As Lupier leaned against a tree, the morning sun warmed his frazzled face. Dried blood clung to his cheek, reminding him of the many collisions during the night’s rampaging. Bruised and battered, he cursed upon realizing the absence of his scarlet uniform top. The former commander looked at his undershirt and grizzled at the previous night’s events. How, oh, how, could everything go wrong? Where is everyone? How could I be separated from everyone else? Why are the foolish guards so easily frightened? I don’t even have my uniform. I don’t even know where I am. Why did Q7 bring Talon and Rose to the pile of glowing weapons? That makes no sense. Why did I command the others to dunk the torches? Why did I torch our equipment? Why did I not just wait until dawn? The former commander flailed these, and many similar questions, upon himself. For hours, he verbally berated every decision of the fateful night – both his own choices and the decisions of others. Alas, no person heard the ranting. Lupier was alone. As the morning sun cast long shadows across his surrounding, Lupier began to walk. Centage City, he thought. I must return and begin to correct my mistakes. He pulled some grass from the ground and tossed the blades into the air. A gentle breeze pushed the green slivers through the air. Lupier turned and followed the grass’ direction. The wind always blows toward Centage City.
Gryph held Amber’s hand as they walked through the main village path. The early morning sun inched over the distant horizon. They welcomed its emerging warmth on the brisk autumn morning. Amber’s new friend, Willow, strolled close to other side. Amber pulled the older girl close to her, not wanting to feel alone.
Behind them, Talon, Rose, and Violet quietly followed the mapmaker’s path. Talon noticed many of the villagers abuzz with preparations for the Protectorate’s arrival. Most homes exuded an eerie calm, but a few – the inevitable procrastinators of any group – hustled about packing the last few items. Talon realized, the villagers don’t know yet, but the Protectorate is not coming for them today. The guards responsible for re-locating Village #94 were scattered from horizon to horizon. Just before they turned the final bend in the road before entering the village, Rose thought she spotted a few guards in the distance, but Talon saw nothing. Violet told the others she saw a couple of distant guards who, at least it appeared to her, tossed grass into the air, as a person might do when ascertaining the wind direction. She said the guards followed the wind, which thankfully led them away from their village. That seems peculiar, thought Talon. Why do the guards follow the wind? On this journey, however, I’ve seen much that might be described as “peculiar.” Someday, I must record the events of the amazing last few months. Perhaps others will understand them more than me.
“Where’s Daks?” asked Rose as they continued to travel through the village. Talon and Violet looked around, neither knowing the whereabouts of their companion.
Before Talon could answer, a woman’s voice echoed through the village.
“Amber Cartog! You’re okay. Thank the Creator, you’re okay.” Gryph’s wife raced through the village with her awkward middle-aged gait. Upon reaching the girl, she threw her around Amber’s body and squeezed tight … and long. The woman paused from hugging and kissed the girl repeatedly. Amber lapped the affection, which she would find embarrassing on any other day. On this morning, however, the girl with golden eyes still trembled from the night’s terror. Amber needed her mother.
The woman’s affection instantaneously turned to anger. “Gryph! Where have you been all night with my daughter? What do you have to say for yourself? What were you thinking? I know you can be an idiot from time to time, but this is ridiculous. How dare you involve your daughter in one of your farfetched plans?”
Gryph hung his head and said nothing. While he never meant to entangle Amber in the night’s events, he failed to make sure the girl returned home, as he instructed her. The woman separated Amber from her father and stomped toward her residence. Gryph followed a few steps behind but said nothing. The other four, Talon, Rose, Willow, and Violet quietly trailed the oval-shaped man. The, like the mapmaker, knew to say nothing.
When they reached the Cartog residence, everyone trailed into the home – even the uninvited guests. The four youth somehow knew they were welcome in the residence. The mapmaker’s wife glared at the four other youths, someone aware they were responsible for her daughter’s disappearance.
“Please, mum,” pleaded Amber, “It’s my fault that I was not here last night. Paps told me to come home, but I disobeyed him. Don’t be mad at his him.”
“He should have made sure you were here.” The woman glared some more at her “feckless” mate.
“But, Mum,” pleaded the nine-year old girl. “It’s my fault, and please be nice to my friends, especially Willow. She helped me so much.” The girl pulled Willow close to her, which identified the friend to her mother.
“If not for them, I suspect you would have been home last night rather than … doing whatever it is you shouldn’t have been doing.”
“No, that’s not what happened at all,” begged Amber. “Blame me.”
Her mother answered, “You’re too young to blame.”
With each passing moment, the room’s other four occupants tried unsuccessfully to disappear into the wall – not wanting to become the object of wrath of the angry, terrified (but now relieved) mother.
Gryph’s wife scolded him like a child, “What do you have to say for yourself? How could you let this happen?”
“I’m sorry,” answered the husband feebly.
The woman continued to rampage, “Nothing good comes from our daughter spending the night away from home and her mother not even knowing where she is.”
“Not entirely…” began the man.
“What are you trying to tell me?” asked the mother angrily.
“Mum,” offered Amber, “Let me just tell you what happened.”
“Fine.”
“Yesterday afternoon, I went with Paps to the Shumaker house, and while there, these four older kids came to house. Do you remember Rose and Talon? It was them, and two of their friends. Paps and them and some of the other people there decided to destroy the guards’ weapons.”
“They did what?” demanded the mother.
“Please, don’t interrupt,” continued the girl. “I wanted to go but Paps said ‘Absolutely not,’ or something like that. He told me to come directly home and see you. So, Willow, my new friend over there … do you see her? We were supposed to come home last night. Along the way home, however, I still wanted to help Paps and the others so I convinced Willow to come with me. It was entirely my fault. I just knew we could help, somehow. Instead of coming home, we went and hid along the new road that leads into our village. We knew the guards would march right next to us.”
The mother gasped in disbelief.
“It got really dark, and I got really, really scared. I have never been so scared in all my life. I just froze. Thankfully, Willow was there and she helped keep me calm. If not for her, I … just don’t know, but it would have been awful. Finally, after what seemed like months, the guards started marching by us. Even though their weapons provided some light, which I was thankful for, they scared me more than the darkness. Then, we heard the guards talking about how their weapons were disappearing, and they did not know what to do. After a while, the one in charge decided to pile all the weapons. They made a huge pile of those terrible weapons just steps from us. That made me even more scared, but I was too scared to do anything, and I was even too scared to run away. Thankfully, Willow stayed calm for both of us. She kept telling me what I told her earlier, ‘We need to do something important tonight, and we will know when to do it.’ We just kept waiting. Then the guards brought over Rose and Talon … and it looked terrible. I thought the guards were about to do something awful to them. I was still really scared and seeing Rose like that, only made me more terrified. I could not even move, not even to wiggle my finger. Willow didn’t get scared, though. All of sudden, Rose jumped into
the pile of weapons, and they all just … disappeared. All of it vanished. Everything went dark – even darker than earlier in the night. I was still scared, but now I could tell the guards were scared too, which made me less scared. Then, Willow nudged me and said ‘Now.’
“I screamed as loud as I could. I screamed out every bit of fear within me. It was loud. Willow screamed after me, and it was loud but not as loud as mine was. We did not say words, we just screamed. After that, I was not afraid anymore. Maybe still a little, but not like before. That’s when I heard Paps scream, ‘moonjackals.’ Nothing happened for a moment, and then, the guards went crazy. I could not see anything, but I could hear them. They started pushing, fighting, running, grabbing, and screaming. I have never been around anything like that. They were beyond scared. It was like they were wild animals. They ran in every direction, and gradually, it grew quieter and quieter. Willow and I could not hear their footsteps anymore. We just stayed in our place, and after a while, we saw the sun begin to rise. Once that happened, I called to Paps, who was waiting with the others. Until I called to him, I don’t think he knew I was there, did you?”
Gryph shook his head, “No idea. Until I saw you, I didn’t know who screamed. At first, I thought it was one of the guards. I assumed he must be terrified to scream like that – you know, with the voice of a nine-year old girl.”
“And the Crimson Guard?” asked the mother.
Amber answered, “Like I said, they ran away. When the sun finally came, there was no sign of them left, except bits and pieces of discarded gear. Other than that, nothing. Well, we saw a few guards in the distance, but nothing else.”
“Does that mean the Crimson Guard is not going to relocate us to Centage City today?”
“There are no guards left,” answered Gryph.
Upon receiving this information, the woman danced around the room. She took the hands of her daughter and husband, and they spun, twisted, and turned together. Her previous angst disappeared into the rhythmic movements. The Sunsculptors, Willow, and Violet finally relaxed. Rose took her brother’s hand and forced a few jigs from him. Violet grinned wildly, but she missed her parents. Willow smiled sheepishly, still feeling out of place. Rose, upon remembering her brother lacked any dancing skills, gave up trying to celebrate with him. She hugged Willow, long and hard. Rose squeezed the younger tight into her chest and kissed her on the forehead. Rose then threw her arms around Violet, who appreciated the recognition.
Gryph came to Talon and tightly gripped his hand. After a long, firm handshake, the man offered the youth a gentle hug. “Thanks,” he said.
“I could not have done without you,” said Talon. “Without you hiding us from the guards or giving us our map, this never would have happened.”
Gryph’s wife walked over to Willow, who finally wiggled free of Rose’s embrace, and the mother hugged her tightly. Willow appreciated the affection. The girl with ashen skin missed a mother’s embrace. After a long while, the woman finally said, “Thank you for helping my daughter. Amber says that without you, she would not have survived the night. She says you are a courageous girl.”
“Thanks,” said Willow quietly.
“Amber also says that the Protectorate took your mother and sister.”
Willow nodded. She mentioned this to Amber on the previous night as the she and her frightened companion waited along the road, but she was unsure the other girl even heard her.
“And,” continued the mother, “Amber says you want to find them.”
“Of course,” said Willow. “I miss Mum and Dafie very much.”
The woman answered, “My name is Tigress. I will help you find them.”
Q7 unlaced and removed his waterlogged boots. He tipped the footgear upside down and water streamed onto the ground. The gray-haired man then took off his scarlet shirt and thick pants. He twisted the garments; water from the saturated clothes streamed through his hands. The squad leader continued to twist and squeeze his clothes until they were only damp. He put the uniform back on, but did not button the scarlet shirt.
The man looked at the swift-moving stream beside and wondered how he ever arrived at this location. The last few hours were a blur. After the screams, a panic overwhelmed the guards. People ran, pushed, hollered, tripped, and scratched. I just wanted to get away from them so I started running. I cannot remember how long I ran, but it seemed just a second but felt like forever. Then, I stumbled into a river, or maybe, this stream. It sprinted me away. I could barely stay afloat. I felt the water rushing into mouth and down my throat. I thought I might drown. I grabbed onto something, perhaps a thick branch, and just held on. I seemed to lose consciousness, but for how long, I know not. Finally, sometime well after the sun rise, I regained my senses and used my hands to paddle toward the shore. Now, here I am. What should I do? Should I try to find the others, but where are they? What happened to everyone else? Where should I go? I need to do something, but what? I want only one thing right now – to see my family. I want to hug my wife and two sons. I miss them so much. I must return to Centage City, but how? Oh, I know, the “wind always blows toward Centage City,” at least, that’s what we were told during our training.
Q7 picked a few clumps of grass; he tossed them into the air. The blades gently drifted straight down. The married-father-of-two repeated the process, and again, the grass wafted to the ground in a perpendicular direction, veering in no direction. Q7 tried repeatedly, but the results were the same – the wind did not blow. He sat down beside the cascading stream, and openly wondered, I thought the wind always blows toward Centage City. I just want to see my family. Perhaps, I erred in last night’s decision.
Gryph and Tigress prepared a breakfast feast to celebrate the Crimson Guard’s un-arrival this morning. The others helped as they could.
While cracking eggs, Talon asked the others. “Where is Daks? Did anyone see him?”
The others shook their head to indicate “no.”
Rose began, “I didn’t see him at all. That last time I saw him, he was suggesting that you run alone, and we stand back to see if you died or nor.”
“Did anyone see him after that?” asked Talon.
The others shook their head, except for Violet. She explained. “I ducked into the underbrush after I heard the guard scream ‘Grab them.’ I was unsure what to do, and I thought the guards were about to capture me. When I was in the underbrush, he happened to be there as well. He did not say much, only that he was trying to get away from the guards. When I saw Rose and you get captured, I stepped back on the road and followed along as they took you to their pile of weapons. At that point, they were already passing their weapons toward the pile and pushing towards the center. There seemed little chance the guards would suddenly be worried about someone behind them, especially since it was so dark they could not even see me. When I left the underbrush, however, I think Daks stayed. I started to say something more to him, but I wanted to move fast so that I did not lose sight of Rose and you.”
“Other than that, did anyone see him?” asked Talon.
The others shook his head.
“So is he looking for us right now,” began Rose, “and just not able to find us or did our companion finally bail on this journey? Is he looking for right now or his happy to finally be away from us?”
I have no idea, thought Talon. I do wish I knew Daks intentions. Should I be looking for him? Is he wandering around wondering where we are or is hiding from us? Really, how could he not find us after the sun came out? Then again, I just don’t know.
After a pause to reflect on Daks’ absence, Talon asked the others, “So what’s next for us? The encounter at the bend was just a beginning. Right? We have much to do. What happens now? We need to start …”
“Talon Sunsculptor,” interrupted his sister. “Enjoy the day, my brother. Can you believe we dissipated all those weapons, just as we wanted? Let’s
take today, at the very least, and enjoy the moment.”
Talon nodded in agreement. The others cheered. They each worked diligently to complete morning meal. After the preparations, they feasted like a lion after a successful hunt.
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