The Scarlet Scepter

Chapter Fourteen (Revised)

"Cepheus!"

I was sweaty, and I was gasping for breath like I just ran a marathon. I dreamed that we were about to get killed but Cepheus fell into the river. Cyrus was watching me sympathetically, and his eyes looked like they were a million miles away.

"Why are you–-" I looked around. It was dark, and in the light of the fire, I saw trees.

"You were unconscious," he replied softly.

"And Cepheus? Cyrus, it was all a dream, right?" I said.

A tear dripped from my nose when he averted his gaze.

"No," I whispered. "No, no, no. It's not true!" I quickly scrambled up and searched for the way to the cliff. "He was just here! I saw that he was here! It wasn't that long when . . ."

He grabbed my arm and he held me fiercely.

"It isn't–" I choked. "He's not . . . no . . ."

I didn't care that Celia was watching us. I wrapped my arms around him and cried.

"Would you like to eat something?" Cyrus asked when I calmed down the following morning.

Normally, I would have gaped at him, but with what we went through . . .

"No, thank you. I'm not hungry."

We've both been quiet throughout the day. His eyes were still red, but he looked more composed than yesterday. It was the second time I saw a man cry. He just lost his comrade and best friend. Celia was also silent.

We stopped at a pile of boulders to rest. Celia pointed to a marsh of mangrove trees in the east.

"Across that swamp is Sapiro," she said. I was glad that we're almost there, but the loss of Cepheus is too fresh.

Cyrus raised a brow. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Cyrus. It's a shorter way," she replied confidently.

"Let's go then," I said emotionlessly. "Let's get this over with."

"What are you staring at?" Cyrus asked as we fell behind Celia, who was trying her best to lead us. He always caught me off guard, even though it was just a simple question.

"Nothing."

He gave a rueful smile. "I will be fine. We've got only two days left, and in three days' time, Seriah would disappear if we fail. Cepheus's death would be for nothing."

He was right. I shut my mouth, but the question I wanted to ask Cepheus before all that confusion yesterday was disturbing me.

"Cyrus, if we find the Scepter, will Altair stop? I mean, wasn't his mind already made up before this whole thing?"

His eyes turned stormy. "Yes, that is true, but Altair is still bound to his kingdom. His excuse would be that he'll attack as revenge for the thievery, but if we find the Scepter and prove that he had orchestrated this, we could stop the war. Moreover, the Scepter is an ancient treasure. It can help us."

"I see."

He spoke again after a few minutes. "My only regret is that I could have helped him. How weak of a man like me to be sitting around while his best friend is sacrificing himself."

"It's not your fault," I said. "I could have saved him too, but he saved me. He saved us. There was nothing else you could have done."

He looked at me with remorse and nodded.

It was getting dark. We only have until two days to go. I sat down near the fire and hugged my knees.

Cepheus was gone. My mind was full of what ifs. What if I hadn't angered the giant in the first place? What if I obeyed Carole's voice in my head when I entered that cave? Sure, I thought it was nonsense. That's how you learn, my dad used to say. Life's lessons are learned in hard ways that you won't expect. The core statement of Carole's yapping was that I should be careful of what I was doing, because no matter what, there would be consequences. Even that simple barbeque incident.