Magic Within (Old Version)

Magic Within Part 1

"THIS WAY!" Fraier yelled, noticing that we weren't behind him. He was even louder than Dimitri, which was surprising because Dimitri is like, twice his size. 

The alarms still blaring in the background, we sprinted towards the beach. But when we arrived, the escapees had already stolen one of our boats! 

"We have to go after them!" I yelled.

"NO!" Fraier yelled back. "They're almost at the magic shields! We'd never catch up before they crossed over!"

Dimitri nodded, but I could see how much he wanted to go after them anyway. 

Fraier seemed to notice his expression. "Do you want to get shot by lightning? Or drowned? Or burned?"

"No." Dimitri growled. "But I also don't want to explain to Harold why two of the prisoners have escaped. For the first time in the long history of this camp. And we didn't even give chase."

"We 'Gave chase'! We chased them to the beach! Going after them now would be suicide!"

Watching the two senior officers argue in front of me made me nervous. I agreed with Fraier, going after those magicians, who were obviously strong enough to bust out of here, would be like signing out death warrants. But on the other hand, bringing Harold bad news... 

Let's just say that the Big Boss wasn't great at 'second chances'.

The two of them continued bickering. I turned to look at the boat, just as it sped off into the distance. After a few minutes, it had disappeared over the horizon. Neither of the other two seemed to notice.

"Uh, guys?"

"WHAT!?" They both said in unison. They then proceeded to glare at each other.

"The boat's gone."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'THE BOAT'S GONE?'" Dimitri bellowed. "HOW DID YOU LOSE A WHOLE BOAT?"

Fraier scanned the horizon. "Maslow's right."

Dimitri punched a tree, partially uprooting it.

"Well, this isn't so bad." Fraier said.

"I'll have those words written on your tombstone when Harold hears about this." Dimitri growled.

"Woah, Man, calm down." Fraier said, making placating gestures. "At least now we know that one, or both of them are Water Magicians."

"So what! We won't pack our flamethrowers? Really helpful!" Dimitri snarled.

"I'm glad you agree." Fraier replied, purposely overlooking the sarcasm. "Now, we should head back to the compound, and break the news."

"Thanks for volunteering."  Dimitri snapped, before walking back into the forest.

I walked back with Fraier. He didn't start a conversation, which was okay with me. The guy creeped me out sometimes. It also gave me time to think. Maybe that wasn't such a good thing. I couldn't get the boss's angry face out of my mind. Or, at least, what I imagined would be his angry face. I'd only actually met him once, when I was being enrolled here. I was like, five. I don't remember most of the details. That was eleven years ago.

I shook my head to clear out those thoughts. No. I won't think about it.

The two of us caught up with Dimitri just in time to enter the clearing together.

To enter the clearing empty handed together.

The rest of Search Party 1 had already returned. Everyone stood looking at us. No one wanted to speak first. The Commanding officer took the initiative. Commanding officers are great at that.

"WHERE ARE THE MAGICIANS!?"

I flinched. Fraier stepped forwards, and started to explain what happened. He left out a few details, like how I'd tripped and eaten dirt. Dimitri pitched in a few details, but otherwise Fraier was uninterrupted. After he finished, there was a long moment of silence. The Commanding officer was the first to speak. (See? told you they were good at that). 

"I'll report back to Harold. Fraier, come with me. The rest of you, go to your cabins."

I watched Fraier go.

"Why do they want him to go too?" I asked Dimitri.

"My guess? They want him to repeat the story to Harold. First hand witness and whatnot. He was also the leader of the Search party."

"Makes sense."

"Mmm. Get back to your cabin, kid. Sleep."

"But-"

"No 'buts' kid. Whatever happens next, you'll need the sleep."

"Ok." I said, knowing I wasn't going to sleep well.

Following the Commanding officer's last orders, Dimitri and I made our way to our cabins. The warmth of the late afternoon sun was the last thing I felt before I shut the door behind me.