The Rainlands: Grand Delusion

Chapter 7: What Have I done?

"You brought a Dragonboat here? Did you take the gem out? Is it still in there?" She was talking again, breaking her own rules. Levi tried to nod but her elbow was still on his throat. She felt him move and warned him before removing her arm. "Keep quiet, is the gem still in the boat?"

Levi nodded, wondering why she cared. Then a branch cracked and they both froze. Anton? That wasn't the wind. The fox girl's impression was inscrutable behind her mask. She got up and took a step back, staying crouched. Levi rose to follow but by the time he was up he couldn't find her. She had disappeared. What? Where'd she go?

"Ahahaha a boat! A bloody boat! And a wagon?" An unfamiliar voice came, rough and deep. It was happy though, excited even. Levi instinctively cocked his ears, staying low. That's not Anton. What's going on, another foreigner?

Thud!

Thud!

WHAM!

Levi didn't have time to react. All he heard was two heavy steps and then the man was upon him, a thick fist crashing into his skull. He saw it at the last second, not that it mattered, the hard knuckles clipped his temple and knocked him to the ground. Desperately crawling away, Levi rolled to his feet to see a man flying at him. The man screamed at him in a thick accent while he tried to catch Levi.

"A little boy lost in the woods! Is that your boat, laddie! Tell me, does it have one of those pretty gems Captain's been looking for? A Dragonstone or whatnot?" The older man was strong and fast, and Levi was still reeling from the punch, but Levi found speed from nowhere, running faster than he ever thought he could through the trees towards the beach. His ears rang. He couldn't hear through it but he tried to call for help over the storm!

"Anton! Anton where are you! HELP!"

The ground changed back to soft, shifting sand and Levi's feet began to slip with every step but he kept running. He ran for the boat, unsure what exactly he would do once he got there. Oh, River Guardian, what have I done to deserve this? Why does everyone want to put me in the dirt today?

Tap

Sand sprayed as his feet hit the side of the Dragonboat and he was about to hop inside when the back of his neck prickled and he ducked.

Thunk

A fist slammed into the boat, breaking the wood, little chips flying into Levi's hair. He turned around fast, but not fast enough. A boot pushed into his chest. It was heavy. I can't...breath!

"So, this your boat, boy? Seems a bit...small for the weather wouldn't you say?" The foreign man's accent was different, not like those of Eastrain, or Anton's elegant Capital speech. It was more foreign, and Levi could barely understand it. "Oh? What's that? You DO have it! Oh, I'm going to have to be nice with you, can't mistreat a bearer of gifts, no, no you can't!" The man's boot lifted slightly as he stretched to get a look at the Dragonstone. Levi just managed to take a single shuddering breath before another dark shape came barreling out of the night.

"Levi!" Anton yelled as he sprinted across the beach. The old man pulled on his cane and the top slid off, revealing a wicked blade beneath. The man atop Levi turned his head and just barely managed to lift his thick forearm in time. A leather armguard took some of the cane's blade but Levi still felt warm liquid splatter on his face.

"My arm!" The big foreign man yelled. Levi looked up, realizing that the enemy only had one hand now, the other was a stump, lost to the sand. Anton glared at Levi.

"Move Levi! Now's not the time to lose your head-" As he spoke, the foreign man suddenly lunged forward and tackled Anton. The two men went down. Levi heard a thunk. Then a growl of pain. It was not Anton's. He hesitated, not wanting to leave Anton behind. But when he looked, the big man was atop Anton's body. The cane sword stabbed through the foriegner's stomach, coming out his back. However, Anton's limbs were crooked, bent at strange angles. His skull was the wrong shape, oozing blood. Anton wheezed, his eyes on Levi, the old man trying to tell him something, to run perhaps. The fire in them suggested that he did not expect to be saved nor did he ask for it. The foreign man drew a dagger.

"NO!" Levi took a step forward, but the fatal blade entered Anton's chest anyway. He ran up and kicked the man's hand off of Anton's chest. The foreigner uttered a cry of pain as he lost balance and slid down the cane sword in his belly, falling atop Anton like a lover.

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Old man. Weak Rainlander." He chuckled in pain, laughing though the blood gurgled and broke his words. Levi stared at him. Suddenly there was someone beside him. A familiar scent, one he couldn't place. A whisper in his ear as the silver-haired fox spoke to him.

"You need to kill him. Do it now." The girl pressed a small dagger into Levi's hand. His slippery fingers, covered in sweat, felt all wrong on the smooth cold handle of the blade. She whispered to him, "The others are coming. The Deathless City marches on the Rainlands once more. Kill him or your whole village will suffer for your incompetence, just like my retainer. You killed him with your stupidity. All you had to do was run."

Levi looked at her, and back to the dying man who was still laughing weakly atop Anton's body.

"Why me. I can't. You do it!" He tried to give her back the dagger but she drew away with one last look at the broken old man beneath the dying soldier.

"I can't be seen. This is your responsibility." She whispered quietly. Suddenly voices came from the woods.

"Darryl! Is that you! Where the hell did you go!" The thick foreign accents told Levi that these were no friends. The girl urged him one last time.

"Kill him! Now!" Levi walked to the slumped over man in the dirt. Anton's cane sword poked out of his back, black with blood. He's going to die anyways. Why do I need to do this? Levi hesitated, the knife hanging in his hands-

"HELP! THERE'S A STONE HERE!" Suddenly the dying man gained a second wind and he screamed out to his comrades. Thunderous footsteps came and Levi looked around in alarm as men appeared at the treeline. He turned to the fox girl for advice but she was already gone in the night. Oh Gods. Oh Gods. What do I do? WHAT DO I DO!

Unable to think of anything, Levi ran along the water's edge, leaving Anton, and the enemy behind, locked in their embrace. I couldn't have done anything. I couldn't have done anything! Levi thought to himself over and over. But deep in his mind he felt fear for he knew he was wrong. I left the Dragonstone.

What have I done?