A Warm Hart Has A Cold Revival (sequel to A Cold God Found His Warm Hart)

Chapter 10: camp

Roy was silent as we stared at the giant piece of paper.
"Do you believe him?" I asked. Roy swallowed and rubbed the back of his neck.
"I don't know" he said honestly.
"There's no way he could be telling the truth. We both know her well enough to tell if she's been lying to us for so long.
"We can't think about that now. We have to focus on getting out of here" I said logically. Roy cleared his throat and shook his head
"You're right. First, we need to find on this map where we are" Roy suggested. I nodded in agreement
"I believe we're right here" I said, laying my finger on a point on the map
"It makes sense, because here is the river where we came in at. And the clearing where the camp is is even marked on the map" I said, backing my claim. Roy nodded in agreement
"So the only way to go is to head north here until we reach the tip of Asia, surely we'll cross civilization where we can recoup and find a ship towards the United Kingdom" I said, tracing the path with my finger
"Right, and we'll start looking at the U.K. Map once we figure out which port we'll be coming in from" Roy said. I nodded.
"Okay. Now, should we actually trust the food Damien is offering us? If he were smart he'd drug it and capture us" I said as I rolled the maps and put them in my duffel.
"We'll have to play it safe. Before we eat it we'll feed it to some wild animal or have one of these village people eat it. And if it's safe we'll eat it" Roy said. I nodded and drug a hand down my tired face.
"What do we do?" Roy mumbled, he sounded on the verge of tears
"About what?" I whispered
"Ace, our parents, the baby, Damien. everything" he listed.
"The only thing we think about is getting to Cambridge" I declared, we have to stay on focused, we can't be sidetracked.
"In order to get to Cambridge we have to deal with Damien"
"You're right about that, but what if this book of Salutem tells about what Aceleve supposedly is" I suggested
"By getting to Salutem it takes care of the bullshit Damien is feeding us or it'll tell us if it's true"
"That's a huge what if Loki" Roy mumbled, looking away.
"It's the only thing we've got going for us" I mumbled. Roy nodded and we stopped our hushed conversation when we heard sticks and leaves crunching under boots.
"As a guest of Jake's we ask you to follow us to your eating place" a young woman of maybe 25 said to us very formally. We looked at each other and I nodded once to the woman. She swallowed nervously, obviously intimated by the two of us and began to lead us away from our table. I grabbed my duffel and swung it over my shoulder with Roy walking beside me with a grave look on his face. She led us to a regularly sized tent connected to other tents to create one large room with a large homemade wooden table in the middle with matching handmade benches. At the front sat Damian and to the right was a beautiful woman, presumably his wife and to the left two empty chairs. Our escort led us to the two empty chairs and Damian motioned for us to sit down. Roy looked at me in question and I nodded, telling him to do as Damian says.
Damian stood "Friends, family, honored guests. I welcome you to the annual new moon feast. Please eat and drink your fill because as you know, this is our last meal until the next new moon. So please enjoy" Damian said. He said back beside us and the rest of the table began to eat like dogs, ravishing everything in sight with no sort of manners. It was very revolting and unappetizing.
"What do you mean these people only get one meal a month, how do they live?" Roy asked, not having touched his food or wine yet.
"Well, supplies is extremely limited out here, not only is our food supply dwindling and the hunt is hard. But the water supply is becoming contaminated with every passing month"
"Then where do you get your supplies, because this animal is definitely not one from around this dense forest" I asked, looking down at my small bird
"You're right about that, every month a plane passes by with tons of food and supply on its way to some celebrity survival camp a few hours away. So once the celebrities get their food, we sneak over in the middle of the night and grab what we can. That is why we only have one meal."
"Surely you people eat something like berry's or these foreign birds. A human cannot exist on one meal a month" Roy declared.
"Well, if the villagers get hungry enough they will do anything for survival" he said slyly and looked away, over the rim of his wine glass.
We remained silent and Roy absently ate bits and pieces of his turkey and potatoes while watching the starving people around us.
"What do you do with the leftovers?" I asked.
"They are used for the trials"
Trials?"
"Yes. The second week of the month the trials are held to decide who will be in my army.
"Army?"
"Yes, I am building a army"
"What for?"
"That is secrete my friend"
"Okay, then go back to the trials. How is the food used?" Roy asked.
"The leftover food is given to the competitors as a way to allow whoever dies to have one last delicious meal before passing" he said as if it were the most obvious answer.
"Is the trial like a fight, until the death?" Roy asked.
"Exactly" he replied, taking a huge bite. I bit my lip and swallowed, we need to get out of here as soon as possible these people were crazy. Not that I was scared but the closer we get to Salutem the closer we get to Aceleve and the baby, and finally my war. Maybe I'll come back for them and recruit them into my army.
No more words were shared during the meal and the only thing Roy and I could do is eat the food in front of us and watch in disgust. As honored guests it was customary in Asgard to stay until the host dismissed us but I'm not sure of the way it works here. So we sat until almost all the plates were empty and villagers were leaving to return to their own sleeping areas.
"Has anyone shown you where you will be sleeping yet?" Damian asked. I remained silent while Roy shook his head no.
"Silvia, will you please take them to resting area B tent 12" he asked politely. A women that sat to his right nodded shortly and looked at us while standing. We took that as instruction to follow and wordlessly walked behind her out of the connecting tunnel of tents and outside into the cool, brisk air. She led us down a dirt path into the trees and finally towards a small ring of tents in a clearing with a fire pit in the middle.
"You may choose any of the tents here" she instructed. Without another word she walked away from us back up the trail.
"If they were going to kidnap us or want us watched they're not doing a good job of supervision" Roy commented. I chuckled under my breath began walking towards a tent that was larger than the others and on the left. I held the flap for Roy and as he ducked in I took one last look at our surroundings. This place isn't like anything I've ever seen and the sooner we get out of here the better. I followed Roy into the tent and we worked in silence as we unraveled the provided sleeping bags.
"I suggest we get a few hours of rest and then sneak out in the middle of the night and grab the food that is to be used for the trials" Roy said randomly as he laid down
I nodded in agreement and laid down on my back with one arm behind my head and sighed. I feel empty without Aceleve curled beside me, without her to cuddle with or for me to even protect. She is somewhere I can't go, with someone not even born yet. I will do whatever I have to in order to protect my family. I know Aceleve is not who Damian says she is. We were connected through Cheen. And something like that can't be hidden with such a strong connection. I turned over onto my side with my back facing Roy and closed my eyes, making a conscious effort to actually wake up in the middle of the night.

Hey guys!!!! So long time no update right? I apologize for that my highschool has put on the musical Shrek and I'm in the pit orchestra for it 😄 so as you can imagine I've been super busy not to mention having a job on top of that. Exhausting. Anyways I hope you guys have a great day and Allons-y and stay fantastic! :)