Chapter XX

Nearly a mile had been traversed since Alex reached the bottom of the hill. He had no idea where he was headed, but stayed as straight as he could and hoped he would come across a water source soon, otherwise he was not sure how much longer he could last.

Of course, Alex would be lying if he said that he was not enjoying the scenery while he was stuck out here. He hardly ever traveled outside of his home in North Elba, New York, and this was certainly a sight he had never seen before. The woods were quiet and peaceful, and the views from the mountaintops were absolutely beautiful. Still, Alex never forgot how important it was that he found his way out of the mountains sooner than later. He could only imagine how much everyone back home must have been losing their minds worrying about him. Then again, Alex was not so sure. His time alone out here in the wilderness made him look back at the life he had lived so far. Though he was still quite young and had much of his life ahead of him, Alex admitted to himself that he was not exactly proud of his life. He thought particularly of his sister, Nickole. They had been such good friends as young children, and she always looked up to him more than anyone. Now he was starting to realize how much he was starting to ignore her; his only sister. When she looked at him every morning, Alex hardly acknowledged her. He was beginning to understand how she felt toward him, like she was losing him, and it made him feel like he was losing his own grip on the world.

As he was deep in thought, he was suddenly brought back to reality by something. Alex paused. He held his breath and listened intently. It took his ears a moment to adjust to the silence of the woods, but soon enough, Alex could make out the faint sound of flowing water. From the sound of it, it might have been a small creek or stream, like a tributary to a larger body of water, and it couldn’t be far away.

“Thank God,” Alex muttered under his breath as he licked his lips. Though he could not find the energy to run for it right now, he continued heading straight for the sound of the water. It was farther away than it seemed at first, but after about ten minutes of lumbering through the woods, Alex finally came to the source.

It was indeed a small creek and it was running further down the mountainside. Alex knelt by the edge of it and dipped his hand into the water. To his surprise, the water was freezing cold. Alex shuddered as it almost chilled him to the bone. However, looking past this, Alex was more than thankful to find it. He cupped his hands, lifted a small amount of water from the creek, and drank what he could before the rest of it fell through his fingers.

Alex gasped in relief at the refreshing sensation. He collected another handful of water and splashed it onto his face. The light shock of it allowed him to forget about his exhaustion for the moment. Alex eased himself onto his back alongside the creek and allowed his hand to float gently in the water. He just wanted to lie here for a bit, close his eyes, and breathe. Then he could return to the situation at hand and figure out his next move.

The approaching sound of footsteps did not register in his mind until it was too late. “Hey, you!”

Alex nearly jumped out of his skin. He gasped in panic and threw his hands upward. Catching his breath, Alex looked back the way he came. Someone was approaching from out of the trees. It appeared to be a man in his early or mid-twenties. He was very poorly dressed, as if he had been wearing the same clothes for months and his hair was ragged and unkempt. The most disturbing element of his person was what he held in his right hand: a large sword made of stone. He stopped, however, as soon as he seemed to get a good look at Alex, narrowing his eyes at him.

“You’re not one of them,” he said after a brief moment’s pause. Alex was still taken aback, staring with wide eyes at his blade. “Who are you?” the man continued to ask. Alex was too shocked to say anything, or to even pull himself to his feet. He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out.

Just then, the stranger turned his head toward the woods and gave out a loud whistle. Alex struggled to sit himself up, and as he did, he saw several more men making their way out of the tree lines. None of them looked any better than the first; some of them were holding swords of their own and some were not. One of them, Alex noticed, actually had a bow on his back.

“Morales,” the first man called to one of the new arrivals. With that, the one Alex assumed to be called Morales stepped up to him. However, he stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he saw Alex.

“Is he one of them?” Morales asked, pointing toward him.

The first man shook his head. “I don’t think so, judging by his clothes.” Alex took a quick glance down at his clothing. He was still wearing the same jeans and gray DC jacket he had yesterday, which were now darkened and mired from the stress of his long hike. He almost looked like he could have belonged with these people.

Morales took a step forward to examine Alex, but then they all suddenly shifted their attention to the woods as the sound of another set of footsteps approached. The swordbearers quickly braced themselves as if they were expecting to be attacked. Alex held his breath in anxiety and confusion.

From the trees, another figure stepped. This one, however, was much different from the others. Though he also appeared to be a young man, he was dressed in an outfit made of leather and fur, as if he was wandering the mountains long before Alex. The other men lowered their weapons when they saw him.

“Caine!” Morales exclaimed when he saw him approach. “Is that you? What are you doing out here?”

The new arrival, called Caine, stopped before Morales with a hard expression about him. “I’ve been keeping an eye on you for some time now,” he responded harshly.

The rest of the men exchanged glances with each other. Morales raised his eyebrows. “What do you mean? Have you been following us?”

“Well, that trouble you encountered two years ago certainly caught my attention. I was interested when I received the report instead of Morenno.”

“We haven’t had any other issues, if that’s what you’re trying to get at,” Morales replied, annoyed.

Caine laughed to himself. “Indeed. Things have gotten a bit quiet lately.” He then shifted his attention to Alex, locking eyes with him. “And what is that?”

Morales looked back down at Alex, who was just watching and clearly had no idea what was going on. “I don’t know,” was Morales’ answer. “We thought he belonged with them at first. He’s definitely not one of ours.”

Caine raised an eyebrow in curiosity. He opened his mouth to respond, but closed it suddenly and looked around at the woods. This gesture made everyone else on edge as they started doing the same, which made Alex begin looking around for what they seemed to be scoping for.

“What is it?” Morales said anxiously under his breath. Caine did not answer. Everyone was holding their breath as they seemed to wait for something to happen. One of the men stepped slowly into the woods and pulled his own sword from a sheath at his side. It was so quiet that Alex could literally hear the sound of their heavy breathing.

Like a silent bolt of lightning, and with a quick whizzing sound followed by a disturbing groan, the man was thrown backward onto the ground, revealing an arrow sticking up out of his body. Alex’s jaw dropped at the sight of it and he could not help but jump to his feet. The rest of the party panicked and yelled out, holding their weapons defensively in front of them.

Just then, a second arrow came flying out of the trees from a slightly different angle. This one came from above, as if their attackers were up in the treetops. It struck another swordbearer and he dropped right to the ground.

“Ravennites!” Morales shouted. The remaining men were moving back and forth as if they were trying to dodge any more arrows that might rain down on them. Sure enough, a third arrow revealed itself from lower than the last and found its target in one of the men’s heads, causing blood to fly in all directions. Alex dropped back down to the ground. He didn’t know what to do except pray one of these ballistic killers did not strike him too. Morales was trying to keep his head low. “Miller!” he called out to one of them. “Get your bow! Shoot them!” With that command, the man carrying the bow on his back produced it and armed it with an arrow. He rapidly scanned around for a target in the trees but none were to be found.

Suddenly, there was a movement high up on a branch a few trees back. Alex could not make out any material figure, but it seemed to be good enough for the bowman as he released the string. The arrow soared up and drilled through the exact spot where the movement had occurred, but only fell to the ground after grazing the tree. As if out of nowhere, yet another arrow was fired nearby and planted itself in the bowman’s chest.

Alex was too stunned to move. He could only lie low and watch in horror as the fourth man was dropped instantly. Counting Caine and Morales, there were only half a dozen of them still standing. Caine began slipping away back toward the woods. “Destroy them!” he demanded and then turned and disappeared.

Morales was shocked that Caine just ran off, but fortunately, he turned his head in time to duck out of the way of a fifth arrow that soared right over him. He was tempted to make a quick run for the fallen bowman’s weapon, but just then, another disturbance rang up from the trees. This time, Alex watched in awe as a single man came running out on a low tree limb from the cover of the leaves. He leaped off the branch and snatched a thin vine wrapping loosely around another tree and used it to quickly descend to the ground.

He reached the bottom and lunged at the nearest opponent, and what he did was like nothing Alex had ever seen. The man from Morales’ party was not prepared as the newly revealed assailant produced a dagger-like blade from his side and swiftly ran it across his abdomen. The man gasped and collapsed, but suddenly, his attacker spun around, snatched the knife sheathed on his own belt, and threw it like a tomahawk at another target, striking him directly in the throat. Now only Morales and two others were left, as well as Alex, who was watching from the ground by the creek. The three remaining survivors regrouped together at the sight of their enemy. At this time, Alex managed to get a good look at him.

He was dressed much like the one called Caine, and his hair appeared to be braided into a tail on either side of his face, almost in a Native American fashion. Alex could also spot a quiver of arrows on his back, so he must have been one of the archers. The only difference between him and Caine was that he was seriously pissed!

The attacker hissed under his breath as he poised himself for a fight. Wielding his dagger in front of him with his left hand, he pulled a longer sword from his belt and held it behind his head in a menacing manner. Glaring at the others like a hawk, he cried out, “Let’s dance, Domineers!”

The three survivors exchanged looks of anticipation. Without hesitating another second, they cried out and charged down their assailant. He did not move, but just stood there still as a statue until they reached him. In a sudden, swift movement, one of the men prepared to strike a blow with his sword but their attacker quickly deflected it with the blade he held behind his head and forced the man to spin around, at which point he did the same and dug his knife into his back, letting out a cry of ferocity as he did.

Morales jumped back as the mysterious attack made a swipe at his stomach with his sword and then turned to engage his last comrade. They were locked in combat for only a few seconds, which ended when Morales’ partner attempted to bring his sword down on their assailant, but he blocked it with both his blades. Growling at him, the man from the trees kicked his opponent back and reached out with his sword, cutting his throat and dropping him to the ground.

This left only Morales, who was sweating profusely and displayed a look of fear as the outcome was quite apparent to be the same for him as it was for the others. The two circled each other for a moment, and then Morales engaged by swinging his sword at him.

The other man dodged his swipes like they were nothing. After only a few swings, the two locked swords, but out of nowhere, the strange man grabbed a small, club-like weapon from the back side of his belt and whacked it across Morales’ face, causing him to spin around in a daze. The man seized the opportunity, wound up his arm and thrust his sword through Morales’ back. He grabbed hold of his shoulder and used it as leverage to push the blade further. Alex could hear Morales’ distorted groans and gasps, and it was sickening.

The man leaned in toward Morales’ ear and whispered only, “Murderers.” He pulled the sword from his body and allowed him to fall to the ground. With that, it was all over.

Alex was half afraid to move a muscle, but something told him to ease his way to his feet and take off for the woods. He began inching away as quietly as he could while the victor knelt down to wipe the blood from his stone blade. Alex was trying to hold his breath as best he could, but suddenly, the man spoke up without turning around.

“Stay right where you are!” he called in a cold tone. Alex felt the adrenaline rushing through him, and he could not help but turn and run for his life. “Hey!” he heard the man shouting after him. All Alex could think was to run as fast and as far as he could, but before he could even make it a mere ten feet, something struck him.

Alex let out a cry of shock and pain as something hard was thrown at the back of his head. Instantly, Alex felt his body go limp and his eyes go dark as he collapsed onto the ground. Everything went black and silent.