by CJ Davis
Kate and Reese snapped out of it.
“Indeed,” Reese said as he raised his blade. “Let’s go, and double-time it to make up for lost ground!"
The three of them smiled, and ran further up the mountain pass. The sun was now fully out and the morning greeted them with open arms. If they hurried they could be through the Clouded Mountains and at the outskirts of the Raptor Jungle by nightfall.
Chapter 29
The four Red warriors jogged swiftly in unison. They were making great time, and were in high spirits. They had been running since the battle, allowing them to make it deep into the Clouded Mountains. The sounds of nocturnal beasts snarling and growling around them in the darkness filled the night air. There were still a few hours of night left.
“Ling, that was most impressive,” Hector declared. “I still cannot believe you were able to control so many Lost Souls.”
“The trick was getting enough of them to gather in one spot,” Ling replied. “Honestly, other than the ones with the bows, and a handful of others, I was not in control of most of them. The majority mindlessly followed the ones I was controlling.”
“It’s too bad the giant hoard didn’t destroy all the Blues,” Kublai said.
“It’s never that easy,” Cyrus retorted. “We should consider ourselves very fortunate for the hoard to have finished off Menelik. Without their best warrior, our victory is imminent.”
“It’s too bad the Lost Souls don’t wander further away from Asgelot,” Hector said. “It would be convenient to continue to use them as a weapon.”
“Indeed,” Ling replied. “Although what else would you expect from a bunch of former lazy individuals anyways?”
“Certainly not the type to climb this mountain,” Kublai added, trying to speak normally as he attempted a steep slope.
“With any luck, Ling will be able to control some of the other beasts along the way,” Cyrus said. “Isn’t that right Ling?”
“I will certainly try,” Ling replied. “We had the advantage during our limited training, for me to practice with actual Lost Souls in the hedge maze. Unfortunately we didn’t have any beasts handy for my training within Asgelot, so I will do the best I can.”
The mention of the beasts was an unwelcome reminder to Kublai about the danger that constantly surrounded them. He was well aware of how easy it was to forget how many man eating creatures could be lurking around every turn, or even silently stalking the group. The creatures were certainly starving for the energy the warriors carried, and it had been a long time since any of them had been able to feed on the great energy of a Centennial warrior.
“Cyrus, do you know of a safe place where we can camp tonight?” Hector asked. “We should consider resting. We don’t want to be too tired to fight anyone or anything that we may come across.”
“That’s a good idea Hector,” Cyrus replied. “I do remember a cave that’s not too far ahead. A few more minutes and we should be there. Of course, I’m not sure if the cave is vacant.”
“It will be worth checking out at least,” Hector said.
Before long Cyrus spotted the cave entrance by a clearing of trees. They stopped running, keeping their distance from the opening.
The group was as quiet as possible. They didn’t want to bring any unwanted attention their way, especially if this was going to be their campsite tonight.
“Ling can you use your ability to sense any creature in the cave?” Cyrus whispered.
She closed her eyes tightly for a moment and then opened them again.
“No, but I may be too far away,” she replied. “I need to get closer to be sure.”
“All right, get as close as you need to,” Cyrus said. “Kublai, go with her.”
Kublai swallowed hard. The last thing he wanted to do was have a late night run in with some oversized creepy crawly.
As he drew near the cave, Kublai paused. It was musky by the cave and a gamey smell seeped out of the entrance. Ling stood close to him and they waited patiently for a moment, listening for any noises in the cave. It was silent.
Ling closed her eyes tightly again. Several seconds passed. Kublai watched the young woman intently. A small grin played across her childlike face. Something rustled from within the cave.
Ling put her hand in the air. She closed her eyes even tighter. Her head was shaking slightly. After a moment, her eyes snapped open, twinkling with excitement.
“I have control,” Ling whispered to Kublai. “I’m going to bring it out.”
“Bring what out?” Kublai asked.
The rustling from deep within the cave grew louder. Kublai stepped back involuntarily. “Holy shit!” he whispered as a huge bird emerged from the depths. The creature towered over the frail humans. Its massive beak was nearly as long as a man’s arm, and had tiger like talons.
“That thing is massive,” Kublai said with a shaky voice, stepping further back.
Ling put up her hand.
“No need to be frightened,” Ling said. “I’m in complete control.”
Ling walked up to the front of the formidable bird. Standing close to it, she studied the sharp claws and the enormous beak.
“Watch this,” Ling declared. The bird lifted one of its powerful legs, wavering slightly. Its piercing black eyes were honed in on Ling.
“Can you imagine how many Blues we’re going to destroy with this killing machine?” Ling asked the group as she smiled with excitement.
As scared as Kublai was he even fantasized about getting a couple of these birds under Ling’s control. They would be unstoppable.
Suddenly, the bird shook its head, and dropped its leg to the ground. It looked very angry and turned its head down toward Ling.
Terror draped over Ling. It was clear she had lost the mental connection. She desperately closed her eyes tightly again.
The creature took a step towards Ling, letting out a terrible screech. Ling backed up nervously. Step by step she drew closer to Kublai, who glanced behind him looking for a route of escape. He heard a small cry and whipped his head around, only to see Ling sprawled across the ground, her foot caught in a twisted root.
“Kublai,” Ling screamed. “Help!”
Kublai shot a burst of flame at the creature. It flinched, but continued its advance.
The bird took one more giant step and pinned Ling by her abdomen, cutting deeply into her hip with its sharp talon. Pain lit up Ling’s face as she cried out in agony.
“Kill it quickly,” Cyrus ordered the men.
Kublai raised his ancient blade and went in for the attack, but before Kublai can reach the Kelenken it raised its enormous beak in the air and drove it deep into Ling’s chest. With a sudden flash, Ling was gone.
The remaining Reds surrounded the terror bird. The beast stood its ground, tossing its head, making aggressive stabs at the warriors.
Hector stepped in and swung his ancient axe at the bird’s heart, but the bird quickly blocked the blade with its giant beak. As the axe twisted in Hector’s hands, he stumbled and fell, rolling up against the creature’s powerful foot.
The creature slashed awkwardly at the warrior beneath him. Hector turned, and disappeared.
Kublai whistled low under his breath. He’d never seen that kind of ability. Cyrus snapped into action, severing the bird’s head from its body.
The men stood breathing heavily over the trembling carcass. A moment later the bird flashed into oblivion, and everything fell completely silent.
Kublai looked around the shadowy woods to see if the commotion had drawn any unwanted attention. The dark area remained clear of any other creatures.
Hector reappeared next to the men.
“Whoa,” Kublai said. “Warn us before you appear out of thin air like that. You almost gave me a heart attack.”
“Impressive,” Cyrus remarked dryly.
“Thanks,” Hector replied. His head slumped over.
After a somber moment, the men collected themselves and went into the cave
. Nobody said a word.
They set up their sleeping positions in the dark. The sound of water dripping echoed off the rocky walls.
“And then there were three,” Cyrus said, finally breaking the silence.
“A Kelenken is just the beginning,” Cyrus added. “Just wait until we get closer to the Galorim pool. Trust me; you would gladly fight ten Kelenken’s simultaneously compared to the Super Predator that awaits us.”
“Every single one of you better be ready to die out here,” Cyrus continued. “Because there’s a good chance you will.”
Chapter 30
The Stadium was fairly quiet after Ling’s demise. The Blues were pleased to see one of the Reds destroyed but it was not in their nature to cheer when any soul flashed. Most of the Reds sat deathly still in the arena, and nobody made a sound. They were stunned to have actually lost one of their own. After such a strong start many Reds and their supporters were convinced of absolute victory, with little to no chance of losing any of their heroes.
Some of the Reds pledges reacted rather harshly to Ling’s death. They were booing and hissing at the outcome. Ever since hearing of a twelve year old girl being selected as a Centennial warrior, there were some who strongly disapproved of the selection. Now that she was dead, they wanted everybody to know how right they had been.
Morkel sat high up in the arena surveying the disturbances below him. He was distraught over Ling’s destruction, but was even angrier at the disrespect of those below. As the leader of the Reds he couldn’t let this shameless public display of disrespect go unpunished.
He carefully looked for the perfect target to make an example out of. After a few seconds he spotted a Red pledge, who was particularly vocal about Ling’s death.
The man had short blonde hair and squinty eyes. He pumped his fist angrily in the air, with an ‘I told you so’ type of attitude. Morkel could clearly hear his jeers even though he was hundreds of feet away.
“Some of you aren’t genuinely mourning one of our fallen heroes,” Morkel said. His amplified voice boomed through the crowd. Most of the dissidence immediately stopped, but some, including the man Morkel had secretly targeted continued.
“I cannot stress enough the importance of supporting our Red Centennial warriors,” he added. His voice got louder and more irritated. “They deserve our utmost respect.”
Many of the Red supporters ohmed.
Morkel lifted his right arm, and aggressively pointed towards the Red pledge. He was sitting several sections away from him. Nobody was sure what Morkel was pointing at. A moment later a Red lightning bolt shot from Morkel’s hand, and struck the unsuspecting pledge. Lighting engulfed him. The man screamed shrilly before he flashed.
There was a collective gasp followed by total silence.
“Now let’s see your support!” Morkel ordered.
“Ohm“
***
The three Blue warriors passed a large rocky overhang covered with moist green moss, resembling a bear. Its silhouette momentarily startled Reese. His mind played tricks on him after nearly three hours of ominous wails and shrieks from the shadowy forest.
The only good news was that the trees had thinned out a little as they got higher up in the mountain, but as they climbed, they passed through a thick layer of clouds, which provided the predators lurking around them with ample hiding spots.
When they finally arrived at a clearing beyond the thick fog, the top of the mountain stood bright and strong against the silky blue sky. The light was so bright that it momentarily stung Reese’s eyes.
“Over here,” Reese said. He hurried over to a vista he spotted overlooking the back side of the mountain.
“Stop,” Reese ordered as his friends drew near. The three of them stood on a large slab of rock that looked like it had been there since the beginning of time.
“That would really suck to fall from here,” Rajiv said. He peered over a one hundred foot drop-off and grimaced.
The other side of the mountain was mysteriously void of any cloud cover, allowing the group to see a magnificent view of the untamed land. The thick, lush Raptor Jungle was very close to the bottom of the mountain.
“Look!” Kate said. She pointed excitedly past the Raptor Jungle at the galorim pool and the winner’s podium temple. The metallic silver color of the giant pool let off a unique shimmer as the bright sunlight reflected off it.
“Could we really be that close?” Reese said.
“Close?” Rajiv remarked. He patted Reese on his thigh with his blade. “You’re close.” He pointed off towards the temple. “That’s far away.”
The crisp wind chilled Reese’s nose. He rubbed his thigh where Rajiv had hit him.
“Menelik would’ve loved to see it again,” Kate said. “It’s so beautiful.”
“It’s fascinating to see how the vegetation gets thicker the closer it gets to the galorim pool,” Reese remarked.
“I just can’t get over this view,” Kate declared.
A new memory of Kate suddenly flashed into Reese’s mind, but this one was different. They wore medieval clothes, and snuggled up together alone on what he thought was the grassy hilltops of the vast Scottish Highlands. Kate nestled into his warm chest, and she softly whispered endearments into his ear.
The memory caught him off guard, flooding him with powerful emotions. His knees weakened and he breathed heavily. She no longer was just the mysterious girl who turned out to be a great warrior, and a strong teammate.
“Hey, you all right buddy?” Rajiv asked Reese.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Reese replied weakly. As quickly as they had arrived, the images left. He stiffened his legs and took a big breath. “I’m just a little worn.”
“From what?” Rajiv said with a grin.
The three of them enjoyed looking at the view for several more minutes.
“I really want to set up a nice little cottage here, so that I can wake up every morning to this view,” Rajiv said at last. His voice was soft and earnest, without a trace of humor.
“But, what about all the beasts and the Reds, that would love to kill us?” Kate asked.
“Ah, no wonder the real estate is so cheap around here.” Rajiv’s grin was back.
Kate and Reese chuckled a little.
“It never gets old having you around,” Kate said.
The bright sun felt good warming Reese’s face, but the trail called for them. There was a fine line between resting, and letting the Reds get too far ahead.
“I wonder how far off the Reds are?” Reese asked. He looked down the steep mountain ledge hoping to spot them in the rocks.
“I’m sure they’re not too far ahead,” Rajiv replied. “They would be foolish not to rest at some point, and they have that twelve-year old girl with them. How fast could she really go?”
“If she’s still alive,” Kate said.
“Good point,” Reese replied.
“Hold off!” said Kate in a hushed tone. “I hear something.”
They stood very still, hardly daring to breathe.
“Dammit, I can’t see anything through that dreadful fog,” Kate stated.
“I’m pretty sure a giant short faced bear is stalking us right now,” Rajiv said somewhat casually. “I saw him turn toward us when he was about a half a mile away. So we probably don’t want to linger around here too long.”
“Damn, Rajiv. Since when did you develop binocular vision?” Reese murmured.
Rajiv shrugged. “All of a sudden, my vision was hyper sensitive. I could clearly see stuff that was really far away.” He shrugged again. “I thought you all could see like that?”
“No we cannot see things clearly that are a half a mile away,” Kate hissed.
“So you can’t see through that fog either?” Rajiv asked.
“No,” Kate remarked. She crossed her arms over her chest.
“We passed it about a mile back,” Rajiv said. “We honestly have passed many beasts at this point. I figured as long as we ke
pt moving most of them would lose track of us.”
“So what do you see, wise eyes?” asked Kate. “Something big, to be sure,” said Rajiv. “I’d put my bet on either a giant sloth or one of those short faced bears from Siberia.” He stood quietly for a moment, staring intently into the clouds.
Reese looked quizzically at Kate and raised his eyebrow.
“I hope it’s the sloth,” said Kate. “They both reach about twelve feet standing on their hind legs, but the sloth is vegetarian.”
A loud growl bellowed from the fog.
“I don’t think it’s a sloth,” Rajiv declared.
“If it’s stalking us, should we really try to outrun it?” Kate asked. “They can run much faster than any of us, and with their advanced sense of smell it may eventually catch up with us.”
The rustling was getting louder and closer.
“I don’t think facing a giant bear is in our best interest Kate,” Rajiv replied.
“We may not have a choice,” Kate responded frankly. “What if we ambush it?”
Reese considered her suggestion. He looked around and saw some decent hiding spots.
“Not a bad idea,” Reese replied. “If one of us can lure it to the vista ledge, the other two can attack it from behind. The bear will not know what hit it.”
Another growl filled the air. This time it was close enough for Reese to feel the vibrations in his chest.
“Well, we better get into position,” Kate said. “I will lure him in. With my force field ability, I will be best protected from a bear attack.”
Reese reluctantly agreed. He hated the idea of Kate being bait. He caught himself. Was he allowing his emotions to get in the way? Was this what Kate and his dad warned him about? He did his best to ignore his worries. If he had any chance of convincing Kate to allow him to get his Inseparable power, he had to prove to Kate that he could handle this.
The three of them scrambled into position, a shadow of a bear appeared in the fog.
Chapter 31
Kate stood on the vista close to the ledge, with her back facing the dangerous drop-off. To her left behind a pile of large rocks was Rajiv. His battle ax hung loosely from one hand. Further back, and to her right Reese was concealed behind a large tree and some thick bushes.