Alpha of the Shack

ALPHA OF THE SHACK - VI

"LET'S go, Cedric," Hardir called to me as he turned away from the burning town several kilometres behind us.

Arius climbed onto his horse. "Get on. We can get away faster on Fulmen."

"We've got to help them," I whispered, still spellbound by what was happening.

"No, Cedric," Hardir replied.

"WE HAVE TO!" I screamed. "I could barely tolerate leaving my books behind at home to burn as the very place in which I grew up shrivelled and collapsed around me. How do you think I'd feel if every person in that town - the very people I'm supposed to protect - died because of me?" I could feel tears tickling my eyes.

Hardir and Arius looked at each other for a moment and sighed.

"Fine," Hardir finally replied. "But you'd better be quick! Those people will be looking for you! Get on."

I jumped onto Fulmen. She groaned with the extra weight on her back.

"C'mon, girl, as fast as you can," Arius said. He flicked the reins. His trusty steed neighed before starting to gallop back towards Frontier.

It didn't take long for me to start feeling the heat emanating from the burning wreck.

~~~

"By the gods," Arius gasped as he looked around his hometown. Surrounding us were falling buildings and structures, all ablaze in the night. I could hear loud screaming and shouting.

"WHERE'S THE BOY?" came a loud, piercing voice. I jumped slightly.

"I...I have no idea what you're talking about," replied another. This one was shaky and quivering with fear.

"HAVE YOU SEEN A BOY RESEMBLING TRAITOR XAVIER HEULKREIS?" the first voice erupted again.

A silence. For a moment, all I could hear was the crackling and roaring of the fires.

"No, I haven't, I swear on my life!" squeaked the second. "Please let me go! I beg of you!" A second later, a soft grunt came from the direction of the two voices. Then a crumpling sound.

"FIND THAT BOY! SNIFF HIM OUT! BRING HIM TO ME!" the first voice screamed.

"Yes, sir!" cried several others. The owner of the second trembling voice had presumably been killed by soldiers on the lookout for their target.

"We need to hide!" Arius whispered. "I told you they were trying to find you."

"Where can we hide, though?" Hardir replied. "There's fire all around us!"

"Help me!" came a third, high-pitched voice. It sounded like a belonged to a little girl, slightly younger than me.

"Where's that voice coming from?" I asked.

"I'm trying to figure it out," Hardir said.

"Great, another kid," Arius sighed.

"Shut up, Arius."

I pointed to a burning house near us. "I think it's coming from inside that house." I disembarked and ran towards it.

"Where're you goin', Your Majesty?" Arius growled through gritted teeth.

"To help my people!" I declared. I ran off towards the burning house.

"Help!" cried the girl. "I'm trapped."

"I'm coming!" I shouted. "Hang on in there! Don't move!"

I painfully negotiated my way through burning pieces of wood and flames started to lick my clothes. I was sweating like a dog. I covered my mouth and nose with my shirt to protect them from the smoke. As I ventured further inside the house, I could hear soft coughing and choking. It was almost heartbreaking.

"Please, come quickly!" the girl gasped.

After several minutes of painstaking trekking, I saw a figure before me, on her knees. She looked to be about eleven years old. Her face was red from the heat, and there was soot all over her. She looked faint, and her blue eyes were starting to lose their glow.

The wolf inside her was dying. If that happened, she was doomed.

I tried to lift her up to her feet. "C'mon, up you get." She tried her best to stand up, but she collapsed back down to the ground. I reached down to lift her up.

"No, no," she coughed. "I'll try again." She pushed herself off the ground and I put my arm around her shoulder.

"Let's go, quickly," I wheezed. The smoke was starting to get to me.

"C'mon, kid, hurry up!" I could hear Arius cry out.

"Coming!" I tried to shout. It only came as a whisper.

We eventually found our way out. Hardir, Arius and Fulmen were waiting.

"I was gonna leave you behind, but Hardir and Fulmen here refused to leave," Arius grunted. "Hurry up! We don't have much time before we die from the fire!"

I lifted the girl onto the horse, and she weakly sat in front of Arius, supporting herself using Arius' burly chest. I climbed onto the back and held Hardir to stop myself from falling off.

"HYA!" Arius called out to the horse as he flicked the reins once more. Fulmen didn't need any further encouragement, and she galloped as quickly as she could out of town.

~~~

"By the gods, Cedric," Hardir reprimanded as Fulmen continued to gallop away from what was left of Frontier. "You're lucky we weren't caught by the soldiers."

"I had to help her, Hardir," I whined. The wind made my hair fly backwards. It felt very refreshing after the exhausting heat and smoke of the fire.

"Having an extra mouth to feed ain't gonna help us, Your Majesty," Arius sneered.

"Will you stop calling me that?" I said.

Fulmen started slowing down. She whinnied faintly.

"She's starting to get tired," Arius said. "We'll have to stop for the night."

We got off the road and looked for a place to rest. We decided to make camp on the other side of a hill, so that it was less likely the soldiers could find us.

"No fires," Hardir sighed. "I've had quite enough of those for tonight."

"Agreed," I replied.

"I'll keep watch for a while. I'll wake one of you when I feel tired." Arius said.

We helped the girl get off Arius' horse and lay her down on the grass before laying some of our clothes on top of her body as a blanket. We then lay down ourselves to sleep. The grass felt cool and wet from the midnight dew. I stared up at the sky, stargazing. I could hear Fulmen snoring quietly as she slept standing. I don't know how horses do it.

A billion thoughts were whizzing through my head. Who was after me? How'd they find out about me so quickly? I turned to look at the girl sleeping beside me. My thoughts turned to her. Who was she? Who were her parents? Where were they?

My eyelids started to feel heavy after a while, so I allowed them to close and I drifted off into sleep again.

Author's note: Welcome back to Alpha of the Shack! Thank you for reading this chapter! A new character! I hope you'll like her! What did you think of this chapter? As always, constructive criticism is welcome in the comments. Again, thank you for reading, and I'll see you next time!

~Tim :)