Just as Thane had expected, the inhabitants of the cottage were caught off guard as its steel door nearly flew off the hinges. It took only seconds for Thane to assess the structure’s interior. These people were indeed the Realmsic Council, he could tell by their clothing. Along with them were two random kids. But where was his target? Thane’s eyes were enraged as he repeatedly scanned from one side of the room to the other.
“Where’s Maebus?” he shouted, reaching for the closest person to him. His chest heaved violently from the adrenaline flooding his body.
The Council members fled from his grasp as he stormed across the room after them.
“Grab everyone!” Thane ordered through clenched teeth and tensed neck.
A soldier tried to corral the smallest child, but he was too fast. The child slipped from beneath the soldier’s arm, knocking him off balance and forcing him to fall on his face.
“Nice!” the older child cheered, shoving who must have been his brother away from further harm.
“Quickly, everyone out! I’ll hold them back,” ordered a young Councilwoman. Thane noticed she was dressed differently than the others, wearing a lavender sundress instead of the olive uniforms worn by the other Council members.
“Landi, look out!” her colleague warned as Thane’s second man lunged towards her. As Landi side-stepped, the Legionarie missed her completely and landed on the ground atop the first soldier who’d yet to recover from the child’s maneuver.
But now, she was only a few inches from Thane. He raised his sword high into the air, prepared to strike her down. But with a repetitive circular motion of her arm, Landi heated the air in front of her, producing a solid white bubble within seconds. Flicking her fingers forward, the bubble popped with a bright flash, blinding Thane.
“Agh!” he shouted, dropping his sword, stumbling forward. While rubbing his throbbing eyes, he tripped over his other two soldiers and tumbled to the ground. Rolling upon his back, he opened his eyes wide. Spots floated within his vision. He couldn’t even see the ceiling above him.
“Go now!” he heard Landi shouting to the Council members.
Thane forced himself on to all fours, but his eyes had yet to recover. From the ground, he could barely make out the silhouettes of the Council as they escaped through the cottage’s rear door.
• • • • •
“Nice work Landi!” Greeve said as he and the others rushed through the cottage’s rear exit. But waiting for them were two other Legionaries. Without thinking, Mert ran from behind and launched his entire body into one of the men, tackling him to the ground. Simultaneously, Councilman Greeve grabbed a rock from the ground and smashed it into the helmet of the other.
Greeve smiled as Mert slowly rose from atop the soldier he’d knocked out. High-fiving his fellow administer of military, Greeve shouted “Good job!” He then drew a deep breath and wiped the sweat from his wrinkled forehead. Despite his age, he’d always been a wilder, rowdier member of the Council, and this fight further invigorated him. He felt like a young soldier again. With both Legionaries on the ground, the group ran full speed towards the Hellish South Plains.
“Come on!” Heegan yelled, skipping as fast as his small legs would carry him. He waved the others forward. “Follow me! There’s a back-up place in the Plains.”
“Wait!” Greeve bellowed, stopping the entire group. “What about the box? We left it behind!”
“Leave it!” Jawn yelled.
“No,” Greeve protested. “We were told to protect it—that it was essential to the plan. We can’t just leave it there for them to find.” His speech was slow but clear.
“But Councilman, we’re not warriors,” Ferst interjected. “Yes, you were an experienced soldier in your day, but we can’t defend against fully trained combat Legionaries now!”
“We just did,” Greeve retorted.
“They’d kill us and take the box!” Ferst quickly rebutted.
“We can take them.”
“No!” Elva flatly stated, grabbing his tightly flexed arm. “No, we can’t.”
“Yes, we can!” Greeve insisted.
“Fine, then you go! I’ll not stop you. But I’ll also not jeopardize the lives of the others and these two children.”
Greeve glanced at Heegan and Hom, noting their frailness perhaps for the first time. Elva’s gaze portrayed more than her words ever could. He said nothing as she turned away from him, directing Heegan to lead them onward.
As the others left also, Mert proceeded to follow them. Greeve tugged at his elbow. “You too?”
“What choice do we have?” Mert sighed.
“But what if they take the box?”
“Greeve, how are they even going to know what that box is? We don’t even know what that box is!”
Windym agreed, approaching them. “Please, Councilman. Come with us. We can always come back for it when things are clear.”
Greeve considered it for a moment, wiping the sweat from his forehead once again. His breathing slowed as calm returned to his body. He then conceded with a nod. Together, he, Mert and Wyndam hurried to catch up with the other Council members.
• • • • •
General Thane staggered out the cottage’s rear exit, still rubbing his eyes. They ached from the flash they’d received only moments ago. Seeing his two soldiers on the ground, he quickly assailed them, kicking them repeatedly.
“Get up!!!” he barked. He stepped over them to peer deep into the forest, but could see no signs of the Council members.
“Sir, permission to pursue?” a Legionarie stepping out the cottage asked.
“No. Maebus wasn’t with them,” he replied. “So don’t waste your time. We’d be better off searching the cottage for clues.”
Thane strode back in and surveyed his surroundings. His men filed in after him.
“I want this place turned upside down. Bring me anything that looks important!”
Without hesitation, the Legionaries began knocking over furniture and pulling items out of their place. Thane stood in the middle of their scavenge, unsure of what his next move would be. He was positive Maebus would be here. He’d told the Warlord that he would soon have the King, but now he had no idea where he was.
Perspiration soaked the inside of his armor. What would he tell Damian? Failure was not an option. The Warlord had told him those exact words often enough.
A scroll on the table caught his attention. He moved to the table where it lay. Immediately, Thane noticed the cracked Realmsic seal. Spreading the parchment open, he found nothing written on the paper.
“What?” It didn’t make sense. Why would anyone officially seal a blank letter? Unless the message was hidden, like the symbols in the woods.
He removed the reflector from his pocket and shone its light upon the page. Inked words magically appeared. It was a letter from Maebus himself! Thane couldn’t believe his eyes. Excitement filled him as he scanned the lines of the message.
“The King went north!” he eventually exclaimed. It was just as he’d first expected.
But how?
He then remembered originally tracking Maebus’ footprints, and how they abruptly ended in that empty field.
But there’s no place they could’ve gone, unless—
Thane almost smacked his own forehead. “They went underground,” he sighed. “There must have been a hidden passageway or something.”
He really could’ve kicked himself for not trusting his instincts. He crumpled the letter in his hands and tossed it into the fire pit, which still burned. He rationalized that if he and his men rode double-time, perhaps they could still pick up Maebus’ trail and catch him. But wait! Thane’s head snapped upwards. If he remembered correctly, from Centre Pointe, there were no roads that led to the north. He’d either have to travel back through the Western Nations to cross into the Northern Lands, or he’d have to traverse the uncharted woods.
Thane’s shoulders rounded as he groaned long and tiresome. Traverse the
uncharted woods. Nothing was ever easy. So be it. “Lets get out of here.” he commanded. “I found what I was looking for.”
“Sir,” a Legionarie said. “What about this?” He presented Thane with a box filled with rocks.
Thane looked at the man in bewilderment. “What about it?” He took them from the soldier.
“Sir, these rocks were sealed inside. So, I thought they might be important.”
The General carefully examined the container and its contents, not wanting to make another mistake. But from what he could tell, there was nothing special about the rocks or the box they came in.
“Forget them,” he said, dropping them all to the ground.
“Let’s go!” he huffed to the rest of his men. “Maebus went north.”
Chapter Twenty-One