War on Kitaris

Chapter 11 - Just the Battle

“Can you…narrow it down a bit?” Marcus asked, scanning the area. I knew that Alisanne was here; I could sense it. But where could she be? It was only the beach, and the large cliffs that enclosed the area that surrounded us. Not unless…

“Let’s check it out,” Devin said, beginning to walk down the hill. I put my arm out to stop him.

“Galen, can they sense us?” I asked. Galen shook his head.

“Not that I know of. The Zmeya don’t have our mental abilities and even if they did… being able to sense the enemy without them actually doing something isn’t exactly on the criteria.”

“Where could they be?” Devin asked, looking around. “This is just a crappy beach with cliffs.”

“Caves,” I answered, without even thinking about it. The others turned to me. “There are so many cliffs here, and caves wouldn’t be that uncommon. Also, it’s pretty convenient and deserted. They would like that, wouldn’t they?”

Galen nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. “Rose is right; the Zmeya prefer solitary. I suggest we investigate the area as much as we can without being caught, and then form a plan. Rose, do you think that you could maybe try and find a more specific area of where the cave or caves could be?”

The feeling in the pit of my stomach was dragging me towards the bottom of the hill, so I led the way, striding down the grassy hill. Gradually, the terrain became more rocky, dirty, and flat. There were cliffs to my left, and cliffs to my right, but the feeling was tugging me towards the left.

The others followed me as I began walking along the beach towards the cliffs on our left. The wind was blowing my long hair roughly, and it created a dark, mysterious scene. Once we finally reached the cliff face, I placed my hand on the slippery, rock surface and closed my eyes.

There was only one way to go, and that was up. I looked upwards and saw that the cliff face was broken up into four main ledges. And it was the middle ledge where I spotted a small gap between sharp rocks, probably large enough to fit two people in at once.

I knew that was it. But I knew that the Zmeya were crafty, and that that gap would lead to, most likely, more than one cave. I wasn’t going in there, though. It would be an immediate death trap if I went in without any plans or help.

“It’s up there,” I shouted over the noise of the waves around us. Water splashed at my feet. Marcus, Devin and Galen moved closer around me and looked up, frowning.

“Huh, fancy that,” Devin said. “After nearly two days of walking, we find it, and it’s a two feet wide hole between rocks in a cliff face.”

“The sun will be setting soon,” Galen announced, looking towards the ocean. “Probably within two hours, the sun will be set. I suggest we sit down, take a breather, and form our plan while we wait.”

“I’m quite happy with that,” I sighed, as we began walking back towards the hill. We decided to take camp further away from the beach, where there were a few more trees to seclude us. We then had something to eat, and sat in a circle, and discussed ideas.

We had hit a problem, though. The problem was that Marcus and Devin were more obsessed with protecting me than themselves, and even though I was the most powerful, they thought that I shouldn’t be thrown into dangerous situations. Galen disagreed. And I disagreed, too.

“I think we should split into pairs,” Galen said.

“I’m going with Rose,” Marcus and Devin both said at the same time. They turned to each other, with determined looks on their faces. I looked at Galen, my eyes pleading. He sighed.