The Annex

Chapter 19

Dorian had taken the next shift after me. I slept fitfully until dawn. The morning air was crisp and a gentle mist had settled upon the dew covered grass. I felt dampness in the cloak that I was wrapped in. Atlas was stretching next to Tomas who was up and alert. I guess it made sense that Tomas would be the most well equipped of us all for this journey. As a farm boy raised soldier, he exceeded us all. But Gallo had taught me a great deal these past few weeks, and I was certain that his lessons in edible plants may come in handy over the next few days.

Torr had caught up and was happily perched on my shoulder as I stood up. I set him on a low hanging branch before I strapped on the quiver and my pack.

"How'd everyone sleep," Dorian asked, awfully chipper at so early in the morning. Atlas ran his hand through his sandy hair then rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"I call first watch tonight, getting woken up in the middle of the night sucked," Atlas yawned, which triggered a similar reaction in Mimi.

"I agree," Mimi said. We all grabbed our packs before Tomas smothered the ashes with water from the stream.

"Don't want to start a forest fire," he chuckled. "Okay, so I figure we should probably look at the map, to make sure we didn't get off track in the dark last night. Who's got the map?"

"I do," said Dorian as he pulled the map out from his pack. He held it out and laid it on a massive boulder for us to gather around and peruse. "I think we're here." Dorian said as he pointed to a spot near a stream.

"And how do you know we're not here," Atlas pointed to another spot that was near another similar stream.

"Oh no," Mimi paled as we all looked at the map, noticing two similar streams, two similar possible locations.

"Well, it doesn't matter that much, I think. As long as we move this way," I motioned westward, we'll find out, because either we'll come across the second stream or we were at the second stream. Where is our final destination again?"

"Here," Tomas pointed to one of the mountains on the parchment. "There's a military base setup here to defend from invaders from the west. The Commander has ridden out to and that's where we're supposed to meet him. I think there's two other candidates that will be riding to this spot. We were not told the locations of the other meeting spots, for everyone's safety." I could read in between Tomas' words. If all the Candidates were in the same spot the consequences would be catastrophic. The monarchy would be in shambles and Rivell would become an easy target. If any one of us were captured and tortured for information, the knowledge of the whereabouts of other Candidates would only put us in greater risk. I swallowed and tried to push down any rising fear.

"Alright, well let's head out then," Atlas said as Dorian began to fold the map back up. I could tell that there was an uncomfortable silence that had settled over each of us, as we each grappled with our own anxiety. I placed Torr back on my shoulder as he took to rearranging my hair. I fell into stride next to Atlas. The stress of our situation had emotionally distanced us. Atlas was no longer able to be the suave Candidate I knew. As I gazed at him, I realized I really didn't know him at all.

-

Atlas had stayed at my side for a good part of the morning. Mimi stopped to take a few breaks every now and then. While the rest of us had been in rigorous training and conditioning, Mimi had not. Watching the budding feelings between Mimi and Tomas was sweet. He rubbed her back and encouraged her as we trekked on. The trees had thinned and sunlight was beginning to stream through, warming our faces.

"Do you think Ella's okay," I asked quietly.

"I really don't know," Atlas said grimly as his cocky facade broke. Atlas had been quiet most of the morning, which seemed so unlike him. In fact, he had changed so much this past day. The confidence he usually displayed seemed bruised and battered. He was resigned and certainly out of his natural habitat. I suppose it was hard to be cocky when he had so little experience out in the wild. I was brought back to the alarming realization that maybe everything before now had been a facade.