“Finally,” Peter sighed as he set down the final box of supplies for their journey over the mountains. “We have enough food and water to feed an army, more climbing supplies than we could ever need, and coats warm enough we should never freeze. Well, should.”
“Looks great, Pete,” Luke observed the pile of crates, his expression proud as they had purchased the most supplies they had ever gotten.
“It’s fine,” Peter continued as he wiped the sweat from his brow, “But we’ll see how it holds up once we have to climb a mountain range.” The two returned their gaze to the Attalaitan Mountains, an imposing threat that seemed to loom over them as if taunting them to try to climb.
“We should be there soon,” Alice seemed to answer their question as to when would be the right time to leave, “Once Helen and Richard get back with their shopping trip, we’ll start a’climbin’.”
At Peter’s raised brow at her final comment, the “a’climbin’” at the end of her sentence, Alice explained, “I don’t know, one of the locals said that about our trip.”
He chuckled at that, glad that Alice was finally starting to smile a bit more, especially since their small memorial the other night put many of their crew in a bad mood.
“Hello there, my friends,” Lydia seemed to appear behind Peter, making him yelp.
“Sorry, Pete,” she ruffled his hair, making him glare at her. No one ruffled his hair. “Didn’t mean to scare you, just wanted to congratulate you on your journey so far.” Her dark gaze followed each of their faces before landing on the mountains where they had looked before.
As Lydia tried to make small talk with the others, Peter made a mental head count of who was there. He knew that Skylar was busy haggling with a weaponsmith at the nearby weaponry, trying to resupply the arrows she had lost after their incident with the Cliffs of Abdomes, and Richard and Helen were looking for boots, but someone was missing…
“Hey…Lydia, have you seen Adalene?” Peter threw it out there, wondering where their elfe friend had gone.
She pursed her lips, slowly shaking her head. “No…I don’t think I’ve seen her…”
Peter looked at the others, the silence dragging out for far longer than it should have.
“Well, anyways,” Lydia clapped as she began to turn away
from the others, “I have to go check on my group. I’ll uh…see you in a bit, alright?”
Then she walked away, her pace quicker than most times she had left them.
“Huh. Odd…” Peter mused, before turning back to the other two, trying to make small talk once again.
As Luke was joking with Alice, though, a strange smell filled the air, one that he had only smelled before a long time ago. It was a metallic smell, with an undertone of rotten eggs, along with the scent of something burning.
He knew what was going on.
“Get down,” he warned the two of them.
“What?”
“Get down!” Peter pulled Alice and Luke to the ground as the weaponry exploded next to them, sending wood and debris flying through the air as the buildings surrounding them caught fire.
Alice was frozen on the ground, her hands covering her ears desperately as she tried to block out the sound. Peter, however, hadn’t had enough time to cover his ears, and couldn’t hear a thing except for a ringing in his ear.
Luke’s eyes were filled with fear as he looked at the weaponry, one which Skylar had just been in moments before. Although Peter couldn’t hear anything, he knew Luke was shouting for Skylar.
He followed Luke, knowing that he would tear every inch of the remains of the burning building to find Skylar, to see if she was alright, but Peter prepared himself for the worst.
They searched for what seemed like hours, although it was probably only a few minutes, picking up every board, and stone to see if she was there. If anyone was there.
They couldn’t find anything.
Until Peter’s hearing came back, and he heard a hoarse voice.
“Luke? Luke! Peter! I’m over here!”
Luke rushed off in the direction of the voice, and Peter quickly followed, hoping he wouldn’t get himself killed.
Skylar’s desperate hand reached out underneath a board from a building next to the weaponry, and the two of them freed her soon afterward. Her face was covered in soot, and she doubled over with a hoarse cough before Luke pulled her into a tight hug.
“Oh, thank God you’re safe,” he breathed, his arms wrapped around her back. Skylar hugged him back, and Peter looked away from their moment together.
“I’d…hate to ruin the moment,” Peter coughed as he realized that three of their group were missing, “But we need to find the others.”
Just as he’d finished talking, another explosion sounded off in the distance, sending smoke and flame into the air.
“What is going on?” Alice joined them, her hand instinctively closing around Peter’s.
“I don’t know,” he answered, “But I have a feeling that it isn’t good. We have to find Helen, Richard, and Adalene.”
Which was when Adalene approached them, clutching her side, her mouth smeared with blood. She was limping, her swords nearly dragging against the ground as she slowly moved closer to the group.
“Adalene!” Luke shouted, running up to her with Skylar in hand. “What…what happened?”
“Lydia,” Adalene spat out, a drop of blood running down her nose which she quickly wiped away. “She’s planning…to burn down ze whole town…”
“What?” came Alice’s whisper, “Why…why would she do that?”
“She vants to send a message,” Adalene continued, standing a little straighter, “She vants ze soldiers to know zat zey are revolting.”
“What about you?” Peter asked, looking over at the blood on her chin, Adalene’s skin paler than usual.
“I’ll be fine,” she quickly answered, avoiding Peter’s eyes, “Lydia vas not ze one to injure me.”
He thought to elaborate on that statement but was cut short when the sound of shouting came from a street over. Dueglesteinish soldiers were being overtaken by the Rising Sun, running for their lives.
The distraction kept Peter’s and the others’ attention on the road, giving a figure the chance to pull Peter away from the others, a knife lifted to his throat.
An image flashed in Peter’s mind, the memory of One-Eyed Oliver holding him at knife-point months ago, forcing Alice to give up.
He also thought back to when Adalene had held him in a similar position, an encounter he would never forget.
But it was neither Oliver nor Adalene who held him hostage this time, but Lydia.
“How’s it going, kids?” Although Peter couldn’t see her face, he could tell from her voice that she was smiling.
Luke and Skylar drew their weapons and Adalene struggled to hold one of her swords above the ground, all of them preparing for a fight.
“Wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Lydia continued, and Peter felt the blade dig into the skin of his throat. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t speak, all he could do was stand there while a madwoman who was currently burning down an entire town to prove a point was holding a knife to his throat.
Luke and the others reluctantly laid down their weapons, glares thrown in Lydia’s direction.
“That’s better, now isn’t it?” her chuckle rang through the streets, sounding haunting over the sound of the burning flames and screams from townspeople and soldiers alike.
Nobody said a word, only kept staring at Lydia and Peter.
“Ugh, you guys are no fun,” she muttered, then whistled for her followers to emerge from the shadows, holding their variety of weapons while mad expressions filled their faces.
Thomas even appeared, pushing Helen and Richard towards the others. It was like the group was encircling the Six, pushing the children closer and closer together as the Rising Sun approached them.
“Our numbers are great,” Lydia shouted through the madness, her voice a crazed strain in Peter’s ear, “And we will prevail in the war against the government.”
“Which is why I’m giving you, the prophesized children,” she continued, “A chance to join us. There is a reason you are here, and I believe it may be to help us."
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