Helen watched in wonder as the girl woke up, her eyes fluttering open as they all began to glow. They floated a foot above the ground, their bodies each in turn glowing a bluish hue.
They glowed brighter and brighter, so much so that Helen felt she herself would go blind, never to see again.
Some of the soldiers shouted, covering their eyes as the children continued to glow, and their bodies floated a little higher off the ground.
Then, as abruptly as it started, it stopped.
The glowing faded and the children fell to the ground.
"YOU!" Helen heard Boromir, the Dueglestein general yell, as he stormed over to where the children were sitting.
Helen immediately shrunk back, quick flashes of memory coming to her mind.
She saw herself hiding under a fallen tree as she heard the horses galloping past.
She saw Boromir's face smile as he saw Helen sitting there, terrified in the darkness.
She saw him grabbing her wrist, pulling her out of the darkness as he dragged her to the horses.
And she saw herself struggling, trying to fight against him. He had pulled out a knife, blinded by rage as he sliced at her side, and she fell to the ground as a pool of blood flowed on the ground.
They had healed her, but she never struggled against Boromir or the other Dueglesteiners again. Now she sat here, terrified of who might be the victim of Boromir's rage again.
He wasn't mad at Helen, but instead, the girl who had woken up. She looked startled and dazed, but her face became clouded by fear as Boromir's towering figure loomed over her.
"I-" she started but was cut off as Boromir grabbed her throat and began to lift her up. Helen gasped, fearing for the girl.
"No!" Helen heard Luke shout, trying to get up to help her, but Boromir simply kicked Luke away.
"You are the cause for all of this, aren't you?" Boromir practically spat in the girl's face, which was becoming pinker by the second. "Aren't you?!" He demanded.
"I...I didn't-" she gasped for air, which Boromir seemed unwilling to give.
"You will see what happens to those who cross me, little girl," Boromir muttered, and Helen gasped again as she saw him unsheathe his knife, the same one he had used to cut Helen the day before.
Helen watched in horror as Boromir plunged the knife deep into the girl's abdomen, her face contorting in pain and shock. Boromir leaned close to the girl's ear, whispering something to her that Helen couldn't hear.
Then Boromir pulled the knife out of the girl's abdomen, and released her as she fell to the ground.
Helen squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see the blood. She couldn't face the horror of seeing someone injured again. She couldn't face the sight of seeing someone dead again. No, she couldn't. She wouldn't.
"W-what?" Helen heard the girl asked.
Helen watched in shock as the girl's abdomen, which had been covered in blood, slowly began to glow, as if the tissue itself was stitching itself back together. The blood disappeared, and the skin became clear, except for a single scar, an impression of the knife which Boromir had used to stab her. Then, her shirt even stitched itself together.
"You, Boromir, are an imbecile." Helen heard a different voice mutter.
Everyone looked up, and saw a looming man, one who was tall and strong, dressed in a more formal uniform than Boromir's. His eyes showed no light, no flicker of emotion in them, as he looked at Boromir, then the girl, then the rest of the children.
As his eyes looked into Helen's a chill ran down her spine. Something about this man, something was...different. He seemed calmer than Boromir's usual rage-filled attacks, yet even more dangerous than Boromir.
Helen glanced at Boromir, whose face had gone a pale shade of white. "What did you do this time, Boromir?"
Helen saw Boromir gulp, his whole neck moving with the size of the gulp. He quickly got to his knees, kneeling before the man. "I-I...f-my lord..." Boromir stuttered, and Helen watched with horror as she realized how afraid Boromir was of this man.
"Boromir, what did I specifically tell you not to do?" the man, whose voice had been calm and controlled until this point, accentuated the last three words. And as he accentuated those words, Boromir flinched at the tone in his voice.
"D-don't start the pr-prophecy, L-lord Achilles."
"And what did you do, Boromir?"
Boromir didn't answer, instead he stared at the feet of this man, his whole body shaking in fear.
"I-I..." Boromir started, but Achilles cut him off.
"Exactly," Achilles said sharply, looking down on Boromir, "You brought the chosen ones here, the very 6 who will destroy what we are planning! The biggest thing Iddenu has seen in thousands of years! You have failed me Boromir, but it won't be for the last time. But this time, you need to learn what happens when you fail me. I know that playing general has made you power hungry, but you have to learn one thing."
"May I ask, w-what is that, m-my lord?" Boromir lifted his head for a moment, staring into the eyes of the lord.
"Discipline."
Boromir lowered his head again, lower than the first time he did. He gulped again, fiddling with his hands nervously.
"Meet me down the hill, Boromir. Now." As Achilles said "now", Boromir flinched again.
Achilles swiftly left, turning on his heel, his cape flowing behind him and hitting Boromir in the face.
Boromir turned to the children, glaring at each of them in turn, then gulped and followed Lord Achilles.
After Boromir left, Helen looked over at the girl. "Are you okay?"
"I'm alright," she answered. There were dark lines in the shape of Boromir's fingerprints on her throat, and her face still looked pink.
"What's your name?"
"Skylar," she said, but she had a weird look as if she was concentrating. Her arms worked behind her back and she was free in seconds. Then she sawed at the ropes on her ankles.
Skylar stood and looked at the others, unsure of what to do. Then she sighed and said, "Well, I guess if we're the chosen ones, then I guess we need to stick together."
"Besides," Skylar continued as she moved over to the others, "I can't just leave you guys here with those Dueglestein scum." Skylar began to free them from their bonds, and the children rubbed their sore wrists and ankles as the ropes were cut.
"Thank you," Helen said as Skylar cut the ropes on her wrists. She rubbed her wrists self-consciously, staring at the angry red marks from the rope rubbing against her skin. And they were tender to the touch.
"How long have you been tied up?" Skylar stared at the bruises in concern.
Helen shrugged. "Alice and I have probably been here for a day.
Skylar's concerned gaze turned to Helen's skinny and malnourished body. Helen knew that her ribs were visible, and her limbs looked like nothing more than skin and bone.
"Did they feed you?" Skylar's yellow eyes looked into Helen's with an almost motherly concern, searching into Helen's eyes for good news.
"Nothing more than a few stale bread crusts and water," Helen said with a small smile, "Nothing more than I'm already used to."
Skylar's expression turned from concern to loathing as she clenched her left fist, which was free from the knife, and muttered, "Those disgusting Dueglestein rats, they don't care about anyone but themselves."
Then she calmed her expression and cut Luke loose.
"We have to get out of here," Luke stated as he stood. "I've got to get my sword back."
"Well, they obviously didn't search you guys very well since Skylar's got a knife," Peter pointed out, "How good could they be at hiding weapons?"
...
Not very good. Luke knew where the Dueglesteiners had put their weapons on his way into the camp, and they had retrieved the weapons quickly.
As soon as they were a good distance from the camp, however, the rich boy, Richard, stopped.
"Well, I've had enough questing for tonight," it was starting to get even darker above the leaves in the trees, "If you don't mind, I'll be heading back now."
"No!" Helen protested. "You can't go now, we're part of a prophecy!" she gripped his arm.
Richard wrinkled his nose. "Let go of me, girl, I'm going and you can't change my mind!" he turned on his heel and disappeared into the darkness.
"Come on, Helen," Peter chided Helen as Luke and Skylar began to lead the group away from where Richard had gone, "If he doesn't want to come, he doesn't have to."
But Helen decided that it was not safe for him to go on his own. Confused, Helen followed Richard into the darkness...
ns 15.158.61.51da2
