Curse of the Phoenix

Ch.56 -Silence

Luke~

I woke up on the forest floor, my clothes tattered and bloody. Not my own blood, however. The remains of a deer lay a few feet away. I lifted my head and blinked a few times. The forest was so quiet...I didn't want to alert any enemies, so I resolved not to say anything until I found someone else.

I sat up and stared at the deer. Huge chunks had been torn off, some remained close by, but not nearly enough to complete the carcass. Had I really killed that? I couldn't even remember anything, except for shifting and then running.

I had no idea where I actually was...all I could see was trees, and a few mountain peaks. Maybe I could climb a mountain to see where I could go. The deer still really bothered me...if I couldn't remember killing it, what else had I done?

Whatever...I probably couldn't change anything that had happened. So I set my mind to the mountain.

I knew by the sun that I would be heading south, but I didn't know where I was in relation to Doru Areaba or the castle. Maybe I would be able to see if I could just reach the stupid mountain...

No. Shut up. Focus on walking. Left foot then right foot it was that easy...nevermind the heat...the sweat...the drooping trees...

I stopped and sat down. I was ready to yell in anger, I couldn't do this, not when it felt so hot that my head was melting off..I had to do this.

I got up again and started walking. I didn't dare to cast my mind out, even if I couldn't feel Verdana. Of course it bothered me, but she wasn't stupid as to get herself killed by that thing.

My mind began to hurt when I thought of it. So I stopped and once again focused on the mountain.

I didn't know how long I had been walking, but eventually I came across an overgrown path. Was I close to Doru Areaba? I turned and began heading up the path. If I was right it would lead to the city.

And it did. I was greeted by the familiar crumbling towers and broken stone. Maybe I could find my way back to the tower we had stayed in, grab my amulet. I felt naked without it, anything could kill me when I was defenseless like this. At least with the amulet i'd be able to come back.

I spent another hour or so picking my way through the ruins, looking for something familiar, anything. And then i noticed. How there seemed to be an unmoving cloud, over the city. At first I had just assumed that it was so high up I wasn't noticing it move..but now..

I kept walking, trying to be as silent as possible. I didn't know where I was. The tower was somewhere on the outskirts of the city...My best idea was to walk around the outside of the city, and around, making my way in, like a spiral.

It was another few hours later I actually found something. Burn marks, charred stone, sometimes so bad where the rock had melted. It was a battle scene...and behind it a pile of crumbling stone.

Was that the tower? It had to be, it was the only thing this close. I looked around a little bit before, and found three of the amulets on the ground. Dru's golden amulet, Luna's silver amulet, and Alice's platinum one. Mine, Mikael's, Iara and Marumen's must be buried under the rubble.

I left the amulets hidden under a small tree near the path, then I began to move the chunks of stone out of the way, as best as I could.

I couldn't move very much, because many of the chunks were larger than I was. I was a werecat, yes, but the blood only gave me heightened senses and reflexes, not so much in the strength area.

I sat down on the edge of a broken fountain, breathing heavily. I looked up at the sky, it would be another few hours until the sun was close to setting.

I heard the quiet pattering of leather om stone, and I looked over to my right. I saw her.

"Arya? What are you doing here?" I whispered.

In the silence, even the noise of my whisper was deafening.