Chapter 37

“Keep up!” Lieutenant Tallmaul calls out to us.

The twins and I are steadily falling behind the group. Not surprising since for the past two days, we've barely got any sleep. Worried that Kael, Jay, or even Ivan would go out searching for us, specifically the twins, we kept moving around the camp. Every few hours we would move to a new location. Many places we picked were empty tents.

As I was trying to make a plan, this scouting party was announced by Lieutenant Tallmaul. I’m not dumb enough to think that the people selected were a mere coincidence. Lieutenant Tallmaul, Jay, Kael, Ivan, the twins, and myself. All of us, only us.

Whether this is Kennedy’s doing or the Divinity of Chaos’ will, intend to take this chance to get rid of them.

Koa tried to talk me out of agreeing to join the search party. He suggested that we just accidentally get hurt, but I turned him down. Truthfully, I thought he and his brother would stay behind, but they actually came.

“This is insane,” Koa hisses next to me.

I’m aware that it is, but there’s a method to my madness. My eyes lock on the back of Jay's head. He’s our biggest threat, which means we have to take him down first.

Before we left, I went back to Sarah for fabric, and something else. A certain mix of flowers and herbs. Her eyes suggested that she knew what I planned to use them for, but she said nothing.

If you mix the herbs together, then they are a very strong parasitic. Strong enough to bring down a mythic. If I can get Jay to inhale this, I win.

“If you want to keep yourself and your brother alive, then something insane is your only option,” I whisper to Koa who seems ready to bolt at any second.

What I haven’t revealed to Koa is that I doubt that all three of us are making it out of here. I’m willing to accept those odds to make them pay for Onda, but I doubt the twins see it that way.

“We’re here. Keep your eyes open,” Lieutenant Tallmaul commands.

I only take my eyes away from Jay for moment to examine the area. I don't see anything out of the ordinary just a lot of large grassy fields and a few sparse trees.

To make it easier to travel through this forest over the years, paths were made, trees were cut down, and most animals have been hunted to the point where they went to find new homes.

That's what's caused there to be large colonies of mallatee within the forest. I'm not sure what mallatees are, but from what I gathered they're scavengers. They keep taking and eating until the ecosystem is destroyed. That’s why we find the trees their nests are in, and then a mythic that possesses some type of light power burns is.

I motion for both the twins to get behind me as we follow Lieutenant Tallmaul and the others. I'm waiting for any opening I can find when a smell hits me. It's a mix of something sweet and something rotting.

I clasp my hand up to my mouth as a gag escapes my throat. Coa grimaces at the scent, but his older brother stands next to us stoic.

Lieutenant Tallmaul stops and motions for all of us to spread out. I follow behind Koa since he seems to know what he's doing. Hiding in the bush next to him, I wonder what we're hiding from when I realize why that tree looks so strange.

The wind was blowing away from us. That's why I didn't notice the smell until we got close. If it wasn't for that, I would have smelt the carnage miles away.

An old tree with no leaves and no signs of life stands alone in front of us. I'm not sure if the tree was dead before the mallatee made it their home, or after.

They've used the barren limbs of the tree like a clothesline. On them hangs skin and fur hides that are in different stages of drying out. When someone said they were scavengers and they eat anything they can, I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me that that the anything, includes humans.

I want to ask a lot of questions, but I pick the most important one right now. “Where are they,” I whisper.

“Inside.” Koa points to the base of the tree where I can make out a little hole.

It's maybe two to three feet high meaning that whatever these creatures are, they're not that big. But, the size of them doesn’t matter if there’s a colony.

My eyes keep going back to Lieutenant Tallmaul waiting for him to signal us to leave. This is technically a scouting mission, so we're supposed to verify their location and get out. Of course, that not the main reason for us being out here so why would he.

Lieutenant Tallmaul signals for me and the twins to get closer. I see him first, then Koa, but neither of us move. His movements get more frantic as he waves his hand telling us to go forward towards the tree. If he could, he would be yelling by now.

I have every intention of staying right where I am, but it seems that Coa was not thinking the same thing. When Koa and I look up, he’s already halfway to the tree.

Koa follows immediately leaving me with a dilemma. I either stay where I am or go with them. Common sense says I stay, but it’s still daylight so it's not like the mallatee are going to come running out of the tree towards us.

So, to avoid angering Lieutenant Tallmaul and raising his suspicions before I can act out my plan, I follow the twins while maintaining a safe distance.

The closer I get, the worse the skin is on the tree. Some are old pieces that have been there for months. Others, they still have blood dripping from them and if I stare long enough, I can make out the veins and muscles that still cling to it.

Shivering, I stop walking not wanting to get any closer. Koa pivots to check on me, and right where his last step is, right at the edge of his boot, something dark rises from the ground.

At first, I'm not sure what it is. It grows like a wall, eventually taking the shape of a dome covering the tree. As soon as the dome is completely formed, Koa freaks out. He calls out his brother's name and bangs on the dome, but it doesn't budge.

It’s a barrier, and Coa’s trapped inside.

Just as I come to this realization, I can feel a strong presence approach me from behind making me instinctively step to the side. Jay is walking up to us with an easy smile and a powerful grace that promises violence. His two supporting cast, Kael and Ivan, stand next to Lieutenant Tallmaul watching us.

Jay tilts his head to the left thin the rights producing a series of cracks from his neck as he gets closer. “If you guys had just kept your mouth shut, you would have lived.”

“Indeed. It'll be quite annoying doing all the paperwork. Explaining the death of three nobles during a scouting accident won't be particularly easy, but we're lucky nobody will miss any of you.” Lieutenant Tallmaul states with a cat like smile across his face.

Koa isn't paying attention to the lieutenant of Jay. All he's doing is banging on the barrier screaming his brother's name repeatedly. Coa is also pressed against the barrier, but he has his back to it. That's when it clicks for me that the barrier is blocking out the light.

One by one the mallatee crawl out on their hands and feet from the tree. Their small bodies are gray with bones visible from underneath their skin. At first glance, I would think they were malnourished, but from everything hanging on the tree I know otherwise. One locks its single eye on Coa and its mouth that appears to be stitched shut, grins.

Food. It's the single thought that's all the mallatee are thinking.

Jay grabs Koa’s long braid and yanks him backward. His hand goes to Koa’s neck, and I can see the golden sparks from under his hold. He's going kill Koa first meaning, this is the only chance I'm going to get.

If I can take advantage of Jay's attention being drawn to Koa, I can jump on his back and shove the herb mixture into his face. It's perfect. But my eyes keep getting drawn to inside the barrier.

Coa has a sword drawn and he's holding it out against the mallatee that now numbers in the hundreds. I can't hear anything that's happening inside that barrier, but seeing is enough to know that he can't fight off all of them.

Jay’s grip is tightening, and Koa, who has up till now been doing everything he could to get away from his hold, is fading. Meanwhile, the mallatee are getting closer. A few more steps, one leap and they’ll reach Coa.

My hands are clutched and fist. There's obviously only one answer, and no matter how much it hurts to make, I just have to do it. To survive this, I have to do it.

I reach my hand out, aim, and envision the same blast I used against the sea creature on a smaller scale. It hits the target, and with the force that vibrates the air around us, the barrier shatters.