Chapter 9 : A MISTAKE (1)
A few kilometers away, at the edge of the safe-zone...
Mwas sat on a luxurious seat inside a tent. He was angry, no, furious. He had been bribing the Deles to avoid coming out here in this forsaken place. It was going well until one loud mouth Deles told his father to add more money. That had sent his father into a rage so rare he couldn't remember the last time he had seen him so furious. The result, the Deles guy was fired and disappeared while he was forced to go back to being a mere warrior. To make matters worse, the new hunters that he had scared and scarred into working for him were useless. This added to the fact that his father had limited his money as well, made everything worse.
He sat there pinching the bridge of his nose, thinking of a way to get himself out of the situation. Thia. He opened his eyes, excited. Why hadn't he thought of that boy. He was the perfect solution. If only there was a way to get him to leave Kim. The mere thought of Kim made his mind ache and bile rise from the back throat. They had history, a bad one.
A warrior burst into the tent, interrupting his thoughts. " You should come look at this Mwas... ", he said. Mwas irritated stood and punched him hard. He continued to punch him repeatedly until the young boy slumped and collapsed on the ground unconscious and bloody. "Never interrupt me or call me by my name again", said his assailant coldly and ruthlessly. Mwas tilted his head, took out his white bandanna wiped his bloodied hand and threw it on the boy. He stepped outside.
Once outside, Mwas squinted his eyes to adjust to the sunlight then looked around. The other warriors, about ten in total , went quiet and some visibly tried to get away from his line of sight. He was in a bad mood, they could tell. Maish, a fellow rich kid and one of the brains in the Hunter's Guild, came up to Mwas and said, " You should come and see this man. I bet you'll be thrilled". Mwas groaned inwardly. What had started to be a long day just got longer. Wordlessly, he followed Maish. They went on for a while. Then Maish stopped suddenly and said," Would you look at that", pointing at the thing before him. Mwas opened his eyes in astonishment. It was a wreckage, not just any wreckage, a blimp from the Citadel. His anger and irritation disappeared and he rushed towards it, happily. This just might change his current situation and maybe appease his father.
The wreckage was spread out across a vast area and there were a few warriors picking up smaller pieces here and there. A large part of the cockpit was still intact as well as the storage section. However, the engine looked unsalvageable but to Mwas, this was a treasure. Slowly, he made his way looking at every piece he passed carefully. This was no ordinary blimp. He got closer to the cockpit but was distracted by a sudden commotion behind him.
Two warriors had found a small piece of what seemed like a pilot's seat and were arguing amongst themselves who would be the one to take it to Mwas. It soon developed into a full out fight between the two. One of them accidentally failed to land a kick and ended up hitting a part of the seat. This action, though small, triggered the distress beacon. It was silent and only glowed red once. The two warriors fought on for a few more minutes before Maish finally broke it off, dragged the seat towards Mwas. The silent beacon still on.
This was a mistake and, although they all looked pleased and happy with what they had found, they did not realize what type of danger they had brought among themselves. Still, to the warriors, seeing Mwas happy made them sigh in relief. At least this time he won't need a human punching bag.