Shamans of the Dark

Chapter 6: Iris

"Dad?"

I walk in a daze, opposite to my father's rushed steps. He wraps his arms around me and, for one split moment, I allow myself to let my guard down. I squeeze him back, remembering the rarity of moments like these.

Moments where my father's constantly  empty complexion manages to catch a shard of emotion. The moments when he's not the man in charge of keeping everybody safe, his only position being the one of a parent.

"Where have you been?" he asks, his voice muffled by the matted mess on top of my head. "Noah and Kylo went out to look for you a while ago, we've all been worried."

Breaking apart from my father's embrace, I finally take notice of the lack of people around us.

"Where is everybody?" I ask, voicing my concerns. My eyes sweep the crowd over and over, frightened to ask and dreading the answer. "Where's Sena? And Abellona, she was supposed to be here by now. I told her to come here."

"Why don't you go over to Diana and help her with Oliver? We'll talk about everything when everyone comes back."

"Dad, please, I'm tired of secrets."

His eyes harden as he looks past me and towards the man who saved me. Preferring the comfort of the shadows he stays behind where I left him, matching my father's hard stare.

"What did he tell you?"

"What- what does anything have to do with him?" I ask, moving slightly to break the starring match between the two of them. "I just need to know where they are. Is Sena out looking for me? Did you ask them to do something for you? Is one of them fetching water? Dad-"

"They took her," he says, cutting me off. "The Shamans-," he starts, his voice filled with disgust, "they took her. And no one has seen Abellona or Eviana." His head is held high, but his shoulders, the ones used to carrying the weight of the world, slouch in agonizing defeat.

I see it all over his face, the pronounced darkness underneath his eyes, the redness within them, but my head continues to deny it.

"Are you sure?" I ask, refusing to believe any of them could be at the mercy of those treacherous men. "Maybe they got lost?" Even as the words leave my mouth, I know they couldn't be true. My aunt knows this forest better than any of them, even better than my father.

As for Bella, she could very well still be searching for them, but something in my gut tells me she's next to my aunt somewhere.

Guilt overwhelms me at how easily their safety left my mind the second I found mine.

"James- he saw when they took Sena," he continues, closing his eyes in frustration.

"Is everyone else here?"

I notice as my father takes a noticeable deep breath and avoids my gaze. There's something he's not telling me.

Did they take more than he's leading on?

My eyes scan the small crowd in front of us, taking a quick head count.

"Benjamin and Novah. They're both gone," he says, bringing my attention back to him. He's gained his composure now, opening the gap that is always there when he speaks to me.

"We'll find all of them and get them back," I say, trying to keep my own assurance, but failing miserably. "They can't be too far gone... we just need to-"

My father places both hands on my shoulders in an attempt to calm my ramblings. "Iris, they're gone. Dead. Some of them saw them fall."

My heart drops to the floor as I think about what it means for Benjamin's family, but especially Kylo. Both his daughters are missing and his wife, Novah, presumed dead.

"I should have never left her," I whisper to no one but myself, "we would both be here right now."

I push away from my father and stumble to the nearest tree, needing a solid foundation to keep me up before I crumble down.

My father watches as I take a seat near the roots of the tree, before walking the opposite direction, towards the group.

I'm lost in my own world, consumed with everything we've lost. And all in a matter of moments.

Where would they take my aunt? Why would they take her?

Her aunt is beautiful, but those men always tended to take the younger girls as opposed to the women.

And Abellona.

She was either suffering alongside my aunt or, lost, alone in the woods, waiting for anyone to save her. But, whichever way my thoughts took me, no scenario seemed to appease my mind.

"It's not your fault."

My heart thuds in my chest at my new visitor. Oblivious to everything around me, I had failed to realize when Kaleb decided to join me next to the tree.

His presence calmed me in a way my father's couldn't, but, even still, didn't take any of the shame away.

"I shouldn't have left her." I shake my head as a tear slips past my defenses, "I should have listened to her and gone back for Eviana."

He pauses as he watches the tear roll past the freckles on my cheek and disappear into the air. "If you had gone back, they would have gotten all three of you."

"You don't know that."

"I don't," he says, "but neither do you."

Silence envelopes us as I lets his words sink in, but no matter how I try to look at things, nothing but regret comes through. I fiddle with the loose strings on the tunic he gave me to keep warm, suddenly feeling timid.

"I- I never thanked you," I start, "I don't know what I would've done."

"You would've figured it out," he cuts off my apology, looking away from me.

I notice the tightening of his fist at the turn of the conversation, but decide to ignore the subtle warnings to stop.

"Either way, thank you."

A strange feeling overwhelms me, as my own fingers twitch to erase the small wrinkles that always seem to cloud his face. He had seemed familiar in my dreams, but having him in front of me, I can't help but feel a pull towards him. Like an invisible string, desperate to connect us.

For the first time it seems like he is the one at a loss for words.

He clears his throat, but doesn't get a chance to say anything when loud voices shatter the glass bubble we had managed to conjure up. At first exhilarated, but slowly enraged. One standing out above the rest.

"Where is she?" he screams at no one in particular. You can hear a voice trying to calm him down, but it fails to reason with him.

Kaleb stands up, moving to get a better view of the quarrel, while I trail behind him. Sensing something I don't know, he puts his arm in front of me, to stop me from getting a closer look, but it's too late.

Kylo charges at us as multiple hands try, but fail to stop him.

"Where is she? Where's Abellona?" he howls, his voice and body shaking. "What did you do to her?"