Children of the Elements: Prey to Him

Chapter Fifteen: Attack!

Chapter Fifteen: Attack!

Ash was startled as Nathan kissed her, but everything inside her screamed for him to keep going. It was over far too quickly as the commotion from the village swarmed through her earlobes.

He broke from her, turning to look towards the village. Without saying anything, she ran in that direction, and burst through the lines of tents into the centre of the street. Everyone was in the clearing, shouting and crying, darting for cover. She couldn’t see Chris or Eva anywhere as Nathan came up behind her, just as shocked as she was.

Ash hurried towards the rapidly dispersing group of villagers. “What is going on?” she asked openly. All of a sudden, a large woman grabbed her arm and dragged her inside one of the tents in the scurry, separating her from Nathan. “Hey, let go of me!” Ash wriggled out of her grasp but the panic in the room kept her put. “What’s happening?” she whispered into the room. The large woman leaned in towards her.

“PTP warriors. They’ve come within the borders. We have to stay hidden.” The woman’s wild eyes darted towards the entrance in paranoia.

“But surely they’ll attack us anyway” Ash protested. “We’ll defend better if we’re outside.”

“Just let Father deal with it” a scrawny man hissed into their conversation. “He’ll know what to do.”

There was silence outside now. Even though there were about 25 people inside this one large tent, it was just as quiet in here, with only the sound of Ash’s own breathing echoing through it.

Rhythmic footsteps marched their way past the tent’s door casting shadows across Ash’s face as what seemed like hundreds of people walked past them on the way to Father Jonah’s tent at the very end of the village.

Eventually, the shadows finished moving, and Ash took a small step closer to the entrance of the tent. The woman’s grip on her arm made her jump ten feet in the air, but she still crept to the tent’s entrance anyway.

There was no-one out there. Literally nobody. It was weird seeing the camp so completely deserted. Ash spotted the glimpse of movement in one of the tents opposite and prayed that Nathan had been pulled to safety as well. She could still feel his warm breath on her cheek and his soft lips on hers. It made her smile gently.

Shouting sounded from Father Jonah’s tent, before a crashing sound ripped through the air and one of Father Jonah’s guards landed heavily on the ground. Ash peeked out. The girl’s neck was bent at a weird angle, creating a pool of blood around her. She was clearly dead.

One of the women in the tent opposite screamed with such agony that Ash had to turn away. The woman ran out, bawling her eyes out as she crouched down next to the dead girl, shaking violently. As Ash just about managed to bring herself to look again, she caught Nathan’s eye. Her lip twitched in the beginning of a smile, but it faded as Nathan pointed towards Jonah’s tent. Ash looked out cautiously. There was nothing but the hole in Jonah’s tent and the PTP to look at. When she shrugged, he gestured slightly to the left of the tent. A store of weapons. And not just any old weapons. Their weapons.

Ash smirked back at Nathan, who was already looking proud of himself. She was about to leap herself around to the back of the tent, when a gunshot sounded out, and the shouting started up again. The men from all tents jumped out, knives at the ready, and began attacking the PTP surrounding them viciously. Ash took it as a cue. Immediately, she darted around the developing chaos forming in the camp, and sprinted straight towards the pile of weapons.

All of a sudden, a sharp pain hit the back of her head, and she slid to the ground heavily. Rolling onto her back, she found herself staring up at one of the robot-men from the forest, glaring down at her with lifeless eyes and a knife in his hand. Ash lifted her palm up as the heat built up at her fingertips, but the second before her flames hit the man, he flew up into the air and crashed into a tree with tremendous force, severing his head from his body.