Elysium

Chapter 11: Tears of Blood

As we finally left the mountain behind and reached the forested gorge, sun seemed to be left somewhere outside of the shade of the limestone bluffs. It was not yet late, but the shadowy gorge remained dusky and felt cool. The forest was filled with the sounds of various birds.

As soon as we were on plain ground, I had an ominous feeling of being observed. I made a remark about this to Nikos and Brynhilde who had descended ahead of me.

"The forest is full of animals", said Brynhilde. "Of course we're being observed."

"Mikael may be right", said Nikos, who seemed also otherwise nervous. "Instinct is a thing that has saved my life many times. It should not be lightly dismissed."

Yet we didn't see a concrete sign of a hostile presence anywhere.

"Where do we proceed from here?" asked Roland. "We're on the other side of the mountain. The jungle once again surrounds us. Back in square one. Like when we had fallen to the swamp. We know the nearest inhabited places are the monastery in one direction and the town of Anay in the other. But in both places, they're looking for us."

Brynhilde and Nikos cast looks at each other and seemed unsure. Max seemed to weigh in Roland's words, but he didn't say anything.

"We haven't eaten anything for the entire day", I said. "Should we have a break and hold a council? There are all kinds of issues we should think about."

"It's not safe here", said Nikos. "Others than Siegfried might know about the secret stairs."

"At least they knew in the monastery", said Roland. "Else the abbot wouldn't have advised us to go to the waterfall."

"Correct", nodded Nikos. "And that's a big amount of possible loose mouths. When the Templars don't find us at the chapel, they'll comb the mountain. When they don't find us there, they'll try to find out how we escaped, and aided by whom. They'll pressure, threaten, bribe. Whatever. Or worse, they might already know by now."

"Then let's proceed to somewhere safer", said Max. "Come on folks, I show the way."

He had noticed that down at the foot of the stairs a path diverged to two directions. At the fork of the paths Max stood, and then strode to the left.

"Wait, Max!" exclaimed Brynhilde. "How do you know that's the right path?"

"I don't", he answered. "I chose it because none of you knows which path is right. If you knew, you'd have picked one by now."

Brynhilde glanced at Nikos, who glanced at Max, then shrugged and followed him. As they both had chosen the same path, Brynhilde followed them.

"The right hand probably leads to the monastery", said Roland. "If the Templars have decided to go around the mountain through the valley, they would come from that direction. So, the left seems a safer bet to me too."

But the others had already decided for us, so Roland and I just followed suit.

I thought I heard a rustle from the back left. Not just any rustle but the kind created by a dry branch breaking under a heavy foot. A bird of a kind lashed out a sharp wheeze, and soon another one.

"Roland", I whispered. "Why didn't the abbot and Siegfried say directly which way to take out of the mountain?"

"That's a good question", Roland said. I followed him to the path, walking last and peeping behind, at the direction where the rustle of the branch and the bird's alarm sounds had come from. Yet I didn't see anything moving there.

"And why didn't Red Lefuet try to capture us on our way on the Anay Road already? We were in his hands for all the journey. He had all the advantages. Why did he only attack us last night?"