Chapter 38: It’s a Hot One Today

"Will you shut up already?" asks Ember.

"You shut up,” quacks Delta. “If we run into Ace, he's mine. You two better back off."

Faith does her best to minimize her presence with her head hanging low as she listens quietly to Ember and Delta bickering back and forth.

Ember tries to reason with Delta, who’s getting on her nerves increasingly by the minute, "Scar might've agreed to that, but I don't. We need to be wary if we see Ace. Because, let's be honest, everybody saw those flames. You won't be able to take him one-on-one in a fight with those powers of his. You're basically asking him to kill you."

"Strength doesn't trump the element of surprise if executed right. You didn't see him the other day after he killed Grace. He's an emotional wreck. His entire psyche was thrown off by his guilt or whatever. It doesn't matter how strong he is if he doesn't have the will to fight."

"Back up, think logically. Ace won't have trouble killing any of us if he feels the need to. The same goes for that Crow guy. Think first, act second. Do you understand Delta?"

Delta arrogantly scoffs. An unannounced standoff between Delta and Ember has been going since they left camp earlier. Refusing to look at one another, their eyes remained glued to the path ahead. And although not acknowledged aloud, this childish duel of theirs has turned into a battle of pride.

"And who exactly is going to stop me if I decide to ignore you? Think first… act second… only a coward thinks like that. And you want to know the thing about cowards? They never last long."

Ember shoves Delta's shoulder, turning her body to face her. The two meet eye-to-eye for the first time today while Faith stops and watches in silence.

"Do anything stupid, and I'll kill you myself. I don't plan on carrying around dead weight all day," says Ember.

Delta's smirk grows as her lips crawl up her cheeks in satisfaction. Impatiently waiting to hear Delta's response, Ember’s gaze narrows. Face to face, they are bound in a deadlock for maybe a minute before Delta breaks the silence.

"You have any idea who you're talking to? I'm the one who gets the final say here."

"If you want to run off for the sake of your pursuit of revenge, I'm all for it. I hate babysitting those who have no common sense, so go ahead. I won't stop you."

"As if you would stop me anyway. If you're looking for a show today, I'll make sure to provide some quality entertainment. Personally, I can't wait to see that son of a bitch cry for mercy until I put the final nail in his coffin. What about you? Don't you wish to see him suffer the fate he deserves?"

The backside of a forearm is then pushed against Ember’s chest as Faith separates the two, "That's enough. We need to stay focused. Don't forget our mission; you can deal with your personal issues later. And must I remind you that we are also risking our lives out here? So pay attention. Ace isn't the only one we have to keep an eye out for."

Nodding in agreement, Ember resumes walking, "Faith's right, let's keep moving."

Quickly catching up to Ember, Faith walks at her side as Ember says to the scowling Delta, "Don't fall behind."

Delta grits her teeth before catching up, "Like I would fall behind the likes of you two…!"

The three begin trekking up a path, gradually getting steeper and steeper as a mountain range comes into view just ahead.

***

"I don't get it," says Falcon as he tilts his head.

His arms crossed, Forest studies the markings with a perplexed expression. Hunter stands to his right, holding the torch with a blank stare, while Falcon remains to Forest’s left.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The three examine the four trees, all parallel to one another. Markings are etched into each trunk.

First Tree Second Tree Third Tree Fourth Tree

—•—• •— •••— •

—• •• —• •

•— —• •— —•—• •

—•• — — — •— — —•

••—• — — — ••— •—•

•— —• •— —•—• •

•—•• • ••—• —

•— —• ••— ••• ••••

Hunter nudges Forest, pointing to the trees and asking, "You got any ideas on what this could mean?"

Dropping his backpack on the ground, Forest sits and begins to sift through it, looking for something.

Confused, Hunter asks, "Did you figure something out?"

"No, but maybe he can."

"Maybe who can?" asks Falcon.

Forest takes out a pen and opens up the notebook that Falcon handed him earlier. Placing both items on the ground beside him, Forest zips up the backpack.

"Code. He might know something about this," says Forest as he sets the backpack off to the side and turns the notebook to a fresh page. "We should get this down and bring it back to camp. We can work through it there."

"Good idea. I'll leave this to you two to get started, I gotta go take a leak. Be back in a minute," says Hunter.

"Alright, don't go too far," says Forest as he begins to copy down the markings into the notebook.

Hunter hands the torch he was carrying over to Falcon before walking off. Falcon says, "And I'm gonna head over to the cave for some shade and have some food. Call me over if you find out anything."

Sweat begins to bead on Forest’s forehead, "Will do."

Falcon puts an arm up to shield the sun from his eyes as he walks over to the cave, thinking.

It's a hot one today, that's for sure.

As he stepped onto the cool, concrete cave ground, he felt the temperature almost immediately drop. Walking out of the shade, Falcon stays close to the cave wall as he travels further into the cave. Once he finds a comfortable spot, he drops his stuff beside him, plops onto the ground, and sits back against the wall.

He then carefully leans the torch against the wall, finding a crutch between its texture so the torch wouldn't fall over. Once satisfied, Falcon gets comfortable and stares at the ceiling.

This is much better…

The sizzling flame from the torch rings into his ears as Falcon slowly lowers his gaze and sees something on the dim wall across from him. Squinting, he can’t determine what it says, so he stands up and grabs the torch handle. Taking a few steps across the dark, the torch illuminates everything around him.

I almost forgot that torches have more purposes than just being used to make signal fires…

Treading forward, the smooth cave wall becomes more and more visible.

"What in the world…"

Slowly taking a few steps closer, a mix of excitement and puzzlement sparked within Falcon.

"Forest, I think you should come see this…!"

Hearing Falcon’s call, Forest sighs and clicks the pen. Closing the notebook on his finger to bookmark the page he was writing on, Forest says, "I was almost done, Falc! This better be worth it!"

Falcon gestures for Forest to hurry, and Forest jogs over.

"Right here, check this out,” says Falcon as Forest arrives.

After examining what was written on the wall, Forest grinned and put a hand on Falcon’s shoulder.

"Falc, you bloody genius."

The two stand before the cave wall, baffled at the markings etched in.

A •— N —•

B —••• O — — —

C —•—• P •— —•

D —•• Q — — • —

E • R •—•

F ••—• S •••

G — — • T —

H •••• U ••—

I •• V •••—

J •— — — W •— —

K —•— X —••—

L •—•• Y —•— —

M — — Z — — ••