The Royal Brigade

Chapter 7: Deathly Conditions

Evanity’s POV

The early morning sunlight slipped through the shade of the huge oak tree that we were laying underneath all night scattering small specks of light across our bodies. I stirred awake from my sleep then slowly pulled myself into a sitting position and stretched my arms high above me. Running a hand through my disheveled hair I looked down on the hand that was resting on my lap and glanced at its owner.

Dallen was still sound asleep his amber eyes closed tightly while snoring peacefully. I slowly removed his hand from my lap then gently shook his shoulders to wake him up. “Come on, Dallen. Wake up!”

When he still didn’t stir from his sleep, I tried again leaning close to whisper on his ear. “Get up! The others are already having breakfast.”

Sure enough at the word “breakfast” Dallen snapped his eyes open, sat up straight and stared wide-eyed at me. “Did you just say ‘breakfast’?”

“Yeah, I did,” I said then laughed lightly at him knowing just what to say in order to get his attention. Then I pointed to where Tarah and Avery were already sitting on the log and having their meals. “Let’s go and have breakfast first.”

~~~*~~~

Right after breakfast, we immediately repacked all of our belongings in our bags and prepared ourselves for our flight towards Javvah City. I summoned Fallon out of my milaire then at the corner of my eye saw Tarah motioning me towards her.

“What is it Tarah?” I asked her when I reached her.

“We should go northeast from here, Vann,” she told me then stole a quick glance at Dallen’s direction who was just standing a few feet away from us. “And this time I don’t want your friend to get in the way.”

I stared at her for a few moments at a loss for words. This was the first time that I ever heard Tarah speak that way to somebody. Her lips were curled into a snarl when she deliberately didn’t mention Dallen’s name and her sapphire eyes had turned into a darker shade of blue than usual. Realization dawned on me that until now she still hasn’t gotten over of what happened the other day when Dallen led us to the wrong direction and instinctively I shifted my weight from one foot to the other suddenly unable to look at her directly in the eyes.

“Okay, I’ll tell him.”

“Good,” Then she headed off to where her older brother was busy repacking our things just near the extinguished campfire.

I slowly approached Dallen wondering how to bring up the topic that Tarah and I had talked about. Then I decided that it doesn’t matter anyway since he probably wouldn’t volunteer to lead the way again after what happened the last time around.

But of course I was hugely mistaken about that. When I told him about Tarah leading the way this time, his amber eyes flared in annoyance and once again I saw that unmistakable ruby red gleam in his eyes which I also saw last night. I took a step back with extreme caution and stared at him as he marched his way to where Tarah and Avery were busily repacking our stuff for our journey.

“Dallen, no!” I cried out after him but knew that it was in vain.

He just ignored me and continued walking straight towards them his fists clenched angrily at both of his sides. I hurried after him stopping dead in my tracks when I heard him tell her, “Tarah. I know that you’re still upset at me for misleading you away from Javvah City yesterday. Let me make it up to you guys by directing you towards Javvah City again. And this time I swear that I’ll take you to the right direction.”