Chapter 4
“The traitor is dead!” said the messenger. “Our royal fire wielders tracked the coward and cornered him in the Krastic cave.” He stopped to catch his breath. “Albert Hyatt refused to surrender. Our fire wielders were left with little choice but to scorch the cave with black fire. Only his charred bones remained.”
“Death to the traitor!” came the cries from the crowd.
“Good riddance!”
“Yes!”
“There he is, the brother of that filth!” yelled a long, stretched-out man who looked more like a toothpick with two eyes. More people from the crowd spotted him. Falcon backed off, afraid of the angry expressions on their faces.
“He knew where his brother was hiding but refused to divulge his whereabouts,” said a voice from the crowd. Falcon turned and saw the voice belonged to the same guard who’d visited him earlier. More voices joined in.
“He’s a traitor, like his brother.”
“He was in on it. He must be punished.”
“I always knew those two were up to no good.”
Tears poured down Falcon’s face.
A large piece of bread thrown by the toothpick man hit Falcon square in the chest. A short, stubby woman plucked a large tomato from her basket and flung it at Falcon. The tomato found its intended target, bursting into pieces on his forehead. Seconds later an apple, thrown by the ape-kid, slammed into his right cheekbone. More and more people joined in, throwing whatever they could get their hands on. Fruits, rocks, dirt, sandals, vegetables, it all became fair game.
Falcon ran as fast as he could. He didn’t know where he was headed. He just knew he needed to get away from those hateful people.
He sprinted through the city and into the green prairies of Ladria. Up and down he went through the uneven terrain. Thunder cracked above him, and lightning flashed in the distant horizon. He got a quick glance of the thick-branched trees of Wingdor Forest.
“We’re going to get you!” yelled Laars. Falcon’s energy was all but depleted. Yet, he closed his eyes and put all his efforts on this last stretch. His chest ached. The smell of wet grass, the same smell that brought back memories of his training sessions with his brother, infused him with energy.
When he opened his eyes again, he was about a foot away from a dead tree branch sprawled across the ground. He jumped over it and entered the dreaded Wingdor Forest. Every child had heard stories from merchants and traveling warriors of the horrendous things they’d seen in the forest once the sun went down. He doubted his pursuers would continue their chase now.
Falcon slowed and dared a glance back. To his terror he saw that Laars and his gang were still giving chase.
Once again Falcon quickened his pace. Deeper and deeper he went into the cryptic forest. The rotten smell of animal carcasses permeated the air. Owls hooted at a distance. The piercing red eyes of wild beasts stared at him through the darkness. They were everywhere. Their unrelenting gaze followed him regardless of how far he ran.
His body gave in to exhaustion as he stumbled into a thick tree. Tears wet his cheeks and blended with the cold raindrops. Footsteps closed in, sending a shiver down his spine. A second later, his pursuers burst through a pile of dead tree branches. A smirk covered Laars’ oversized head. The gang, though, did not seem to share in his decisiveness.
Delita twitched and rubbed his bald head. His half-closed eyes darted back and forth between Laars and his surroundings.
“Maybe we shouldn’t be here,” said one of the gang members. His voice trembled.
“Yes, we should leave,” added Delita.
“Really? Again? I’m the leader here, and I say no one is going anywhere until we take care of business.”
A loud howl pierced the air. A creature’s heavy footsteps marched toward them. The howl turned into a low growl that steadily grew louder.
“Or perhaps we should let the forest take care of the traitorous bloke,” blubbered Lao under his breath, as he slunk away. The remaining boys didn’t hesitate to follow his lead. There was a sharp crack, like the sound of branches breaking. Falcon looked toward the noise. Left, right, above. With his dulled senses he couldn’t tell from where the sound originated. Trees swirled around him, and the grass twirled under his feet. Unable to handle the sensation, his body crashed.
He didn’t try to get up. Why bother? He didn’t have enough energy to escape even if he wanted to. Instead he took one last look at the revolving stars.
A shadow moved in front of him. He tried to make out the creature. To his surprise the animal resembled a man more than any beast he had ever seen. He noticed a scar that ran through the left eye before he lost consciousness.
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Element Wielder
Fantasy"His mother's screams remained etched in his mind. He promised himself that night he would never again stand by as people he cared for suffered, and he would one day kill Volcseck. He intended to keep those promises." Falcon Hyatt has a problem. For...
