"

"Ready for what?" War asked.

"For a new beginning!"

War opened his mouth to reply, but Mold didn't let him. "I said, is everyone ready?"

Unenthusiastic yes's rang throughout the room.

"Okay then." He adjusted his paper, glanced down at it once, looked back up, and began.

"We're not safe here. They are coming, and they mean business. They will burn down our home, steal our resources, turn everything we have here into nothing. We'll lose everything we'll hold dear, and they'll make us feel like it's our fault." He swallowed. "Trust me, I know."

Flame felt a pang of curious pity. She hadn't really spoken to her new roommates. Sure, they'd talked about little things, like what kind of crops they should plant and whether someone they thought it was going to rain. But she didn't know their stories, nor they hers. They lived together, but they were strangers.

"Which is why we have to get ready," continued Mold. "We have to gather resources, get better gear, and start making storage rooms. Flame, could you-"

"Wait a minute," said War. "Who exactly is 'they?'"

"I don't want to talk about it," said Mold, shooting a look at Wolf. Everyone else looked at him as well. "What?" Wolf asked, looking flummoxed. "Mold, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yes you do," spat Mold, his voice curled in anger. "And you know what, Wolf?! It's my turn now!"

"Ok, get down," said War. "We can talk about this later." He glanced at Candy. "We have a newcomer, after all.

"I don't care," said Mold.

War drew his sword. Mold responded by readying his own. He took one look at War's fearicious, "just try it" expression, glanced at the door, and bolted. Flame and Candy ducked out of the way, while Wolf stepped to the side and held open the door. The two crashed into the braken next to the house. Flame stood by, unsurety pinning her in place. Something deep within wanted to stop it, but that came from the same place the brackets must be adding to. The rest of her wanted to stay put, to stay safe.

The cowardly side that won out. She heard more crashing, a cry....and then...nothing but an awful silence. War trudged back, his sword streaked with red. He saw Flame's horrified expression and said, almost apologetically, "I've never trusted him. I had a feeling he was just here to cause trouble, and after today... C'mon, you all saw what I saw. There is no 'they,' it was just a ploy to get control.

"I've been here for two seconds, and even I saw it," said Candy. Smevy and Wolf nodded. Flame didn't, but she also didn't say anything. Mold had been her friend. He had also tried to gain control for...something. Common sense and this new, family loyalty were fighting a war inside her, and, as she looked around at the others, it welled up anew. Candy, Smevy, Wolf ...even War, the man who had just murdered someone. And, no matter what happened, it would always be that way. She knew it in her bones. These were her wards, and her, their protector.

That night, Candy snuck out. Past the edge of the garden, into the treeline, and to where Lucas was waiting, his knees stiff. She crept up to him, glanced behind her to make sure she hadn't been seen, and told him about everything that had happened. "Then we buried him behind the house and everyone went back to what they were doing- I have a room downstairs, next to War." She shook her head. "They're a hardcore group, and I kind of like it, to be honest."

She waited for the delay to catch up, watched him process the new information, and said, "What do you think? Want to join?"

"Give me a few days," he replied. "Maybe then I'll feel better about all of this." Candy's eyes darkened.

"We'll see."