2 Alone and Confused

The next day I woke up in the tent alone and confused. I sit up and see a note on the blanket. I pick it up and it says:

Sorry I had to leave so early. Someone came in the

Middle of the night and told me the Gragzuls

Were advancing quickly. Feel better.

Xanthos Black.

I sigh and put the note back down and get out of the cot, a little wobbly, and I put on an overcoat left in the tent and I walk outside. It's considerably colder than usual, making me shiver and pull the coat tighter around me. I realized Xanthos must've put me back in the cot, otherwise I would've woken up on the ground. I smile slightly to myself, and then realize he probably doesn't-... I sigh and then walk to the rank house and go inside. There were a bunch of the men there, drinking and celebrating loudly, cheering drunkenly and laughing boisterously, spilling their pale brown beer or dark red beer as if they're drinking the blood of the Gragzuls they probably killed. I walk among the crowd of drunkards and look around for a familiar face, if there would be any. I spot an old childhood friend, one of very very few. "Korax! I didn't think I'd see your face here!" I sit down across from him and he takes a moment to recognize me.

"Adraxian!," He says, drunk off his ass, "Good to see you buddy!!!!" I laugh at his drunkenness, and he smiles. "What're you doin' here, ye old pacifist?" I turn a little red, remembering his nickname for me from school.

"Got forced into it of course, you old drunk. Probably the same as you." He nods, realization spreading on his face.

"Ohhh yeah! That's right!" We both laugh at ourselves and he says to the man next to him, "Get my friend here a drink! And pronto!" I laugh awkwardly.

"No it's okay, I'm still recovering a little from-"

"No you look like you need a drink bucko! Come on! Just one!" Korax says, pulling on my arm and giving me puppy dog eyes, begging me to drink with him. I roll my eyes.

"Fine, but only one."

A few hours later, one had turned to five. I was about as drunk as anyone else, if not less, because these guys had been drinking for hours before I got there. Me and Korax were hashing over old memories and how he used to tease me about liking the-... and then someone sat down next to me with the hood of their coat up over their face. They get a drink, a pale red beer, and they slam back half of it.

"Woah... you look like you've been through hell! What's... up?" Korax says, his words slurred and hiccuping in the middle of his sentences.

"I... don't want to talk about it." Their voice is cracking at times and thick with emotion.

"Oh come on... that beer will open you right up! Like... the old comvak clams in the Red Lakes, right Adrax, you drunk doof?" I nod.

"Yup! Just... toss back that beer or two and boom! You'll be... open and spillin' that pearl of talk you ain't wantin' to be talkin' about!" The person moves to stand up but I put a hand on their shoulder, and make them sit down again. "Hey, bucko, just calm down. It ain't like we gonna tell anybody!" The person sighs.

"You're too drunk to realize, huh?" They mumble, and they finish their drink and stand up and leave the rank house. I look at Korax, who looks at me with a straight face, and then we burst out laughing.

It was several hours before I went to Korax's bunk / dorm-like room. Me and him are stumbling and laughing like our old selves again, and we both sit down on the couch next to each other.

"You know... I suppose... I've always liked you." Korax says, his words slurred slightly.

"What do... you mean?" I say, my words in the same condition. He smiles.

"You're my best friend, silly! Of course I like you!" He says drunkenly. We get up and Korax starts going over to his mini kitchen of sorts, and I walk over and he drops a bunch of small metal things on the ground, and I laugh and sit down on his couch, feeling dazed. "Hey, you ain't lookin' so good." My vision blurs over. Before I pass out, Korax runs over to me, shouting my name, but he sounds distant and far away.

Xanthos looks around his room, and sighs. "What am I gonna do... Adraxian... he... I just... don't know what to do about him..." He sits down at the table and picks up a cup of tea and drinks it.

"Sir! The men are wondering why you aren't celebrating with us." Xanthos sits up.

"I had a beer. Doesn't that count?" He says, trying not to sound upset.

"No, sorry to say sir. Coming in a coat with a hood doesn't count." Xan realizes it's been at least an hour or two since then, and he realizes that Adraxian was too drunk to even recognize him in the slightest. He sighs.

"You're dismissed."

"But-"

"I said, you're dismissed!" The man leaves in a hurry, knowing that he should follow Xanthos' commands when he gets like this. He sighs and finishes his tea and sets the cup down on the table. "I'm gonna give myself a headache trying to think of something to do about Adraxian..." Xanthos sighs again, for the third or fourth time this evening, and stands up and goes to the window in his tent and looks out towards the plains where the smoke up freshly burned Gragzuls lay, the stench of burned flesh and almost the smell of burned fur still lurking through the air. He takes a deep breath and sighs again. "Man... I'm a mess..." Then he hears something. Almost laughter, almost like... he can't quite place it but it makes him wonder. He turns and walks out of his room, which is basically just a massive tent, and he walks outside, into the snowstorm that started about an hour ago, and waits for the sound again. He hears it and can almost place what the other part is, but then he hears something similar to resistance perhaps. Xanthos starts going to where he believes it's coming from and waits again for another noise, and then he hears a slight shout, and then something like a slap. Someone or something is definitely resisting something. He walks around, hearing the sounds more frequently, until he gets to the tent. It has the number 173-690 on it, which would be Cordia's if Xanthos remembered it correctly. He walks up to the side of the tent and listens, hearing voices.

"Come on. I need you to just listen. Just-" The stuff Xanthos heard after was definitely something he would never repeat again in his life. "Okay? Just do that for me?" He heard a weak mumble, something along the lines of:

"Cordia... no... what did you... put in that tea? I... can't think..." Xanthos suddenly realizes that it sounds like someone very familiar, but he can't place it, but yet he's so petrified he can't move, not even to interrupt whatever was happening. He hears something like another slap.

"Shut up and do it!" Xanthos flinches when he hears the person having to catch himself.

"N... no..." There's a small pause.

"What did you say to me?" There's another pause and then another slap, this time it sounds as though they couldn't catch themself. Xanthos runs away as quickly and as quietly as he can, feeling horrible for not helping.

When I wake up, I notice that Korax isn't in the tent. I sit up with a killer headache. "Man, drinking was not a good idea..." I get up and stumble through the tent. "Korax? Where are you?" I end up searching the entire tent. No sign of him anywhere. "Hmm... I guess he got up to train early? No, that doesn't sound like him. But I don't-" I notice that there are footprints outside, as if someone has been half dragged somewhere. I immediately start following them, thinking that someone must've taken Korax. 'God I hope he's okay..." I think

Xanthos had stayed up the whole night, feeling horrible. He looks out over the snowy ground and spots Adraxian walking quickly, barely dressed, and looking at the ground. Xanthos grabs a coat, puts it on quickly, and grabs one for Adraxian. He runs over to him, slinging it around him and says, "Are you trying to freeze? My God, it's fucking winter here! Hey, what are you doing?" I pause.

"Last night I went to Korax's tent. He's a good friend of mine. But I passed out, feeling dazed, and when I woke up, he was gone. Saw some footprints and something like someone had been dragged somewhere, so I figured it's probably gonna be where they took him." Xan stops.

"What?," I say, "Were you expecting me to say something like 'Just felt like going for a walk basically naked!'?" Xan smiles.

"Just wasn't expecting you to be like a detective." I smile, and look away, and start walking again. I remembered that Xan probably doesn't -... I pull the coat around me tighter and keep walking.

Xanthos followed Adraxian slowly, wondering why he suddenly just closed himself off. He follows the footprints carefully, focusing on them more than his surroundings. He turns and then stops dead in his tracks and looks up at someone. At least close to 7 feet, Cordia glares down at him, "'Ello lit'le fish. Whatcha doin o're here?" Adraxian moves to go around him but he stops him, grabbing him by the shoulder and tugging him back in front of him. "Where are you off to?" He loses the remains of his accent. Xanthos steps forwards.

"Let him go, Cordia. He says his friend went missing, and he's following footprints. There are also some signs of someone being dragged. I don't suppose you know anything about it?" Cordia lets go of Adraxian and he immediately goes around him.

"No. I don't know nothing about anyone getting dragged around here." He locks eyes and glares at Xanthos as he walks by, glaring back at him.

I walk forward and suddenly the tracks stop a distance away from Cordia. I look back at Xanthos and he looks at the tent number. He looks around and looks at the ground nearby.

"Those are my footprints there..." He says, pointing to a set of prints that are like he was wearing combat boots almost.

"So... this number... whose is it?" I ask, tapping on the hanging sign that says 173-690.

"... Cordia's." I look at the ground.

"This is my fault... I should've heard something, noticed something, anything!" Xan looks at me.

"Hey, this isn't your fault. We're getting Korax out of here and keep him with you and I in his tent for a while, okay? Look at me," he takes my chin gently and lifts it up, forcing me to look at him, "everything's going to be okay, Adraxian. Korax's going to be okay. Come on, we don't have much time before Cordia comes back."

Xan walks into the tent, pulling Adraxian with him. Korax, out like a light and curled up on himself, is laying on some sort of bedding thing. There's some blood on the bedding. Adraxian goes over to him instantly.

"Korax? Hey," he shakes him, "wake up!" Korax groans and doesn't wake up. Xanthos walks over, picks up Korax without a warning, causing him to cry out slightly, and goes out a back flap of the tent, going back to Korax's tent as quickly as possible.

I follow Xan as he speed walks to Kor's tent, with Kor slung on his shoulder like a sack. Once we get inside Kor's tent, he puts him on the couch-like piece of furniture in his tent. Kor groans, and moves to curl up and Xan stops him.

"Hey hey," he says, trying to keep him calm, "it's okay. It's just me and Adraxian. We just need to see what happened okay?" Kor wakes up slightly as if he doesn't trust us, and nods slightly. Xan has him lay flatly on the furniture and gently pulls off his shirt, trying not to hurt him. It reveals black and purple bruises and several cuts, all of which are various depths and sizes. "God damn... did he..." Xan doesn't even finish his sentence. Kor nods, some small cuts and bruises on his face. I look away, anger and sadness building inside of me. Suddenly, my vision gets tinted red at the sides. I panic but don't show it, trying not to scare Kor. After a moment my vision goes back to normal. "Alright you can rest now bud." Xan smiles gently at him and he slowly drifts off to sleep. Xan looks at me and I look back.

"What are we going to do...?" I say quietly. Xan looks at Kor, then back at me.

"I don't know..."