The Dead war.

Chapter Two: The journy

"How do you think this is going to go?" Nathaniel asked as we stopped to set up camp after the first day.
"You know I really don't know" I said, laying the tarp down on the ground.
"I mean I hope he accepts us and believes that we are there to help but I have never met him or anyone who lives there. I hope it goes well but I'm preparing for the worst." I said Nathaniel went quiet and I looked over at him.
"What is it?" I asked. "I've just been thinking. What happens if we fail or get caught? I mean we have no backup, no help, no nothing I mean what happens if we fail." He asked rambling. I stopped him and held his shoulders.
"Nathaniel what had gotten into you?" I asked looking into his eyes,
"Suddenly you went from a badass knight to a wussy." I said looking at him.
"What's going on?" I asked. He looked at me with a glimmer in his eyes, he looked like he was going to cry. I pulled him away from the group and hugged him tightly. "Dude what is going on?" I asked again. He looked up at me and said In a hoarse tone.
"My father is sick, Serena. He won't let anymore know but I caught him the other day, he was coughing up blood. He didn't think I noticed because he stashed the handkerchief before he thought I noticed." He took a deep Breath before continuing.
"He convinced your father that you were the next best choice for Chief of the army  and when King Gabriel asked why my father just said that his time for retirement was nearing. He is dying. And now I am out on this mission without him and I left him back home for 4 weeks. What if we don't make it back and when we do return he isn't the same." He said sadly
"We are going to be fine Nathaniel, your father is going to be fine. We'll get the prince and get out. Now let's go. I need to talk to the group." I said squeezing his hand and I smiled and turned to walk away. I walked to the camp and sat around the fire With the group.
"Ok everyone when we get to Prophis I One of you is gonna have to talk for me. The lady who I can only assume was the leader of this group knows my voice. I spoke to her before she left so if she is there and really is part of the army or Prophis then she will recognize my voice, you will let them know that I am your leader but I don't speak at all if I do it's in a whisper and Nathaniel here has to translate. If they do recognize my voice they know I am with Umbris." I said
"Won't they know your face." Oscar said
"No, I had a mask covering the bottom half of my face. The only thing they would recognize was my voice so if I don't have to talk we won't have a problem." I explained calmly
"What happens when we arrive? How will we explain what we are there for? I mean I doubt they will believe us speaking for you" Charlie replied.
"That will be figured out when we get closer. We still have about a 6 day walk until we reach the wall of Prophis surrounding its towns." I stood up and walked over to my tent climbing inside with my book and quill I wrote down some Notes and possibilities. When I heard a commotion outside I ran outside to see Charlie holding a young girl.
"Charlie what are you doing? Where did she come from?" I yelled
"She came running into the camp trying to grab our food and water." Charlie yelled in exclamation
"Put her down Charlie. But keep her inside the camp" I said with annoyance.
Charlie dropped her with a hint of carelessness. I rolled my eyes and turned to her. Nathaniel stood a few feet from me, his arms crossed. I leaned against a tree not saying much. Nathaniel spoke first.
"What's your name?"
"Kara." She said softly
"What are you doing here Kara?" Nathaniel asked
"Looking for food," she said softly.
"You're from Prophis?" Nathaniel asked and she nodded her head.
"I didn't want to break any laws but they aren't feeding my family." She pleaded.
"You're already on the wrong side of the law sweetheart." I said in my normal cold tone.
Nathaniel gave me a glare. Anytime it came to new people I wasn't the kindest. I was always extremely rude and people were intimidated by me. And I didn't speak much unless it was Nathaniel or the boys in the army I was close with.
"I know, but they are starving my family because she had me, I was a girl. They told my mom if she wanted a place in the castle she had to get rid of me and have a baby boy. She refused to get rid of me and they sent her to the rundown part of town, they refused to feed her so I would sneak out and steal food. When I saw you guys I knew you would have food and water so...." She trailed off because of the look on my face. I didn't even know I was doing it but apparently I looked unsatisfied and annoyed and probably bored. It was a normal face for me when it came to new people.
"So you came all the way to Umbris to find food?" Charlie asked "if you didn't want to be on the wrong side of the law why would you cross borders and make it worse for yourself." Charlie continued.
She paused, picking at her fingers looking at the ground. She did this for a good 5-10 minutes. I walked away and everyone looked at me and Nathaniel just rolled his eyes. The air was cold and brisk and the smell of wood enveloped my nostril. My feel slightly sank in the soft dirt ground and the fur on my coat blew softly in the wind. My long black hair was now pulled into a French braid. It was messy and definitely poofy but it's what my mom taught me how to do.
"You realize how awful you are with kids." Nate laughed dryly
"Hey I have my moments, what about all the Friday's I've done." I shot back
"Yeah and that was only 1 day a week for 2 hours." Nate sneered. I smacked his chest hard enough to hurt him a little but not hard enough to break anything.
"Asshole," he spoke softly. I did the sniff that he knew was a laugh, it was a laugh through my nose basically.
I walked away while he rubbed his chest where I hit him. I walked back to my tent and pulled out my extra food and two canteens I brought with me. I knelt down to eye level in front of her. She looked up at me and I handed her a backpack full of snacks and sandwiches and two canteens filled with water.
"Take these back to your mom. Don't tell her where you got them okay.? I said softly. She nodded and hugged me. I grimaced. I always hated hugs but accepted it anyway. She ran away fast in the direction she came and Nate walked over and bumped me with his shoulder.
"Softy." he said laughing
"Oh shut up Nate" I said walking away purposely shoulder checking him he stumbled back landing with a crack on his butt. I walked back into my tent and laid down looking out the window
No matter how stressed Nate was he always seemed to laugh and make jokes whether they were appropriate or not is another story. His father was dying and he still managed to get a laugh out of life. The sun started to dissipate and the cold began to set out. I put on my fuzzy wool pants lined with more wool. And put my wool jacket on, taking my leather off as it made it colder in my tent.
The boys had made a fire and were laughing and yelling jokes. It made me smile to watch. This was my dream yet why did it feel so wrong. Taking Thomas spot. Becoming the new Chief of the army. Why did it feel so wrong yet so right? I felt like I belonged as a knight and a leader but I felt like I was replacing Thomas and no one would replace Thomas. He was like my second father. So the idea of replacing him was painful. I couldn't imagine how Nate was feeling. If he felt as much pain from the thought of losing Thomas as I did, then I know it is unbearable.
I laid on my wool mat on my side with my legs tucked close to my chest with my arm to the side of my face. My other arm rests on my waist. I laid there looking out of the window at Nathaniel and the boys, Charlie was clearly high on no sleep and he looked drunk. Liam was quietly reading. And David hadn't said much since we began this trip. The rest of the boys were laughing and giggling and shoving each other knocking each other off their seats. I just watched. I felt the exhaustion from the day Catching up to me. My vision went black and then sleep consumed me. And then the dream came again I woke up in some kind of forest. I was in a white garment dress like the one my mother wore. I looked around In confusion. When suddenly the ground started to rumble. The sound became unbearable. I looked around spinning my whole body looking but only finding forest and forest. Suddenly a woman appeared in front of me with three boys. One looked exactly like me, the other two shared an extreme resemblance to the women and the other boy. Suddenly I was looking at myself standing by the mother and her sons or that's what I thought it was
I tried to scream and ask why they were but nothing came from my screams. Then suddenly I was at the edge of a cliff and those boys from earlier were standing in front of me with the women behind them. They didn't speak or move, they just stood there. Not making any sound I watched as they moved closer. I backed out too far and started to fall, when suddenly a hand. It was that man from the forest the first time. The one who asked why the women and men were tied up. Why was he were and what did he have to do with anything And then suddenly I was jerked away cold sweat dripping from my body. I sat up putting my head between my legs and breathed deeply. I put my clothes back on and shaked off the feeling. I got up and walked out. The boys were still sleeping all except for Nate. I walked up and sat next to
Him and laid my head on his shoulder, he leaned his head on top of mine.
"The nightmare again?" He said softly.
"Yeah except this time it changed. I didn't fall from the cliff when someone caught me. It was the guy from the first when we first found them." I said
"The guy who asked why they were tied up?" He asked, still speaking softly.
"Yeah him." I said "but I don't know why he is there or what he has to do with anything. Or what any of it means." I groaned.
"I don't think it means anything Serena. That's just what it is, a dream." He reassured
"But that's just it Nate, I don't think it's just a dream. Who is that boy who looks just like me, who was the woman or the two older men? It just didn't make sense." I said anger returning. He held my hand and I sighed. He rubbed the palm of my hand with his thumb. Something that he has done many times because he knew it calmed me.