“Have you met them before?” Eli said to Roko. She has been an apprentice for Farro for such a long time; she must have seen them before.
“Not all of them, I have met Alistair and his brother before but the others are new to me as well.” She said pointing to Ingram and the rest.
“How come? I thought they all fight together. That's the point, one for all and all for one.” I said. Making a silly gesture with my hand, pointing to the sky as if I had a sword.
“No, there are so many hunters and other creatures controlled by him that they are spread thin. Especially now that Legion is coming back to power.” She said.
“Legion?” Eli and I said at the same time.
“Are they more bad guys?”
“Yes, they are magicians who have fallen to the temptations of Cain. They are his slaves and they are very strong.” Roko said. Creatures, hunters and now Legion. Our own guys are fighting for them. We walked in quiet for another minute or so until Alistair shouted halt.
“Time to rest, be ready in five minutes.” Everyone dropped their gear to the ground. Leopold and Ingram started practising magic spells and techniques together. Gib walked off silently and started writing under an old oak tree alone. And the others crowded round a map that Alistair was holding. We sat beside a massive boulder, eating supplies and drinking water. Eli opened up his rucksack and chucked me a penguin biscuit.
“You want one?” Eli asked Roko holding one up.
“Penguin? Sounds gross.” Roko said, having no idea what the chocolate biscuit was. Eli and I looked at each other. We burst out laughing simultaneously, on another day it wouldn't have been that funny but laughs have been few and far between on this trip. Roko looked at us like we should be tied up in one of those insane asylum strait jackets. After the fits of laughter stopped, it hit me. She wasn't like Eli and I. She was different, brought up in a different world than me and him. It wasn't said but the three of us had the same thought at the same time.
“Where were you born then? Do your parents like you hanging around with a strange old man?” I said with a cheeky grin. She smiled back but it wasn't genuine.
“I'm not sure exactly where I was born, Farro found me.” Roko said.
“Found you?” Eli said. Her gaze focused away from us, looking at the ground.
“Yes, he found me. He said my parents had been killed and that he was there to save me.” Eli and I stopped asking questions, the sudden image of dad popped into my head as fast as it left. “He cared for me, he raised me. Farro is my family. He came up with the name Winter.” Roko said.
“Your surname isn't Winter then?” I asked.
“No I was too young to even understand what was going on; I was wearing a pendant with the name Roko engraved into it but no surname. He named me after the night he found me, it was snowing that night.” Something so beautiful and magnificent as a winter’s night was tarnished by the brutal murder of a mother and a father. It felt like no one could escape their parent s demise, eleven years have passed since mum was taken from us. Me. Eli was even younger when his parents died, too young to fully comprehend; ma and pa were his parents now. A tear dropped from her face, she wiped it off and turned away from us. It became quite clear that Farro meant a lot more to her than I first realised. We were from different worlds and yet our stories were the same. We were both ripped from our families, plunged into a world of magic and monsters. No decision, no time to think about it. I have never felt so close to her before. She told us about her life. Farro raised her and trained her in the arts of magic. They both travelled together as master and apprentice, father and daughter. She went to the Elder Stone, just as I did. I hadn't noticed it before but the pendant she was wearing was her totem. It was a silver chain with a purple diamond in the middle. It is what links her to her parents. It makes her stronger.
“Come on boy, stand up.” Edmund said picking me up off the ground. I swatted his hand off my shoulder.
“What are you doing?” I said. Eli and Roko stepped back. They didn't know what to make of him.
“Why are you here? An outlander like you shouldn't be with the Apostles, it disgusts me!” He said. He spat at my feet as he took out a small bone handled knife similar to his fathers.
“Outlander? What are you talking about?” I said. My feet dug into the ground, I was ready for anything.
“He has much of a right to be here as you Edmund.” Roko said. As she stepped by my side, Edmund's eyes focused on her.
“How dare you speak to me like that? I will have you chained up and ravaged by wilder beasts if you utter another phrase.”
“Come on then.” Eli said. He stood up and unsheathed his sword. All three of us were battle ready, holding our ground. His eyes darted between us, our favour had turned and he didn't like that one bit. In a fit of instinct he raised his knife up, seconds from slicing our skin off with one fell swoop of his arm. His arm was grabbed from behind. Gillian Varga, his father stood behind him, his son’s arm in his hand.
“What are you doing?”
“I was...”
“I don't want to hear lies come from your mouth. Leave us I will deal with you shortly.” He said. Edmund lowered his arm and put away his weapon. He shuffled away from us embarrassed. We were still all amped up and almost jogging on the spot. “It's alright now; you can lower your weapons. You shouldn’t raise your weapon unless you plan to use it.” He said. We all looked at each other and lowered our stance. Roko was reluctant to lessen her grip on her pendant. Her grip was tight, letting no light or even air in.
“It’s ok.” I said. She let go revealing the purple diamond. Alistair called for everyone to regroup, he must have figured out where to go.
“You two go ahead, Farro wanted to speak to you both.” Gillian said to Roko and Eli. They hesitated for a moment and then left to find Farro.
“You alright?” Gillian said to me leaning down in front of me.
“Yeah, I don't even understand what happened.” I said.
“I wouldn't worry about it; he is very protective of the Apostles.” He said. But I knew that it wasn't just because I was new. It was something more than that, but he didn't want to tell me. “I'm Gillian by the way.” He said holding out his hand. Before I could even say my name he butted in. “Yes Atlas, I know who you are. Farro has spoken a lot about you. Apparently you're becoming quite the magician.” He said, smiling and shaking my hand. His face was pale. He looked like he was a vampire, except he had a persuasive smile that gave him charisma.
“I don't think I am doing that well, every spell I've done so far has backfired somehow.” I said.
“No, never think of it that way. Everything you have done has been to preserve your life and it has worked.” He said.
“I never thought of it like that.”
“You are far more powerful than these guys give you credit for. Don't let them make you think otherwise.” He said, putting his hand onto my shoulder. From the looks of him, he seemed a spiteful and short tempered man. But he has taken a liking to me, the more friends I make the better. “If you ever want to talk to someone, about anything, come and see me. I'll help you as best as I can.”
“Yeah, I will.” I said nodding my head. And I meant it.
We travelled for days, passing waterfalls and mountains. This world was beautiful, filled with wildlife. Some familiar like deer and rabbits, some that weren't so familiar. Creatures with more eyes than legs. I don't know what Gillian said to Edmund but for the rest of the journey he kept away from us. Farro said that we were close to the town where the Amulet was now. It lied beyond a lake of water. Two cliff faces meeting together, blocking the water like a dam wall, leaving only a small gap to the other side. Cramped, wet and pitch black. What’s the worst that could happen?
16 -CAVERN-
We all stopped, staring at the waterfall, it was perfect, but it was deceiving us. We had passed many waterfalls on the journey here but this one was different, it was sinister. Night was soon upon us and the Apostles were anxious to get across before nightfall.
“I’m not a massive fan of water.” Eli said wading his way through the misty liquid. Even though it was only a few feet deep at this point you couldn’t see the bed underneath it. All eleven of us were pushing through the water, it getting deeper and deeper as we got closer to the rock wall. Alistair and the rest of the Apostles were being a lot more cautious than I was, taking each step as if it was going to be their last.
“What’s the matter with them?” I said to Roko.
“Don’t you know the story of Blackmoor Lake?” She said. I paused and looked at her, for a moment she forgot that I didn’t belong here. She rolled her eyes and we carried on walking. “People go missing. There are so many rumours surrounding this lake. Some say that there’s a creature that lurks under the lake bed, waiting for you.” She said. Eli and I looked down at our feet, we started slowing down, and tip toeing trying not to wake the imaginary beast. “Others say that it is inhabited by the souls of the dead, lingering, waiting for true death and ready to kill to get it.” She said. She shrugged the ideas off as if they were old wives tales. It gave me an odd sort of comfort; she knew a lot more about monsters and demons than I did. We got to the rock wall, where the waterfall was flowing down in front of us. Our reflections looking back at us as if it was a mirror. A mirror constantly moving, distorting our faces like a funhouse attraction. I still looked pale and thin, the venom inside me getting stronger. I could sense it take over my arm. I was losing the feeling on the left side of my body. The medicine wasn’t helping as much as it should, it was easing the pain only slightly, but I can feel the veins in my chest pulsate and bulge. I was running out of the remedy I poured more and more down the wound each time I had to use it. I needed to, but it wasn’t enough to stop the pain. I tightened the strap across my chest, keeping the pressure on the injury.
“The walls inside are dangerous, rocks fall from the top, so watch out.” Alistair said. “Stay close together and we should make it through without incident.” Alistair and Farro went first leading us in. I pushed my arm out forwards, breaking through the liquid barrier. I let the water flow over my hand and through my fingers.
“Come on we don’t have all day.” Eli said patting me on the back. I shook my head and pushed through. Behind the waterfall was a cave. The two cliff faces meeting together in the middle, like a never ending corridor except there was no floor just an empty chasm, the blackness urging you to jump in. It seemed to go on forever, every foot forwards it got a foot closer together. There was a small rock wall in front of us that we had to climb up before the chasm showed itself. Leopold and Gib were the first ones over the wall. Alistair giving them a leg up.
“We’re going to have to climb along the wall; it’s quite a big drop.” Leopold said, holding his hand up to his head trying to see the bottom.
“You ever climb before?” Alistair said, nodding at me.
“Once, but that was ages ago, and I had a harness.”
“Good enough.” He said he grabbed the bottom of my shoe and lifted me up. I scrambled up the wall, swinging my leg over the edge to gain leverage. After scraping the dirt off my trousers I leant over the other side. Blackness. I couldn’t see the bottom, the walls reaching down disappearing into the distance. Eli climbed up after; he pushed and pulled me by the neck.
“Oh, saved your life.” He said laughing. I jumped back from the edge, not taking the joke as well as he intended. He frowned and leant over the edge himself. His eyes widened not realising how deep the drop was. “Lucky I pulled you back ay’.” He said. “How far does it go down?” He queried.
“Why don’t you jump and find out?” Roko said. Eli paused as if he was really contemplating the idea. He decided to pick up a stone that was on the ground. He dropped it from the top. It fell getting smaller and smaller as it was swallowed by the world. Everyone stopped moving and listened out for the stone to hit the floor. Nothing. Nothing at all. It turned my stomach. I could understand splatting on the ground floor, but falling forever was more frightening. We all moved along up so that everyone could fit on the platform. No one wanted to go first. The cliff wall was cracked, large scars carved into it, enough space to fit a hand or a foot. The space between the two walls got smaller in the distance. It looked like it was closed at the end, but because it was so dark it was hard to tell.
“Jake and I will go ahead, we must stay at least a metre apart, we don’t know how stable these walls are.” Alistair said.
“I can’t see an opening.” I said. “What happens if it’s a solid wall at the end? Then what?”
“That’s a risk I am willing to take.” He said unstrapping his satchel and searching through it. “We have to condense our supplies. Only keep what you must.” He said.
“Then what?” I said again this time making sure he heard me.
“Then we blast our way through.”
“There is no way; the walls will crumble down around us.” Roko said, backing me up.
“We can’t know that for sure.” Farro said.
“But what if it does? There might be enough time for the ones at the front to get through but the ones at the back will have no chance.” I said. Alistair’s face crumpled up, he was the leader so he had the responsibility on his shoulders. He knew that it was dangerous but he didn’t have an alternative.