Systems In Chaos: Dissention

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

“Wake up, somebody is coming,” the voice came to Teran like whispers on the leaves, rousing him from his sleep. It was far away, as if he was standing across a large open valley and a voice was being carried to him upon the wind. “Wake up, you’re no use to me dead. Wake up!” the voice yelled, this time cutting through Teran’s senses like the shattering of glass in a silent tomb.

His eyes snapped open and he shot to his feet. He looked around and over to Sura. He frowned. She had fallen asleep during her watch, but he wasn’t angry. Something was prickling at the edges of his senses, and he realised what it was as the words of his other self sunk in. He ducked down, crouching, instantly. Vrik was near him, he shoved him hard and placed his hand over his mouth as he woke up. Vrik’s initial reaction was fright and surprise, but quickly turned to confusion and then understanding as he watched Teran place a finger of his free hand over his lips and hushed at him to be quiet.

Vrik quietly got onto his feet, kneeling down next to Teran. He was about to ask his friend what was going on, but soon enough his senses started to prick at him just as they had Teran, and he knew straight away what was going on. “They don’t feel like Hadi, I can’t sense any shadowfeed,” Vrik whispered, “But we shouldn’t alert them to our whereabouts. Not when we just got away from their base.”

Teran nodded, “Wake the others, silently.” Tec moved towards Klair and Gaia and woke them softly, making sure they were as quiet as possible. The rest of the guardians were awake, and could sense the approaching foes.

It would only be a short five minutes before they were discovered by whom ever was approaching, so they needed to leave. They didn’t have enough time to repack anything, not if they wanted to escape. So, they had no choice but to leave most of it behind. Baron motioned for everyone to follow him as he set off in the direction of the Royal Palace. As soon as they were passed the tree line the group of them broke into a sprint. Once whoever it was that behind them found the camp and the equipment, they would surely alert the base. Hopefully, if they had any luck, leaving the equipment behind would make them think that they would return from hunting or gathering and would buy them some extra time while the enemy tried to wait them out.

“How the hell did they get so close, who let them sneak up on us?” Karem questioned openly as they dashed through the woods. “Who was last on watch?”

Teran glanced over at Sura, her eyes fell to the ground as she realised it was she that had fallen asleep during her watch. Her cheeks were blushing and her jaw clenched, she really didn’t want to own up to it and to her amazement she didn’t have to. Just as she was opening her mouth to speak up Teran cut in.

“It was me, must have fallen asleep before I was able to wake the next on watch,” Teran puffed as he jumped over a log.

“Bloody idiot,” was all Karem snorted. He wasn’t going to waste breath on the moronic ‘leader’ while he needed it for running.

Baron looked at Teran as he ran, as his and Tec’s gazes met he nodded in approval. Knowing full well whom it was that was really on watch and that Teran wouldn’t have fallen asleep if it had been him. He had never dozed off on any watch, not since he had first come to the planet, and Baron doubted he would start now.

“C’mon, keep moving!” Vrik hissed urgently. He wrapped his arm around Klair’s back, trying to pull the girl forward. She was starting to tire and was beginning to fall behind.

“Stop, stop. Please,” Klair begged, “I’m about to die, without any help from the Hadi. How can you people run for so long.” Baron slowed down to a jog, before coming to a stop.