When it was finally time for my watch, I waited for Ashley to slip into her sleeping bag before sitting on a rock and thinking. Normal brains usually have one or two thoughts on high focus. My brain kinda just rockets all the thoughts at me and leaves me with them. However, that night, only a few thoughts were present.
One, Jessica was still out there, maybe being tortured or killed. Two, we had to find the draconae to reach the entrance. Three, the quest had no time limit specified, so we could have as long as we needed. And finally, as usual, she polluted my thoughts. I couldn't get her out of my head, no matter how I hid it. I had such good times with her, and she never ceased to amaze me. Still, I didn't know what to do. I sat there thinking and thinking, until the sun came above the horizon.
As I shook her awake, she pouted a little. "Come on, Brandon. You only had like an hour of sleep. How can you fight when you're sleep deprived?"
I rolled my eyes. "Jeez, Ashley. You're sounding more like Will every single day."
She did a dramatic gasp and put her hands on her chest. "No! You take that back!"
I laughed. "Make me."
We laughed for a while, had breakfast, and walked towards the sun. As we advanced forward, I caught the scent of wood smoke. I stuck my hand out, then slowly advanced towards the smell, keeping one hand out and the other on my sword. And as we found the camp, we also found a dozen draconae chatting.
"Look, the bossss is already pleassed with our work. Now all we need to do is route to the bassse."
"I don't know. Utah iss sstill pretty far away. It will take ssome time."
"Don't worry. The bossss will get us there easy."
"Everyone, shut up!"
I jumped a little at that. It wasn't the draconae that time. A figure walked out from beneath a tent and stared at them. I gulped and shivered a bit. No, I thought, anyone but him.
A man with scraggy beard stood up. His tangled brown hair fell to his shoulders. He wore a lion pelt and battle armor. But worst of all, his eyes. They had no pupils, yet they could see all. I knew this guy, and he was not the man I would ever want to face.
He smiled and looked directly at us. Ashley ducked behind a tent, but I knew it was pointless. There was no way Linus could ever miss something.
"Hey, fellas. I have a friend over there and a nice little girl hiding behind the tent. What say we kill them for a little breakfast?"
They hissed, grabbed their weapons, and charged. I ducked and swiped and ended up a little while later with a pile of dust around me. Linus smiled.
"Looks like you're still the Brandon I remember. Let's see if you've gotten better." He grabbed his humongous sword and advanced. Ashley poked her head out, astonished.
"Brandon, you know this guy?"
I took a step back. "I don't want to talk about it." This could be my single most hardest challenge ever. I knew what he could do, but I knew I had to try.
He jumped forward, yelling. I sprinted around him and went for a slash, only to be blocked. He smiled, dead eyes focused on me. "Poor child. You know you can't evade my sense." He kicked me back and fell to the floor. My sword clattered away from my grasp. I grabbed my chest, groaning. I knew I couldn't run for a while, and he did too.
"Come on, Brandon," He said, brandishing his blade and putting his foot to my neck. "Is this the sort of respect you give the man who raised you for five years? Oh well." He raised his sword as I put my hands above my face. Just as he was about to stab me, he faltered, face contorted in pain. Looking behind him, I saw Ashley, hands gleaming, staring at the hole in his body. He dropped to his knees and fell to the floor. I stared at her.
"Ash, you just saved my life."
She nodded and we sat there in silence for a bit. She finally spoke up after an hour. "What did he mean when he said he raised you for five years?"
I looked at her, smiling apologetically. "Sorry, but I don't want to talk about it." Staring ahead, I looked at the high sun. "Utah, huh? Looks like we have some more walking to do."
So, we strapped up and set off, towards the West, knowing the dangers that lay ahead of us.