The Exiles (24 page)

Sara couldn't understand Trex's connection to his belongings, she needed no such things. But for lions it was the only advantage they had, and without it they were no match for wolves.

Trex turned to walk quietly towards the dying fire. He walked right through the middle of the camp. The young lion was seemingly unaware of his leg wound, as the healing cream numbing the immediate area. His focused mind cancelled out the unusual feelings coming from his upper thigh.

Had he still been looking at Sara he would have seen her expression turn to one of shock. She frantically waved her arms at him, but her feet remained rooted to the spot, unwilling to run forward to stop the lion.

Trex, for his part, was completely unconcerned. He could see every step he needed to take planned out in front of him. Where he would move and how he needed to do it.

The young lion knew from his training that the sleeping mind easily heard someone
trying
to be quite. It seemed to stand out as something to worry about in the primitive-mind's ancient hardwiring. The mind seemed to ask itself: Why did the person sneaking around not want me to hear them, are they a danger to me? Someone being quiet while moving past fluently, seemingly unconcerned and acting normally, that didn't register for some reason.

Sara held her hands to her mouth as Trex simply walked between the sleeping bodies. The lion youth suddenly jumped to one side then pushing off some rocks to land quietly next to Philton. If Sara wasn't in such a state of continued shock she would have been quite impressed with how quiet Trex was, and worried that this was something many lions could do.

Trex leant down and calmly collected his belonging. Next to him, Philton turned away from the light rustling that his unconscious mind could hear. Trex remained calm, knowing that his own lack of emotions helped his brazen activity. Wolves could smell fear, but if there was none, they were as docile as sheep. Contemplating disabling the leader, Trex realized that there was nothing he could do; anything he tried would only get him and Sara killed. Placing the last of the weapons away, Trex walked quickly back around the other side of the camp. He increased his speed, allowing him to hurdle the last obstacle before rolling silently to come back up in front of the stunned female wolf.

Trex receive a very vicious scowl from his childhood friend.

Indicating back towards the camp of sleeping wolves the lion shrugged his shoulders, as if to say: what, they're still asleep?

Sara's arms were crossed in front of her, one of her feet taping rhythmically with irritation. She didn't appreciate that the individual she was currently risking her life to save was so quickly putting himself back into danger. Trex gave her an overly innocent look, unable to stop himself. Despite his state of concentration, the action seemed to come naturally to counter her disapproving glare.

Letting out a long breath, Sara turned around to move back into the dark surrounding forest. Her sharp arm movements indicating in no uncertain terms that Trex should now follow her closely.

The two youths moved quietly through the undergrowth.

With Sara leading the way, Trex had time to reflect on his situation. He still had no idea what was going on, but he did have a powerful desire to get away from the wolf exiles, particularly the crazy brown wolf he had injured. Looking back momentarily towards the direction of the camp, he unwittingly walked into the back of the sneaking Sara.

‘Watch it,' Sara hissed.

‘Sorry,' whispered Trex, taking a step back.

Sara was studying the ground intently, trying to spot something in the limited light. Trex looked over her shoulder. He could just see a snare line about half a meter ahead. Pointing to it over her shoulder he whispered:

‘The snare line is there.'

Sara blinked a few times, and then moved forward to step over the trap.

‘Thanks,' she said, though not at all convincingly.

‘Maybe I should take the lead?' offered the lion. Both of them knew that lions could see better in the dark, but this was not something Sara wanted to admit at the moment. She was still upset with his antics before at the camp to trust him. Anyway, this was
her
rescue.

‘I'll be fine,' Sara grumbled. Thinking that she had correctly recognized a bent tree in the darkness, she pushed herself through some undergrowth without concern.

‘
CRACK! Clink-a-clank
!' went some hollowed iron cups. Obviously she had been mistaken.

Trex froze, he wanted to run, but he knew there were traps everywhere around him. Sara jumped back from the bushes as if it had stung her. The stunned wolf landed on Trex, who effectively had to catch her. With her mind racing she ignored the petrified stare of the young lion. All of his previous calm mental state had apparently abandoned him.

‘Come on!' she hissed, grabbing his hand. Trex was dragged into some further bushes, not in the direction he anticipated, but back towards the ruins.

‘What the heck?' grumbled an exile as he threw off his light sheet. Around the camp, others were stirring.

‘The lion's escaped!' shouted Tomn, retrieving one of his short sword he kept by him at all times.

‘Damn it!' swore Philton, now standing up himself.

All of the able exiles were now up and scanning the surrounding darkness. The wolves didn't move from the camp, seemingly waiting for a command from their leader.

‘Well get out there and find him!' shouted the red wolf, himself walking towards the trap that the alarm call had come from. ‘And be careful of the traps!' Philton shouted after his exiles, as they ran into the surrounding undergrowth with little regard to the possible dangers. The red wolf once again couldn't help thinking that his small band of males were almost as big a danger to themselves as they were to others.

As Philton suspected, it didn't take long for one of his group to get caught in a trap. A sharp yell indicating that the unfortunate exile had been pulled up and off the ground by a weighted rope. To Philton's left another alarm call sounded. Shouts and yells from two fellow comrades indicating some more distress for the former kidnappers. In front of him Horrist and another wolf had gone far down the hill and were at least communicating with each other well.

Philton himself had lagged behind, taking his time to look at the last movements of the lion from the marks he could see on the ground. Looking closer at the tracks he could make out that the lion was not alone out there, there was a wolf, and by the look of it a young one. Following the tracks as far as he could into the darkness Philton stopped for a second. Ahead another trap went off, and more yelling from his male wolves. If his gang was having this much difficulty with the traps, surely the two fugitives would have been caught in one. Even if the lion could see better in the dark, the escaped youth couldn't move quickly enough and still spot all the traps.

Looking behind him back towards the camp, Philton could see the ruins of the old palace complex.

Is there really no other way out of this palace then back down the hill
? Philton thought to himself. He wasn't sure. Next to him, another exile, Mert, suddenly appeared.

‘It doesn't look like he went down the west river bank,' Mert said, slightly out of breath.

‘If they really went down the hill Horrist will catch them,' said Philton calmly. His steady gaze was still on the campsite.

Mert looked questioningly at his commander.

‘Come with me,' the leader of the exiles instructed.

Mert had to move quickly, as Philton suddenly disappeared back into the undergrowth.

High above them, the moon had made an appearance from behind one of the many dark clouds roaming the sky. Down below, the extra light did much to help the searchers, as well as the escapees.

Sara and Trex ran, jumped and climbed their way through the eastern part of the ruins. The two moved along the edge of the wild running river that marked that boundary of the long abandoned inner palace.

Jumping onto the remains of a column, Sara stopped to take advantage of the extra light. The moonlight helped to confirm her fears, there was no way to cross the small river. In front of her were white-water rapids, starting from one waterfall that flowed down the mighty cliffs and continuing until it disappeared over the edge of another cliff down a second waterfall. There had been bridges spanning the rapids a long time ago, but now all that remained were the foundations, and unfortunately no vegetation had grown to somehow close the gap.

Behind Sara, Trex was catching up. The lion could not jump as high or as far as Sara, so had had to assemble his staff to assist him. Even with his morphing staff the lion was still slower, as he had to think of ways to move forward using his tools, while Sara simply powered through.

Trex took a small run-up and used the staff as a pole vault, increased his jumping distance to land on the wide column base next to the wolf.

Sara automatically moved to give him a little room.

‘No way over ha?' said Trex, slightly out of breath.

‘No,' replied Sara. Looking towards the other side of the palace, she noticed that over there the ruins were higher, perhaps there was still hope. ‘We'll have to try the other side.' The female took a standing leap to a nearby ledge. Looking back she was annoyed as Trex once again had to think of a way of making the distance. ‘Will you hurry up,' she urged impatiently.

‘I can't jump that far,' Trex hissed back, irritated at her choice of path. Ignoring her, he continued to look for a way forward.

Sara had little sympathy and was suddenly glad he had gone back to get his stupid staff. She didn't want to think how more useless he was without it. Seeing a way forward, Trex hissed back to his impatient saviour.

‘Get moving, I'll catch up,' he said. Trex could feel her impatience even at his distance, it felt like an icy wind.

Sara doubted that Trex would be able to catch up if she really started to make a run for it.

Behind Trex, Sara could suddenly see Philton and Mert appear through an old gate about one hundred meters away. Unfortunately, they could also see Trex.

Trex noticed how Sara's expression suddenly changed, turning his head, he saw why.

‘There he is!' called Mert

Sara allowed herself to become scared, getting ready to run.

‘You… you just catch up then,' she said quickly, fear evident in her voice.

The young female wolf turned to run off into the darkness, spurred on by her fear. Once again the moon disappeared behind a cloud.

Trex wasted no more time in moving forward. He jumped down to a level one below that which Sara had been able to jump to. Dashing into an ancient corridor the lion had to scamper across ruins in the dark. He could hear Sara in the level above him as she cut her way through some vegetation using her sword. The two made their respective ways through the maze of ruins.

Coming to an open area, Sara could see Trex running into the open one level below her. He was actually ahead of her. Doubling her efforts, she scampered up a wall to run along an old roofline. Sara preferred it up here were the limited starlight made it easier for her to see where she was going. Coming to a larger opening she sped up momentarily, jumping the expanse and rolling skilfully upon landing. Throwing herself over an edge she used some vines to climb down into what appeared to be an old temple, the large circular pillar arrangement now about all that was left. Jumping down the last section, she wondered where Trex was.

He should be coming through this way, she thought, surely there was no way he had beaten her here already. She turned as the silhouette of someone appeared in an open doorway. The figure ran into the dim light that filtered through the open roof.

Only then did she realize that it was not Trex, but an exile.

The exile stepped out from the shadows. He stopped suddenly when he caught sight of the other Anthro standing in the ruins of the old temple.

‘You have got to be kidding me,' said Mert, recognizing the age of Sara in the moonlight.

Sara took a hesitant step back, but there was nowhere else to go. Behind her there was only an old balcony, the railing and most of the floor having long ago fallen away into a courtyard below. Sara drew her sword just in time as Mert suddenly rushed forward and attacked her.

Philton could hear the noise of combat up ahead as he climbed up another series of stairs. Arriving through a different entrance to the temple he could see Mert fighting the young female wolf. Drawing his own sword, he moved forward through the shadows. He came at Sara from the side as she battled Mert skilfully.

Mert had moved around his opponent so that her back was to the newly appeared Philton. He was hoping that the red wolf would get in a knockout blow before she realized he was there. Mert attacked again to keep her attention focused. He was surprised to suddenly find himself on the back foot; Sara was not playing his game and was aiming to beat him quickly.

Philton, seeing his fellow exile in increasing distress, rushed forward. He was only half able to react as someone lunged at him from the shadows.

Trex had launched himself from somewhere higher up. Using his staff to increase his momentum, Trex aimed a flying kick at the wolf leader. The blow caught the surprised red wolf in the ribs and sent him flying off into the rubble in the shadows.

Sara faltered from her attack to check what was going on behind her. Mert quickly pressed forward in an attempt to catch her off-guard, but was countered.

Landing skilfully, Trex wasted no time to go to Sara's aid. The two quickly overpowered Mert, a blow from Trex's staff disarming him and a kick from Sara sending him to the ground.

The two youths turned to run for a doorway.

Running beside Sara, Trex could just make out movement in the shadows. Philton had recovered much quicker then expected and was lunging forward again. Reacting on instinct, Trex moved to intercept so as to protect the oblivious Sara. Bringing his staff up, he blocked a sharp blow from the older wolf.

Philton was not to be denied this time, pressing his momentum he was able to elbow Trex as the young lion flexed the staff to absorb the blow from the sword. A second backhand sent the lion youth flying to the side.

Sara had not reacted quickly enough and was now facing the old exile alone. Rushing forward, she went on the offensive. The two exchanged blows, but Sara was quickly outfought by the skilful older warrior.

Able to grab the young wolf's wrist, the red exile threw her past him and towards the open balcony. The throw had been with such force that Sara slid along the ground and out past the half destroyed balconies edge. Losing her weapon, Sara scrambled to grab the stone edge desperately. Swinging from the balconies edge, she could here her sword hitting the stones far below. It was only about a two story drop, but the dark rubble below would probably result in her breaking a leg if she let go, if not worse.

Trex rubbed his sore side. He had gotten back up just as Sara had been thrown out onto the balcony. To his right, Mert was getting up as well. It looked like Philton was moving to finish off Sara as she hung on by her fingertips. This was not looking good.

Trex searched desperately for another opportunity, it appeared that fighting was not an intelligent option anymore. He could see an old wall opposite the balcony that Sara was hanging onto. He knew it wasn't more then a two story drop from there, having himself come from that direction before he entered the ruined temple himself. The wall wasn't too far away, from what he could see, and a section of the temple wall had fallen away next to the balcony, giving him a way past Philton.

Acting before he could further contemplate his actions, the lion youth ran forward. As Trex ran, he took a short blade from his utility belt and fastened it to his staff, manipulating the metal and wood's properties to turn his staff into a weighted spear.

Philton had no time to react as the lion sprinted past him a few meters to his right. Before the old wolf knew what was going on the lion had leapt through the breach in the wall and was sailing through the air.

Trex positioned himself in the air and threw the spear with all his might, imbedding the sharpened tip into the wall opposite. The spear impacted about one story above the ground. Crouching in mid flight, the lion landed against the opposite wall, using his hands and feet to absorb the impact. With his momentum spent, he slid down the wall towards the ground. Half way down, his two feet landed elegantly on his imbedded staff/spear. Philton had stopped to stare at the spectacle.

‘Sara, jump!' called Trex across to his childhood friend.

Sara had not noticed Trex's reckless flight through the air, turning in surprise, she look across towards where she had heard his voice coming from. Once recognizing him, she wasted no time. Sara swung her legs up to brace them against the wall underneath the remains of the balcony.

Philton rushed forward to try and grab her hands, but he was too late.

Using her powerful leg muscles, combined with a rush of emotional power, Sara pushed off, sending herself flying towards Trex.

With one hand holding the spear he was crouching on, Trex moved to catch her outstretched hand. Sara did not have enough momentum to carry her across, Trex jumped off of his perch to catch her as she fell towards the rubble below. Trex's staff bent as it took the weight of both young Anthros.

‘Got you!' said Trex triumphantly. Sara stared up into the young lion's face as she swung back and forth, relieved.

Looking back down, she searched for a place to drop down into the rubble, still a fair few meters below.

‘Swing me closer towards the doorway,' Sara instructed.

Trex began to swing the wolf. She let go of his hand and fell the distance to the clearer ground. Landing elegantly enough, Sara rolled clear. She got up quickly to help Trex, who would be falling from higher up then her.

Trex could no longer see Philton, the relentless red wolf was probably already on his way down. Concentrating for a second, Trex manipulated the properties of the steel tip of his embedded spear so that it became thinner. The spear suddenly loosened and slipped harmlessly out of the hole it had made in the wall. Trex fell free, his natural instincts told him to prepare his legs and arms to hit the hard surface, but before he could contact the rocks below, he was intercepted by a pair of strong arms around his chest and stomach.

‘Got you,' said Sara, with a sly smile.

The young lion looked up at her in surprise, his arms and legs dangling a few centimetres off the ground. Placing the surprised lion on his legs again, Sara moved to one side, she quickly retrieved her previously discarded sword, which lay in the rubble.

‘You're not the only one who needs his tools,' she said confidently.

From the direction of the temple they could hear someone making his way down the remains of a ruined staircase.

‘Come on,' said Sara, as she made her way through another ancient archway.

The two Anthros raced on through an old overgrown courtyard. They reached the banks of the other wild river and again there appeared to be no way over, the bridges having been washed away a long time ago. Sara looked desperately down the hill, but there was no easy way to travel in that direction. They were trapped.

‘Quickly, this way,' said Trex. He was heading further towards the base of the cliff that made up the back of the palace complex.

‘There is nothing up there,' complained Sara. An edge of desperation had appeared in her voice.

‘Just trust me,' Trex said coolly, his mind already racing. ‘We don't have time to argue.'

Trex was already running towards another ruined wall that would get them higher up. Sara scanned the area again, but with no alternative, she simply ran after the lion. Scampering ever higher, they were soon close to the sheer wall of the cliff. Sara thought that if Trex was planning to climb up, he would be taking them to their deaths, it would be impossible in the dark of night.

Once again the moon found its way through the clouds. The two youngsters were at the highest point close to the waterfalls. They stood on the remains of a roof with only a narrow path to the point where they now found themselves. Next to them, the roaring waterfall fell to the rapids a few stories below. There was nothing in reach and they would never be able to jump across. Behind them Philton and the second exile appeared at the other edge of the roof, only about twenty meters away.

‘Great,' said Sara as she spat in irritation. ‘Now we are really trapped.'

Trex did not even turn around, simply removing his cloak and holding it in front of him.

‘Hold them off for a few seconds,' he instructed coldly, his eyes closed.

‘Just hold them off?' Sara replied in surprise.

Trex was already meditating and didn't reply.

‘Fine, I'll just do that,' she said between clenched teeth.

Turning around, Sara assessed the situation; the exiles had to cross a narrow section of roof to get to her and Trex, they would have to attack her head-on. This she could use.

So this is it
, Sara thought to herself, turning her thoughts towards fuelling her anger. ‘Stupid Trex,' she said under her breath, her tail rising threateningly. ‘Damn exiles!' she growled, her ears flattening and her hairs standing on end. ‘Granddad you hypocrite!'

The two exiles stopped their advance as Sara took a threatening step forward.

‘Bloody males!' Sara screamed, the rage growing within her. From the perspective of the two exiles she was glowing red in the moonlight, her eyes practically shone with an internal light. The younger exile, Mert, had to concentrate with all his might not to turn and run, he was simply too petrified to further approach the female wolf.

Philton, for his part, was also having a moment of difficulty, not having expected the strong intimidating emotional attack. What he saw in front of him should have been well beyond Sara. He recovered quickly enough and was about to turn up his own emotional powers. He paused for a second, if he was lucky she would be angry enough to foolishly attack, so losing her advantage in position.

Sara was somehow holding her overflowing anger in check. Though every fibre of her body wanted to spring forward and tear the two to peaces, an unknown internal voice held her feet in place. Much later, Sara would realize that the little voice in her head had sounded a lot like Trex.

Philton cracked first, knowing that Trex was up to something. Rushing forward alone, he tried to push the female back. In an instant, a few powerful blows sent him reeling back in shock. Funnelling his own fury, he growled as he rushed forward again, and once again was sent back, narrowly avoided a vicious mid level cut that could have sliced him in half. Shocked at his underestimation, Philton paused, how was she managing such pinpoint concentration when so enraged? Behind Sara, Philton could see Trex meditating, was he having an effect? The question faded into the background of Philton's mind as he suddenly felt the presence of another three exiles appearing behind him.

‘You lose,' said Philton coolly. Already the toxic effect of Sara's projected anger was becoming less effective as the combined effect of the exiles emotions balanced the surprisingly powerful female out. Philton further added to the mix, turning up his emotional projection to rally his men, and cancel Sara out completely. With the three newly arrivals lined up along side their leader they prepared to attack confidently. All eyes were on Sara.

It was already too late as the exiles suddenly saw Trex launch a powerful arrow up and towards the waterfall. The thick arrow slammed through the centre of a small tree, firmly embedding itself. The tree had made itself a life precariously perched on one of the exposed rocks in the face of the waterfall itself. Behind the arrow trailed a familiar light-orange rope, formerly a part of Trex's valued cloak.

Sara had not noticed this; she was preparing herself for what she thought was the end. Aggressive as ever, she tried to threaten them one more time.

‘The first of you to ma…..!'

The angry female was unable to finish her sentence as she was suddenly grabbed around the waist with one hand. Before Sara knew what was going on she was already swinging across the rapids next to the waterfall. Trex had one hand on the rope and the other arm around Sara, his free hand clutching the converted staff, now a powerful bow.

Philton and his men could only rush forward and watch as the two swung smoothly across the white-water to more ruins on the other side of the fast flowing river.

Landing elegantly, Trex let go of Sara. Once free, he grabbed the rope with both hands, again focusing his thoughts.