S.A.S. - Book one: Secrets (Rewriting)

Chapter Five: Refugees Again

It was like traveling around the world twice in a single moment. One second he saw a star, another he was passing a black hole. That single moment seemed like an eternity, unil he saw a glimpse of his world's sun, and then he was panting and tumbling onto a bed of leaves. Flame was kneeling next to him panting as well, but not as bad. Jack sat shivering, Flame's jacket around him.

"Apparently it's much colder here than on earth" she explained through breaths "though I didn't notice much of a difference" she added.

"It's not cold" Jack managed to shudder out. "It's Just th - " he didn't get to finish because he had just thrown up all of the food they had eaten earlier. "Well, that" he finished, collapsing on his side.

"Um, ok," Flame said in answer, not really knowing what else to say. Red laughed a little, still panting, and started to get up.

"Wow. That really takes a lot out of you, doesn't it?" he said, using the nearby wall for support. They were next to an old stone brick road with a wooden fence and brick pillars every few meters. There were trees along the road which every season shed their leaves. Their sap made a good sauce for any food. The bark was a pale brown. The FoxCraft called these trees "koddiney" trees, which means "good taste" to them. Now it was Red's turn to teach Jack.

After the trio recovered, they started towards Red and Flame's "hiding spot". As they walked down the path, Jack asked various questions about what their kingdom was like.

"Do you guys have electricity here?" Jack asked, looking around at the different shades of leaves and trees.

"Of course! It's just not as much as you have" Red answered. "We use these crystals as a power source" He pointed at the orange gem on his left arm. It was still numb from the device. "The only problem is, these gems are extremely rare, and don't output enough power to give light to a whole village all the time."

Flame turned around, walking backwards down the path to face the two. "Our kingdom only has two powering our whole village, and one powering the castle." she turned around to walk forwards again and continued. "Those crystals are called Threshnium Gems. one alone amounts to a lot of power output, but even a Thireshnium Gem can't power the whole -" Flame stopped dead, Frill standing completely still on her shoulder.

"What is it?" Red asked quietly, getting ready to touch his pin as he crept up to her side. What he saw there stopped him as well. "What the - ow!" he cut off as a strong paw grabbed his arm and pulled him through the shrubs and bushes. He followed numbly, still trying to comprehend what he had just seen.

Market stalls had been lined up along the stream, even some tents. It looked like a rebel camp. Then, though, what were they rebelling against? He couldn't think of any rebels against anything before he left. He finally shook free of the paw pulling him in a clearing, and heard Flame and Jack coming through the forest. The person who pulled him through looked at him, and Red got a glimpse of her face. No, there's no way this could be happening. Not now...

The person was a foxlet, like Red, but he knew which one this was. The foxlet darted through the bushes opposite the clearing as Flame and Jack burst through behind him.

"Where'd you go? You just took off!" Flame said, then saw the bushes waving ahead of them. "Who was that?"

"Well, we're going to be OK to go into that camp," he said wearily. "That was Commander Fern, and there's only one reason she'd be wearing a hood." Red looked to Jack. "Before we were banished, Fern told me and Flame that if anything were to happen to the people, then she would turn them to a revolt against the Council."

Flame gasped, looking in the direction of the camp. Red looked too, and saw something he wish he hadn't. About fifty soldiers were entering the camp, all injured and bleeding, some of them carrying unconscious friends. None of them looked very well, each of them thin and slow. How could all this happen in just this short little while?