THE FINAL CALL

It had been two hours since their rescue. Alicia opened her eyes to a room cramped with familiar faces. Carrs Armani, Robert Townsdy, Valmon and Salron Carter Portriesse and her mother were closest to her bed. To her right lay Reene, still unconscious and surrounded by the village physicians. The looks on their faces gave her no hope. She immediately knew he was still not out of harms way.

She tried her best to crane her torso upwards but once the physicians caught sight of her, one of them rushed to her bedside and gently pushed her back down.

“Miss, you are exhausted you need some rest.”

“Let go of me!”

She pushed away his gentle touch and looked at the rest of the room. Some soldiers had the faces looking at the wooden floor. Some walked out of the shack once they realized she was conscious again. She wondered what the reason could be. The semblance of emotional control the soldiers were charading quickly decayed, their faces turned pale and they were reviled at the sight of her.

“What is happening?” she asked her fellow State Guards around her. Salron swallowed bitterly and looked away, as if he was ashamed to ask the question he intended to ask.

“The soldiers… they want to know the whereabouts of the cavalry that accompanied you to…”

One soldier emerged from amongst the crowd and pushed his way through towards Alicia. He stopped behind the State Guards and spoke with a discontinuous voice.

“My brother, he was a lancer! He accompanied you when you headed out for the search and he has not come back with you! Tell us what happened to him, what happened to the others!” he asked, the rest of the soldiers’ eyes looked at Alicia, desperately waiting for her reply. But there was nothing to be said.

Alicia bowed her head in shame, remembering the cowardly lancer she chastised during the search. She sympathized with the soldiers. That was a definite answer to the rest. The soldier pushed his way back and exited the shack, fighting back tears.

She felt a warm embrace encompass her. She looked up and saw her mother, hugging her softly.

“I understand now what the stranger meant.”

She spoke in a cushioned tone. She raised her head and Alicia caught sight of her feint smile.

“This miracle was never meant for me. I was just a vessel. To keep it for whoever needed it.”

“Mother, what are you talking about?”

The entire room was confused. Martha walked up to Reene’s bed and continued her speech.

“When I conversed with the stranger, he told me he was about to do something he would not feel proud of, and in the end he would end up hurting himself and people he did not intend to. So he gave me this miracle. He told me that very soon someone would be in dire need of it. And he told me the decision to keep it to myself or help them rested on my shoulders. I now know why he chose me. He choose me because I would never forsake a life for the benefit of my interests. Daughter, I hope one day you will learn to do the same, and when that day comes I will be proud of you, for you would have discovered what it means to be a leader.”

A tear rolled down her right cheek. She went down on one knee and placed her palms over Reene’s forehead. Alicia was mazed.

“Mother, what are you…”

A stiff gush of wind charged through the windows, flapping the curtains every which way. Martha’s eyes glowed orange and a luminous ring appeared above her head. Alicia remembered the halo. It was the exact one she saw when they were back in the forest fighting the talking Vurhan, when the creepy figures emerged and healed it. It emanated the identical aura she felt that day. It was then that her suspicions were confirmed, the stranger was definitely a member of the Heads.

Martha began her enchantment, words that were all to familiar to Alicia, “I call to you great presence. Heed to my orison and grant me your unfathomable power! For we serve you, oh great link, our path to Tomasa!”

Waves of distortions pulsated across the room, knocking everyone off balance. A bright light engulfed the entire room forcing everyone to shut their eyes. Once the flashes died down Martha dropped to the floor unconscious. The physicians rushed to her aid but before they could reach her Reene shot up from his bed with an aggressive gulp for air. His eyes wide open, his arms flared out, he scanned the room, spotting bewildered faces that focused all their attention on him. He looked down and realized the tear on his abdomen was completely gone.

“Mother!”

Alicia tried hard to get up but her frail limbs were still to weak.

“She is still breathing! She just lost consciousness. Quickly! Lay her down on the bed!”

One of the physicians yelled at his understudies. He walked back to Alicia to try and calm her down.

“Miss she just lost consciousness everything is fine. I shall take good care of her you just get some rest!”

He proceeded to dash away the scene into another room where Martha was taken to. Reene stood up from his bed, still inspecting his features. He turned his arms and pulled up his shirt to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. Alicia and the rest of the State Guards had their jaws to the ground.

Alicia somehow knew the Heads were planning something, and it involved them. She tried hard to think what might cause them to come out of the shadows. Then she remembered the three people that crossed the walls. The ones laying unconscious in the fort.

“The three people, the ones that crossed the walls! Are they still at the fort?”

“Alicia I think now is not the time to…”

Salron tried to revert her attention back to the situation at hand.

“ANSWER ME! Are they still there.”

“The fort went on complete lock down once you ordered the guards to be on high alert, there is no way someone could have gotten in or out of the fort without us knowing.”

Alicia slapped her forehead. She sighed, disappointed at herself.

“… of course. This was the perfect time! The entire village had their guard down. It was the perfect time to sneak in undetected during the festival! Nobody would be on high alert and someone could sneak in and out unnoticed. Take me to the fort… now!”

The State guards hesitantly helped her to her feet. Reene joined in on the march towards the fort, as if nothing unusual had happened. They surrounded her, providing the anchorage she needed. Once they reached the fort the guards at the entrance pushed the doors open and led them inside.

They walked past the cells, viewing the captives they apprehended during the battle in North Angus. They passed one particular cell and the prisoner chuckled at them

“I saw everything. While you were out their partying your heads off he sauntered into the cells,”

She capped off her speech with an annoying giggle. Alicia turned to her. She was with the lady Head during the attack. She called herself Tulip.

“Tell me what happened here!” Alicia demanded, authoritatively.

“Well, miss dark bender, we sat here for quite sometime. And he told me why he came here, what he came here for. He told me pretty soon I’m going to be next. Oh and he also told me a special message from my mistress,”

She laughed once again.

“This is no time for your jokes Tulip! Either you tell me what he said or I will force it out of you!”

“Well you tried that for the last five years and it hasn’t worked out for you now has it” she replied with a sassy tone, “oh… the look in your eyes! I know what you want to ask me. I can smell the desperation. But I wont tell you who he was. And it’s definitely not who you are thinking.”

Alicia was infuriated. She could be lying to her, but what could she gain from that.

“They are not here miss!” one of the guards ran to her and shouted. She leaned to her side to see the cell they kept them in and saw it for herself. It was empty!

“He kidnapped them! But he was alone when we tracked him and found him! This doesn’t make any sense. Or did he kill them?”

Reene asked. His response evoked a laugh from Tulip. It was louder than before and more sarcastic.

“You people! You're ignorance amazes me every single day… this was never a kidnapping!”

Alicia’s expression quickly changed. She looked back at Tulip and as if she was drawing the conclusion straight out of Tulip’s mind she responded, “...it was an extraction! They were never unconscious, they just pretended to be. They were spies… and they were right under our noses this entire time!”