Keepers of Time

Chapter VII

Sickly Road, The Claws                                                                                                                                     Stratos Terra

The rushing wind blew wildy at his dark mane, his mossy green eyes took in his approaching destination.
Sickly Road, The Claws
The sun was set high in the sky by the time their party made it to the Claws where the Burning Lake, which was as high as any mountain in Stratos Terra, blocked out the horizon in the east. They slowed down to a trot when the jetting rock formations came into view; they needed to be careful for the next stretch of the journey for the geysers were unpredictable, poisonous and fast acting which, honestly, was quite literally the best part of using the Sickly Road. Who didn't like potentially dying for absolutely no reason at all?

"Are we sure our great leader is in his right mind?" Lewis-who preferred being called by his nickname Lou- asked Alexander Wilde, the quiet member of his squadron, who rode beside him.

Alexander glanced at him sidelong, his lips twitching in amusement, "I believe our great leader wishes to get a point across to our captives about the might of a Gibborim."

"As much as I hate those children, you don't seem particularly worried that we might, hmm, I don't know, die!" Lou scoffed at his leader's antics. There was no reason to show off to the mortals who, fickle as they were, could die by being poked too hard. They were soft, weak and not made for the perilous terrain that was the Claws...or any other place in Stratos Terra, now that he thought about it.

"Loosen up, Lou. We'll be fine besides it will be fun," Alexander said then galloped away, leaving Lou alone with the captives at his back. He sighed and looked back at the miscreants. They had to stop several times to allow the horses the rest and recheck the bounds on the captives. It was rather tedious travelling with mortals because not only did they never seem to shut up but they insisted on having these toilet breaks, not that he had any inkling what a toilet was but it seemed to mean they wander off to relieve themselves. Who knew mortals had such tiny bladders?

"Will you stop whistling, Chad?! You're insulting my ears!" the red hair shrieked in frustration, it seemed her temper matched her hair colour.

The annoying blonde boy chuckled, "You don't tell me what to do. Besides, how else am I suppose to pass the time? We've been riding for hours and my ass is acting up."

"Why don't you try shutting up for once? You might actually like it," the dark hair drawled at him.

"Ha ha ha, you're so funny, Sunshine," the blonde boy rolled his eyes, "I'm serious. If we don't stop right now, I'll lose all feeling."

Lou's lips almost twitched and he had to turn back before he started laughing; they were entertaining to say the least but he still would give anything to get rid of them at this point. If you were wondering, yes, Lou could understand English which was the common language of the Mortal Realm but he hadn't bothered to actually learn how to speak it, he never needed to until now. Though, he didn't want to communicate in any way with the captives because he enjoyed that they never understood anything they said, it made a good way to have private conversation without whispering or something.

They were passing the threshold into the Claws and slowly moving past the formations; the captives fell silent, having sensed the danger. Cai, who was at the front of their party, gave them the hand signal to stop. A moment later, a geyser shot up a few feet in front of them. The captives screamed in shock and this time Lou did laugh.

"Yo! What are you guys doing?!" the blonde boy yelled.

Lou turned in his saddle and gave the boy his most menacing smirk, "Abutu sa ka hanaqu e ni issu masi."
We're trying to kill you for no reason.