Nigeria

Chapter Five

The forest was alive with birds' different calls and sings, the gentle breeze of the wind kissing the leaves of bushes and trees creating the quiet rustling around Chase and I. An occasional beam of sunlight would break through the green, leafy canopy above us, and saturate any objects within its beam with its brilliance.

Although the beauty of the forest nearly captured my undivided attention, Chase and I had been traveling for several hours and he might have known where we were going, but he would not confide in me about our destination. Every question asked answered was only by silence, a glance, and a change in subject. He was as sly as a fox when it came to avoiding anything he knew about where we were headed. He had even refused to continue to teach me about my parents, of what was to happen after Nazrom was stopped, if he ever was, and what would become of me. He only spoke of the different lands and people, the different cultures, and the many celebrations that had been around for centuries. He spoke of how the realm was much more advance than the one we were in now, but the people all preferred simple, hard-working lives over been ran by electronics. Why would they need electronics, when their realm was as entertaining and mystical as it was? During those several hours of travel that was all he spoke of; his reasoning for it was that I needed to know of the joy the realm had once held. He said that it was important for me to know so I could fight because once I entered that realm the picture he had painted in my mind would be tarnished as if somebody had thrown black ink all over the most beautiful picture ever painted. That the light in the peoples eyes, the friendliness he had described so clearly, would be diminished and almost completely replaced with something greater than fear. He said the image he had painted so carefully for me must never be forgotten so that I could help repaint the ink stain picture into something more beautiful than the original.

The sun was starting to set when Chase finally decided to stop for the night. He settled for a place that was of the beaten path, and surrounded by trees with a clear mountain water brook running close by. As we set up camp for the night Chase still didn't say a word about what his plan was. Finally, when the sun was nearly down and we had eaten our diner, I confronted him.

"Chase, you've had us traveling all day without telling me where we're going, you refuse to tell me more about my parents and Nazrom, and all you do talk about is how beautiful your realm was."

Chase looked up at me from where he was kneeling, as he worked at getting the fire started, his face portrayed nothing. He looked back down at his tipi of wood.

"yeah, and what do you want to know?" he asked nonchalantly.

"What do I want to know?" I repeated calmly, "I want to know what we're doing, where we're going and what your plan is once we get to where we're going. I'm blind here Chase, and you're not helping."

Chase sighed audibly and adjusted his weight.

We stayed like that for a minute, or two.

"Well? Are you going to-?"

"Would you let me gather my thoughts?" Chase growled. I looked at him slightly taken aback... slightly. I didn't know Chase well, hell I thought he was sent to kill me once upon a time, but it didn't seem natural for him to shoot back a response like that.

He finished setting up the firewood, and lit without saying a word. He sat for a moment longer, leaning back on his heels and starring into the fire, before he finally answered.

"You have to understand before I tell you anything, that I can't tell you anything incase something goes wrong," he started, looking at me to confirm that I understood. I nodded for him to continue; he gazed back into the fire. "What we're doing is dangerous, and folly. It's completely insane, and nobody in his or her right mind would do it. Unfortunately, for us, the King has almost gotten to that point, and jumped the gun. Not to mention some idiot was the cause of it all."