TWENTY-SEVEN - Atherton

Draven and the others arrive at Xantom.

“We’re close now,” Hadrian said.  The ground beneath Atherton’s feet was familiar.  It had only been a day and a half since he had last been here.  The hazardous spikes protruded from the ground, reminding Atherton of his Exile and the walk he had made into the unknown two days earlier.  Don’t fall over.  You’ll be impaled… or worse, they’ll think you’re a fool.

“Why are these even here?”  Atherton asked, exasperated.

“They’re here for protection,” Draven said.  “There used to be a lot more Bareland Beasts than there are now.  Any that tried to make their way through the field would be trapped and become the next feast for Xantom.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Atherton said.  “Why doesn’t anyone talk about the field?  I never heard about it until I met all of you.”

“People stay inside the fence, in the City or in the Outskirts.  And the Beasts learned to stay away.  Things are forgotten easily when they aren’t used.  I’m sure there are other secrets about Xantom that you don’t know, either.”

“So why do you know all of it?”

“I told you, I used to be a member of the King’s Guard.  You learn things.  The Healers keep records, and anything of any importance is taught to each member of the Guard.  I made sure to remember each and every detail.  You never know when something is going to become useful to you again.”

“You mean like right now, trying to sneak into Xantom again.”

“Exactly like right now.”

They walked slowly through the Field, holding out their torches to light the ground in front of them and illuminate any obstacles they might come across.

The more time I spend with Draven, the dumber I feel.  There’s still so much I don’t know about this city and the Dome that protects us.  He makes it seem like common knowledge.  But I know how to get into the city, and he doesn’t.  So at least there’s that.

“You could even say the Field is protecting the city from us,” Wulfric said.

“Except we’re walking right through it.  Some protection,” Quintessa said.

“We aren’t moving very fast though, are we?  Buys them all another hour or so.”  Wulfric laughed at that, although no one else did.  Dragomir rolled his eyes and placed his hand on Wulfric’s shoulder.  Wulfric turned to look into his eyes.  Dragomir smiled and shook his head.

“Oh, what do you know?” Wulfric said, shaking Dragomir’s hand off his shoulder.

Dragomir just smiled.  Wulfric wouldn’t meet his gaze, choosing instead to look at the ground, fuming.  Dragomir took Wulfric’s head in his hands and kissed him, hard.  When he pulled away, Wulfric was smiling.

Meridian, who had been in front of the two, ran to catch up with Atherton.  “It’s nice, isn’t it?” she asked.

“What is?”

“Seeing someone happy.  You don’t really get to see a lot of happy couples.  It’s basically just the two of them, and then Hadrian and Ecclesia.  Gets old.”

She’s never going to let this go, is she?  “Yeah.  They go well together.”

“Did you see a lot of happy people when you were living in the Outskirts?”

He tried to think of a single happy person he ever saw while living in the Outskirts.  The only one was Esmarine, and that was because she didn’t have to live there.  “No,” he said.  “I didn’t know anyone who was happy.  My parents weren’t happy, when they were alive.  When my mom died, it only got worse.  It was like my father didn’t care about us at all.  Sometimes I think he died on purpose, just to get away from us.”

“He might have,” Meridian said plainly.

“You’re not exactly good at comforting people, you know that?”

“Oh, I’m sorry.  Is that what you wanted?  You poor baby!  You’re the only person in the world who ever lost their parents!  How did you ever manage to deal with all that pain all on your own?”  Atherton felt anger building inside him.  “Deal with it.  We’ve all lost people.  There isn’t a person alive who hasn’t dealt with the exact pain you’re going through, so don’t expect any extra sympathy.”

“That’s not what I meant.  I just�"”

“Especially not from me, okay?  Go talk to Hadrian.  He’ll probably listen and comfort you and pretend like you’ve been through the worst thing imaginable.”

“I don’t want that.”

“Then don’t jump on me when I don’t comfort you.  Otherwise, keep your sad stories to yourself.  We don’t need to dwell on those things.  We should just focus on whatever happiness we can find, and hold onto it as long as we can.”

“You’re right,” Atherton said.

“I know I’m right.”

I don’t know how much longer I can handle her.  She’s so smug.  She acts like she’s this wise person who’s been through it all, but she’s no older than I am.  She doesn’t know anything more about this world than I do.  If anything, her life has been a lot easier than mine because she was raised where food was readily available and people were�"

She kissed him.  It was fast, and soft, and kind of wet, and really warm… what was I thinking?

“Don’t get yourself killed inside the city,” she said.  “We’ll be waiting for you.” She turned and walked away.  Atherton’s head was spinning, and he tried to watch her go and make sure that nobody else saw.  Finally his eyes came to rest on Draven, standing only a few feet away with a smile on his face.

“You ready to lead the way inside?” he asked.

He felt his face get hot.  “What?  It’s not… I didn’t…” but he couldn’t seem to formulate complete thoughts.  Just kiss… city… father…

Draven and Hadrian burst out laughing.  Atherton turned away from them as quickly as he could, unsure how to react.  “I’m ready,” he mustered at last.  “Inside.  We go.  The city.  Inside the city.  Follow me.”  And he set out into the darkness in front of them, wanting nothing more than to disappear.

Draven and Hadrian laughed even louder than before.  “Something wrong with you tongue, there?” Hadrian asked.

They all saw.  They saw her kiss me.  This day couldn’t possibly get any worse.

“Whoa, wait up!” Draven called after him.  “I’ve never seen you move so fast!”

He, Hadrian, and Ecclesia had caught up with him.  “You a little embarrassed about what happened back there?” Hadrian asked.  “It’s okay to admit it.”

“Happened?  I don’t… Nothing even could have�"”

“Did you kiss my daughter?” Draven asked.  He asked me flat out!  How am I supposed to answer him?!  “I just want to know, in case… you know… I’m going to have to deal with a grandson now or something.  I’d just like a heads up.”

Atherton’s mouth opened in shock.  “No!  I would never!  I mean… Not to say… I just mean that I didn’t… I don’t want to…” there was no right answer.  He’s going to kill me.  And then we won’t get into Xantom.  And I didn’t even do anything!

That had been his first kiss.  His first kiss ever.  And he hadn’t even known it was coming.  If I’d known, maybe I would have… what would I have done?  What could I have done?

“Oh, leave him alone, you two,” Ecclesia said.  “He’s got a lot on his mind.”

“I think right now he probably only has one thing on his mind,” Hadrian said slyly.

Ecclesia shoved him.  He laughed as he toppled over into the dirt.  He got up and brushed himself off.  “You’re lucky I was already laughing,” Hadrian said.  “In a fair fight you wouldn’t even be able to get me to move.”

“You wanna bet?”

“You.  Me.  Tonight.  Back at the caves.  We’ll see who moves who.”

“Those are bold words for a dead man,” Ecclesia said with a smile.

“That’s enough,” Draven said.  “We’ve tortured the boy enough without him having to hear about what the two of you do in the privacy of our crowded caves.”

In truth, hearing about Hadrian and Ecclesia’s private life had very briefly taken Atherton’s mind off the task at hand, and the fact that he had just had his first kiss ever.  Which was also distracting him from the fact that he was about to break back into the city he had been exiled from only two days prior, where the King had given him the choice between that or death.

His thoughts shifted to what he might find inside the castle.  Maybe he’ll let me see Saxon and Sephora before he kills me.  I’m sure he’d let me have just that one thing, even if he isn’t willing to listen to what we have to tell him.

Then�"Esmarine.  His stomach tied itself in a knot.  He might see Esmarine.  He had thought for sure that he would never see her again.  He could ask her what she had said to him before he had been exiled.  He could…

No.  I can’t.  Not after what Meridian did.  How could I?  What would she think?  Stop, don’t be stupid… she won’t think anything.  Even if she finds out, she never had any feelings for me or we would have kissed a long time ago.  Right?

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he hardly noticed the fence surrounding the Outskirts that he very nearly walked into.  A hand on his shoulder was the only thing that stopped him.

“Careful there,” Hadrian said.  “Try to stay focused.  We need you conscious for the mission.”

“You’re right,” he said.  He shook off everything that was happening and gathered himself.  “Follow me.”  They followed the fence around to where Atherton’s old tent had been.  Now it was gone.  The others must have already salvaged it.  They work fast out here.  All of his supplies were gone, the meat he had stolen, the wools and the firewood…  He had only been gone for a day and a half, and everything he ever owned had disappeared.

All the work I put into gathering those things for my family, and I don’t even care that it’s gone.  “This is where I used to live,” he said.  “It’s all gone now.”  He hopped the fence and the others followed suit.

“There’s no time to get emotional,” Draven warned.  “Luckily you lived far enough away from everyone else that nobody could have seen us jump the fence.”

“I’m not emotional,” Atherton said.  And it was true.

“The life of seclusion, eh?” Hadrian asked.

“If anyone knew how I was getting into the city…”

“They would have wanted in on it,” Draven said.  “I understand.”  They paused for only a second.  Then Draven regained control.  “Lead the way.”

And they were off, following the length of the wall, back towards the Dome itself.  They only carried one torch amongst the four of them.  It shouldn’t be making Atherton nervous, he always carried a torch during his trips to the break in the wall.  But for some reason it felt different this time.

I never knew how many guards were up there.  Not many, surely, or they would have seen me a long time ago.  Luckily they only patrol the front of the wall, near the front gate, but now there are four of us and the noise alone might alert them.  He made sure to walk with extra caution.

It seemed his fears were unfounded.  They made it all the way to the break and no guards had sounded the alarm.  There was no sign that they had been seen or heard by anyone.  Before them, the gap stood open, daring them to enter the city.

“This is it,” Atherton whispered.

“It’s beautiful,” Draven said.  “You’re sure nobody knows this is here?”

“No one but me and my friend Esmarine.  We’re the only people who ever used it, and she only used it so that she could follow me home every morning.”

“Would she have told anyone about it after you were exiled?”

“I don’t know why she would have.”

“Someone must have wondered how you were getting into the city.”

“They wouldn’t have thought to question her.  Nobody knows that she knew me.  If anything, they blamed the guard at the gate.”  He felt a sudden twinge of guilt, wondering what might have happened to him.  You can’t concern yourself with that.

Draven looked concerned, but finally seemed to decide that there was nothing to worry about.  “You’re right.  Lead the way.  Then we’ll head for the castle and we can find Xanthus.”

Atherton climbed through the break in the wall and into the familiar alley that he had found himself in every morning since his mother died.  Draven, Ecclesia, and Hadrian followed slowly and quietly behind him.  They walked carefully down the alleyway and around the large, vacant stone building that blocked the view of the break from anyone inside the city.

Atherton stepped out onto the street.  The castle loomed ahead.  He turned around to wave the others out.  Their mission was almost complete.

Just before he took a step onto the stairs leading up into the castle, someone grabbed him from behind and put their hand over his mouth.