When Forever Ends (Part 1: A Game of Chess)

XVI

~{§}~

S i x t e e n

I clamped a hand over Maya's mouth, jerking her awake. Her eyes widened in surprise and I raised a finger to my lips, warning her to be silent. She nodded in understanding.

I removed my hand. "Help me wake the others," I whispered, "but be silent."

When I woke Erin, she immediately leaped out of the cot and into a defensive stance, one foot forward, legs slightly bent, hands ready to do some kick-butt fighting. Luckily, she made no noise and relaxed visibly when she recognized me.

"What's going on?" Will asked, rubbing sleep out of his eyes, as he and Sofie joined our group huddle.

"Shhh!" we all hissed at him.

"'Kay," he lowered his voice.

"We're getting out of here," I told him. "I have a plan."

I walked to the tent flap and paused. "Follow me, and be quiet." I went out into the warm desert night.

Of course, the moment I stepped outside, I noticed the guards standing on each side of the entrance. At the same moment, they noticed me and turned to confront me.

"What are you doing up," the one to my right droned. He sounded almost like a robot from the science fiction films I had watched, speaking in a monotone, with no expression.

"Oh, I was just wondering where you put our weapons," I replied.

The man turned to face a tent across the clearing in front of us, then realized what he was doing and turned back to face me. "Why would we tell you," he almost sounded suspicious, but he had already told me what I needed to know.

"Oh, I dunno," I yawned. "I guess I'll go back to bed, then." I ducked back into the tent and the guards returned to their posts.

"There's guards," I whispered to my friends. "I don't know what to do."

The moon was brilliant that night, and it cast the guards' shadows on the canvas wall. I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed that before.

In response to my words, Erin lifted up her cot (which must've been pretty light, for she handled it easily. That, or she was stronger than she looked) and moved towards the entrance.

She raised her finger to her lips to make sure we kept quiet. Loud enough for the guards to hear, she said, "I'm gonna escape now."

The two guards outside turned at the sound of her voice.

"I hope no guards will try to stop me," she emphasized the word 'guards'.

Two heads poked into the tent.

"We will stop you," they said as one.

Crunch! Erin swung the cot into the guards' heads and knocked them out with one blow, the impact traveling through one head and making it collide with the other. They fell to the ground with a muted thump.

"Well I guess that's one way to solve the problem," I said, glancing at the guards before carefully stepping over them on my way out of the tent. "Come on!"

The moon glared down at us as we made our way across the clearing to the tent the guard had so kindly pointed out for me. It didn't look any different from the rest, and I guess that was the point. If we escaped, it would be harder for us to reclaim our weapons. Inside, however, the tent was nearly bare, the space occupied only by a small pile of our stuff.

I grabbed my shield and slung it over my shoulder. "I feel more confident already!"

Everyone else got their things and we prepared to move out. I decided to leave the sword behind for two reasons: because I had no reason to keep it and because I knew, deep down, that I would never be able to bring myself to use it. I just couldn't kill anyone and it was hard enough to hurt them. I could only do that because I was defending myself.