Dragon Frost (28 page)

“
No.” I
raise a brow and he sighs. “Maybe . . .” I growl. I stand, leaving
Altair lying on the ground calling out after me. I’m furious with
Altair and with Varden. Those two can act like such children
playing these stupid games and now as a result someone’s hurt.
Stupid Altair! Stupid Varden! I sit down on a boulder and remove my
helmet. I throw it on the ground, frustrated. I haven’t moved away
too far from the clearing just far enough from Altair. “Kal! I’m
sorry!” he calls.

“
Sure,
you are.” I mutter under my breath knowing he can hear me and after
that I don’t hear his voice anymore. He can be such a jerk! It’s
one thing to flaunt his alpha male ego it’s another to purposely
hurt someone. Now look, what’s happened. I place my head in my
hands and mutter curses at me, at Varden, at Altair and question
why Neragarden is playing these games with me. He must enjoy
watching me in pain. It’s only understandable though, I’m supposed
to be with Altair yet I feel guilty for hurting Varden. Why do I
feel guilty though? Since when did he become important?

“
Now that
was something.” calls a voice and I turn to see Lifet. I
scowl.

“
What do
you want?” I snap.

“
Whoa,
don’t be mad at me because your boyfriend was showing what he
owned.” I glare at him. What did he mean by that? And why does he
continue to call him my boyfriend? Why does he seem to show up at
the most conspicuous times?

“
I’m not
mad at you and what did you mean he was showing that he owned me.
I’m not some item to be sold off or bought. Thank you!” I growl and
I stand to walk towards the frozen river not too far from where the
boulder was. Lifet continues to follow, not that I blame him. I do
kind of need someone around. Not that I’ll voice that out
loud.

That will only
just make me more vulnerable.

That will
just give him another edge to use against me should he need to. Why
are men and this universe difficult to comprehend? I take that back
the universe is easy to comprehend it’s the men in it that’s
difficult. “Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.” I
mutter as I glare at the frozen ice hoping I somehow developed
Superman’s made up heat vision. I’ve never come across a species
with heat vision or with the ability to soak the yellow suns
radiation into their cells and gain power, maybe gain energy but
not power. “Comic books,”

“
What are
comic books?” asks Lifet as he sits beside me. I didn’t even hear
him walk up behind me. I have no idea if this man should be called
an Assassin, he should be given the term Ninja. He’s so silent and
evasive.

“
They’re
. . . ” I trail off trying to find a more suitable way to describe
them. “Short stories with pictures,” I say.

“
I
thought stories weren’t supposed to have pictures.” he
comments.

“
That’s
true to a degree but this is a different type of story all
together. It’s not a children’s story but it can be read by
children and adults. There are different type of characters with
super speed, super strength, some are even gods or there are super
smart people that make suits or gadgets. It’s all about
imagination.” I say and Lifet’s brows arch as he takes in my words.
Disbelief is evident on his features, it’s hilarious. I would
consider not telling them about stuff from the future but I haven’t
time travelled I’ve only just transferred from one galaxy to
another—to one with younger years and obviously lesser
intelligence.

“
How can
a god be in a book?” he asks. I sigh; he’s come to believe that the
gods are all around him. It’s the stars, the earth, the wind, the
mountains and I’m starting to only just now learn that there’s a
lot more gods on this world than I thought there was.

“
It’s a
story. It’s not like the God of Earth was placed in a book. The god
is a part of the Viking religion.”

“
What’s a
Viking?” he peers and I laugh. “What?”

“
Nothing,
nothing,” He can be completely dense with some things but I’ve come
to know that he’s a really sharp and clever man, who, if not
careful will kill you in your sleep. At times I have to remind
myself the year here is the ‘eighteen hundreds’. Still they appear
to have advanced a lot more than the Humans in some areas—not all
but some.

Being
around Lifet really did manage to help me forget about all my
quarrels with the boys. I had explained to him what a Viking was,
where they lived and how long ago and on what world his eyes light
up in surprise and I laughed. Then we began to talk about the
history of Earth and how each country came to be. “That’s not a
story is it?” he asked at some point and I shake my head not
helping at the wide grin on my features.

I can’t
remember how long it’s been but the sun begins to rise and I feel a
lot better now. “This morning is so going to be awkward.” I voice
out loud. Now it’s his turn to laugh. I growl at him and push him
where he tumbles off the log we had moved to from our position
beside the river. He falls into a pile of snow. “That’s not funny!”
I growl. I stand and cross my arms, turning my back on
him.

“
You’re
right it’s not but this is.” Something cold hits the back of my
head and snow falls over my cloak and scales before tumbling to the
ground.

“
You did
not just throw snow at me.” I say turning around slowly glancing at
Lifet. A snow ball is in his hand and he shrugs.

“
Maybe I
did. Maybe I didn’t.” he teases and I pile some snow in my hand and
throw it at him. He’s shocked at my action. “You did not just throw
snow at me.” I smile.

“
Maybe I
did. Maybe I didn’t.” We both laugh and spend our morning in a snow
fight. It is actually nice to have a fight without actually hurting
someone. Also, it made me feel like a kid again. It made me feel
like the child I was never given a chance to be. Lifet had built
his own fortress and as did I even though mine wasn’t as sturdy. He
had knocked it down saying that he was Superman.

He
continued to use that phrase after I had explained to him who
Superman was and what he could do since the snow may have hit him
it didn’t hurt him and so he used the reference with the bullets. I
laughed and he tackled me to the ground forcing snow into my face.
By the time we were done it was mid-morning and both of us were
hungry. “Why don’t we find some fresh game?” he asks.

“
Sure.” I
say and we rise from the ground searching the forest. “Just let me
tell the others where I’m going. They’ll flip if I
don’t.”

I can see
that he feels almost left out by not being around my comrades. He
may be an Assassin but he hasn’t killed me and from what I can tell
may not even in the future. I shake my head, he smiles and I lead
the way. The fire is going from what I can tell Altair had it going
and managed to find a meal for Varden, the stew he made is now
gone.

“
Sorry
but you missed breakfast.” comments Altair casually, his legs
kicked up on a piece of log where his body is nestled between both
the snow covered log and the boulder where his back leans against.
His arms tucked under his head. I cross my arms and
growl.

“
I’m
going to get my own breakfast.” I say, “With Lifet.” I gesture to
the man beside me and Altair looks at him with surprise for a
second before pulling that face saying “I don’t care about
anything” look which I know isn’t true. Varden is sitting on the
opposite end of the clearing and glares at me and Altair. Not that
it matters, I know that it’s not my fault that I’m supposed to
marry him but I didn’t know he was there when Altair at that moment
kissed me before him.

“
Sure. My
cooking’s better anyway.” he says and I glare.

“
I won’t
be the only one cooking it!” I growl and grasp Lifet’s hand pulling
him away without another word to my comrades. “Damn! Him!” I growl
as I drag Lifet behind me not that I notice until we are a far way
away. I reluctantly release my grasp and apologize,
“Sorry.”

“
It’s
okay. I don’t mind.” he says before scanning the valley below us.
“Where do you think we should start?” The landscape before us is
serene and peaceful. It is odd to see something so calming—I feel
hesitant and jumpy as we stride through the forest. Turning over my
shoulder every now and again, ensuring I won’t be snuck up on. I
walk right into something hard and turn to see Lifet looking at me
with concern.

“
Sorry.”

“
You’re
safe.” he says as if thinking what I’m thinking, his tone is
sincere. All those thoughts about him being my enemy vanished in
that moment and I nod. I realised then that I can trust him. We
wonder through the forest for some time before we stop behind a
large boulder to see a Snow Panther. That will be able to feed us
for four days if we were generous with the game. The panther’s head
picks up as if it senses our presence.

Lifet and
I drop behind a boulder. He hands me something. Tubit leaves. They
were and still are used to conceal Zylarian scents. I nod and take
it, rubbing it into my scales. Lifet does the same with his exposed
parts. By the time we glance over the boulder the panther is gone,
leaving behind a dead carcass behind, I realise that it’s a
Wildebeest. How a large winter animal; similar to a boar on
Earth—minus the tusks and snout. As if on impulse Lifet and I move
from the boulder and towards the carcass, the smell didn’t bother
us. We were used to it.

I point
to the distant frozen foliage. “There.” I say. “It went that
way.”

Lifet
nods and we follow the paw prints of the Snow Panther. The panther
we captured is, now, being skinned before Varden who intentionally
shrinks at the sight of it, his lips gouge up in disgust as his
blue eyes were watching us work—unable to pull away his eyes. “You
don’t have to watch.” I say. He doesn’t turn to me nor
away.

“
It’s
hard not to.” he comments. I stop what I’m doing and so does Lifet.
We turn to him.

“
Maybe
Altair could use your help.” I suggest and he nods and stands
striding over to Altair who remains in the same place in the same
position as I had left him previously. He is an odd man, I’ll give
him that much but Varden is someone who doesn’t have a strong
stomach. I almost feel sorry for him, people so compassionate have
no place in a world like this. I know that I’m one of them but I
had to shield my heart in steel. Ensuring I cannot just survive
physically but mentally and emotionally.

The
thought of my mental and emotional state will have to be assessed
when I return to Nephelia. No doubt they’ll keep me in an isolated
room for a whole week—monitoring me for change in brainwave
frequency. Depending on my results they’ll probably increase my
concentration of my medication. The ones I often use to help me
battle my traumatic heart and mind. What I wouldn’t have given to
be at home watching over children but then again, I don’t know what
I would do without the outlet.

People
may think of me as crazy but when you see a darker side of life
that I don’t often want to recount. Sometimes your mind is smart
enough to block out the traumatic things. Explaining why when I was
younger—teenage years. I couldn’t remember much prior to my twenty
first birthday. I could remember what school, university, degrees
and aspirations but people, places and things that gave me my
ability to wield any weapon came up blank.

I
honestly questioned whether I was sane or not because I would have
these crazy dreams, of crossfire, explosions, screams and gunfire.
That wasn’t even the surface of it. I continue to skin the panther
before I knew it we were on the road. The next town approaches us
sooner than I can begin to announce. The boys, continue, to discuss
topics which I have no interest in nor at the moment have the
mental capacity to concentrate on. I demount my horse and walk over
to where I see something rather peculiar stick up out of the
ground. I slowly make my way towards it.

“
Kal,
what’s wrong?” asks Altair and I ignore him—cautiously continue to
approach and I stop. My jaw drops open.

“
Guys,
you might want to come over and see this.” I suggest. I stare down
at the sight before me shocked and surprised at the same time.
Altair dismounts his horse and is by my side
immediately.

“
What is
it?” he asks and I point at the gorge below. A whole Grattican army
appear to be marching towards the next down, I glance down the
hill. I zoom in—spying several Grattican troops and Midra
government peacekeepers on patrol. I turn to Altair and I know he
saw what I saw. The enemy, have grown impatient. When we reach the
town, we had to disguise ourselves. I honestly didn’t like this
because my hair and my mismatched eyes but luckily I get to wear a
bandanna around my head. I just will have to keep my eyes down as I
walk around in a gown, only made it more annoying.

Varden
walks beside me as we act casually as possible. We had to separate
to avoid arousing suspicion. I knew they were looking for him. I
knew they were looking for Varden; they either planned to kill him
on the spot or hand him over to Golgotha who’ll probably force him
into slavery over my dead body will I let that happen.

Several
guards walk before us and glance down at me, instinctively Varden
wraps his arm around me and pretends I’m shy which we both know I’m
not. Still the guards don’t seem to notice us and I’m no longer
wearing my heels which mimic that of dragon paws. When we were out
of eye sight, Varden and I continued to scout out the city. All the
Inns appear to have been taken by the soldiers. I glare at them and
their men. “So, we’re sleeping in the woods tonight?” asks Varden
and I can tell that the cold air is getting to him.