When War Calls(100)

‘I will,’ said Jaden.

‘Good. We hope to move from here soon. Will you be ready?’

Before Jaden could respond, Alyssa screamed from the rock pools. The gentle current had become faster and was now a rushing tide with so much water that Alyssa was being swept away.

‘Alyssa!’ Jaden cried out, racing toward her.

‘Jaden! Help!’ she screamed back to him, but already the current was overwhelming her, the rumble so loud her screams were barely audible. It was as if an entire dam had just burst further up the mountain, tossing her about like a rag doll as she was thrown under the surface constantly, bobbing up only briefly to take in what little air she could.

Jaden was racing to her, but was too far away to save her.

‘No!’ he shouted in vain.

Darkness fell then as if a cloud had blocked the sun, but a flash of light broke through the shadow with a powerful roar, and the air was filled with white light. Incredibly the flow of water changed direction. Alyssa was left suspended in the air as Adonis walked forward, pushing the water away from her with his endobraces. He signalled for Jaden to run behind him to get to her, and soon the water subsided and the stream returned to its gentle calm.

Alyssa had fallen heavily and remained down, exhausted. Jaden ran to her and helped her upright.

‘Are you all right?’ he asked.

Alyssa coughed a little, but nodded.

Jaden then noticed the wounds she had suffered, a cut above her eye and some bruising already starting to show on her shoulders. The Callibrian garments she wore were torn a little, exposing much of her neck and chest. Jaden took off the vest he wore and put it around her, he then held her to him to comfort her.

After a moment, he turned to Adonis and thanked him.

Adonis bowed in return. ‘When she feels she is ready, we will leave.’

Jaden nodded that he understood, and then he turned his attention back to Alyssa.

Adonis wandered away to where he had been sitting, where Blair met him shortly after.

‘He has seen our power,’ said Blair.

‘Now we wait.’

‘His training will resume.’

They were interrupted as Tarsha returned with some berries she had found, and then her jaw dropped at the sight of destruction that now lay before her. ‘What happened?’ she asked.

‘There was a flood. The Alliance must be in the area,’ said Adonis. ‘We should move soon.’

Tarsha looked bewildered at the now water-damaged scene before her. There were puddles where there had been dry ground, branches and leaves ripped from trees, and grasses and small plants all pushed over. Before she could say anything more, Adonis was moving past her.

‘They are ready. We will go now,’ he said.

Perplexed, Tarsha followed obediently, trying to make sense of it all as she did.

Together, the small company travelled for the remainder of the day without rest. They found a comfortable rhythm in which to walk, and avoided the sun as much as possible. By night, Jaden, Alyssa and Tarsha all wanted to rest, but were urged on by the Daijuar, who assured them they needed to make up for lost time.

As they pushed on, Alyssa had begun to drop in pace, and Jaden joined her so that she would not have to walk alone.

‘Does it hurt?’ he asked her, looking at the cut above her eye.

‘No,’ she said. ‘I just need rest.’

‘Me too,’ he lied. Since finding her, he had felt a lot better. Even the sickness didn’t seem so bad. He had started to believe that Alyssa was the cure he sought after, not the endobraces or Daijuarn healing. Just being with her made everything seem like it was going to be all right. There was a connection of a sort, something they both shared deep down that neither really understood. He would have thought that it was simply him falling in love with a beautiful girl, but now that he had spent time with Raquel and the Daijuar, he was guessing that things were not exactly as they seemed.

‘Do you remember the sharp movement we were meant to speak about?’ he asked.

Alyssa nodded and looked at him with wide eyes, waiting to hear what he had to say.

‘I’ve had dreams about it since, but I’m not sure about it. What do you think it is?’

‘I’m not sure either; it could be real or it could just be in our heads,’ Alyssa said thoughtfully. ‘But we both feel it, so either we’ve both been poisoned or there’s more to it.’

‘I agree,’ said Jaden. ‘Have you had dreams too?’

‘No.’

‘How long have you felt it?’

‘I think always, but only strongly recently. You…?’

‘Same. Maybe something is changing in the world,’ said Jaden. ‘Have you heard the whisper on the wind?’