Knowledge is Deadly: Book 1: The Azuran Series

Chapter 20

      "This looks like it.." Blake said breaking the long silence that had covered them from the camp.
     They had made it to the boulder covered beach safely. After what had happened neither wanted to talk about it. Katelyn had taken off her locket in the woods. Blake's thoughts hurt her head because of the speed they were running though her head.
    Katelyn slowed to a stop in front of the mouth of the huge cave. It was far enough from the water so that during high tide, water wouldn't come into it.
     "Let's go in, maybe take a nap.." Blake said walking into the dark cave, the moon light barely illuminating the entrance. 
     Katelyn nodded and followed him in silently. She wandered far into it where it was nearly pitch black and collapsed in the cool sand.
     Blake kneeled down beside her, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Are you ok?" he asked gently.
     Katelyn looked up at him. "No Blake, I'm not."
     He sighed sadly and sat down beside her. "I can't help, can I."
      "Not unless you have the power to erase my memory or something, no."
    "Have you tried? You do have the mind reading thing.." He said
    Katelyn shook her head and rested it on top of her knees.
    Blake sat quietly beside her for a while Before laying down.
    "Do you think the others will come here?" he asked after the silence.
     "I don't know." She mumbled.
  He was quiet. "I'm worried.." He mumbled
     "I am too." Katelyn sighed.
     He huffed and laid down on his back. "I hate this, I should be helping them." he complained.
    Katelyn picked her head up. "You didn't have to come with me! I could've made it by myself." She snapped.
     "Well I'm sorry I'm a decent human being." He snapped not looking over at her.
     "Thank you for being that. Unlike some people." Katelyn said with a sigh.
     "They should be fine, right? All three of them can fight." Blake rambled.
     "They will be fine." Katelyn said, reassuring both him and herself. Though it was selfish, she was more upset about Jackson and Mari than she was about Aspen and Kilin.
    "I didn't even see them while we where there." Blake complained sitting up.
     "Maybe because they had already found a place to hide." Even though she seriously doubted that they would hide from a fight.
     "Oh yes, they are hiding while the camp gets attacked." Blake said putting her thoughts into words.
     Katelyn was getting fed up. "I know you like to talk, but I'm kind of upset right now, so can you please shut up?"
     Blake groaned and laid back down. "Fine.." he mumbled.
     Katelyn rest her head back on her knees, trying to resist the urge to cry.
     After a while Blake bolted to his feet looking around.
     "What?" Katelyn asked looking at him.
     "Sh. I heard something." He said quietly drawing his sword and walking towards the cave entrance.
     Katelyn stood and leaned against the side wall of the cave, watching. Her nerves were on edge now.
     Blake disappeared out of the cave and returned moment later, helping someone into the cave.
     "Katelyn, get your medical supplies out." Blake said.
     "She's here to?" Aspen said looking up from the ground. His voice was strained.
     Katelyn grabbed her backpack and ran over to him, kneeling at his side. "Where are you hurt? What happened? How did you know to come here?" She asked, overwhelming him with questions.
     Aspen sat down against the cave wall. "Arrow hit my leg, my back hurts, and your damn boyfriend got my side more than once." Aspen said.
     "He's not my boyfriend." Katelyn said firmly. "Where is your worst injury?"
     Blake paced nervously.
     "I don't know!" Aspen snapped.
     "Let me see your leg." Katelyn said calmly.
     Aspen winced and a stretched out his right leg. His pant leg was coated in dry blood. Katelyn rolled them up and saw the deep gash on his shin. Blood had streamed down to his ankle and was still seeping out of the wound.
     "Is he ok?" Blake asked.
     "I'm alive." Aspen said. 
     Katelyn cleaned and wrapped his leg quickly. "So what happened?"
     Aspen huffed. "I assume you know the camp was attacked."
     Katelyn rolled her eyes. "Yes. You know what I mean."
     "I was fighting Carl's men when I ran into Audra. She told me you came here and so I came this way when I ran into Jackson. He was not very friendly. He thought I was dead and left me, after a short nap I continued this way." Aspen explained.
     "You went though hell to get here.." Blake mumbled.
     "What about Kilin?" Katelyn asked.
     "Her and Kile were together last I heard." He said. "I don't know what happened to them though."
     Katelyn bit her lip. "Where else are you hurt?" She asked.
     "My side is pretty bad." He said and pulled off his shirt slowly.
     His right side was bad. It had a deep horizontal cut near his waist and a smaller stab a little higher.
     Katelyn kept her face expressionless as she worked on the wounds. She couldn't believe that Jackson would do something like this. Blake continued to pace behind her. Katelyn stitched up the worst of the cuts on his side and wrapped both of them silently. She didn't want to talk about the attack, or Jackson, or anything.
      "How did you two know about it? You weren't there." Aspen asked.
     "We went back after I found Katelyn. From there-" Blake started.
     "Why did you leave anyways Katelyn?" Aspen asked cutting him off.
     Katelyn sat back on her heels once she had finished. "I.. Jackson told me to. He said it wasn't safe and I should leave." She said, looking at the ground.
      "Jackson-" Aspen started loudly.
      "Stop." Blake said. "I already scolded her. No need." He said.
     Aspen huffed.
     Katelyn kept her eyes down, biting the inside of her cheek.
     "As I was saying, from there we found Audra. She directed us here and so we left camp and came here." Blake said.
     Katelyn put her supplies away, blood still on her hands. "Which is basically where I was before Blake made me go back to camp."
     "How was I supposed to know?" Blake growled and sighed.
     Katelyn shrugged. "Let me see your back." She said, looking at Blake.
     "Its really nothing but ok." Blake said.
     He pulled off his shirt and sat down beside her. Katelyn positioned herself behind him. The graze wasn't too deep, but it was still bleeding. Katelyn cleaned it gently and applied pressure to it with a cloth to stop the flow of blood. She bandaged it and put her things away again.
     Seeing blood on her hands, she stood. "I'm going to wash off." She said.
     "Alright." Blake said putting his shirt back on.
     She walked out of the cave, putting her jacket back on since it was a cold night. She cleaned the blood off of her hands in the ice cold ocean and turned to go back into the cave. The sight of a dark figure down the beach stopped her. At first, she froze, staring at it. It was walking in her direction.
     She snapped out of her shock and weaved in between boulders towards the cave, hoping the person wouldn't see her. She had to tell Aspen and Blake.
     "Hello?" They called.
     It sounded familiar, but Katelyn didn't answer. She stepped out from behind a boulder to get a better look now that the person was closer. She could now see that they where carrying someone, a girl.
     "Hello?" The called wearily again, walking towards Katelyn still.
     Katelyn wanted to help them, but it could be Carl's men. She took the risk. "Who are you?" She called back to them.
     They where quiet. "You tell me first." They replied.
     "No, you."
     After a moment they said, "My name is Kile."
     "Kile?! Is that Kilin?" Katelyn called, surprised.
     "Ka-Katelyn?! Yes!" He called in an obvious panic.
     Katelyn ran over to him. "What happened?" She panted, looking at Kilin in his arms. She was unconscious and looked horrible.
     "I-I'll explain later." He said walking past her and towards the cave.
     Katelyn ran ahead to tell Aspen and Blake. She stuck her head in the cave. "Kile. He's here. And Kilin..." she paused to catch her breath.
     "What?" Blake asked standing up. Aspen, evidently, had fallen asleep.
     Katelyn stepped in the cave and once again pulled out her medical things. "Something's wrong with Kilin." Katelyn said quietly, sitting and waiting for Kile.
     Kile walked in after moment. He glanced around and then set Kilin down and knelt beside her, his hands shaking.
     Katelyn was quickly by her side, and she looked to Kile for an explanation.
     He looked from Kilin's leg to Katelyn and explained everything quickly. "He didn't say if she would be ok. I-" he stopped and shook his head. He took the bag of syringes and medicine from his back and sat it beside Katelyn. "That's what the doctor gave me. Said it might help. Might.." he said clenching his teeth. His voice was shaky, a complete change from his normal cocky, confident, smooth voice.
Katelyn picked up the bag and saw that it was medicine for a strong poison. The kind of poison that was intended to kill. She set the bag down and looked at Kilin's leg. It was wrapped but she could see a small spot where blood had started to seep through the bandages.
"Can you do anything?!" Kile asked panicked still.
"I-I don't know." Katelyn said, still befuddled. "Has she already had this shot?"
"Yes.." Kile said and groaned. He held his head in his hands.
Katelyn wanted to tell him not to worry, but they had a reason to. This was serious. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'll do everything I can."
He groaned again. "I'm going to lose it.." he mumbled to himself.
"Calm down Kile." Katelyn said. Katelyn felt Kilin's forehead, which was burning up.
'The poison has started to kick in.' She thought nervously.
Blake walked up behind Kile. "Let's walk outside." He suggested.
"No. No I have to stay here." Kile said looking down at Kilin.
"It would-"
"no! I said no." Kile said his voice coming out weak and shaky.
Katelyn looked at Kile. He really cared about her. "Kile, she is fine. I'll watch her if you want to take a walk. It may help clear your head." She said gently.
"I can't leave." He said looking up at her eyes.
His eyes were startlingly similar to Jackson's. Katelyn tore her eyes away, not able to stand it. "Okay." She said quietly.
Kile looked down at Kilin sadly. "Oh Azura, I should have done something.." he said rubbing his forehead.
"It's okay Kile. It wasn't your fault." Katelyn said.
'It was Mari's.' She thought. The way Kile described it seemed pretty suspicious. Why would the attacker suddenly turn around and target Kilin like that?
Blake looked down at Kile. "So, how did you know the cave was here?" He asked.
"I had know it was here from when I was younger. I didn't think you all would be here as well." Kile said looking up at him.
"Audra told us to come." Katelyn said.
"She told you to come here?" Kile asked. "Hu.."
"Yeah. Someone must have told Carl I was here before Markus had a chance." Katelyn said, keeping her eyes on the ground so she wouldn't look at Kile accusingly. He did use to work for Carl.
Kile was quite. "No one in the pack would do that." He said, trying to sound confident with his words.
"Mari might." Katelyn said, looking at Kile.
Kile looked up at her surprised. "She just-" he stopped himself. "How do you know?" He asked.
"Because she is with Jackson. Who is with Carl." Those words were hard for her to say.
"What do you mean 'with Jackson?'" Kile asked.
"I mean as a... as a couple." The words were bitter tasting in her mouth and she dropped her gaze.
"That can't be- how-" Kile started. "That jack ass." Kile muttered looking down.
"Jackson or Mari? Oh wait, both." Katelyn decided.
Kile clenched his teeth. "Wait, Jackson was there?!" He asked looking up at Katelyn
"Yes." Katelyn replied, meeting his eyes.
"He led the attack then. Knowing that I lived here." Kile thought out loud.
"He told me to leave, knowing the attack was about to happen." Katelyn told him.
"Well at least he has half a heart left." Kile mumbled.
"He doesn't really care. He never did. I can't believe that I thought he was being serious! He was just using me the whole time, trying to gain my trust... and he did." Katelyn ranted angrily.
"That's sort of what he does." Kile said.
"I know that now." She put her head in her hands.
"We tried to warn you.." Blake said, who had sat down on the opposite side of the cave.
     Katelyn ignored him. They all had, but she didn't listen. She had been manipulated, and she hates being taken advantage of.
     "Both of you get some sleep. I'll watch outside." Blake said standing up. Kile glanced at him and nodded.
     Katelyn ventured further into the cave so she could curl into a ball and cry herself to sleep.