Dark Hearts

Chapter 5

A/N: Talso; a close representation to how I pictured him.

There was a strong force upon him, one that rattled his body wildly to the point where Cade could see the empty darkness in front of him start to vibrate. At one point he fell to the ground after a particularly violent set of shakes took him over. He could hear things floating around his head, making him turn when he thought the noise originated in one direction, but they were too fuzzled to understand clearly. He desperately wanted to know what the voices were saying, his desire for knowledge trumped his fear of the situation at hand. It distracted him from the confusing situation. But then there was nothing. No more quakes tossing his mind around, no more disfigured darkness, no more voices, just nothing.
For a while it was peaceful to just stand alone in the vast abyss, to be completely consumed by his imagination and thoughts, but then he started to find the true emptiness of nothing. His thoughts began to claw at him viciously, pulling him in different directions until he could hardly distinguish what would keep him sane and what would drown him. The abyss seemed to close in upon him until he felt trapped in a box that was not truly there. He tried to fight the tide for as long as possible, but he could not keep himself from slipping beneath the waves.
He wondered if Ivory was still alive, especially since he was not there to protect her from the danger the pair faced. It would be his fault if the princess had been slain by the beast when he should have been the to protect her, and then the war that would induce would be on his shoulders as well. How could he have been so foolish to not move when the beast did, to not react in any way to protect himself and the princess. He frowned at himself and began to pace back and forth in the black air, chastising himself for the mistakes he should have prevented. Suddenly, he stopped and starred in the nothing, wondering if this was what happened when a person died. Had he died? Was this to be his eternal hell for the life he lived; stuck with no one to speak to and only his torturing thoughts to make him want to gouge his brain out?
Cade moved with haste in a single line, questioning all the possibilities of his situation and tugging frustratedly on the roots of his hair when he hit a dead end. After what felt like hours of wearing holes into his boots and mumbling incessantly to himself Cade ruled out the option that he was dead, that he was cursed, and that he was punished. If he were dead his soul would be taken to Hades for his decision of a one way trip to heaven or the boiling pits of suffering. If he were cursed there would be more than just the emptiness, all curses came with a catch. If he were being punished that would mean he would have had to stir strife in someone and the only possibilities were the drunks he stole from who consumed enough mead to not remember the drinking session and everything in a twelve hour spanse after.
That left him being unconscious. As he let out the breath he had been holding it felt as though a weight removed itself from his shoulders and he wanted to collapse to the ground in relief. But then he wondered why he wasn't dead and torn to bits by the deadly creature, how he managed to continue breathing. Maybe it was Ivory that had been speaking to him earlier, telling him that everything had turned out all right and they were safe from the monster. For the first time since he had met her, the only thing Cade wanted to do at the moment was see her face; being alone did not appeal to him as much as he previously imagined.
He wondered if it was normal to crave the presence of another person, to feel completely isolated on an island away from the world after a brief taste of companionship was taken away. What was it like to truly feel accepted by another person, to feel like the world did not constantly bear its weight upon one person's shoulders. He wondered if there were others that assisted each other in keeping it afloat and that reassurance of disdaining abandonment was ever-present. Could several people or even just one single soul change the entire course of another's life simply by becoming a constant. The thoughts created this rift in his mind where two sides kept pulling on the other trying to convince the opponent of the truth they believed. How could he decide which opinion would lead him down the right path on his own when he did not have a compass of his own to guide him.
In frustration, Cade screamed out to the darkness, trying to revert the growing frustration from breeding into a monster that would corrupt what he had set in place. He swore, he yelled, he cursed the people that forced him into this world and the cowardice they forever etched in his mind. Tears bit at his eyelids with haste, trying their best to leak through the miniscule gaps he made each time he screamed. When he finished his outburst, his throat felt raw and scratched as if someone had run a blade up and down the sides. His shoulders could hardly manage the small weight of the muscles on the bone, heaving in the air and dropping roughly to resting position. For a brief second his mind convinced him that the release solved the problems that were currently parading through his mind, but then the truth came crashing down.
He huffed once and scowled into the air at his failure. A grumble tore its way out of his lips, naming noise to the anger of his situation, before Cade slumped down to the ground in defeat with folded legs and arms. Reality was he could do nothing to wake himself up.
"Come on, Ivory. Don't give up on me yet," He whispered looking up as if Ivory was some greater being in the sky above him. Truthfully, Cade didn't know what he would do if she left him alone and abandoned him to pursue the wants she originally planned. Nothing was left for him back in Hollow (Buck had probably already thrown out his remaining belongings already) and the path through the forest was made for people willing to give their fates off to someone else- Cade wanted to keep his future in his own hands.
"I'm not ready to meet Hades yet, he is going to laugh at me for the pitiful life I have lived." This time he muttered out, attempting to make the endless time in this prison seem shorter to his mind. None of the books he had swept from the many villages he passed through had ever detailed an experience like the one he happened to be caught in. Cade knew how to milk a cow, remove the stains of crying apples out of clothes, and shrink leather so that it could be sold to pixies though; at least he was prepared for that.
Time went by slowly, dragging on until Cade was not sure if time was even passing at all. He wondered then how he was supposed to figure out how much time had passed and maybe the seconds were not dragging but instead whizzing past in distorted blurs. For a short while he tried to count the minutes on his fingers but he lost track once all of his thin phalanges had been used. It came across his mind to hum the tune to a lullaby but his shoulders slumped at the missing knowledge of a catchy tune. Cade finally settled at arguing with himself about whatever came to his mind.
"You are an idiot." He established this as Mind 1, the instigator and controller of the worst parts of him.
"That is controversial. In some ways I am an idiot but overall I most definitely am not." This was Mind 2, most closely related to what normally occurred in his brain but still misleading as to how he truly acted.
"You most definitely are. Come on, all you had to do was keep your knife and you would have been fine but no, you had to go and act all noble didn't you."
"I was protecting a princess. If she would have died on my hands my head would be the next to roll."
"Oh please, you're smarter than that. If she died you could have just left her out here and nobody would be any the wiser. It's not like those blokes back in that place you called home would have enough brains to realize you were travelling with a princess."
"I would never leave someone like that, that's barbaric! She would have been torn to shreds within minutes."
"It's not barbaric, it's surviving. Who cares if she would have been eaten? That's just less weight as far as I'm concerned."
"Well your concerns are more about saving your own head than someone else's."
"There's only one head for the life we live, we may as well keep it safe."
"Is it really worth living a life knowing you had to sacrifice someone to do it?"
"Would you rather be the one dead? Life doesn't give out second chances, its either you live or you die. May as well make the most of life while you're still living it."
"But living a life for the wrong reasons is not living at all."
"And who are you to determine the right and wrong in people's lives?"
"Right and wrong is subjective but there's a difference between doing something that is morally right and doing something that you believe is right."
"If it's subjective then where to the lines end, where does right end and wrong begin. What defines good and bad?"
"How am I supposed to know? I'm just saying what I think."
"You truly are an idiot."
Cade's other half never got the opportunity to respond to its instigator. A familiar sensation began to take over his body, as if a gate had opened to allow the enormous river it was blocking through. Suddenly there was no more darkness but a faint growing light in the corner of his eye, burning orange and vibrant against the bleak emptiness. The sound of popping hit his ears, soft but with enough volume that he could tell that the unconsciousness was fading away. A strong scent traveled up his nose and filled the entirety of small space it had until Cade felt as though the air had turned itself into this scent. It was heavy and bitter, but appealed his brain with familiarity.
Eventually the blackness disapparated entirely from his vision and replaced itself with the sight of empty tree limbs and the spotty appearance of an early dawn sky. Cade could feel the poking of lifeless grass against the bare spots on his neck and forearms, and a few rather large rocks had put uncomfortable pains in his back. Someone had taken off the cloak he was previously wearing as well as his tunic at one point because it was untucked and positioned oddly on his body. A bitter heat pushed on the right side of his body making sweat bead on his forehead and he felt uncomfortably warm. There was a constant throbbing in his left shoulder that reached to the furthest point of his middle finger and stretched up to the connection of his neck and arm; he could feel every time his heart pumped a bit of blood against his muscles and skin. Cade's head throbbed painfully and the light from his right made it worse, but it was no competition to the pounding in his back where he swore each bone of his spine felt as though it had been broken and then put back together by a child. How he had managed to stay alive failed to enlighten him.
Cade had to blink multiple times- to decrease the ache in his skull but also to make the fuzzy surroundings more understandable to his brain that had yet to remove itself from half speed- before he was able to convince himself to sit up. It took more struggle for him than he anticipated and more pain than what his nerves could handle but soon enough he was able to lean back on his palms with his back straight. The trees melded together briefly before separating to their designated spots rooted into the hard earth. Coming out labored and heavy, Cade breathed for a while with his eyes closed tight.
"You alright there, mate?"
His eyes snapped open immediately at hearing the foreign voice, forgetting about the shaky image and searching for the speaker instead. He found himself looking at a frail boy with hunched shoulders and stretched limbs seated on the ground just around the bend of the fire. The voice had no depth to it but seemed to suit the lengthy figure who clasped his hands around his legs and had his knees pulled up against his chest. A dark brown tunic with shredded ends loosely covered the boy's frame and shortened pants of a color just darker than the shirt adorned his legs, also torn at the bottoms. Shaggy brown hair reaching just above his pale blue eyes covered his head, knotted in some places but straight as needles in others. The boy's nose was small against the white skin of his face and slightly pointed at the end, resting a few spaces above his thin, chapped lips. Cade did not find anything remotely interesting about the boy except for his presence and the pale white scar climbing down from the turn of his jaw down beneath the top of his tunic.
"Where is Ivory? What did you do to her?" Cade bit out, attempting to sound menacing but failing when he winced at hearing his voice for real instead of inside of his head. He could hardly portray himself deadly when he could barely move himself from the position he was currently in.
"I'm going to assume you're mostly alright then. Don't worry about Ivory, she went out to go and get some more wood for the fire. She should be back quite soon," The boy responded with a light smirk, one that looked at Cade with pity and sadness.
"She went out there alone? You let her go out there alone?" Cade hissed at the boy, angry that he carelessly let the princess wander in foreign territory on her own with a bloodthirsty beast on the loose. He wondered if this overwhelming sense of dread and worry came along with every companionship that people created. "That thing is still out there probably waiting to eat her right now! How could you let her go out there?"
He refused to give the boy a chance to respond before moving to stand on two feet instead of laying on his rear helplessly. Pain rippled throughout his body mercilessly, igniting every muscle, nerve, and bone in a blinding heat that nearly shoved his back down to the room of void darkness. Cade struggled to shift his weight from both arms to one as he began to stand on two feet, feeling his strength waiver until he pulled the courage together to straighten. When he finally balanced normally and stood higher than the strange boy he grinned in triumph at him with his chest heaving for air. It infuriated him that he struggled to do something that once was simple.
"Need help?" The boy asked from his position on the ground, the same light smirk on his face. He seemed to be enjoying Cade's disgruntlement far too much for the young bartender's liking.
"I need you to tell me where the hell Ivory is and who the hell you are." Cade continued to breath heavily, the weight on his chest making it difficult. The light from the fire flickered against the boy's face, highlighting specific parts of his features for the slightest of seconds before drifting away. For a second Cade could put his life on a bet that the boy's eyes flickered from their dull blue to a scarlet red.
"I've already told you, Ivory will be back shortly she hasn't gone far. And if you would just ask politely I would tell you my name." Cade disliked the boy's attitude, began to fantasize about smacking the smirk off his face.
"I am asking politely," Cade growled out at the boy, giving him the deepest glare he could muster with his nose scrunching and top lip lifting over his teeth. There was a flicker in the boy's face, a quick slip of his nonchalant facade replaced by fear, but the smirk remained and he acted unfazed.
"Hm, I don't think that's very nice. Ever heard of the word 'please'?"
"That's it! I'm gonna ki-" Cade had started to move forward, one hand removing the knife at his side from its sheath and the other clenched into a tight fist when a figure emerged through the trees.
"Cade!" Ivory shouted, dropping the items in her arms to the ground and running up to the boy with murder in his eyes. Cade felt as though it was the first time hearing her voice in a century and his name coming from her lips sent tingles to the tips of his fingers.
"Ivory," He breathed out, his mind going blank when he saw her running up to him. The knife fell from his hand when the girl came barrelling into his chest with her arms locked around his back and head resting on his heart. Never before had the feeling of another human being touching him ever felt so appealing and the greedy part of him wanted to keep her sealed in this position for the rest of time. He could hardly believe that she was in front of him, that she was alive and seemingly unharmed.
Ivory pulled away from Cade first, looking up into his eyes with relief and a light smile that spoke the words he knew he was going to hear shortly. "Oh I'm so glad that you're awake and alright, I've been worried since you blacked out. I tried shaking you but you-you just wouldn't wake up and I thought you were dead but you were still breathing so I knew, I knew you had to be alive." She breathed out, drooping her shoulders after the words left her lips as if they had been holding her upright since the incident.
"I'm alright. In immense pain, but alright. I thought I was dead for a while too but I knew I would be sitting with Hades if I was." Ivory chuckled lightly at his attempt at a joke. "Honestly I can't believe that you're alright. You don't have a scratch on you, what happened?" Cade held her at arm's length and scanned her up and down to make sure that there was nothing his slow eyes had missed in his brief onceover. Not a single scratched ruined her complection.
"Well after you, you know, the volhound turned and looked like it was going for me next but I held up the knife you gave me for protection and it just stopped. It stared at me for a while like it wasn't sure what to do before it ran off into the woods. So I went over to help you and then," She paused to look over at the boy seated on the ground, "Talso came sprinting out of the woods. He helped me bandage you up and made sure that you weren't going to accidentally die out of nowhere. He's been with me waiting for you to get up since."
Cade directed his attention to the boy, staring at him with extravagant thoughts racing through his mind about the sudden appearance of the frail youth and the convenience he brought. The boy had been gazing off into the fire almost longingly until his name had been spoken and his eyes drifted upwards, their lifeless look stirring a feeling of discomfort in Cade's mind. It almost seemed as though he were looking at his life from a different body and this one submitted control to another's hands.
"You just happened to be running through the forest and it was completely by coincidence that you stumbled upon us?" The boy nodded his head meekly, the small smirk gone from his face replaced by a slight frown. "Why don't I believe you?"
"I don't know, maybe 'cause you're a paranoid freak."
Cade glared at the boy attempting to make an advance forward in offense but remained planted at the feeling of Ivory's small hand resting against his chest. "Cade take it easy, you're still not right in the head and trust me that's one fight you don't want to pick. Calm down." She looked into his eyes as she spoke, capturing him with her voice and the captivating power of her ivy irises. He was curious to know if she realized the power in her words when she spoke.
"This will be the only time that I follow orders from you, princess. If I were you I would mark it down somewhere." Cade meant to be harsh, he wanted to inflict some pain for the flames biting his entire body, but when hurt covered her features he had to throw in a smirk for sign that he did not speak truthfully. The incident with the volhound did more than just injure his body; it made him bitter and harsh, more impulsive than he ever let seep through before. It almost seemed like the dark parts of his mind had overruled the sensible one.
He began to sink down to the ground, with much pain and revealed winces, when Ivory gripped his unwounded arm. "Let me help. It's the least I can do," She whispered, aiding Cade to the rough earth where he sat in a position similar to the other boy.
"The least you can do? You watched him for hours making sure he didn't die, I think you have done plenty to help him," The boy spoke, looking at Cade with a single raised eyebrow as if challenging the other male to make a retort.
Cade sighed, too drained to scramble over and tackle him. "Mate, you are pissing me off. Can you just stay quiet and keep to yourself, at least until I'm sane enough to pretend like I don't hate you already?" Ivory chuckled quietly to herself, walking away from the pair to pick up the items she had thrown down earlier.
"Oh, you're mad? I hadn't noticed," The boy deadpanned, rolling his eyes at Cade. "Too bad I don't care."
"I'm going to kill you." Cade looked to the boy with disinterest yet sincerity lingered in his eyes. If he was being honest with himself, his body felt drained to the point where the boy would probably kill him first.
"Ha, I would like to see you try. You look like you can barely see straight much less kill me. I think you're all bark and no bite."
"Watch your back, skinny arms, you never know what's gonna happen when you're turned around."
"I'll be sure to do that, rat hair."
"You better, ghost eyes."
"Watch me, dirty clothes."
"Are you two children?" They both fell silent at Ivory's voice, focusing on the vibrant flames reaching up into the air for their craving before shrinking at its absence. "You argue like brothers who both want the last roll for supper. Get over yourselves."
"He is the one that started by making snide comments about me. I am responding in the way that outsiders are taught. Sorry that I wasn't given lessons about proper manners," Cade argued, feeling rather bold and prideful about his way of handling the situation. It made him curious if this was how he would act if he ever did have a sibling.
"Clearly you needed lessons," The boy muttered under his breath, maintaining a straight face when Cade snapped his head to glare at him.
"Cade, you're acting like an idiot and I don't know if it's because you need to sleep or if you're channeling your inner child at the moment. Whatever it is it needs to stop." Ivory stood in between the two boys with her arms folded across her chest and Cade almost smiled at the thought of this being a family argument.
"I do not have an inner child and I do not need to sleep. He," Cade shoved a finger in the boy's direction, "pissed me off and this is how I act when people piss me off."
"If you're mad now, wanna hear something that will really get you going?" The boy sat up straighter, allowing a wide grin to slap itself on his face that said he was enjoying the situation at hand. As much as the boy infuriated him, that made him feel intrigued and the pettiness he previously held began to fade away.
Ivory turned to look down at their guest with worry, furthering Cade's curiosity. "Talso, don't-"
"Let him talk, princess." Cade interrupted.
Ivory pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and began to gnaw on it while flickering her eyes from boy to boy. "Don't you think it's a little bit strange how I came out of nowhere in the middle of a dangerous forest? Isn't it a bit strange that the volhound just mysteriously disappeared without a trace? Haven't you noticed that something isn't right about my eyes?" At first, Cade did not understand how any of it was connected and it felt like he was trying to pull one string out from a knot, but then it hit him like colliding with ground after a drop from a cliff. His eyes widened and the breath he had been taken got lodged in his throat, a chill that the fire could not warm trickled down his spine and dug him into the ground.
"You. Y-you you're-you're the volhound. You attacked us, you nearly killed me! I was unconscious for who knows how long because of you! You-" Cade did not get to finish his sentence due to the sharp pain that took over his skull from behind, and then the world went dark.
Cade did not know how long he had been unresponsive for but when his eyes finally cracked open he could see the faint lightness of the sun through the branches of the trees. In a way similar to the first time he went unconscious, his back rested against the ground floor with his arms and legs flat down his body as if he were standing. This time, no unbearable heat warmed his face.
Slowly, with much agonizing over the new pain blossoming in the back of his head, Cade shuffled up from the ground into a cross-legged seat, searching around their small campsite. The fire must have burnt out sometime ago and all that was left were charred bits of wood with piles of white ash surrounding the remaining pieces. His cloak had been folded neatly with the rest of his belongings that previously rested on his person atop, placed in a fashion that made it all seem small when put together. The boy, or rather the volhound, was nowhere in sight and Cade wondered if his actions had driven Ivory to push the stranger away. Across from where the fire had been almost in the same spot that the face-changer sat was Ivory who Cade found was staring at him intently with an image of sorrow in her eyes.
"You're awake," She noted, speaking quietly. Perhaps she had finally learned that a conversation never had as many ears as the people conversing.
"I am, but I'm kind of wondering why I fell asleep in the first place." He wasn't. Cade knew the second his world vanished before his eyes that Ivory had taken initiative for the first time since he'd met her and shut him up while she had the chance. At first it seemed logical to be angry at her but he quickly left that idea behind when he remembered the way he had been acting beforehand.
"Cade, look, you were acting like a real idiot and I-" She started, refusing look up into his eyes but stopped talking after he interrupted.
"Ivory." She finally removed her gaze from twisting her fingers to his eyes, where he grinned at her lightly. "I know." It caused an ache in his chest at the distraught flame in her eyes but her maintained the mask for her sake.
"You know. That's- well that's good I guess." He nodded a few times in hopes of convincing her that what she spoke was true, but the guilt remained evident on her face. A long sigh came out from between her lips which appeared to have lost a bit of their ruby color. "Look, I am sorry that I had to do that but it seemed like the best option at the time. Who knows what would have happened if you and Talso kept arguing?"
"Well we probably would have gotten in a brawl that would have ended with me regretting that I started it, so I'm kind of glad that you stopped me." A real smile made its way onto her face and the upset feelings melted away for the time being; Cade liked seeing her grin. "But now my head is killing me, along with my shoulder and back."
Ivory chuckled to herself, rubbing her eyes for a moment exposing the exhaustion in her face to Cade. "Well that won't be a problem for much longer. Talso said he knew of some herbs that can be used to temporarily remove pain so he went out to get some." She must have seen the frown that Cade made at the mention of the volhound (he needed to learn some restraint when it came to him) and rose her eyebrows at him. "You have to give him a chance to explain everything, Cade, he's not who you think he is, I swear."
"How do you know we can trust him, Ivory? He attacked us and I nearly died from it. What happens if he turns again and he can't control it again? I've only heard of a few volhounds that are fully able to control their shifts and I don't think he's one of them."
"Well that's where the thing called trust comes into play. We have to trust that he won't shift again or at least won't hurt us when he does."
"And what if I don't trust him? I don't believe that we won't be in danger again."
"We're in danger every second we stay in this forest, what's the difference in making a friend of something that could be an enemy." Their conversation had grown in volume and only for a second did Cade consider what might happen if they continued to act recklessly.
"The difference is that having him as a 'friend' is letting the danger get personal with us. It's like inviting an assassin into your home when you know that you're the target." How could she not see how dangerous it would be to keep the boy with them, she was practically signing over their lives. If she would just see reason.
"He's not going to hurt us, Cade. He's trying to control the shift and then he won't be able to hurt anyone." He admired that she continued to try and see the best of the situation but she was too caught up in her parent's stories to realize that real life didn't happen that way.
"Ivory, they can't control what happens when they shift!" Cade yelled, digging his hands into the dirt near his thighs in aggravation, not caring about the consequences of his shout. She only looked at him with shock, eyes wide and mouth slightly hanging open. "This isn't something we can control with hope and faith, that's just how it is. Volhounds were made to be ruthless and unforgiving and there's nothing that's going to change that. The man may be different than the beast but at some point or another he is a beast."
She did not respond for a while and Cade considered feeling remorse for his bluntness but decided against it; at some point Ivory would have to learn that the world wasn't going to handle her like glass just because she was a princess. Cade had the unfortunate advantage of learning that particular lesson early on in his life and he could not tell if had ruined the hopeful attitude that accompanied a childhood or if it benefitted him somehow. There was a part of him that wished he could have been as oblivious to the merciless personality of the world but the sensible part of his mind knew that it was better that he grew up the way he did, no matter how brutal it may have been. Now he wished that he did not have to stain the sunrise that Ivory watched every second of her life.
The crushed look of realization on her face was enough to make his stomach lurch forward and fill a corrosive acid that began to shred his intestines. Her mouth shut slowly bringing her eyes down to the ground so that she could accept the information without having to look at him. It was almost unnoticeable but Cade watched her with tentative eyes and saw the way that she clutched her knees a little closer to her chest. He took care to observe that her cloak sat folded near his along with the large leather gloves, and his shoulders slumped to think that he might put her back into the shell from which she came.
"Ivory," He whispered, pleading her with his eyes to know that he truly meant no harm. When her eyes met his it seemed as though the world slowed to accentuate the damage that Cade had caused.
"Don't apologize, Cade, you're right. I needed to hear that and to hear it coming from you makes it real." She lied to him, right to his face and that inflicted more pain than it would have if she told him the truth. At least she attempted to lighten the mood that mimicked its surroundings.
"Alright, if you insist." He remained quiet, almost scared to speak louder than anything above a whisper.
"I think I'm going to have to mark that down in a journal as the first and only time that you'll take orders from me. This is quite significant after all." A small smile crept onto her face, one that eased the ache in his stomach slightly but he could tell that it was mostly forced. The princess may not have seemed like much but there was more to her than he could tell; she was the dustiest book on the shelf that contained the most entertaining story.
"You are something else, princess." He grinned back at her, willing to sweep the dirt under a rug as long as she did first.
"I try to be."
The two would have continued to stare at each for other for as long as it took to try and speculate every secret hidden by layers of protection if not for the rustle of bushes and sudden appearance of the boy. He kept his face blank of any emotion, arms full of strange plants that Cade had never seen before, but something in the way he avoided Cade's gaze told him he heard more than he was supposed to. Ivory spared a glance at the boy for only a brief second before turning away hastily and he wondered exactly what occurred during his 'nap'.
Instead of bothering to speak to the boy -Cade would become irritated far too quickly- he focused on the bundles of vegetation that had been set down upon the forest floor near to him. There were several leafy stalks of a dark plant that appeared black but actually had a violet color embedded in the stem with leaves of a similar color. A single, large bud of pale grey color had fallen on its side so that the center full of a clear gel could be seen yet none of the substance moved from the awkward angle. Two thin twigs longer than all of the other herbage had tiny, navy flowers protruding from multiple places along the entire spanse and vines of a darker shade twisting around tightly. None of the plants were familiar to him and pages of his informative journal had been left blank where he wished they were documented.
Ivory must have spoken to the boy about helping Cade because their interaction from earlier left him to believe that the two would never cooperate. Not a single thought in his mind led him to the conclusion that Ivory could know what the plants were either and Cade had no faith in the boy that the volhound would not kill him. He wondered then why the boy continued to linger around the pair especially since Cade made it clear his presence was not wanted and that their mission only included two people. Cade decided to keep his mouth sealed when the boy ripped the leaves from the violet plant, squeezed out the gel from the bud, and tore off the midnight blue flowers and began to combine them in his hands.
The boy stopped after a few minutes and turned to Cade with a horrid-looking paste the color of aged wine with the slight tint of indigo dye that emitted fumes of burning flowers and bubbled slightly in the center. A smirk graced the boy's face at the repugnance on Cade's face; it made a frown appear instead at the knowledge that the boy enjoyed thinking about the future. Quickly remembering that he was supposed to be the master of deception and false meaning, the bartender wiped off the emotion and replaced it with nonchalance, although his eyes could not hide the panic burning within.
"What in the hell is that?" He asked in a calm voice, scanning it repetitively to make sure that no homemade woodland creature popped up from the goo. The boy grinned widely but not enough that the corners of his eyes would crinkle and he would look truly happy.
"This is Azulito. It's a mixture of Purpura leaves, Ghoul slime, and Midnight flowers. It will heal the bite in your shoulder faster and get rid of the pain for a short while. And it should make sure you don't turn but that hasn't been confirmed yet," The boy explained moving closer to Cade until he kneeled down on the left side, and watched him intently. A fresh wave of fear scattered itself through his body at the thought of turning into one of the beasts he had nightmares about.
"What?! I'm going to turn into a volhound?" Cade scooted away from the boy as if him sitting near him would increase the rate of his transition. "I'm going to be a bloodthirsty beast that eats humans for lunch! Oh Hades just take me now." He felt faint.
A soft sound of snickers reached his ears and he gaped at the boy that laughed quietly with a devious smirk. "Relax, freak. I was joking, you're not going to turn. I have to mark you in order for you to turn, and luckily for you it's just a bite." Again, he moved closer until Cade could see the precise grooves where another made its mark long ago. For the slightest second a feeling of pity for the boy replaced the growing fury and the world seemed more cruel than he believed.
Cade, in a flicker of uncaged rage, thrust his right fist roughly into the boy's shoulder hoping that he would at least tumble on to his back for the cold sweat that beaded on the orphan's skin. When the boy only shifted backwards from the blow Cade scowled and returned his arm to his side. "You are a real twat, I hope you know that." It only angered Cade more that the practical jest had humor and he enjoyed it in his mind.
"I am fully aware. Too bad I don't care about your opinion though."
"What the-"
"Cade, hush. Talso, can you please just hurry up and help him, we're kind of on a tight schedule at the moment." Ivory found her voice, and at some point she had stood up with her arms crossed and eyes sweeping the forest nervously. After their ordeal with the volhound, Cade found that his shoulder lifted easier and the previous worry faded away to the darkest corners of this land where the real dangers waited.
The boy looked back at him with his doe eyes alert and attentive to the task at hand. "Alright, you have to take off your shirt and then sit straight so I can cover the whole bite." Cade did as he was told but not without grumbling and wincing; he caught Ivory stare for a moment before she blushed and returned to pacing. "Now, feel free to keep your mouth shut and gagged because this is going to hurt and I don't want to hear your moaning."
Cade snapped his head to the boy, ready to fire off a response but his words never left his mouth at the pain that erupted in his shoulder. "Talso!" He yelled, moving away from the stinging that spread throughout his entire body.
A scream wanted to burst from his lips but he held back, digging his fingers into the ground and trying desperately to get away from the torture. He could feel the brush of Talso's fingers against the layers of torn skin in his back, the paste coating each fiber of muscle, and the blinding pain running along every nerve of his body. The bite from last night had been painful but this was an entirely new type of agony that Cade did not think was possible for a body to handle; he could swear that someone was ripping him apart and then attempting to put him together blindly. There was something filling the holes made by Talso's teeth that expanded to coat the entire crevice and it made Cade shiver brutally.
"Cade you have to stop moving, I have to cover the whole thing. If you don't stop- agh, Ivory come here and hold him down," Talso commanded still rubbing the gel against Cade, now focusing on the marks indented in his bicep and collarbone. Cade could hardly hear them over the sound of his own groaning; by now he was thrashing about, doing everything to get away from Talso's tortuous fingers.
Ivory gripped Cade's other shoulder tightly with her fingers and pushed down roughly to keep him grounded but he barely felt the pressure in comparison to the fire of the gel. "Cade, stop moving, you're making it worse!" Her force increased after he attempted to brush her from him; tears had filled his eyes and made the scenery blurry.
"Hold him down."
"I'm trying!"
Talso grunted in frustration and moved faster against Cade's skin, furthering the aching pain that continued to drive the elder boy further from the source. At that point, Cade could hardly think straight about anything other than the worse feeling to ever consume his body, and the shouts of his companions fell upon deaf ears. His eyes were squeezed shut in compensation and to prevent the shrill screeches that desired to be released to the clearing. In particularly agonizing moments his body would go rigid as shakes coursed along his back and he would gape with an open mouth and closed eyes. The last thing he wanted to do was return to the world of unconsciousness but that reality seemed evident if the other two were to continue the relentless assault on his injury.
Finally, after several minutes that felt like hours stretched to last lifetimes, Talso retracted himself from the other boy's shoulder and fell back onto his behind with pants from labor. Ivory released Cade from her hold as if touching him would burn her fair skin and backed away with horror sewed into her features. Cade slumped awkwardly onto his right side so that his bare torso lay perpendicular to his folded legs; he rested the weight of his head on his arm and breathed heavily. The rise and fall of his shoulders was slower than usual and more extensive as he regained the air that he expelled during the previous event. Sweat coated the spanse of his chest and back, speckled across in tiny beads and making curls cling to his damp forehead. The other two watched him in concern, waiting to see if his body would collapse and shut down from the extensive work it went through.
Cade kept his eyes shut in order to focus on his breathing which still felt as if his lungs had shrunk and would no longer accept the necessary amount of air to continue living. A sharp sting remained in his shoulder for a long while as he lay there gathering himself, but eventually it began to edge away, replaced by a blooming relief. It was hard to notice at first, the pain had been so intense Cade did not realize that it started to fade, but then there was a distinct abnormality occurring.
The clumps that had filled the missing chunks of skin along the mark of Talso's bite began to buzz, low enough that it felt like his nerves were buzzing into a numb state. Slowly, the agony faded, dripping away from his body leaving behind a clean slate that let its shoulders slump at the relief. Briefly, Cade felt the holes begin to clot and the previously bare, ripped flesh became coated by a light substance that mimicked the impression of a healed wound as if had never been ruined in the first place. He could only describe it to himself as though something had sprouted from the muscles and bloomed to temporarily replace what had been damaged.
With hesitant movements, still not believing that no pain remained, Cade pushed himself up into the position he had previously. He looked Talso in the eyes with his own wide and confused, seeking answers without posing the question. "What the hell just happened to me? What did you do to me?"
Talso chuckled lightly, still breathing slowly from the energy he wasted on the other boy. "I just saved your life. Not gonna say 'thank you'?"
Cade did not like that he owed the boy, but he could not deny the relief that his life had not ended yet, no matter how much he sometimes wished it would. "Thank you." Talso grinned smugly. "Don't make me take it back. Now tell me what you did to me."
"Easy. I told you earlier it's called Azulito and it heals life-threatening wounds. The paste extracts all the pain from the wound and basically burns it off. Then the flowers fill whatever the wound is and act as temporary flesh until the body heals itself," Talso explained, leaning forward so that he no longer leaned back in the palms of his hand. The little holes of reason that Cade missed slotted themselves into place from Talso's explanation and it became clear how much Cade owed the young volhound.
"So it's healed then? No more passing out?" Cade asked, craning his head over his collarbone to try and see the flowers that grew inside the gaps of the wound.
"Almost healed. The Midnight flowers are only temporary until your body can function without them. But yes, no more passing out."
"Woah," He whispered to himself, running his fingertips gently against the petals of the dark navy flowers that had etched themselves into his skin, marvelling at how they did not budge even as the pads of his fingers ran over them. The few on the connection of his shoulder and chest Cade could see and it unsettled him slightly to see that they appeared planted into the muscle. Otherwise it was a marvellous feat that made him curious to the many other phenomenons hid themselves in the forest where the other part of the world remained dumb to their fascinating features.
"That's amazing." Ivory approached Cade with wonder sewn into her face, staring wide eyed at the flowers that sprouted out of his chest. He watched her closely as she knelt down in front of him, smudging fresh dirt on the beige color of her pants, and reached her hand forward carefully to repeat the actions Cade himself had taken only a few moments before. "It's like they're growing out of your skin, out of the holes and then it's covering the wound."
Talso chuckled lightly to himself, smirking at the pair. "That's exactly what they do. The flowers will come out eventually, you may feel a slight stinging when they do." Ivory looked into Cade's eyes with an open mouth where the corners were slightly twitched upwards, and he lost the direction of his thinking when he drifted off in the sea of green captured within her orbs.
"How did you ever find out about this? It's miraculous!" She leaned back on her heels still looking at the sight as if she still could not process how the ordeal was possible. Cade had a difficult time believing that it was possible either but he learned to throw away all reality when it came to this forest.
"I learned about it from a friend of mine. She's rather talented with the nature of the forest and how to use it to an advantage." Talso seemed rather fond of the friend he spoke about, softening his smile to one that said his mind did have presence with them at the moment.
"It would be nice to meet her, especially since she sort of helped saved Cade's life, teaching you that recipe and all." Ivory seemed to have let go of the fact that less than a day had gone by since Talso attacked the pair of them rather quickly.
"I don't think it would be a good idea to introduce you all. Shouldn't we start discussing a heading?" What was it about Ivory's interest that made Talso uncomfortable? For a boy that seemed unfazed by everything around him, he got tense by a simple sentence.
"What? Why can't we meet her? It's not like we'd try to kill her or anything." It was like flipping a coin when it came to when Ivory's persistence; at times it's wanted and others it could be kept hidden.
"Because." Talso stood up and brushed himself off, looking to Cade for assistance in diverting the topic. "Do you have a map? That might help determine how to get where you want to go."
The other two copied the boy's movements, Cade delaying slightly to shrug the ripped tunic back over his frame that had become frigid in its time bare. He tried to divert his eyes from Ivory's, assuming that if he were to then she would convince him without speaking to take her side- it was a trait he inferred that the girl possessed. All of his belongings that the other two had taken away from him after his first blackout remained piled together but Cade made sure to check in his mind that nothing mysteriously went missing, especially the journal.
"Talso do not ignore me. I want to meet her!" Ivory looked frustrated, somewhere between furious and tears. There was a furrow in her brows that said she tried desperately to think of reason as to why she could not receive what she wanted. Cade had a feeling she was about to find about in a way she would not expect.
"I don't care if that's what you want! You think just because your some princess you can get everything you ask for, well you can't. I'm not going to let you meet her because you still think of the people over here as less than you and I'm not going to hurt her like that," Talso snapped, taking a threatening step forward that made Ivory flinch slightly in fear. Cade stood close behind Ivory with cautious eyes, ready to shove her behind him if things got out of hand. "Just leave it alone, Ivory."
"But-"
"Ivory, stop," Cade whispered, grabbing onto her shoulder gently to anchor her to the ground. The other boy frowned with fury flickering in his eyes and shook slightly with the effort it took not to lose control. "Talso, sit down and calm yourself."
Without hesitation the boy did as told, walking a few feet away before plopping to the ground with his back to the others and head tucked into his chest. Cade breathed with relief at pausing the conflict that nearly bubbled over the rim of its pot and he released Ivory's shoulder. She continued to stare at Talso's back with a crushed look in her eyes as she took the full brunt of his words: she realized that his statements were true. Cade wished that Talso had not been so brutal with delivering the truth, but he knew that it would have slipped out at a worse time if not now.
Instead of distracting her with their plans, Cade decided it best for her to cope with the issue now rather than push it aside and let it brew into something else. He unfolded the map from the pile of his belongings onto the ground so that the entire lay out for him to see. It all looked so small to him from this stance as if he was not some small ant in a forest with cloud-touching trees, it almost seemed as though the boundaries in place were not real and he could go anywhere without any restrictions. There was always the desire in the back of his mind to trash any possibility of a domestic life to visit every nook and cranny that remained undiscovered, to experience what lay beyond the drawings of this map. But his life did not grant him the luxury of fulfilling his greatest wishes.
With the pad of his second finger, Cade traced the thin line of the trail they walked until he reached the closest splotch of dark ink, a town by the name of Tremaine. From there it appeared that the path split off into three directions: one that went back west around the large lake, one that went through the lake (Cade wondered how that worked), and one path that went further east around the lake and into the mountain range. There were several other branches off in different spots but as long as they didn't get sidetracked they wouldn't be able to stray from their intents. From what it looked like, if they were to rest from dusk to dawn with nonstop travel then they would reach Poisana within a few days.
As he was about to close the map and tell the others to pack up Ivory squatted down beside him, looking at the map drawings intently. She examined it for a minute memorizing each dot of ink and messy scrawl from the previous owner; Cade could not help but to watch her eyes with his own and wonder what took over her thoughts.
"Where did you come across this map?" She asked, not removing her eyes from the paper.
Cade thought it would be appropriate for him to look as well. "A man came into the bar one day, shouting about the terrors of the Dark Forest and what lay beyond its border. Buck made me take him out and when I did he told me about what he had seen, more calm than inside, and showed me the map. To me it sounded fascinating, all the wonders he spoke about. So after I sent him to an open room someone had, I closed up the bar and then stole the map from him while he slept. To be honest, I doubt he misses this thing." He remembered the man when he spoke about him, the wild look in his eyes as he spoke about the mysteries in this part of the world. When Cade returned to where the traveler had been staying the next morning, he found it completely empty and nobody he asked knew where the man went. At times he wondered what became of him, if he was still alive today.
Ivory hummed to herself, lightly tracing some of the branches of the paths with the tips of her fingers. "It's not good to steal, Cade. It'll come back to bite you one day," She said lightly, more in suggestion rather than a reprimand and he cracked a smile at her.
"I'm pretty sure you're mixing up crimes. Isn't it lying that comes back?" Finally, she removed her eyes from the page and grinned at him back.
"That too. But I'm pretty sure you have that down as well. You're a jack of many trades, aren't you?" Cade chuckled at her words, glad that he had someone to find humor with rather than himself.
Before he had time to come up with a response, the shadow of a figure covered the two and they found Talso standing in front of them with his eyes trained on the map. "Know where we're going?" He asked, looking to Ivory briefly with thoughts swirling along his eyes before focusing on Cade to say that the question was directed at the seated male.
Cade nodded and stood up to gather what he brought before the trio set out from their campsite and into the world unknown. "I do." He didn't care to organize the cluster of items sitting atop his cloak before shoving them into his satchel, but hesitated for a second when his hands closed around the small trinket as he decided whether to wear it on his person or hide it again. Convincing himself that it could possibly be useful- even though the glass covering it had a crack through the middle- and brought it around his neck, tucking it beneath the fabric of his tunic.
"Where?" Talso asked, watching as the two prepared to set off. Nothing came with him when he first arrived and nothing would leave with him apparently.
"We will keep going along the path until we hit Tremaine where we'll stop for supplies. From there we head North on the trail where we'll have to find away to cross Song Lake. After that it's just a straight shot through a small forest and then we're at Poisana."
"You make it sound a lot easier than it's going to be," Ivory said, looking to him with a masked sense of worry behind her determination to reach their destination. Truthfully, he believed it would be much more difficult than how he said it and he hoped they survived long enough to get somewhat close to their goal.
"That's about as easy as I can make it sound. We all know it's not going to be so we may as well pretend like it'll be alright for a little while." Cade didn't have anything to live for but empty promises, and yet being faced with the idea of death unsettled him.
"Well at this rate, your optimism should keep us alive for a some time. Hope that's not all you're built on though," Talso interjected, clearly wanting to have some part in the conversation other than standing on the sides.
"And I hope you're not entirely built on useless comments," Cade remarked, raising an eyebrow in a challenge the boy.
Ivory interrupted before Talso could come up with something else, she was clearly ready to get a move on. "Let's get going. We have a lot of ground to cover and not a lot of time to do it." She started onwards, not looking back to the campsite once as she went and left the boys behind.
"Ladies first," Cade said with a deep smirk, falling forward into a dramatic bow to motion the other boy forward.
"Classy," Was Talso's only response before trailing after Ivory with his hands lazily put in his pockets and back slouched. Cade stood up and looked back at the abandoned campsite for a moment, staring at the burnt ashes of wood that had been scuffed into the dirt to cover their tracks. His mind wandered for a moment before he heard the shout of his name beckoning him out of the woods and into reality, and then he too turned his back to the place with his head high and fantasies of living a safe life remaining with the charcoal.

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A/N: Here's the last one for a while so I hope you guys all enjoy it while it lasts. Feel free to let me know your thoughts. See ya soon. :))