Atlas Cloud And The Amulet of Thieves (14 page)

“I’m going for a walk.” I said.

“Don’t go too far...” He said.

“Yes, yes dark evils. I won’t be long.” I replied.

I took a stroll along the shore line. I kept a fair distance from the water. After walking with only my thoughts and the silent stare of the lake I took out the journal I took from the safe haven. The front of the diary was wrapped in leather to keep it protected from the hazards outside the paper walls. It had worked for the most part, although some of the pages were singed and tainted with stains. I opened it from the beginning this time, hoping to find out more about this fabled princess.

‘February 23rd – Sataem’

‘I married the prince today. I had second thoughts about him, but my father assures me that he is a noble man. A man I can serve well. My father bought a boat for our wedding, the old boathouse was rebuilt and it looks magnificent. He always mocked me for my interest in them but he doesn’t see what I see. I see the potential; it is a vessel that can take you across to another land, another world. Foreign and beautiful, it is an escape…’

Besides the entry there were sketches of different types of boats, all sizes and shapes. She let her imagination take her. There were scribblings throughout the book, flowers and the sea. I turned the page to find a scale drawing of the manor. She sounded happy and content, but no mention of the amulet. I heard voices coming from behind me. I stowed the book away into my rucksack quickly. The voice was coming from a bush behind me. I crawled towards, stopping wary of an intruder. I listened carefully but it sounded like gibberish, yet also strangely familiar. I pushed past the small trees and bushes to find out what it was.

“Is anybody there?” I called, out hoping for a friendly answer. I stepped through the natural barrier and found Gillian huddled over a book, talking to himself. “Gillian?” I said. He was startled and closed the book, standing up as quickly as he could.

“Oh Atlas, you nearly scared me half to death.” He said.

“What are you doing this far from camp?” I said, suspicious of him.

“What’s it to you boy?” He said becoming defensive.

“I just wanted to see of you were alright.” I said.

“What happened in the cavern?” He said, his brow closing in on his eyes. I didn’t want to tell him anything. Nothing I say will be good for him to hear.

“It was no one’s fault, he fell, I tried to pull him up. But I couldn’t.” I said.

“You? My son died because of an outlander.” He said. He started to grit his teeth; he was beginning to sound like Edmund. I regret the decision to investigate the noise almost immediately.

“I tried everything I could but the walls were too unstable.” I glanced at his hand and it was bleeding, there was a slice deep into his skin. “Are you bleeding?”

“It’s nothing; I cut myself on one of these branches.” He said hiding his wound from me. The brief change of subject gave me an opening to leave.

“Wait there.” He said. I froze on the spot, turned away from him, vulnerable. “I’m sorry.” He whispered. I thought it was for his temper but it had a deeper meaning, it was heart-felt.

                “Aaaaahhhhhhhh!” A scream echoed through the mountains, rocking me to my very core.

“What the hell was that?” I said.

“Someone’s in troub…” Before he finished his sentence, I turned and bolted towards camp. Running as fast as I could, I didn’t realise how far I had wandered away from camp. It felt like miles, my muscles were pushed to the limits, the wind crashing into my face, trying to stop me. I burst out into camp, everyone was standing to attention. Weapons ready, looking towards the lake. The mist that blanketed the water was now towering above everyone. Twenty feet high. You couldn’t even see the lake anymore. Everyone was silent, listening to the crunching and scratching. The sounds were horrible, chilling me to the bone.

Eli was stood beside me, grasping his sword. I could see the terror in his eyes, but he stood firm. There was a loud screech, and then hordes of disgusting creatures emerged from the water. They looked vaguely like people, except they were deformed and grotesque. Their skin was a sickly grey colour, tears in their flesh, revealing muscle and bone. They dragged themselves out of their grave. They were slow, easy to outrun. Eyes of blood, dripping down their body, leaving red streaks on their skin. Leopold fired a lightning bolt into one of the creatures. It exploded into a thousand pieces, raining chucks of tendon and flesh onto the others. The creatures shrieked and pounced onto the bloody carcass that was left. More emerged from the dark abyss. After devouring their brother, their focus changed to us. They all darted forward, having the taste of blood in their mouth, wanting more and more. Never stopping. Blasts of energy littered the camp. They were everywhere, there were too many. They were faster than I thought; I couldn’t keep track of them all. One of them spotted me and began sprinting towards me. I tried putting my fist up, ready to expel it away. But I couldn’t, my legs rebelling against my mind, I’m stuck in place, my hands trembling by my side. The creature was gaining speed and was almost on me. I am going to die, ravaged by a putrid troll. The beast jumped from a rock nearby, hurtling itself into the air.

“Atlas!” Eli jumped from my side, plunging his sword into the creature’s chest. He fell to the ground, the creature was dead. Lifeless. I broke out of the trance I was ready to defend my friend. There were too many for him to fight on his own. Another flanked us from the side, this time I didn’t hesitate for a second. I swung my elbow round, striking it in the skull, knocking it to the ground. Turning my fist into a sledgehammer I struck again, this time caving in the monsters head. Its face crumbling into the ground as my hand cleaves through its brain. Before I could even recover, one of the creatures slashed at my back, its talons, tearing into my skin. I yelled out in pain, and anger filled my body, I spun round, kicking it in the chest. It flew backwards, its spine snapped against a tree trunk.

“Retreat! Retreat to the forest.” Farro cried out. Everyone bolted towards the treeline, firing bolts of magic behind them hoping to slow the creatures down. I grabbed Eli by the shoulder.

“Come on we have to go.” I ignored the pain filled scratches on my back; they weren’t going to slow me down. We both ran for our lives, heading for the rest of the group. The creatures were close behind us, if we delayed for more than a second, they would be on top of us. Too many to fight.

“Atlas! Help me.” Eli shouted from behind me. He was on the floor, looking at me. He fell. There was no time to get back up and run, he was helpless. I was helpless.

“No.” I said watching, as four of the creatures grab him. Everything seemed to stagnate I was watching everything unfold in slow motion, my heart beating wildly in my chest, knocking against the hard inner shell. ‘Breathe’. I exhaled slowly and calmly. Lunging forward, I swiped my arm through the air, letting out a roar that shook the ground beneath me. A wave of light burst through my totem, rippling through the air, the blast smashing into the creature’s very souls, ripping their lifeless bodies into shreds, leaving nothing but bone.

I was knocked back from the raw power of the wave, sending me into the air, collapsing to the floor. My head smashed onto a rock, my vision went hazy, colours melted into each other, and everything became one big blur.

I was in and out of consciousness, seeing trees fly past me. I was being dragged away from the camp, the howls of the monsters and the agonizing yelps of my friends combined together, almost harmonizing, creating a melody of pain and anger. I could see Farro in front of me, running with me, keeping the beasts away with blasts of his staff. I blinked and he was gone, he must have been taken by the creatures, falling into the darkness. My eyes closed for longer and longer each time, it was hard to keep awake.

18 –BLOODLUST-

The screams had stopped. I slowly peered through the gaps of my eyelids expecting to see the unstoppable dead lingering above me, sniffing through the corpses, looking for some live meat. But I wasn’t. I was greeted by the sun, orange as I remembered it before the demons and monsters, back in a simpler time where there was school and homework, no amulets, no fighting, just life. I sat up. Ingram and Roko were tending to each other’s wounds. Farro and Alistair were huddled around Jacob. His throat was slashed and he was bleeding out, too much damage was done to his jugular to repair with magic. Magic can do great things, but it can’t stop fate. He was dying and quickly. I couldn’t see Leopold or Gib they must have been separated from the group.

“You’re awake.” Eli said handing me his drink container.

“Yes, unfortunately.” I said scratching my head. “I don’t remember how I got here, what happened?” Eli paused and sat down beside me.

              “After you saved me, we all ran through the forest.” He said. He was caring for a cut on his arm as he talked. “Ingram and I grabbed you and dragged you with us.”

“I guess that means we’re even then.” I said tipping an imaginary hat to him. He smiled, but it shortly disappeared and was replaced with a scowl that was caused by him pulling splinters the size of pencils out of his arm.

“They were almost on us and then the sun came up. I guess the creatures were allergic to it or something because after that they ran away. Some even blew up into dust.” He said, pouting his lips and making make shift explosions with his hands.

“Where are the rest of them?” I said, looking around for Gillian.

“Gillian is creating a perimeter, making sure the creatures are all gone. And the other two didn’t return with us, they got separated.” He said bowing his head forwards. They were probably dead, but he didn’t want to say it. There was so much screaming and panic, they took us by surprise and we had no chance.

“Is anyone hurt?” I said. Eli pointed over to Jacob, his eyes telling me everything I needed to hear. I stood up, Eli holding me under the arms helping me. The walk over to them was grim, Ingram had been hurt. Her eye was gashed out; she was blinded by the beasts. I hardly knew her but it was terrible, a sight that made me hate this place. Alistair was holding Jacob under the neck, cradling him. Jacob was breathing faintly, his lungs trying their hardest to keep him alive. Farro was trying spell after spell nothing helping, he was too far gone. The damage was too extensive; there was nothing he could do. There was nothing any of us could do.

“Do something, anything, just heal him.” Alistair said pleading with Farro. Farro didn’t say anything he looked him in the eyes and was silent. Alistair knew that there was nothing for him, but couldn’t except it.

“Come on Jake, it was only a scratch, just breathe.” He said his words crumbling in his mouth. His face melting with sorrow, he has been so strong, so unyielding. The faint breathing stopped. Jacob’s eyes rolled back into his head, leaving us, to finally escape this nightmare. We all stepped back and left him be, Alistair staying, still cradling him, holding onto him for the very last time.

“What happened, I thought the Lake was a myth?” I said to Farro.

“I don’t know for sure. It’s lucky that the creatures were born of the dark, they weren’t meant to walk upon the day. They shouldn’t have attacked just because we were camping there. There’s something here we’re not seeing.” We dwelled on our thoughts, morale was diminished, and we were maimed and injured. Even if we did find the Amulet we would have to fight for it and we don’t have the strength.

The trees were thin and widespread; their skin of bark was grey. It felt like a deathly place to stay. Even though we could see clearly around us, there was a darkness surrounding us. Always in the distance, out of reach, blocking us from the rest of the world leaving us stranded here. A cold sensation rippled down the back of my neck. I was bleeding; my head hit the rock harder than I thought. I became woozy and sat on the ground. Roko spotted me fall and came with bandages and medicine.

“Your head’s bleeding.” Roko said examining me.

“Thanks doctor, so how much do I owe you?” I said sarcastically, the red blood all over my hands as well.

“It’s not too bad, it should be easy enough to fix. Are you hurt anywhere else?” She said walking around the side of me, kneeling in front of me.

“No.” I said the pain from my shoulder has been there for so long I forgot. She looked at me unconvinced, determined to repair me. She pulled open the buttons and straps on my leather armour, revealing the black-death writhing through my veins.

“Oh my god, why haven’t you mentioned this before?” She said stepping back slightly.

“It was the hunter; it’s slowly taking over me. I don’t know if I can hide it anymore.” I said showing her the rest, the purple and black sludge parading through the skin, down my left arm, boiling over my hand. The skin was dark now, not grey.

“You should have told us. This is serious.” Roko said dabbing it with a wet cloth.

“I didn’t want to worry Eli. And there’s nothing we can do about it anyway so why bother?” I said. I pulled over my jacket, hiding it from her. “What is the point in trying to help me, I’m broken? Ingram needs more help than me.” Roko looked over to Ingram; she was using magic to help ease the pain on her eyes.