“Oh. Did you kill them?” she asked excitedly, as if the thought of someone being murdered turned her on.
The soldier smiled, “Of course. The children, on the other hand, we decided to sell; they looked strong enough to fetch a profit,” he boasted.
“Good,” Martha replied, “I hated them anyway. Now, where are the rest of the men?”
“A few miles, back, resting; they will be here by the time you wake up in the morning,” he assured her. “And we will be on our way back to the kingdom with our little girl.”
“How is she anyway? Is your sister feeding her too much?” Martha joked.
He laughed a tenacious laugh, “Of course; but don’t worry; you’ll see her soon,” he assured her.
“I should get back before they notice I’m gone. See you in a couple of hours,” she added.
He smiled. “I have a better idea.”
Unable to listen anymore, Rico moved quietly and quickly from where he was standing and headed towards the camp. It was Martha the whole time. How could I not know? he thought as he made his way back to the camp. Then again, how could he know? She was so adamant about fighting with them and getting her daughter back, only to betray them. He had to warn the others; get them as far away from the soldiers as possible and into the tunnel. The sun would rise soon, so getting through the fields wouldn’t be a problem. All that mattered was getting as far away from the soldiers as possible.
Just as Rico made it to the camp, he heard a loud scream coming from the direction of the lake. He then looked around and noticed that the three men in robes were nowhere in sight; nor where the girls and Sam and Will were asleep with the rest of the group. Rico then looked back toward the forest, his stomach churning as if knots were twisting inside his guts. “Elizabeth!” he said, and before he could stop himself he was half way into the forest, heading toward the lake.
When he reached the lake he saw a scene straight out of the Bible. The girls were each tied to a tree. Their hands and legs spread across the trees and tied around the ankles and wrist, and their hands were bleeding. Two men were collecting blood from the girls, while the third stood in front of a huge fire reading out of the weird blue and gold book that Rico had seen him with earlier. He was chanting in a language that Rico had never heard. He repeated the phrase Anna meile võimu, over and over as each man drank from the cup.
Before Rico could move, five shadows came from behind him and began attacking the men in robes. Two were his friends Sam and Will; the other three were Mark, Justin and Ethan; Rico’s guest must have woken up after hearing the girls continued screams.
“NOOO!” the man carrying the book ordered, trying to stop the group from ruining the ceremony, but it was too late. The girls were already untied and his men were being subdued, and Rico had already begun his attack on the man. His goal was to get that book and destroy it after he had taken care of the man. “You’re ruining everything,” the man declared as he and Rico scuffled over the book and fell to the ground.
“I don’t care. I won’t let you harm those girls,” he declared as he finally got the book away from the man and threw it in the fire, destroying it.
“NOOO!” the men screamed.
The man carrying the book stood up and then pulled out a dagger. “You’ve ruined everything,” he said knocking Rico to the ground. It was as if he had suddenly gotten superhuman strength, and it wasn’t just him; the others had it also. The man fighting Rico then lowered his dagger and pierced him in the chest, damaging a major organ. “I have worked for years in that village waiting for them to ripen so I could take their powers, but you . . .” he said twisting the dagger deeper in Rico, who let out a loud scream. “You ruined everything.” His eyes were wide and full of hatred and he was so heavy that Rico found it hard to breathe. He could feel the life draining out of him, but he couldn’t die yet, not before warning them of the other danger, but he couldn’t speak. His eyes then fell to Elizabeth who had somehow made her way towards him with a huge rock in her hand, and the next thing he knew, the man on top of him was lying on the ground dead, after being repeatedly hit on the head by Elizabeth.
She then ripped another piece of her dress and placed it on his wound, but it wasn’t working. Blood was oozing out and he was dying.
“Lizzy,” he managed to say.
She shook her head no, as tears fell from her cheeks.
“Lizzy,” he repeated.
“No,” she cried, “you’re going to be okay,” she ordered, but they both knew better. He was barely holding on and the only reason he was still alive was because he needed to warn them.
“Lizzy,” he repeated, this time placing his hand over hers to stop her from pressing down. They were then joined by the rest of the group, who had just finished dealing with the other two men.
Sam and Will dropped to their knees, horrified at what they saw. Rico knew what his death would mean, to not only them, but to the people back at the camp waiting—more importantly, to his father. “We have to get him out of here,” Sam ordered in a panic.
“There is no time,” Rico said, coughing up blood. “You have to get them out of here, now,” he ordered.
Elizabeth shook her head no, “I’m not leaving you. You promised my father you'd look after me until he came back.”
He reached his hand up toward her cheek and smiled, “And I am, which, is why, you have to go.”
“We can't go back without you; your father would kill us,” Will stuttered.
He started coughing up blood, “Sorry guys, but the mission is them, and if you don’t leave now, they . . . will . . .” He let out a deep breath, gagging for air, then suddenly, it was dark and all the voices began to fade into nothing.
20
Rico’s body had turned cold in Elizabeth’s arms. He was gone, and she knew it, but she couldn’t accept it; not after everything that they had been through. “No, wake up,” she ordered shaking him, trying to get him to move.
“He's gone, “Justin said in disbelief.
Elizabeth fell to his chest, “No he can't be. Rico please open your eyes,” she cried.
Sam and Will fell backward; the sun had finally started to peek out from behind the clouds. “Why? We were so close. Why did he have to die?” Sam yelled. He then looked at the girls. “This is your fault,” he said bitterly.
Jasmine and Renee looked at him confused but with eyes full of tears.
“If you never existed, he would still be alive,” Sam said in disgust.
“Do not blame them for something he did,” Mark ordered. “They didn’t ask for crazy people to try and sacrifice them. They didn’t ask to be hunted down like dogs because of a power hungry king. They didn’t even ask to be here. So if you want to blame anyone, blame your king,” he said angrily.
“No, he’s right,” Elizabeth cried. “If he would have just let the evil king take us, then this wouldn’t have happened. “He’d still be here, and my dad.” Elizabeth was beside herself. It wasn’t until that moment that she felt completely alone.
“I’m sorry,” Sam said apologetically.
“But Rico’s right; we should get out of here,” Will ordered, though he didn’t want to leave his friend like that.
“We should hide his body somewhere, so when the coast is clear, we can take him with us and bury him at the camp,” Ethan suggested out of respect for his fallen rival.
Will wiped his eyes, “Okay.” He then turned his attention to Rico, whose head was now lying in Elizabeth’s lap with her arms around him. “Lizzy,” he said, softly.
She looked up at him with a sad look in her eyes.
“We have to move the body,” Will explained.
Elizabeth shook her head no. He couldn’t be gone. He just couldn’t be. There had to be something that she could do to wake him up; but what? They had only known each other for a short time and she was already in love with him. Losing him now would be too much, especially since she never got the opportunity to tell him how she felt.
“No, because he’s not dead, he's sleeping,” she assured them.
Everyone sighed.
Ethan kneeled down beside her and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Lizzy, he’s gone; you have to let go.”
“NO!” she screamed. “I told you, he’s not dead,” she said forcefully. “He made a promise to my dad, and he wouldn’t break it,” she assured him.
“Let’s just take him,” Mark whispered.
“Fine, since you don’t believe me, I can prove it to you.” Before anyone could stop her, she placed Rico on the ground, then closed her eyes and kissed him and as soon as she did, a blinding light appeared and everyone closed their eyes. After it was gone Rico opened his eyes and Elizabeth pulled back. “I told you, he was asleep,” she said in a condescending tone.
Rico took in a long deep breath, and then hopped up, stunned that he was still alive. Everyone looked at him in shock and couldn’t stop blinking and staring. They then looked at Elizabeth who was smiling back at them. “I’m alive?” he asked confused.
Elizabeth hugged him and closed her eyes. She had no idea how she did it, or how she knew it would work, but all that mattered at that moment was that he was still alive and could keep his promise. Please don’t do that again; you’re all I have left,” she said softly.
Rico said nothing; he only embraced her, happy that for at least that moment he could hold her and not be scrutinized for it.
“How did you do that?” Jasmine asked, completely baffled.
Elizabeth shook her head no, “I have no idea,” she admitted, “but I’m glad it worked.” She said happily. She then helped Rico stand up.
“Rico your wound is gone,” Sam said, amazed.
Rico looked down and saw that the only thing that remained of the wound was the hole. This was also the case with his arm. After Elizabeth rebandaged it, he noticed that it was completely healed. “You're right,” he said. He then looked back at Elizabeth. “Thank you.”
She smiled. “You’re welcome.”
“We should get back to the others so we can finish this journey,” Mark said, still in disbelief, about what had just happened.
“He's right,” Rico insisted. “There are a group of soldiers headed our way, and if we don’t leave now, Martha will lead them right to us.”
Everyone looked at him in shock. “Martha?” they asked.
“Yes, but I’ll explain later; right now, we have to go,” Rico ordered.
Everyone shook their heads in agreement, but before Elizabeth could take one step, she passed out and Rico caught her.
“Lizzy?” everyone exclaimed.
Rico checked her pulse. “She just fainted. She'll be fine,” he assured them.
“If you like I can carry her,” Ethan offered.
Rico shook his head. “It’s fine. I actually feel a lot better than I’ve felt in my entire life,” he said with a smile.
“Great; now that that’s settled, let’s go,” Renee ordered. She was still creeped out by what had just happened to her and her friends. Never in their life had they experienced something so vile and so horrifying and she still didn’t understand why--at least not fully--however, after seeing Elizabeth literally bring Rico back to life, she was starting to suspect that there was more to their powers than she originally thought.
When they made it back to camp, their mothers were in the process of making breakfast and she was looking forward to it after losing so much blood. However, there was no time for that. They had to go, and they had to go now.
“What happened?” Cara asked, after seeing Rico carrying Elizabeth.
“And why is it that every time you people go somewhere, one of them or all of them, is asleep,” TaKayla asked, looking at Elizabeth, whose arms were draped around Rico’s neck.
“There is no time to explain now; we have to go,” Will ordered.
“What? But I’m hungry,” Kaylin said as she stomped the ground and crossed her little arms.
“You can eat when we get there; we have to go,” Mark ordered.
“What happened?” Erin asked. “Where are the three men and Martha?”
The returning group looked at each other, each trying to figure out what to tell them, and then Renee spoke. “We will tell you on the way. For now, we have to go. So let’s get out of here; the longer I stay in this forest, the more convinced I am that I will never see you again.”
Cara walked over toward her horse and began to mount it, “In that case, lead the way, men,” she ordered.
“Sure; but first, we are leaving the horses; they cannot go where we are going,” Sam informed them.
The woman looked at them sideways. “Why?”
Will walked over toward a tree and pushed it to the side, as if it were nothing more than a feather, and before them stood a hole, just big enough for humans to enter. It looked cold and dark, with strange sounds coming out it. It sounded like an elephant fighting a lion.
“Why do we have to go in there?” Kaylin asked, hiding behind her mother, petrified of the sound.
“Because it’s the best way to the camp. Any other way but this one is suicide,” Rico explained.
“But it’s dark; do we have any torches?” Renee nervously asked.
“No,” Rico replied sternly. “In order to get to the hideout, we have to go in there blind. There will be light at the end of the tunnel, so head that way,” he ordered
“Why?” Renee asked, although a part of her knew that she wasn’t going to like the answer.
“Because inside are some very ferocious creatures and if they see you, they will eat you,” Sam explained.
“What?” Kaylin and TaKayla asked terrified. They looked at their mother and started to panic. “Mommy I don’t want to go in there,” they said, grabbing their mother's arm and burying their faces in it.
Her mother rubbed her sisters’ backs. “It’s okay sweetie,” she said, though Renee knew she didn’t mean it. If anything, she was afraid because of Kaylin.
“What’s the other route?” her mother asked with equal nervousness.
“The other routes are dangerous and will take four days to get to and there is no guarantee that we would make it there without getting caught or dying first. It’s made this way to keep out uninvited guests,” Will informed them.
“Besides, once we make it out of the tunnel, we just have to go up this field and then we’re there,” Sam explained.
“Really? So we go through the tunnel of death, then through a field of probably poisonous snakes and quicksand and then we’ll be at this camp?” Jasmine asked, sarcastically.
“There are poisonous snakes? Where? Keep them away from me.” Elizabeth said, freaking out in Rico’s arms; he only laughed.
“Calm down,” he said, trying to loosen her grip on his neck. “There are no spiders out here.”
Elizabeth took in a deep breath, and Rico put her down. “Good, because I hate snakes,” she informed him.
“But there are some in the field and quicksand,” Sam warned.
“Quicksand?” Renee asked. “Do we have to go in there?” she cried.
“Unfortunately sweetie, it’s the only way,” her father informed her.
“Grab what you need; and then follow me. I’ll give you a few minutes,” Rico ordered.
Everyone walked to their horses; grabbed as much stuff as they could carry; then slowly made their way toward the hole, where Rico, Sam and Will were waiting.
Sam waved his arms toward them as if ushering them forward. “Stay close together and keep your eyes on the light. Also, it would be best not to say anything until we make it out,” Sam warned.
“Do I even want to know why?” Renee asked, starting to regret more and more her decision to go with these men into the woods in the first place. If anything, she could have hiddensomeplace and lied about her age until it was all over, but no, she decided to go with her family, and
what has happened to her since then? First, she was knocked out by soldiers trying to kidnap her; then she was tied to a tree by a psychopathic religious group, and now she was about two seconds away from entering a tunnel full of weird creatures who more than likely wanted to eat her alivenot to mention, the field of wonders where anything was possible including death. One thing was for certain, the moment she got to that camp, she was going to complain to somebody about this fun little road trip that she and her friends were forced to go on.
“Renee, do you understand?” Rico asked, staring at her intensively. After asking her or telling her something that she did not pay attention to.
“Yup,” she lied.
He said not to make any sudden movements, and try to move as quickly as possible through the tunnel, Elizabeth said, telepathically after realizing that Renee hadn’t been listening.
Also, he said to hold hands; that way we won’t get lost. Although I think that one was just for Lizzy and he just wanted to pretend it was for all of us, Jasmine teased.
Elizabeth just smiled, Shut up. You’re just jealous I got to him first.
A little bit, Renee and Jasmine admitted.
But I’m over it. With my good looks, I can get the prince, Renee boasted.
The girls laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Sam questioned.
“Ignore them; please continue,” Ethan ordered. “Please continue.”
“That’s everything; just remember what we said, and we will all get there safely,” Rico said reaching his hand out to Elizabeth who gratefully took it. She then reached back toward Renee, but she was intercepted by Ethan.
By the way your brother has been acting extremely weird this entire time. Is he okay? Elizabeth asked. She was completely clueless.
Thought so; she’s not very bright, Jasmine said, after grabbing her brother’s hand.
How am I not bright?” Elizabeth askedstill clueless.
Tell you what, if we make it out of this alive, we will tell you. Renee assured her.
Okay, Elizabeth said, still confused.
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