CHAPTER TWENTY TWO: UNEXPECTED DISCOVERIES

The cold rain started to find gaps, forcing Calin to draw the cloak tight around his body. All the while he scrambled from tree to tree after Tyas.

It was nothing but frustrating to find himself in another dangerous situation. Yet he was scared enough of being left behind in that creepy forest, that he stumbled along. What was worse, the sword at his hip didn’t make him feel any better of sneaking into a fort full of men who didn’t have his best interest at heart.

To read about sword fights and to actually stand the chance to face one was a vastly different picture all of a sudden.

The fort laid just over a hundred meters away, Calin glanced up and the guard on the closest tower was headed to their side, they would be spotted for sure. With a swift jump he sent himself forward and grabbed Tyas’ arm dragging him behind a tree. He quickly signalled for the man to stand still. Tyas tried to look around the tree but Calin whispered, “No! The guard will see you. Just give it a minute, will you?”

Nothing crossed over the hard expression of the amber eyed man to give Calin any inkling to what he was planning, but it could wait. They crouched low and after a minute Calin glanced around the corner. The guard was still there.

The wet bark of the thick tree scraped against his body, while he waited in anxiety for the guard to move away. Soon he couldn’t help himself any longer and risked a look again; relieved to see the guard moving to the other side. Without hesitation, Calin hissed at Tyas, “Run for the fort!”

They both shot from the cover and ran as fast as their legs would carry them towards the wooden palisades. Their frantic scramble ate away at the distance, but even under the cover of the rain the watchman was bound to turn around any minute and spot them. But he needn’t have worried about Tyas as he was substantially quicker than him. Faster, need to go faster. He gritted his teeth and just focused on the sprint through the rain, hoping to stay hidden.

Just as he was about to hit the palisade, the guard turned again, but Calin’s luck held for the moment as he lunged forward, unseen as he struck the hard wood of the palisade with a soft thud.

Tyas was breathing heavily next to him and with some basic hand signals the man queried if they should continue. Calin started to say something, but his laboured breathing wasn’t allowing any words to come out. He took a moment to catch his own breath and nodded that they should set off again along the edge of the wooden wall. Silently Calin followed Tyas as they headed for the part of the wooden wall that was closest to the house they wanted to reach.

It took only a couple of minutes before the house came into view through one of the small gaps in the palisade. The man stopped and wiped his face of the excessive rain from the run. Calin followed suit and waited for the plan. No more than a second later, Tyas whispered, “Good, now see if you can find a place where we can squeeze through, I’ll check to the right and you check the left okay?”

Calin agreed and he set off to the left. There were numerous gaps in the palisade, but they all seemed too small, gap after gap he was met by disappointment.

He was about to give up when he found two of the wooden stilts that had not been aligned properly closer to a corner. After some slight hesitation he started to slip in and was halfway through when he became stuck.

Panic consumed him as he tried to get free. A few seconds later there were armoured footsteps thudding around the corner, over the cobblestoned pathway that led through the small village. He franticly struggled with all his might, but he wasn’t budging. He couldn’t fathom why he would get stuck in such a reasonably sized gap. He had always been the small one. Yet here he was now stuck and about to be found. The heavy footsteps sounded closer by the second, there was only seconds left to get out, but he couldn’t.

A sudden shove from behind sent him tumbling through the gap and he wasted no time in scrambling to the closest building to hide. His heart was beating with fury as he fell against the wall of the house, more than just reaching it.

Tyas was there at the gap peeking at him, signalling if he was okay. Calin waved that he was, but he let his hand fall to his chest hoping to calm his own heart before he glanced around the corner. Two guards walked past the gaps between the two houses, before moving away. There was no doubt he would have been seen had Tyas not shown up. He moved his head behind the cover again, careful not to alert them to his presence.

A sigh slipped out and he motioned for Tyas to come through. The slender, but relatively tall man easily slid through the gap and Calin wanted to scoff at it. But he just smiled sarcastically as Tyas snuck in the rain to where he was hiding. As the man slid in next to him under the slight overhang of the straw roof, Calin said, “Thanks for the shove.”

“You’re welcome, I couldn’t find a gap.”

“So, where to next?” Calin asked, still having a hard time to calm his nerves.

The man didn’t answer him, but motioned for Calin to follow. He set off after the man as they slowly snuck around the stone house. They reached the corner that turned into the open courtyard. Tyas peeked around the edge, before he instantly jerked back. It was clear why, as a loud commotion erupted all of a sudden. There was a series of grunts, and Calin leaned over to listen to hear what was going on and immediately recognized a voice as one of the men from the forest as the guard shouted. “The human girl is trying to escape, after her!”

Hard footsteps echoed from around the corner, the guards were running after whoever tried to escape. Calin’s curiosity was peaked, but Tyas quickly whispered, “Hurry! Now’s our chance to get to my house.”

He sprung after Tyas as they sprinted for the next house. As he ran he risked a glance to his left and for a moment could make out a girl with dark red hair running away from pursuing guards, but then he fell in next to Tyas behind the stone house. It was the house they had marked from the hill top, there was no doubt.

“Who was that?” wheezed Calin as he tried to catch his breath. It was tempting to find out, but Tyas grabbed his arm and said, “I don’t know, but we don’t have time for distractions, come.”

With a reluctant nod, Calin started after Tyas who was looking for something along the wall of the stone house. Sneaking around in a fort full of armed men quickly made him restless and he asked in a low voice. “What are we looking for Tyas?”

The man only briefly glanced back at him. “I’m not entirely certain,” Tyas answered distractedly, already continuing the search. “My mom told me to look for a stone with markings on it.”

“What kind of markings?” Calin asked while rubbing his shivering arms to get some warmth after the rain had bypassed the protection from the cloak through the run.

The man coughed before he said, “I don’t know.”

Shocked, Calin grabbed Tyas and hissed at him. “You drag me into a fort full of armed men and you don’t even know exactly what we are looking for?! We should leave. Now! I don’t want to get caught.”

“I might not have listened too well what exactly the thing looked like,” Tyas admitted in frustration. “But I do know somewhat where to look.” Then in a more subdued way the man said, “I’m sorry, but trust me okay?”

Calin glared at Tyas and reluctantly agreed. We have come this far. He let go of Tyas’ cloak and whispered, “Fine, but if we don’t find it in the next five minutes we are getting out of here.”

The man nodded and they set off again. Calin tried searching for anything that was weird as they made their way alongside the wet wall. He needn’t have worried as Tyas almost immediately exclaimed, “I found—” Tyas cringed at his own loud outburst and more quietly said, “Sorry... here, I found something.”

Stalking closer, Calin made out a stone close to the bottom that had three spheres on it. The rain had washed away some of the dirt that had started to obscure it. But it was still clear. With a smile he asked, “What do we do now?”

“Now we dig,” said Tyas enthusiastically. The next moment the man pulled out an axe from the left side of his cloak and Calin couldn’t help but realize it was one of the axes he had brought along. Casting the man a querying glance Calin waited for an answer. A cringe settled on Tyas’ face before he said, “Sorry, I forgot to tell you I grabbed one of your axes.”

There was no use in being ticked off by it, so Calin just shrugged. The man smiled at him before starting to dig into the hard dirt. Without needing to be told, Calin decided to stand watch. He slowly approached the corner of the house and peered around.

There was still sporadic shouts coming from farther away in the fort and he couldn’t help but worry about the girl who was trying to escape from these people.

The next moment two guards came into view, dragging a girl between them, she was struggling and hissing with every forced step. It was not about them rough housing the girl that made Calin suddenly gasp in horror, but who it was.

“Kara?!”

He didn’t believe his eyes as he looked at the girl. “No it can’t be...” He was dazed and took a double take just to be sure.

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Each moment he looked at her he became all the more certain of the cold reality that it was his friend, Kara Getsamé.

“No...” the word was more a cough than anything else. With it his chest tightened. The guards and the girl disappeared into the largest building of the compound. A few moments passed before her hands snaked through some bars in a side room.

An incredible urge to run to her almost sent Calin flying around the corner. But Tyas got to him first and grabbed his arm. “Calin I got it.”

“Got who?”

“No, I said I got it, I found what we were looking for. Wait...what’s wrong?” asked Tyas hesitantly, seeing the blood drain from Calin’s face.

Calin didn’t know what to say, all that was certain was that the girl, probably her father and the rest of the missing scientists, who had gone missing two weeks ago, had ended up here in a prison and he didn’t know what he could do.

Through his silence Tyas shook him, all the while asking, “Calin talk to me, what’s wrong?”

“I...” Calin shook his head to clear it. “That girl who tried to escape now... I know her.”

Totally incredulous, the man stepped back. “What?! Are you serious?”

Calin nodded gravely and said, “Her name is Kara, she went missing alongside her father and some other people. They couldn’t find a trace of them... I never expected...”

As Calin said that, Tyas dragged a hand over his forehead under the hood, with a low growl.

Though not sure what it meant, Calin still had a fierce sense of duty towards the Getsamé family. He had soothed the mother for her missing family members and now he was in reaching distance of the girl. Without hesitation, he said, “I want to free her Tyas. No... I need to.”

For once, Tyas was the one who was reluctant and he started to say, “We can’t Cal—”

“That’s a load of rubbish, we have been at your every beck and call the last, I don’t know, couple of days it seems. Now it’s my turn.”

He was not going to budge as he openly glared at the man.

Tyas had dragged them from their hometown all over the countryside and into a one-way trip. If he was going to live with that truth he needed to own some reassurance.

Finally the man seemed to understand that he had no say in the matter. Tyas threw up his hands in defeat and said, “Okay, fine, we will try to free the girl, but we are going to need the other two’s help if we even remotely stand a chance.”

“Alright,” Calin nodded in agreement. “But I want to see if I can speak to her for a moment through that window first. I need to know if she’s okay.”

“Are you crazy?” blurted Tyas, but Calin gave him a look of defiance and said, “Probably as crazy as you are, remember? I didn’t want to sneak in here in the first place. So we’re even, let’s go.”

Tyas’ head shook in disbelief, but the man motioned for him to lead the way.

***

Calin took a deep breath and looked around the corner. The guards had gone back into what, he assumed to be a combination of a barracks and a small prison. He could only spot two guards patrolling inside the fort and the three guard towers intended for spotting people approaching the fort.

He took it as a good sign and motioned for Tyas to follow as he snuck to the next house. Around the next corner he tried to guage his chances of making the good run to the barracks. It was a risky shot, but if more guards didn’t show he could make it.

Satisfied, he turned back to Tyas and said, “Alright, I’m going to make a run for it. I need you to see if anybody comes my way, throw a rock or something. I won’t be long.”

“Okay, but Calin be careful will you, I didn’t drag you all this way for safety, if you’re going to mess it up now.”

Calin smirked and said, “True, but after what I’ve been through the last two days I don’t think this would get me down.”

He started around the corner and was about to make a run for the barracks when the two guards rounded back on their patrol. The one was Feron, the dune tattoo ominously staring at Calin.

His cloak got caught for a second on the rocky wall as he squeezed in closely to remain unseen, he slowly slipped back to wait until they had passed. Finally the sound of their boots disappeared again and he swiftly made a run for the barracks.

Never had he been more obvious as at that moment, running over the courtyard, open for all to see in a hostile camp. But there were no eyes trained in his direction, he desperately hoped it stayed that way.

He slowed to a trot when he could hear voices from the big building. He checked the door for any chance that one of the guards could come out.

Luckily none did, though he accidently thudded harder into the wall of the prison than he would’ve liked. The next moment, a small voice filled with irritation came through the barred window.

“Who’s there? If you want to gloat about my failed attempt, it won’t help you at all.”

Calin slipped towards the window and looked inside. There, sitting on a small bed in the corner watching the ceiling was Kara Getsamé.

Her deep wine red hair was wet from her escape attempt. It cascaded to her shoulders where her fingers were tugging a few strands out of what Calin could surmise, frustration. She didn’t look down and out after failing to escape, her eyes looked focused, like she was planning the next attempt, her posture had a surety about it. She was taller than Evany, but her body was in good proportion, hugged by her green T-shirt and brown skinny jeans, not too tight, testament to her exploratory nature and love of being outdoors for archaeology.

Calin almost smiled, just glad to see her alive; he moved his face against the bars and whispered,

“Kara!”

Her gaze dropped down from the ceiling to the bars, and the second she spotted Calin her eyes popped open wide. She shot to her feet.

“Calin?” She asked tentatively at first. “... no ... It is you!”

With a tightening in his chest, he nodded. Her sudden jump surprised him, it only taken her a mere moment to reach the barred window. She wasted no time as she reached through and grabbed one of his hands as she sobbed. “I can’t believe you’re here! Oh my word, I was starting to lose hope.”

Her face showed every drop of desperation and her green eyes shone with tears brimming on the edge as she asked,

“How... how are you here?”

Calin squeezed the girl’s hand with support, his heart already full of tumbling emotions with finding one of the missing Getsamés. The question she asked was by far the question he truly had no idea how to begin answering, so he opted for the only route he could.

“That is very long and complicated story, but Kara! I can’t believe I found you,” He suddenly sobered up and asked more seriously, “...are you alright?”

Through the few tears that escaped, the girl nodded and said, “Well, as good as can be locked in a prison.”

Calin squeezed her hand again, glad she was alright, but squared his face in determination as he said, “Don’t worry, we will find a way to get you out. The people back in Lamb’s Crest were desperate to hear any word of you. They will be overjoyed to know you’re still alive...”

It was a small slip on his part, but it immediately darkened his mood the moment he mentioned the town, I won’t be able to take her back, won’t be able to take her to her family... He had to find his father. He would demand it from the man to take the others back home through the World Barrier.

Then a thought struck Calin and he glanced fearfully around the cell and asked, “Kara where is your father and the other scientists?”

The girl’s mouth started to tremble as she was on the verge of bursting out in tears, Calin feared the worst. His heart dipped in the sorrow. He held her hand tight and said, “It will be okay.”

Kara started to breathe deeply steadying herself before she gushed.

“They took him! Calin, they took him and the rest of our group and left me here alone. They handled me like I’m a kid.” His eyes shot back to the girl. The frustration was evident on her face.

But what she had said was a surprise, a welcome surprise that they were still alive and he asked, “Where did they take them?”

“I don’t know... they spoke too fast, they said something about the moon and Reach, but I couldn’t make it out. As crazy as this place is, I’m afraid for my team Calin. You have to get me out.”

With a quick nod he was about to say something when a rock thudded into the ground a meter or two behind him. He glanced back towards Tyas and the man was franticly waving his arms. Calin only had a few seconds, so he hurriedly turned back to Kara and said,

“Listen to me, I have to go, but we are going to plan a way to get you out, I promise.”

Uncertainty was plain on her face, but her nod was with her customary smile as Calin let go of her.

“Hurry, but please stay safe.”

“You too,” Calin said back and ran from the small window towards the closest cover. He dived into the corner and tried to steady his breath. Not a moment had passed, when the two guards came walking past the area where he had just stood. He pushed himself deeper into the corner behind crates. The wood was course and started sticking to the material from his cloak as he moved.

The footsteps stayed steady and the guard who came into view was the same one from the clearing. As they passed, he moved slow and steady, staying low to the ground and keeping the two in sight. He stepped into better cover and waited until they disappeared behind the next building. With it, he dashed out of cover to the next structure. Though before he reached it, he glanced back to see the girl with the red hair, watching him with hope and fear in her deep green eyes.

***

Silence greeted him when he met up with Tyas. He followed the man back to the gap in the wall.

The run up the hill was filled with distraction. Calin’s thoughts were pounding on his heart. When Tyas suddenly jerked him behind a tree he was shocked out of his turmoil. The reason became strikingly apparent as a guard moved into view around the outside of the perimeter.

The guard’s torch flickered as fat rain drops tried to extinguish the fire. The danger disappeared with the light into the swathes of rain. Calin breathed deeply.

“I’m fine. Let’s go.”

The glare from Tyas needed no interpretation. It had been a great risk. Yet no further words were exchanged.

Tyas started off away from him at a blistering pace and it was hard to keep up. He had not the slightest idea how he was going to break the news of Kara to the others, but he would face that when he got there.

The rain had turned their path into a muddy mess and he started to curse the infernal ground that was weighing down on his already heavy boots. To Calin’s relief the area where the cave was soon came into view through the trees.

It didn’t take long to find the hidden crevice and Calin crouched down into it.

Evany came storming towards him, anger brimming in her eyes, but before she could slap Calin, arms wrapped around her body and she was pulled back by Jerry. The boy grabbed her arms in a tight grip to stop her. The girl struggled and shouted. “Let me go now!”

Calin shook his head slightly while he watched her squirm against Jerry and waited until she had vented her frustration into her struggling.

Finally she let up and she glared at him saying, “We will be back soon? Ten minutes I thought, but no... you were gone for more than an hour!! How should we have known you were alright?”

With a pointed stare Calin looked at Evany and then to Jerry, who nodded and let go of the glaring girl. Her hazel speckled eyes screamed her feelings as she walked slowly forward. But in her demeanour it was clear she didn’t know how to feel or what to do. Calin surprised her as he pulled her into a hug, almost hitting his own head against the low ceiling before he said, “I’m sorry, there were some things that we needed to do while it rained.”

“Let me go!” The girl demanded as she squirmed free and escaped towards the small fire they had lit. “I haven’t forgiven you yet.” He glanced at Jerry and the boy only lifted his hands submissively.

It was hard to understand Evany. She was scared and she didn’t want anything to happen to them, yet she wanted to assault him the moment he came into the cave. He smiled at her huddling close to the fire.

It was then that Tyas crawled in next to him. It startled him as the box they had dug up, tumbled from Tyas’ cloak to the hard ground with a clatter.

All other thoughts disappeared as a frown creased Calin’s forehead. The source of their only lead they had laid there. “Let us hope it contains some answers, even more so some hope, we all need it at the moment.”

“Let us hope,” Tyas agreed somberly. But there was other news.