The Enlightened Few - The Journey Begins

The quick escape

The blanket of night had begun unveiling as daylight crept closer to our travellers, who unfortunately could not really tell the difference. They had been locked up tightly like imprisoned animals at a mercy of an unfamiliar King. With no sleep, no food, no return, their situation seemed rather dire. Aden tried to keep hope alive in his heart.

All three glanced at the rushed sound of someone trying to undo the lock on their cage. A man, unlike the others they had seen in the village, was fidgeting with a string of keys, trying to match the right one to the door. He looked rugged, he was missing teeth and the one eye had been scared, he wobbled as if he had a limp and he was a bit hunch backed.

"Hey! You there, what are you doing?" Aden shouted.

He didn't respond.

"Who are you?"

"No time, no time" the strange man answered.

The door creaked loudly open and he began rushing them out of the cage.

"What do you want with us?" Anemone was uncertain of his intentions.

"I am a servant of your father's, Aden."

"Is my father here?"

"No, get out."

"No, does my father know I'm here?" Aden was afraid walking out to see his father standing there.

"Your father isn't here. I don't have time to explain anything to you. Get out, I said."

"I am sorry Aden, but this time I agree with this guy and I'm getting out of here with him." Ilmatar grabbed Anemone's hand and they ran out.

"How do you know this isn't a trap? My dad could be behind this."

"Well right now I prefer your dad, rather than this freaky King who is probably planning to do more harm than good with us."

"He said he was going to help us."

"And you said he was lying. Come on now." Ilmatar was becoming impatient.

"We haven't eaten or heard anything for a long time, Aden. You are dreaming, he has left us here to rot." Anemone tried to help convince him.

"Fine then, you three leave and I'll wait here."

"You know what, sometimes you are really stubborn. If I didn't know you better I would probably not do this. Sorry in advance." With a step backward and fierce punch Ilmatar managed to knock Aden out of his senses.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Anemone was screaming, the sound echoed throughout the cave.

"We must leave immediately" the strange man repeated now with more haste.

The old man had tattered clothes, but seemed to have a strange sense of humour as he began giggling out of amusement and hopping his way out of the cave.

Ilmatar lifted Aden over his shoulder "Don't look at me like that. You know how he gets."

They ran as fast as they could into the nearby forest, springing over fallen trees, brushing through shrubs, their feet pushing their way through the millions of fallen leaves.

As time went by, the load on Ilmatar's shoulders was beginning to drag him down, "Can we rest a bit?"

"A little bit further, a little bit further" the man kept repeating.

"Now you starting to sound a lot like me. Can you then please slow down a bit?"

"No, not yet."

"Oh come on, its not that bad." Anemone smirked.

"Well then maybe you should carry your boyfriend?" Ilmatar said sarcastically.

"I am not the one who punched him."

"Fair enough. A little bit longer then and then I'm leaving him to the wild boars."

A flood of streaming light could be seen not far ahead. As they ran towards it, they noticed that it was the fields of the Plastiri. Large rocks outlined the field in the distance; the rocks were actually massive statues of the old gods.

"The path of the scribes" Ilmatar exhaled the words with awe.

"Yes, indeed it is." The old man was admiring the scenery himself and without hesitation he whistled loudly into the air.

"Are you crazy? You could be drawing unnecessary attention to us, I didn't just run with this madman on my back for nothing." dropped Aden to the floor ready to punch yet another victim.

The tremors in the ground stopped him from doing anything, all their faces turned towards the directions the tremors had been emanating from. Three amazingly beautiful horses were galloping valiantly towards them.

"They are magnificent!" Anemone shrieked in excitement by the prospect of potentially being able to ride such a beautiful creature.

"We can't possibly put him on a horse on his own, he hates heights and if he wakes up, that will be the end of him." Ilmatar knew well what Aden's reaction to all of this would be if he were awake, but he was unconscious and it was for the best.

"Wake him up! He needs to make his own decisions." Anemone was prodding Aden.

Anemone began patting Aden's cheeks while calling out his name, but there was no reaction. "Did you have to hit him that hard? I suppose it was payback time?"

"No! It's not true." Ilmatar screamed in defence. "Right! I know what will solve it."

Ilmatar grabbed a handful of mud and water from a nearby puddle and chucked it on Aden's face.

Aden screamed out as if in pain.

"Finally!" exclaimed Ilmatar.

"Actually I've been awake for quite a while listening to you people."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I thought as long as you are allowed to hit me then you were also allowed to carry me."

Ilmatar tried to land another new blow to Aden's chin, but Aden stepped to the side as Ilmatar lunged at him and trapped him in his arms.

"Not so easy when your opponent is prepared, is it?"

"I'll get you!"

"No you won't, the last time was really the last time!"

"That's enough boys, we have a journey to get on with!" Anemone was getting annoyed by their boyish demeanour.

"Yes", they replied in unison.

"Hop on all of you and head north west." The torn sleeve of the man's jacket was swaying in the wind towards the path of the scribes.

"Will you not be joining us?" Anemone looked surprised.

Before he could answer her they were galloping away and he decided to just wave them goodbye.