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Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
And then, behind Gray had appeared this tiny girl. She wore a pink dress, lots of frills, and a tiny white bonnet over her brown curls. Her face was locked in a downcast frown.
“Hi,” Lucas said from the hay.
“Hello,” she said quietly.
Gray peeked out from the stall where Lucas’ father saddled his horse. “Ah, Lucas, that’s my daughter Justine. Say hello, dear.”
“Hello,” she said again.
“That’* Lucas, dear. He helps me take care of my horse. Someday when you’re big enough ot have a horse, he’ll take care of yours and keep it here too.”
“Not forever,” Lucas said brightly. “Someday I’m going to be rich like you and keep a horse here too!”
“Quiet, boy,” his father snapped angrily. “Sorry, ser.”
“Please,” Gray said with a shrug.
“You don’t have a horse?” Justine had asked.
“No, dear, they just take care of other people’s horses,” Gray explained. That was how Lucas understood the social differences between Justine and himself for many years after – she was someone who owned a horse, and he was someone who took care of them.
While they finished readying the Myren family horse – they did*’t receive the royal “Val” until Gray became an advisor – Lucas ran outside and picked a wildflower from the grass. It was something he had seen his father do for his mother. He carried it inside and presented it to the little girl.
“This is for you!” he announced.
She took it from him and twirled it in her fingers. “Thank you,” she said.
“Would you like to play in the hay with me?”
“What’s that?”
“You climb up here,” he demonstrated, clambering onto the stall wall, “and jump!” He leapt, collapsing into the hay. When he rolled out, Justine was laughing. Then Gray was at her side, pulling her away.
“We have to go,” he said urgently.
“Where are you going?”
Before Justine couldanswer, Gray answered for her again. “Nowhere that concerns you, boy.”
He did not give Lucas’ father an extra coin that day.

24-Aug-2012 23:16:10

Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Lucas remembered that he hadn’t seen her for a long time after that; not until she discovered the little gate connecting her house and the Castl.e After that, she had come to visit him almost every day. It pained him, how much he missed her. It was the little things, like the feel of the small of her back under his hand while they walked, or the way she buried her face in his neck when they hugged. He couldn’t wait for the moment when they would embrace again, upon his return. It was only this thought that prevented him from turning around and fleeing into the jungle.
That, and curiosity, he thought, watching Jonah lead the way. No matter how hard he tried to let it go, he desperately wanted to know Jonah’s story. Why had he been here before? With who, and to what end? But he supposed that maybe it wasn’t his story to hear. Did Jonah have his own Justine somewhere?
At that moment there was a low cry. The men flailed, drawing their weapons with a clang and cries of fear. But no arrows whizzed through the air, no natives poured out of the jungle. Lucas whipped his head from side to side, trying to find the source of the commotion. A man up the line had collapsed, clutching his shoulder. Lucas sheathed his sword and ran toward him, shoving through the other men who had gathered around. Sorokin and Jonah had reached him first. They had turned him on his back, and Lucas could see he was frothing at the mouth. His body convulsed, eyes rolling in his head. Sorokin grabbed around on the ground and found a stick, which he shoved between the soldier’s teeth. Lucas recognized him, but realized he did*’t know his name.
“What’s wrong with him?”
Jonah gestured to Lucas’ waist, where his quiver contained arrows with painted feathers – arrows belonging to the natives, that he had recovered after each fight. “Hand me an arrow.” Lucas obeyed. The commander held the tip up in a shaft of sunlight. “See that?”

24-Aug-2012 23:16:49

Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
And as Lucas leaned close and squinted, it was barely visible – a thin film on the arrowhead. “Poison. It usually kills instantly, upon the arrow entering the body, but he was only grazed.”
“Can you stop it?”
“Put him out of his misery, maybe. There’s no cure.” Jonah shrugged sadly. The commander wasn’t making pretenses anymore. He knew Lucas knew he’d been here before and he wasn’t going to bother hiding it. Jonah watched with sunken, red-rimmed eyes as the man writhed on the jungle floor. “It’s almost over, anyway.” He gestured to the gathered men to take a rest. Most of them did*’t move, caught with sick fascination, they couldn’t turn away.
Sorokin turned away and eyed Lucas. “How’s the stomach?”
“Sore.”
“Let me change the bandages, it looks like you bled through.”
Lucas crawled over to near Sorokin and raised himself on his knees. The dying man flailed, almost knocking him over. Jonah reached over and clamped down his arms. Sorokin unwound the bandages, revealing a large, oozing stab wound just below his belly button. Lucas sucked in his breath and watched the dying man instead.
As Sorokin applied fresh bandages, the soldier’s body arched in one final
convulsion, and then he lay still. Bubbles of froth oozed around the stick in his mouth.
“You’re all set,* Sorokin said hoarsely. “Go take a rest – all of you!” he barked. The men dispersed rapidly.
“Let me know if I can help,” Lucas said, before he meandered away. Sorokin turned to watch Jonah, who bowed his head over the dead body.
After a long silence, he said softly, “I was drunk last night.”
Sorokin only whistled through his teeth with disappointment.
“Myren knows, too.” Jonah scrubbed at his face. “I was talking to him.”
“You should have talked to me, man.”
Jonah raised his fists, as if to hit something, but found only the body beneath him, and dropped his hands limply. “These damn natives. They never change. Same poison, even. I hate this place.”

24-Aug-2012 23:18:18

Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
“Another week, maybe longer. Less if we shortcut through the mountains.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?”
“I want to get out of here,” Jonah snarled. “We’ll manage.”
“Sure thing, man.” Sorokin eyed the body with a grimace. “Shall we bury him?”
Jonah scowled, and stomped away to find a place that would make a suitable grave.

Some brief time later, they were walking again. Lucas walked alongside Sorokin, lost in his thoughts. The image of the poisoned man wouldn’t leave his mind. Over and over again, he saw that last convulsion, the froth bubbling out, the whistling noise that the man’s chest had made as the final breath left it. This jungle was toxic. How could any of them expect to survive out here, if a single scrape by an arrow meant certain death? He turned to Sorokin to distract himself.
“How are you? Any injuries I should worry about?”
“No, I’m clean.”
“Great.”
They walked in silence for a few moments. Uncomfortable, unable to listen to his own thoughts any longer, Lucas blurted out, “Does he have any idea how much further we have to go?”
“A ways. Today we’ll cut inland, over the mountains. He says it’s faster than the coast.”
“He knows the way.”
Sorokin looked at him, hesitating. But there was no point in pretending. “Yeah, he knows the way,” he said, waiting for Lucas’ reaction.
“Great.”
“It could be dangerous, with regards to the natives. But I think it’s for the best – he wants to get through it as quickly as possible. He’ll try to cut through the less populated areas.”
“Makes sense.”
“You’re not going to ask questions?”
He shrugged. “What’s the point, if no one will answer them?”
“He might, someday. Be patient.”
“As long as he has all of our best interests in mind.”
“He does, always. Seriously.”

24-Aug-2012 23:19:06

Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
They continued walking. A branch seemed to fly out of nowhere and smack Lucas on the head. Sorokin barely contained a giggle as Lucas fought it off. He swatted a mosquito in his arm. Lucas could feel the sweat running in rivulets down his back. His skin shone with sweat, as did Sorokin’s. The heat was suffocating.
“You’ve never been here before, have you?”
“No. I met him a long time after that – in the last war.”
Lucas nodded to himself. “Are you nervous? For when we reach Brimhaven?”
“I guess it’s sort of like everything else,” the older man said. “I always get nervous right before battles. Same as with the natives.”
“Yeah, okay…you think we can win?*
*Can** say. Our intelligence sucks right now. We don’t know what we’re up against. But man, if it goes according to plan and we get them by surprise – yeah, we’ll wreck them.”
Lucas grinned. “Great.”
“I want to check on the wounded – you want to go check ahead, and I’ll get the ones behind us?”
They split up, as Lucas jogged ahead to check on last night’s survivor. Every day, the line grew shorter and shorter.

Ahead, Jonah led the way through the jungle, oblivious to the conversations behind him. They had walked a long way this morning, despite the break to bury the sick man. He had led them off the coast and into the heart of the jungle. Fortunately, they had evaded the natives thus far. They were heading across the base of the large mountain range, where the soil became more rocky and thus bad for farming. This area had never been heavily populated by the natives – luckily, it seemed to still hold true. Once they went into the mountains, they might – would, he knew – encounter trouble from the mountain tribes. But for the time being, at least, they were moving unnoticed.

24-Aug-2012 23:19:43

Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
There was a distinct moment when he began to recognize the terrain. He’d known landmarks enough to pick the correct direction, but now the landscape was truly familiar. The path might have become overgrown with vegetation, but it was still the old path he remembered. They would soon pass a rocky clearing, then cross a small river, and it would be about another mile after that. It wasn’t far now – he’d walked this path more than a hundred times before.
It meant they were close.
That big rock that always sort of looked like a chair – soon they would cross the stream, and then pass through a small, gravelly clearing. And a few minutes later…they’d arrive. Jonah Barron was a man who rarely felt fear, or nerves, but this above all else set him on edge. He wanted more than anything to delve into the bottle in his pack. How could he possibly face this place again?
And yet, he could have gone around it. He did*’t have to lead them all through these dark shadows of his past. But how could he be here again, on this island, not go there?
At the stream, he called a halt for them to fill their canteens. He was trembling and did*’t think he could go much further. He knelt by the river and washed his face. Behind him was a tree he had once carved their initials into. He couldn’t bring himself to look. He summoned Sorokin. The medic took one look at the commander’s pallid face and understood.
“We’re close?”
“Very.”
“You okay?”
Jonah climbed to his feet, shaking the water off his hands. “Trade backpacks with me.”
Sorokin unshouldered his without question, then took Jonah’s. He frowned with understanding. “Is this the last of it?” he asked, slinging the heavier bag over his shoulder.
Jonah nodded. “All I brought with me. I can’t have it near.”
His friend clapped a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll be okay. You’ll be okay.”

24-Aug-2012 23:20:38

Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
“We should go, since we’re stopping there anyway.” He signaled Travis, who reorganized the men. The weight of Sorokin’s pack, though full of medical supplies, was less than his own, and he felt he could move easier. He turned around to examine the tree behind him. There, near the roots, was his messy carving. “JB and LB.” With a little heart. He’d been such a silly romantic. He’d taken her here and they had sat by this river day after day – it was their favorite spot. His chest constricted, and for a moment he couldn’t breathe. Black spots flashed before his eyes. All he could see was her red hair, disappearing into the flames, red on red.
Travis grabbed his arm. “You okay, boss?”
Jonah snapped out of his trance. Air flooded back into his lungs. He followed his second in command away from the tree and back to the head of the line, to lead them deeper into the jungle. Sorokin followed close behind, and Lucas not far from him. He felt sick inside. It had been so long that he had buried these demons, and now it was all coming back to him. How could he possibly withstand this?
***
Halfway to Gray’s office, James had a change of heart. He went to his own office and sent for Gray instead. He’d gone and sent a messenger, then waited at his desk for Justine’s father to arrive. His instincts told him to go to Justine and tell her, to do the right thing, but his mind told him to confront Gray first. He wasn’t sure why – he’d assumed he’d figure it out when he got there. Racing through the halls, he’d ignored all who called his name or tried to get his attention, and went directly to his office without speaking to anyone. In his office, he waited calmly; he hadn’t paced, he had hardly moved since he sat down behind his desk. It took many, many minutes for Gray to arrive. He stared at the array of military papers before him, eyeing Lucas’ name with distaste. After many long minutes, he was startled out of his reverie with a knock at the door.

24-Aug-2012 23:21:08

Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
“Come in,” he called, and rose to receive his advisor.
“You summoned me, your Grace?” Gray said as he entered. The corners of his mouth were twisted, suggesting the barest hint of a smirk at the thought that the Prince had summoned him, for once.
“Please, have a seat.” James gestured across from himself and sat down.
*Can I help you with something?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact.” James clasped his hands. He had deliberated about how he wanted to say this, and had to struggle hard to remain calm now that the moment had come. “I stopped by the barracks to pick up some letters, and I noticed a discrepancy between their copy and those that you had given me. I was hoping you could clarify.”
“I could have got those for you,” Gray said.
“I can get my own mail, my Lord,” James said politely. His fingers tingled; he could barely breathe for the pounding of his heart. “Why are you always getting my mail for me, Gray?”
Justine’s father shifted uncomfortably. “I’m just trying to be helpful, your Grace. What was the…” he seemed to be searching for the word, “the discrepancy, was it?”
“Yes. It was in the last memo regarding the Karamja mission before they left, and –“
“What…what was it, your Grace?” Gray had gone very pale.
“There seems to be a memo I never got. They only just left? I thought they had been gone for, well, months. I never saw anything about a holdup until I found the note about it at the barracks.”
Gray sank back into his chair, visibly relieved. “My mistake, my Prince. There were problems with the ship. I’m sorry that note never made it into your hands.”
“You shouldn’t keep things from me, Gray. You’re my valuable right hand.”
He nodded vigorously. “Of course, my prince. It won’t happen again. You can trust me.”

24-Aug-2012 23:21:56

Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
James smiled thinly, enjoying the rush of color back into Gray’s face, the sweat shining on his forehead, the man’s slump as he thought he escaped danger. “Of course I can. So when were you planning on telling me Lucas is alive?”
Gray choked. He doubled over in his chair, wheezing and trying to regain his composure. “So you found it,” he managed finally. “You should know, I did this in your best interests. Justine likes you. She should be with you. I’m glad you’ve taken such an interest in her – I assure you, she would be a wonderful queen.”
“He’s out there saving lives!” James shouted, flinging the papers in Gray’s face. “He’s serving our country, protecting our lives and others, saving other people. I’m not even close to the man he is. She shouldn’t be with me! and you – you scum of the earth traitor, I should have you killed.” He reached across the table and grabbed Gray by the collar of his shirt, lifting him upright. “Give me one good reason not have you hanged.”
“Because you’re here talking to me, instead of telling her.”
“How do you know I haven’t told her?”
“She'd be here.” James let go, and Gray sank back down, rubbing his throat. "She's at home, gossiping with her maid about how much fun the two of you had at your country home. No, you came to me first. Why is that?" He steepled his fingers. "Sit, your Grace. Let’s discuss this like civilized men, shall we?” He was composed now, having found a weakness in James. Just like that, the Prince had lost his upper hand. Gray, as always, was in control.

24-Aug-2012 23:26:20

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