Jace rubbed his sore eyes. He had been keeping watch for most of the night. The beckoning of the morning sun creeping up from beyond the horizon told him it was time to wake the others. Sluggishly, he propped himself up to his feet, stretched his aching arms and legs and went to find Sir Alen and Sara. I can't believe I miss the camp. For months, they had used the ruined building as a base of operations. When Jace had first arrived he hadn't known what it was: the walls were crumbling; the grass surrounding it was long, untamed and discoloured but the base of the site was huge. Small rocks and broken pieces of an unknown, surprisingly soft material were scattered around everywhere, leading Jace to assume that there had, at one point, been a large castle or fort of sorts standing there but now it was more like a large home. The gaping holes in the walls and ceilings had been covered with huge cloth sheets but as Jace walked beneath, droplets of water fell and crowned his head.
He soon found Sara and another woman in one of the rooms that still had semi-standing walls and part of a ceiling. First, he quietly woke the other woman up and whispered to her what he planned to do. She smirked as she watched him make his way for Sara. I'm definitely going to win this round. He drew back his arm like a bowstring and then brought it crashing into her shoulder. She jumped up, moaning and yelping and even muttered a curse that would have made Thom Percy blush.
"Just you wait, Jace Fran," she said angrily, all her words slurred from fatigue, "Just you wait! I'll get you when I'm next on watch duty. I'll get-"
Jace high-fived Abigail and ignored Sara threats. You say that all the time and I'm never half as scared as you are. Jace was very competitive when it came to the game and given that there were only five players he always considered himself the winner. The men on the other side of the ruins were particularly bad at being silent, every footstep could challenge a horse's hoof for the sound it makes. Nevertheless, Jace tended to act as if he couldn't hear them just so the game would last longer - it was one of the only things to do that far from another settlement, games and talking.
He waited for Abigail to tie her frizzy, black hair and for Sara to fully wake up. When they were done, they all left on a march to the men's half. Jace chose every step wisely so as to not step on any small stones or other nasty things. He had found out, the week prior, that they can cause quite the infection but fortunately for him, there was a special plant that grew in a forest glade east of the base that could cure such things. Before the injury, Jace had never heard of it and even now, still didn't know its name. Soon, they arrived at what might have once been a sizeable entrance hall but just like everything else, it was cold and broken. The only thing that remained intact was a set of stairs leading up to a hallway which was partially covered by cloth and other tied rags. It's always so quiet. The only other living things that stirred were a murder of crows noisily pecking holes in the makeshift roof. Not again... Jace didn't bother to try and shoo them away. The birds were different from the ones he often saw in Goodwood. They were dark purple rather than black, appeared to be slightly larger and had no fear of anything. Every animal Jace had encountered, however few that number was, seemed different from the ones he had been accustomed to seeing at home. They were all larger, noisier and acted strangely, preferring to attack the base rather than them. Instead, they would watch Jace and the rest of the band for hours from a distance. What is wrong with the lot of you?
The women overtook Jace, who was still staring at the crows and woke up Zachary and James with ease. Nash provide much more of a challenge because he was an extremely deep sleeper but nonetheless the joint effort of everyone poking him made it possible.
"Who's waking the commander?" asked Abigail, quietly.
"I most certainly won't," replied James, shaking his head vigorously. "Not a chance. I did it yesterday so it's someone else's turn." He turned to Jace.
Jace slowly felt all the eyes in the room turn to him and pierce his flesh like daggers.
"That's true, James," said Sara, smirking. "Jace Fran, you haven't done it in a while...it looks like you're up."
Please, no. The glares and approving nods from everyone else crushed him. He turned around like a man condemned to death and began to walk to another room that was much more whole than the others. Oh, God... He pressed his knuckles to the partially shattered, wooden door and composed himself, ready to knock. Suddenly, the door swung open, causing Jace to step back, trip and fall onto the ground in fear.
Sir Alen crouched down and gave Jace a strange look. "Fran, why are you on the floor?"
"I came to wake you, you opened the door, I started, fell back -" began Jace, getting back to his feet.
Sir Alen made a series of noises and facial expressions signalling Jace to stop. "You've become a lot more talkative since we arrived here and I'm not sure if I like it yet. You're essentially the same but extrassentially different."
Jace was confused. Extrassentially? That's not a word.
"Don't pull that face, Jace Fran, you heard what I said," commented Sir Alen. "I'm not going crazy, my mind is still intact."
"Of course, Sir," replied Jace, cheerily whilst staring at the others laughing at him. That wasn't funny.
Sir Alen returned to the room to get the Commander. At least I don't have to wake him.
"You're very lucky, Jace," said Nash. "Your luck will run out one day."
"I hope not," replied Jace, celebrating his victory.
The Commander cleared his throat as he emerged from his room. "Good morning, everyone."
The group formed a clean line in front of him and Sir Alen. "Good morning, Sir!" they said in unison.
The nod from the commander told them that they could be at ease. "Today is a special day! A special one indeed. Our deep scouts are returning and very soon."
Excitement coursed through Jace's body. Any news was welcome news to him. The day he had arrived was the day the scouts had left. Zachary had told him that five of them had left. One had gone north, two east and two south. However, two of them had come back weeks ago with horrible injuries and were sent back to God's Heart and then presumably back home. Jace envied the scouts being able to leave but wasn't ready to risk his life for something that he's never seen or been to. He didn't even know if there was anything out there - everything was a mystery and not one he was too interested in solving. Now we'll know whether there's even anything here.
"Very, very soon more like," added Sir Alen, stretching. "If that is them."
The sound of hooves started as a gentle whisper and quickly became a shout. Jace knew what to do whenever something was approaching and so he grabbed his bow and quickly ascended the creaky staircase to the hallway. Pulling back part of the rags that made up the wall, he peered out. For the most part, it was barren ground with a few straggling trees dotted around and a mountain that stood very far off into the distance but then he noticed a small dust cloud making its way toward them. "Single!"
"Single!" repeated Abigail to James, who was darting around organising things in case the being speeding toward them was hostile.
Jace waited patiently before making his next move, always keeping his eyes fixated on the target. Soon, he saw that it was a man on a horse holding a red banner. "It's the scout! It's the scout!" Jace chuckled hearing James' sigh of relief as for the past few days they had had many unwanted visits from animals, most of which frightened James.
The Commander ordered everyone back to the entrance hall. The sound of the hooves circled the base and stopped abruptly outside of the door. Sara rushed to open it and a young, bearded man with black hair stumbled through, clutching a leather satchel. She and Nash helped him to a chair whilst Abigail fetched water, Zachary tended to the horse and Jace stood in awe. What a brave man...
"I'm fine, I'm fine," insisted the scout, gulping down the water like an exhausted dog. "Just... tired is all."
The Commander gave the man a few moments to rest before approaching. "Congratulations, you have returned a true hero. Well done!" he said, clapping and encouraging everyone else to join in.
As they clapped, Jace noted the scout's forced and artificial smile. Why isn't he happy?
"We'll have an in-depth conversation privately later but tell us, what did you see?" asked Sir Alen, glaring at the satchel that the man was holding tightly.
The scout looked horrified and opened up the satchel. A foul smell entered the room, tainting everything it was near to.
What...is that?
A human-like head was brought out from it. It had green shrivelled skin, purple eyes and was hairless. Jace hastily looked down at the ground, eager to not to see anymore. He could hear that everyone else was revolted by the horrid sight save for the Commander who stepped forward to further inspect it.
"This is all I saw!" exclaimed the man, appalled. "There is nothing out there but monsters, strange things and the dark gods they worship! This place is evil! What are we looking to find here? I don't understand it!"
"There-"
"There is nothing here for us! Sir..." yelled the man, his voice trailing off. "I apologise..."
"It's quite alright," replied Sir Alen, empathetically.
"Really," said the scout, "there is nothing here for any of us... nothing."
So there really is nothing then. So why are we here...fighting for nothing?