Chapter 2
“Dante, wake up……..Dante?” A voice speaks. “DANTE!”
I’m rudely awoken by the sudden change in volume.
“What? What’s going on?” I yell, lunging up and getting prepared to fight. Noticing Aestas face in my field of vision, I lie back down in my bedroll. Aestas looks unsettled, but powers on, telling me what happens.
“You were screaming in your sleep.” She tells me. She shivers “It was creepy”. I pull myself up, and look at her.
“I’m going to change clothes, so get out.” I say. She pouts, bringing up her best puppy dog eyes.
“No” I say loudly, before turning away from her. Hearing the tent flap rustle, I begin to undress.
Soft hands Grasp my shirt, and begin to tug it over my head.
Blinded, and confused, I stumble around the small tent, bumping into the fabric walls.
The tent shakes Violently because of my movements, and I end up falling onto something incredibly…..soft.
“I don’t even want to look up, do I?” I pitch the question to myself.
“depends” Aestas’s voice comes from somewhere above me. “Do you want to see something awesome?”
I snicker to myself, before rolling over and blindly yelling at her, “Get out”.
The area is covered in thick fog, and I can barely see more than a few meters ahead. Stepping out, I look around to find the others. They’re all crowded around a spluttering fire. The flame’s weak, and it looks like it will go out at any second. ”Need some help with that?” I ask them. They all nod, and I sit down next to the flames. Grabbing a Piece of wood from the small pile that they had collected, I begin to poke the flames with it. It catches Fire immediately, so I throw it into the flames. The flames immediately pick up, and I sit back, satisfied with my work. I sneak a look at the others. They’re just looking at me. “What” I ask. They just stare at me, and Monica Looks Murderous.
“How do you do that” She screams. “That wood was wet. How do you get wet wood to light on fire, like it’s covered in oil. HOW?” She grabs me and starts Shaking me around, and screaming the word “How?”.
I laugh, and I find I can’t stop. Soon the others are laughing with me, and Monica still looks murderous.
“How do you do that?” she asks, after she’s finally calmed down. She still looks a little bit annoyed, but I really can’t do anything about that. “I don’t know” I reply honestly. “I honestly don’t know how I do it”
She looks skeptical, but doesn’t say anything further. I raise my head, and sniff the air.
Through the mist, I can smell a faint odor. It’s foul, and reminds me of something, but I just can’t place it.
“Anyway, we should probably get ready to head home. The Elders said we were allowed 1 day, and we had to be back by mid-day.” Leon says. “so let’s get too it”
We all stand up, and get to work disassembling the tents. Monica and Aestas get to work on their tent, and us guys each work on our own.
The foul Odor is stronger now, but I still can’t work out what it is. The answer is right on the edge of my mind, but try as I might, I can’t grab it.
As I finish packing up my tent, the others notice the smell and voice their disgust.
Hoisting my Load onto my back, I check on the others, to find them finishing up as well.
“Let’s go” Drake announces. We check our luggage one more time, before setting off into the mist, towards our home.
As we trudge home, in the mud that accumulated over the night, the smell gets Stronger.
once I get a clear taste of it, the answer comes to me.
Burning flesh. The Stench of Death.
The smell that has haunted me since this morning.
I motion for the others to stop, and then I gesture for them to follow me.
We sneak as well as we possibly can to a little bit to the right of a hill that overlooks the town.
Once there, we stop, and look over the rise.
Nothing could have prepared me for what i saw.
The entire town was ablaze, and it looked like it had been burning for a while. Watch towers were on fire, but that only covered a small portion of that wall. The whole town was on fire, and I could see my house from where we were. I could see all our houses.
Every one of them was Ablaze, covered in flames. Our lives were over, the only home we ever had…..gone, our family’s? They could only be dead. Nothing could escape that blazing inferno, it blocked the north, south and east gates, while the west had collapsed to the heat.
I could see the heart of it all. It was obvious it was the hottest part of the fire. Molten rock flowed from that spot, and it looked for all the world like a volcano was sprouting from the center of our beloved town, But I knew better.
Even from this distance, we could see the Bandits surrounding the Town. Armed with an assortment of rusty weapons, they waited for the flames to die down, so they could loot or salvage whatever was left, but I don’t think they had much hope of finding anything.
Drake and Leon looked ready to kill everything in sight, and I was right there with them, but before we can do anything, and Voice behind us announces
“Turn around, or the Pretty lady gets it”
We turn to see a Bandit Holding Aestas by the hair, with a knife to her throat. She looked at us pleadingly.
Drake Roars in Anger, and the Bandit’s Smile Faltered, but the knife remained steady.
“Stay where you are” he threatened. Drake calmed down just enough to retain his senses.
Hearing noises, I look behind us to find more than a few Bandits walking up behind us. They grab us, and begin to tie us up. “Good find Dink.” One of them said “Five more people for our Arena.” He laughs, and it’s a cruel sound.
Leon struggles, and gets wacked over the head by the bandit tying him up.
Drake stands up, overpowering the bandit holding him, and starts to punch the one closest to him.
The remaining bandits pin him down, and one of them pushes his head out.
“As fun as it would be to watch you die in the arena, you’re just going to be trouble on the way there.” The lead bandit says. “say your goodbyes to your friends” Drake Looks at all of us in turn, and we can all see the satisfaction in his eyes. At least he would go on his own terms. The Captain draws his Rusty Long sword, and prepares to strike. Lifting the blade high, he begins to ark down.
I close my eyes at the last second, Hearing a sickening ‘Thunk’, and a small noise as his head lands on the ground.
Monica and Aestas gasp, and Aestas begins to cry. Her sobs echo through the Silence, and then the bandits begin laughing. My eyes snap open, and Rage blossoms within me, hotter than a thousand suns. My restraints fall to the ground, black and twisted. I spin around and hit the bandit behind me with my palm.
He rockets backwards and somersaults a few times on the ground. I turn and Face the other bandits, fury in my eyes. A few of them back away and one of them runs away outright.
Monica breaks Free of her captor, and begins to sprint away. She makes it to the trees before a crossbow bolt Flies forth, and buries itself in the back of her neck. She falls forward, and I can see from the way she lands, she dead.
Leon slams into his captor, and he falls backwards.
Spinning around, Leon bull rushes Aestas’s Captor. Panicking, the Bandit tosses Aestas away, and Draws a spear, leveling it at Leon.
Unable to stop in time, or throw himself to either, Leon Impales himself on it.
The Bandit Laughs, and pulls the spear out of him, leaving him to bleed out. Leon looks at me, mouthing something, but I can’t understand him.
Aestas is on the ground, unable to move, sobbing her heart out.
A Bandit walks over to her, and pommel slams her with his sword, knocking her out.
I scream at him, but a large weight hits me in the head, and I fade into Unconsciousness.
