The Thanaton Syndrome

Chapter Thirty One: Pt. 1

Seconds later, Seth peeked out of the tent again, this time wearing a long blue cloak. It was a bit long, but it worked.

He didn't think the questers would see him. They wouldn't recognize him, but he could hide in the trees like all the other archers. He gripped Jasper's bow, awkwardly reaching for an arrow from his waist (these archers, he found, tied the arrows in a bin around their waist as opposed to their backs). He took a deep breath, snuck out from the tent and slipped, or stumbled, into the forest.

The second he did, tripping in the brush and sticks, he knew he'd made a mistake. He couldn't see a thing, and how on earth could he get the arrows from the archers without alerting them to who he was?

An idea struck him, just as he stumbled against a large log. He took all Jasper's arrows and dumped them, hiding them in the surrounding leaves. Then he hurried through the forest, hoping to run into someone.

He jumped as he heard a gruff voice in his head. "What on earth are ye doing? Blend, would ya? Blend!"

Seth hardly registered what the man had said before blurting out, in his best gruff voice, "Arrows! I ran out!"

The other man grumbled, and shoved a clump toward him. "C'mon now, they're gonna see ya. Get back to base if ya run out again."

"Got it, sorry." Seth did his best to blend into the trees, and the man slipped away, hardly making a sound. Seth reached out to make sure the man had gone, then rushed to find another good hiding spot.

He hid the arrows under a clump of leaves, and rustled back into the trees. Soon, someone else caught him, but this man didn't seem nearly as forgiving as the other. He grabbed Seth by the ear and dragged him through the forest.

Seth tried not to yell, but his entire head hurt from the man's grasp. "Get—"

"What did I tell you kids about getting in the thick of battle?" The man flung him down, into the dirt, and Seth blinked in confusion. Trying to get his bearings, he looked around and saw a dim light. More blue cloaked people sat around the light—a lamp, he could now see—but as he looked closer, he realized they were kids.

"Now." The man grabbed his wrist, clenching so tight Seth thought it would snap off. "You stay here. You guard the arrows and supplies. You stay out of the battle. Is that clear?" He said the last question through gritted teeth, squeezing Seth's wrist even harder.

Unable to think of anything else to do, Seth quickly nodded.

"Good. You'll get us all caught if you wander off," The man said, releasing his arm. "Then we all die. Any survivors get punished by His Highness, and it's a lose-lose for everyone. Got it?"

Again, Seth's head bounced up and down fervently.

The man grunted, knocked Seth on the head, and disappeared into the night. Immediately after he'd gone, Seth whirled around to face the other boys, who'd watched on silently.

"You oughta know better by now," one said.

Seth didn't answer.

"Well?" Said another. "You just gonna gawk, or do ya wanna come get warm by the lamp?"

"Um..." Slowly, Seth scooted over to the lamp. He eyed them all warily. Somehow, they hadn't recognized him, but that's not what puzzled him. Why did the archers have a bunch of kids with them? It seemed so uncharacteristic for such a group. What's more, these kids did nothing but sit around the lamp and watch over arrows?

They watched over arrows, though. Seth practically had full access to the base arrow supply. As he thought, he looked around to see if he could find where they kept them. Maybe if an archer came to stock up, he'd be able to see where they went.

The other boys had started to whisper among themselves by now, and the boy next to Seth chose this moment to strike up a conversation. "How come you did that?"

"Did what?" Seth turned, trying to see the boy's face, but only able to see shadows of it in the dim light.

"Snuck off, of course."

"Well, I guess I...I don't really know."

"You wanted to fight, didn't you?"

"Um, yeah I did." He wasn't sure what else to say.

"Well, knock it off, would ya? You'll get us all in trouble."

Seth glanced at the boy, surprised by the sudden aggression in his voice. "Why do you care so much all of a sudden?"

"All of a sudden? What do you mean? I always cared. If another does something like that, none of us will get the cure."

"The cure for the Thanaton Syndrome?" Seth asked, surprised once again.

"Um, sure, if you mean that disease that's been putting everyone to sleep."

"They promised you the cure if you, what, did a good job guarding the arrows?"

"Well, that's one way to put it, but...hold up. They promised you the same thing."

"Oh, right. Yeah, I just...forgot."

"Mm." The boy seemed to look at him funny, but didn't question him on it further. "So who ya doing it for?" He asked.

"Doing it for?"

"Yeah, ya know, why do you need the cure?"

"Um, my sister." Seth didn't think he even had to lie on this one.

"Oh. My dad's got the disease, twelve days left."

Seth stayed quiet, before saying, "Sorry."

He yearned to know how the archers could pay these kids with the cure, when there supposedly was no cure yet. Either the questers didn't know about something, or the archers were bluffing to these kids. In the latter case, Seth wished he could go knock every one of them out like he'd done Jasper. How cruel to promise these kids something they couldn't and wouldn't ever have.

Finally, watching what he said carefully, Seth said, "Do you believe them? That they'll give us the cure, I mean."

The boy shrugged. "S'all we got. Maybe they aren't telling the truth, but—" He lowered his voice, glancing around at the other boys to make sure they didn't hear. "I don't think we're supposed to know, so don't go off and blab, but I heard Byron and Aquila talking last night...I think they tracked down the outlander."

~~~~~

We're on to chapter 31! Whew! 

What do you think of Seth's new little "friend"? Interesting little situation here... Well, I hope you like the first part. If you do, please leave a vote, and be sure to come back Monday for part 2! Thanks for reading :)

~RLM