Children of the Elements: Prey to Him

Chapter Four: Taming the Beast

Chapter Four: Taming the Beast

Nathan was frozen to the spot for a mere two seconds, before he sprang backwards and conjured himself a ball of water between his hands. He immediately stood up properly, casting away his water when he recognised the person.

“What are you doing here?” he snapped.

Chris didn’t move either. “Am I not allowed to be here?”

There was more shouting coming closer to the pair of them, and Nathan whipped his head around to check for them. He just caught sight of one man appearing from around the corner as Chris suddenly grabbed his wrist and dragged him through a small crack between two houses and out into a dark orchard. The trees were symmetrically placed together, the leaves and branches spreading out expansively from the trunk, giving the two of them plenty of hiding places.

Chris continued running to the end of the orchard, and then crouched down behind a line of several apple trees, pulling Nathan down with him. He peeked out past the tree, studying the grounds for footsteps or indication that they’d followed the boys to the orchard.

Nathan glanced at Chris. “How did you find me?” he whispered.

Chris scoffed quietly. “I didn’t. You ran into me.”

“Then why were you out at this time?”

Chris finally glanced back at Nathan darkly before scouring the ground again. “I could ask you the same question.”

Several torch lights flashed at the other end of the orchard, searching around in the dark. “Spread out! He has to be here somewhere!” one of them shouted.

Nathan automatically crouched lower to the ground, whilst Chris stayed alert for the rebel group members gradually getting closer to them. It was odd that Chris was helping him: he normally didn’t care whether Nathan was alive or dead. He was almost grateful that Chris was here – his arm was still bleeding and the lump of the bullet felt cold in his blood and against his skin.

The morning sunlight was still dim, and even though there was probably enough light to see by without the torches, a gathering of fog seemed to have crept its way to the floor, hiding the two of them slightly better against the enemies. Just as Nathan thought of this, Chris seemed to extend his hands and gently blow over his palms. A thicker cloud of fog formed in front of them, giving them a protective layer of disguise. Once he was done, he silently gestured with his hand for Nathan to follow him.

Nathan was sceptical for a few seconds as Chris began to walk in his crouch towards the edge of the orchard where the single gate was open. Nathan began to follow them, keeping his hand placed over his shoulder wound as they went. There were no sign of any more rebel members as they went, however Chris kept on moving and producing fog to shield them from sight.

Within a minute or two, the gate was only a metre away. Chris stopped suddenly, putting his arm out gently in front of Nathan’s chest. Nathan followed his gaze. There were several men stood by the gate, stopping them from escaping unseen. Nathan looked around. It was hard to see through the fog, but he didn’t think that there was anything of any use to help them in getting past the men quietly.

“What’s the plan?” he whispered to Chris.

“The same as before” was all the answer he got before Chris crawled across the grass, making the fog thicker than it had been before. Nathan was very nervous to follow him, especially because he was injured, but he had nowhere else to go, and Chris seemed to be the best person to follow in this situation.

The crawled their way on their stomachs through the trees until they were within an arm’s length of the gate. Chris went first. He manipulated the fog around the men’s feet, making sure that they couldn’t see the ground at all. Then, he slowly and silently crawled his way through the gate, pushing it open gently in a breeze of cold air, and made it through. Once he was there, he moved away from the men to the shadow of the adjacent wall, keeping out of sight of the men.