The Thanaton Syndrome

Chapter Forty One: Pt. 2

Without warning, Christian leapt toward them, banging one on the head with the butt of his sword while Piper disarmed and held a knife to other's neck.

Turning to the one under Piper's control, Christian said, "What do you want with us?"

The man's eyes bulged in surprise, but he said nothing.

"Answer me," Christian said. "What do you want, and how did you know we were in the maze?"

Piper yelped as the soldier bit her hand. He then appeared to bite his shoulder, falling to the ground.

"What..." Christian grabbed ahold of the man's shoulders, shaking him as the man gave a sly smile. He went still a moment later.

"Killed himself," Christian said. "Alright, well, the army's blocking our way to the castle."

"We need a disguise to get through," Piper said.

"Precisely what I was thinking," Christian said. "We can use these two's armor, and then for the other two..."

"The other two can be prisoners," Fletcher said.

"Yes, good thinking," Christian said. "Here, Seth and I will dress up, as they'll fit us best." He glanced at Seth, then Piper, then back to Seth and nodded. "You're still small, Seth, but you're bigger than Piper. Piper and Fletcher will be the prisoners. Hurry now, others might arrive at any moment."

Five minutes later, Seth found himself standing with incredibly heavy armor hanging off his body. Christian told him it was actually quite light, as far as armor goes, but Seth could barely lift his arms. It had been a challenge already to get his injured arm through.

"Alright, let's go," Christian said, placing a hand on Piper's shoulder. "Try to act natural."

Seth placed a hand on Fletcher's shoulder, doing his best to hold it up so he didn't entirely crush the boy. Fletcher looked at him with some pity, however, and said, "You can lean on me a bit. I don't mind."

Even so, Seth tried not to depend on the boy's shoulder too much.

They made their way to the camp. The whole way, Seth was miserable. The armor weighed on him, pulling him down constantly, and making it ever more difficult to walk. Not to mention, it grew steadily hotter and more uncomfortable the longer he wore it.

Seth could not get himself to be calm. His heart thudded uncontrollably, and his stomach refused to loosen the entire time they walked. He tried to swallow in an attempt to calm his nerves, but found it difficult. His throat was dry and scratchy. How he ever made it to the camp in the first place, he still couldn't quite understand.

When they arrived, another soldier stopped them. "How'd you get separated from the others?" He asked them.

Christian shrugged. "It's a maze. You think we can all stay together?"

"It's not much of a maze to you."

Christian shrugged again. "However it happened, we got prisoners. What do you want done with them?"

The soldier eyed them. Seth let his muscles loosen, forcing himself to breathe as he reached out to the soldier's emotions. As he suspected, suspicion tingled on the surface. That was all Seth needed. He grabbed the strand, taming the suspicion and doing his best to insert content and satisfaction.

The soldier got a strange look on his face, shaking his head, then said, "Alright. Whatever. They've taken the other prisoners to the castle. If you hurry, you can catch up and Red Warrior might not notice."

Christian nodded. "Thank you. We'll be going."

He pushed Piper past, and Seth followed. He knew the soldier was watching him, looking at him closer for the first time. He forced himself to stand strong and confident, silently begging the man to look away.

The man touched his soldier. "Aren't you a bit young to be in Morphew's army?"

Seth froze. "No," he said.

"He's my son," Christian said. "Morphew made an exception. Come, Bernard, let's go." He nudged Seth, and they moved on.

After sufficiently away from the soldier, Piper smirked and looked at Christian. "Bernard? That's the best you can come up with?"

"Shh, don't judge." Though his words said otherwise, Seth could tell Christian was holding in a small laugh.

"Bernard," Piper said. "You need to stand up taller. You do not look like a soldier."

"Sorry, it's kinda hard to even walk in this thing, much less stand up tall in it."

"Well...do your best. Man up."

"Hey, do want wear it?"

"I'm not the one who—"

"Shh!" Christian interrupted them, squeezing Piper's shoulder to silence her. "We'll draw attention to ourselves."

Now Seth noticed the few soldiers making rounds through the camp. It was pretty quiet, considering it was the middle of the night, but there were a few glancing at them in suspicion. He quickly went quiet, and the stress, which had momentarily dissipated with Piper's teasing, now returned.

"Look." Christian nodded to a group up ahead. "It's the other soldiers. Let's try to catch up so we blend in."

Seth nodded, and they started moving faster through the rows of tents. The tents seemed to go on forever, but behind them, the ever present castle continued to tower above.

After about five minutes, they caught up with the others, just as they were preparing to enter the castle. A couple nodded at them, but for the most part, they easily slid in with the group unnoticed.

Seth strained to find Lena and Dan. He caught a glimpse of John, dragged along unconscious, and then Dan, who looked incredibly angry. A jagged cut ran down the side of his face, over his eye, making Seth wince. His parents might not appreciate that. He didn't catch sight of Lena, but after briefly reaching out to find her, he knew she was there, somewhere among all the soldiers.

Fletcher trembled beneath his grasp. Glancing up, Seth felt his own shiver running through his body. The castle was so close. They'd been traveling toward it for so long, and now he could run up and touch it. Not that he wanted to—every inch of him yearned to turn away and go back.

They started up a set of stone stairs, making their way up to the massive doors where more soldiers patrolled.

As they neared, Seth took a shaky breath. It was time.