The Embers Book II: Rise Of A King

Chapter Eight: An Eccentric General

Chapter Eight: An Eccentric General

The paper felt rough, even heavy in his hands as he scanned the names on the list. There were six in total all written in carefully thought out strokes of ink. He knew that Tobias had written the list which reminded him of the guilt he'd begun to feel for leaving all those months ago. Wind flowed through his long ruffled hair, passing through and into the cavern behind him which was given chase by the rising of the sun over the hills. He'd spent the last half hour thinking carefully on who else to take with him to find The Deserters, Kimiko had been a thought but he hadn't wanted to risk her safety especially as he'd only just gotten her back. Jamie was completely out of the question due to his distain toward his previous friend, but there was one person whose particular gift could be of use to Taylor.

Taylor heard footsteps echo from behind drawing his attention to the darkness which gradually became illuminated by the sun as it swept in a wave across the rock beneath their feet. The footsteps continued until they stopped and a young man drew level with him then proceeded to face him. He met his eyes with his own before he gave a small smile and gave a curt nod of the head to Darrell which was returned in kind. 

"Thanks for coming see me, Darrell. How much did Mylar tell you exactly? his question was quick to leave his lips. 

"He said that we were going out recruiting. He refused to say anything more than that, and that you'd fill me in on the rest" he replied sternly as the wind blew through his short dark hair. 

"It's more like bringing some old faces out of retirement, I don't know if you've been told about The Deserters from the early days, but that's who we're going to look for and bring back. Tobias believed that they could be of use to us and that's good enough for me" said Taylor as he handed Darrell the list which he took with a slight air of hesitation. 

"Yeah, I know about them. We really have gotten desperate if this has what it's come to. Only six names though, I expected there to be more than that" he said scanning the list. 

"No denying that. I'm going to need you to support me through this, Argus isn't a big fan of bringing The Deserters back into the fold and honestly I don't blame him. If I wasn't who I was then I can't imagine anyone here would entertain the idea of me coming back" he said while wondering what Darrell thought about his return. 

"No problem, I personally think it makes perfect sense even if it's only six more fighters at least that's something. Well I had a feeling you'd be back eventually, from what I've heard about you, you have a certain sense of responsibility. You were grieving and you just lost your way, even if it was for six months" smirked Darrell slyly. 

"Good because he could be a handful and that's the last thing we need to be dealing with. Thanks, it's nice to know that someone else understands why. Head on inside, get everything you need and be ready to leave in ten minutes. We'll meet out here when we're all ready to go. Ordered Taylor, which felt like such a strange thing for him to do and didn’t think he’d ever get used to it.

"Okay, see you in a bit then" he waved goodbye as he went back into the cavern's retreating darkness. 

A few minutes later Taylor followed suit, he went back through the entrance and continued through until he found Mylar, who was stood outside the entrance to the makeshift war room with a large camouflage back pack at his feet. 

"This is for you. I guessed your size when it came to clothes and that should be enough for at least a few days. Hopefully it doesn't take you much longer than that to rally the six of them to the cause. Also there are food rations in there so you shouldn't need to steal anything" said Mylar his voice lacking it's usually confidence.