Chapter 5

Short chapter!

Molento flew to the castle, trying to think ahead; plan his next move, but he kept coming back to Eliena.

“Stop it,” his military mind said, “she’s a civilian. She has no place in war.”

“But she’s a friend,” his teenager mind said, “we can’t leave friends behind. Besides, she wanted to come.”

“It was the best decision,” said his reasonable mind, “She would have slowed us down.”

“But it was nice to have a friend,” said his emotional mind.

“Vien’s a friend,” his military mind retorted.

“And he won’t slow us down,” his reasonable mind backed up.

“But she wanted to come,” his teenager mind.

“And she was nice to us,” his emotional mind.

Molento was so distracted that he accidentally flew into a tree.

“Ow,” he said as he fell to the ground, still having an internal argument. He picked himself off the ground and looked around. He was on the far side of the field containing the castle, in full view of the entire Army. Embarrassed, he walked over to Vien, who had an eyebrow raised, and ended his internal argument.

“Sorry,” he said, “I was a bit… distracted.”

“Obviously,” Vien said, “I see that Eliena isn’t with you, did she change her mind?”

“No, as I predicted, her father refused to allow her to come.”

“I guess so,” Vien said, turning to the Army, “Let’s go!”

They all picked up their packs and walked over to the edge of the ruins, disappearing into the ground through an unseen entrance.

Molento, meanwhile, turned to face the valley once more. “It was nice knowing you Eliena,” he said to the valley, “keep safe.”

He turned around and entered the passage, closing it as he went down.

***

Eliena flew up the cliff and landed on the top. Looking around, she realized that the ruins were deserted.

“I’m too late,” she thought, “They’re already gone, and I’ll never find the passage.”

“The Nekon capitol,” a small voice inside her said, “they said it came out near the Nekon capitol. The mountain pass isn’t too far away, only about a hundred miles, then it’s a straight shot there. Maybe they’ll visit the capitol. I have a week.”

Decided, she flew away, heading towards the large mountains on the horizon.

***

Back in the farmhouse, David had grabbed his favorite weapons: A shortsword, a dagger, and about thirty throwing knives. He went downstairs and packed up some food. He walked outside and saddled the plow horse, which was really a warhorse equally suited to plowing and riding. Swinging up onto the saddle, he took off at a gallop, heading towards the mountain pass. From there, he would turn north into human territory and find his old assassin clan.

“I’m coming for you,” he thought, “when I find you, you had better be ready to die.”

***

“Here, I got you a pack,” Vien said, handing Molento a rucksack, “we managed to scrounge enough food for the trip, and I found some of your stuff in the wreckage. It’s not much, but it’ll do.”

Molento took the pack. “Thanks,” he said, shouldering it, “we better get moving.”

“Right. Let’s go!”

Everyone started at a slow jog they could keep up for an entire day, but Molento chafed at the pace; he wanted to run- bury himself in motion.

“How are we going to camp here,” he asked Vien, “Where will we sleep?”

“Every so often there’s a large room off of here, designed for travelers to sleep.”

“Right, I’ll meet you at the next one.”

Molento took off at a dead run and soon passed everyone. Continuing down, he ran at a speed he could keep up for a few hours with the load he was carrying.

Vien cursed. “Wait,” he called after Molento, “don’t go off on your own!”

Molento heard, but he didn’t respond, focusing instead on running.

“You better be there,” Vien yelled at Molento.

As Molento ran, he thought about the past few days, as well s his past, which was still frustratingly dim. He knew that what Vien had told him had happened, but he couldn’t remember the details. He remembered spending years at the Nekon capitol, so one of his parents must live there. Beyond that, he knew nothing more of his past.

The internal argument started back up as he thought of the past few days and Molento spent hours completely distracted, not noticing as he passed the first room. He finally stopped aster six hours of running, at what he thought was the first room but was really the third. He lay down on the floor and went to sleep. Getting up a few hours later, he ate some food and continued on, this time at a slower pace. In this manner, he passed the next four days, Vien and the Army completely out of his mind.

When he reached the end of the tunnel, Molento was surprised. “Is that all,” Molento thought, “That wasn’t a week, was it? Vien said…” Molento cursed, “I forgot about them!

“Well, no use going back, I’ll just continue on to the capitol and find out more about my past.”

Molento stooped down and picked up a rock from the ground. Using the rock, he wrote a short message on the wall, next to a ladder that lead up to a trapdoor.

“I’m going to the Nekon capitol,” he wrote, “meet up with me outside of the capitol when you can. Molento.”

Hoping that they would notice the message, he climbed up the ladder. At the top, he pushed the trapdoor open, peering cautiously around him. He determined that no one was around and pulled himself out and closed the trapdoor. He assessed his surroundings more thoroughly and discovered that he was in what appeared to be an abandoned, run down shack. Apart from the wind whistling through the holes in the roof, the shack was silent.

Molento walked over to the door and pushed on it. The door promptly fell over, its hinges long since rusted away. Molento stepped outside cautiously and looked around. Rolling hills surrounded the shack, obscuring anything around.

Not seeing anyone, Molento climbed to the top of the nearest hill. Off in the distance, just barely visible, were the large mountains of the range visible from the valley. Turning around, Molento saw nothing but hills in two directions, but in the other two directions, he could make out a large plain on the horizon.

Molento turned back to the mountains, searching their bases. Finally, he spotted what he was searching for. On the shores of a lake sitting at the base of a distant mountain sat a large walled city with another, inner wall surrounding a large building.

“That must be the castle,” Molento thought, “looks to be a day’s run away. Better get started.”

Molento sprinted down the hill and continued on his way.

***

Vien cursed. Molento wasn’t waiting for them in this chamber either, just like he hadn’t been in any of the chambers they had passed in the last four days.

“That idiot,” he ranted, “what possessed him to go off on his own? Knowing his speed he’s already out of the tunnel. He’ll get captured or lost!” He cursed again, “Let’s go,” he yelled at the Army and the sound of footsteps filled the tunnel once more.

***

Eliena was having a bad day in a worse week.

First, she hadn’t thought to bring any food, so she had to catch and kill her own food and start her cooking fires with magic. The first time she did this, she was so afraid of her magic that the fox she had caught, but hadn’t worked up the courage to kill yet, escaped and she went hungry that day. The next day, she was caught in a squall in the mountain pass, drenching her clothes and causing her to be uncomfortable for the next day and a half. Finally, when the Nekon capitol was visible on the horizon, about a day’s flight away, she was caught by slavers. Now, being forced to walk chained to other prisoners, mostly Avins but with a few humans.

The only small glimmer of hope was that they were heading to the capitol, albeit at a slower pace.

“Please be there,” she thought, pleading, “Molento, please be there to help me.”