Young Writers Society

Do not read if you had not read the previous parts.

Seventh Crown XV

~

The room was dark when he opened his eyes. His head was spinning and he did not know where he is. "Oh yes," He reminded himself what was going on. "I fell asleep, right?"

"Yes, you did. For around five hours. The night already come." Jon smiled and told him as a response. Cody jumped out of his comfortable sleeping place and looked at his friend, Jon.

"Come on, do not scare me like this. I thought I am alone. Where are the others?"

"I think I need to ask you the same about Sam." Cage added, seeing that Cody is ready to answer to his questions. "Ah, well, Cage." Cody was not sure what to tell him.

"You have nothing to tell me, right?,' Cage sighed and looked away from him then continued. "I do not try to attack you, Cody, but you needed to tell us about your condition. This is not something you can bear for long. This will become a problem. We have no medicine to give you. I worry for you and I am not the only one."

Cody felt horrible, knowing the feelings of his companions. He was the one slowing them down. "Hey, why don't you leave me here and just run away from this scary place? You do not need to stay here for more than one night because of me. I will be.." Before he could even finish his sentence, Cage grabbed him for the arm and looked at him with these eyes. "What did you just say, soldier?" He could not accept that Cody was giving up so easily from this so important journey. "You are coming with us! We do not leave without you....," Cage stopped mid way. "...I promised to figure out what is happening in this village and I will not run away with my tail between my legs like a scaredy cat." The way Cage was looking at him was making Cody feel even more scared from his companion.

"Cage..." Cody sighed and looked in Cage's eyes. "Sorry. Yes, I acted like a scaredy cat who just wants to stay under the safe roof and complain about my life. I will not say such words again."

"Are you sure about that, mate?" Jon laughed and put his arms around the friend of his, Cody. He hugged him tight and almost choke him with his tight grip. "Come on, man, do not kill me! I do not want to die yet!" Cody smiled brightly and started laughing. Jon was really the one who can make someone smile after a very tiring day. The male had a charming smile and one mole under his left eye. "Wait, did Aaren even come back?" Jon suddenly asked and made everything think about it. "I had sent him alone because I know how much he wants to act like a grown up man."

The guards shared looks, none of them had seen Aaren since he left. Cody thought hard, "Wait, we split apart when we left the leader's house, he's probably still out and about."

The men's faces all held nervous looks; with all the strange things going on in this town, Aaren and Sam's disappearances worried them a lot.

Aaren had been sent out to find cloaks, but he wasn't really sure where to look. He considered asking one of the few villagers still milling about, but with how suspicious they all were, he decided against it. He stepped through the doors of the village's convienent store and walked up to the counter.

"Hello, sir, can I help you?" The store owner asked, eyeing the soldier in front of him.

Aaren nodded and smiled, he was trying not to worry the store owner, "Maybe, sir. Do you carry cloaks?"

The man shook his head affirmatively, "Over there in the back," The man said, pointing, "But what are you doing looking for cloaks so late at night?"

Aaren felt the mans nervousness, "Um, a few of my companions forgot to pack heavy travel cloaks, they have been cold the past couple days and we are a mite worried they might catch a sickness."

The owner nodded his understanding, but Aaren could see he was not convinced. As he walked in the direction the man had pointed out to him; he failed to see the man loading his shotgun behind the counter. The owner wasn't planning on killing him if he didn't have to, but taking extra precautions in a time like this never hurt a fellow.

Aaren found a rack filled with dark, heavy, woolen travel cloaks, he picked the seven darkest ones and carried them back to the counter. As he looked down to grab his coin pouch, his eye caught on the shiny shotgun barrel poking up slightly from behind the counter.

The owner saw his look and shrugged, "You can never be too careful." He said as he took the coins from Aaren.

Aaren took the cloaks and hastened to leave the store, in his hurry he did not see a peice of paper fall out of his belt pouch, he also failed to hear the owner as the man picked it up and read. He did not see the glares directed at his back as he left, and since no trouble was raised; he assumed everything was fine.

The owner saw the paper fall and quietly leaned over and picked it up. He saw that it held orders sealed with the Queen's seal. He opened it and read the message,

Pick up the cloaks and then make your way back to the house with speed. We need to put our plan into action tonight and get out of here. The North waits for no man.

The store owner became immediatley angry, what where these strangers really doing in his village, and what was this plan they were talking about? He armd himself with the shotgun and left for the village Leader's house.

Aaren was walking back to the house when a thought accured to him. He didn't ask to go on this mission, and he really didnt want to be here. He could dump the cloaks, grab his horse and high-tail it out of here if he wanted to. But by the time he was halfway to the house, these thoughts were already leaving. They dispersed completely and were replaced by shock as a heavy back was jammed over his head, he tripped and rope was wound around his hands, forcing them to stay behind his back. He tried to yell but found he could not speak, his mind failed him as he passed out. His last coherent thought was, "This ground is hard..."

When Aaren awoke, he found himself in a small room, tied to a strong wooden chair. He was gagged and tied up but not blind-folded. A window was cracked open to his right; through it he could see that the sky had gone from a dusky gray to complete black; it was now late night. His observence was disturbed by a door opening behind him. He heard a pair of heavy footsteps and a pair of lighter footsteps coming towards him; the footsteps' owners walked into perephial view from the left. It was the shop owner and a large man he had not yet met before.

The owner cocked his head to the side, studying the young man. The large man reached behind Aaren and tightened the ropes securing his hands, and cutting off his blood flow a little in the process.

Aaren tried to talk around the gag, "Mrph, hrmh."

The men exchanged looks, the shop owner nodded, the big man then untied the gag from his mouth and dropped it to the floor.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here in our town on the Queen's orders?" The shop owner asked.

Aaren took a deep breath, "My name is Aaren, son of Duke. I am one of the Queen's guards. I am not neccesarily here on her orders. We were to pass through your village because it was part of the safe route we are traveling. When we got here, everyone was-and still is- jumpy and afraid. We asked the leader and he told us what was passing around. The only reason we are still here is because Ca-our commander decided to help rid you of your monster." Aaren paused to breath and give the men time to respond.

The large man spoke first, "My name is Will, and I'm one of the head protectors in this town. We don't take kindly to people visiting and making trouble. So what you tell me had better be completely honest. Are you really here to help us? Or are you here to destroy us."

Aaren answered slowly, "We are here to help. Ca-My commander told me to find some dark cloaks, its part of his plan."

The shop owner answered this time, "And just what is that plan?"

Aaren shook his head, "I dont know. I just know that I was ordered to go purchase dark cloaks. Only our commander knows the whole plan."

The men did not look very happy with that answer; but they must have thought that Aaren's story checked out. One of the men pulled a knife from his belt and slit the ropes securing Aaren to the chair. The large man walked Aaren to the door as Aaren started to walk out the man grabbed his shoulder, stopping him.

"You seem the nice type. So know this; if your plan causes harm to anyone or beast here, I swear on my mother's grave that I will slit the throats of you and your group, understand?"

Aaren swallowed nervously, "Yes, sir! I understand."

The man let him go for good this time, Aaren walked out the door calmly; but as soon as the house was out of sight he started to run. In his hurry he did not notice the figure standing in front of him. He slammed into it, causing him and the man to fall to the ground.

"Im sorry! I didn't see you!" Aaren started, but then he looked closer at the man; it was Sam.

"Sam?" He asked, "Didn't you go with Cody to the leader's home?"

Sam nodded yes, "But they got suspicous. We left and split up. Cody went to the house where we are staying and I decided to go there a different way. Didn't you go to the shop to get cloaks?"

Aaren held up the armfull of fabric, "Yeah, they're right here. I was heading home when I was kidnapped." Aaren went on to explain what had happened, as he did both Aaren and Sam got up and started off towards the house they were staying in.

When they reached the house, they found the rest of their group in a frenzy, they seemed worried and a little bit afraid.

"Um, is everything okay?" Aaren asked.

"Aaren!" Cage shouted happily, "Is Sam with you?"

Aaren stepped aside to reveal the other man, Cage and the others visibly relaxed. Smiles replaced the frowns and the tension in the room desolved.

Cage sighed in relief, then he started in to his rant, "Where have you two been? Aaren, I sent you out two and a half hours ago! Where were you? And Sam, why didn't you come back with Cody, I sent you two together for a reason!"

The young men looked embarressed, but they explained what had happened to them. As they spoke, Cage cooled down and the rest of the men looked more and more concerned.

When they had both explained themselves; Cage shook his head a little. "We really need to rid them of this beast, no town should be that concerned."

He gave them orders and they carried them out, finally, and hour later, they were ready to go.

"Come men, we need to go find that beast!" Cage called.

The men- and The Queen- cheered, they grabbed their weapons and assembled things that Cage had asked for, they left the house in Cody's able-if a bit feverish- hands.

They charged out the door; Cody and Sam had told them what they learned from the Leaders. There was an abandoned house just a five minute walk away, it was just outside of the town. They moved quickly and quietly, making use of the shadows, they remained unseen. They came into view of the house and Cage put a hand up to halt his men. In hushed tones he gave them the plan; they all donned their cloaks. He had each man light the torch he was holding and unsheath a sword. They crept up towards the house quietly; it was earily dark and it creaked with every ghust of wind. The flickering torches caused strange shadows to appear and disappear. The men entered the house and spread out slightly. A sudden cry of alarm from Jon sent all of the men into a frenzy- they ran to where Jon stood and froze. A gaping hole in the ground took up most of the floor in the room; it emitted a horrible odor that made all of the men gag. The smell was not the worst part though; covering the bottom of the hole was the source of the terrible odor. The bodies of small children and the missing animals were piled up, all of them were half-devoured and caked with blood. It was obvious that all of the bodies had been dead for some time.

The Queen let loose a sob of horror, she turned away, leaning against the wall she lost her supper. She retched till she had nothing left in her stomach.

The soldiers could not tear their eyes from the gruesome scene before them, even the strongest among them had to fight back their tears. Jon-the oldest of them besides Cody- had children of his own. All he could think of as he looked at the decayed pile of bodies was the image of his two infant daughters and his five year old son in the same predicament. As soon as the men had gotten over the shock of it, the steeled themselves and moved on.

"Alright men," Cage started, fighting the quiver in his voice, "We need to find this spawn of a thrice-damned demon and kill it. Now." He turned to the Queen, she was still leaning against the wall, sobs wracked her body and she shook from the pain of it all. His face softened for a moment, but he could not afford to be distractedyet.

He and the men crouched against the wall, they were waiting for the beast to return to its den. After about fifteen minutes of waiting, their patience was rewarded. They heard slamming, crashing, and squealing as the monster stormed into its home. 

-to be continued-