R and R Chapter 23

Chapter 23




The day had passed and the twins did not appear. Ray and I kept quiet but we were worried about them. So much so that we had made a habit of allowing our eyes to search the landscape for them. Rods forced us to continue going forward. More so using the map, and the undying fact that Ray and I did not know where we were going or how to get back, as leverage. The blond kept his eyes straight ahead and refused to answer when one of us asked about the brothers. The guard had us walk that whole day without many breaks – aside from our brief moments on the ground – as well as part of the night.
Now it was evening of our second day without Lance and Chace. Rods had woken us hours before the sun rose - or whatever it did here - and we had stopped for only one rest. With us far away from the underground volcano the rancid air was getting much worse and the swamp gas had gotten thick. Rods and I had both fallen into holes, Ray even getting his foot caught in quicksand, and Rods still didn’t want to stop. Garay had taken to constantly pinching the bridge of his nose in stress, and I figured any minute he would snap. And I was proven right.
“Enough is enough.” Ray growled grabbing Rods’ shoulder. “This misery of land is going to claim our lives.”
Rods shoved Ray’s hand away. “Deiman said we are close to Crisis’s last point of travel. We probably only have a few days left so stop your whining.”
“Deiman will never be sure where this body is!” That jerked me out of worry for the twins and into concern for our location, but Ray went one before I could question him. “We are not going to keep walking for days straight. You won’t even give us time to sit and rest.”
“You don’t need it.”
“Do you really think going on like this will get their deaths off your conscious?” Ray had a glare in his eyes.
Rods flinched back as if he’d been hit. He turned around to continue walking. “Do the two of you want to be left behind?”
Rods allowed us to stop and rest when the sun had started to disappear. I sat with Ray against an old tree that had begun to sink into the wet ground many years ago. We had walked on until the gas had gotten so bad that it was giving the swamp mist a sick green glow and was too unbearable to take. The ground was almost nothing but bubbling mud with no hard surface to stand on. The tree leaves were black and barely clung to the branches and bark on most of the tree trunks was colored a moldy gray. And bugs didn’t mind making their presence known. Proclaiming to be the night’s lookout, Rods climbed the tree until he was barely hidden amongst the branches.
“Do you really think they’re dead Garay?” I asked as soon as I heard Rods stop moving.
“Let’s talk about something else.”
“Like what?” I sighed, both grateful and dejected that he wanted to change subjects.
He pulled one knee up to his chest. “Are you willing to talk about your home?”
I thought about it. No. I told myself. “No.” I told Ray.
Something smacked the ground next to us with an actual thunk. It took Ray and I a moment to be surprised. Rods got up, moaning, staring up into the tree.
“Rods?”
“What happened to you?”
He rubbed his back and growled. “Something pushed me.”
“Like what?”
Something fell down and landed on top of Rods. Then it put him in a choke hold and wrestled with him. Next, another something dropped down to join the tangled mass. Ray and I were surprised all over again.
“Chace?”
“Lance!”
They both released their hold on the older guard to greet us properly. Chace came and sat next to me on the ground and Lance jumped, practically, into Ray’s lap.
“You left.” One started.
“Without us.” The other finished.
I pointed to why.
“But what happened to the two of you?” Ray shoved Lance further away.
“Rods had an idea. We go see if the volcano was a threat, to make sure it would not intercept our path or come close to camp.”
“Since it was, Chace had to slow the lava flow so that I could harden it without any of it getting away. We had to get down to the core of the volcano. Luckily enough, it was small.”
“While Lance was cooling everything down I got stuck in a cove under a mile of lava that was cooling. He hadn’t … noticed.”
Lance looked shameful and guilty. “When I was done I looked around for him, foolishly, for over an hour until I realized what had happened. It took a very long time to get him out.”
“Then we had to catch up with you.”
Chace hardened a large area of ground and Rods made it almost sleep-on-able. When he lay on the ground the twins made no hesitation to lay their heads beside him as if Rods had offered. They seemed to think more highly of him than he did them. But he didn’t complain about it. As the night rolled on I curled up on Ray’s chest and watched the others sleep beside us. The kiceka breathed steadily, the cool, rank breeze ruffling their clothes like a gentle hand. For once it seemed like we would have a quiet night outside.
“Go to sleep.”
I looked over at Rods; he had his head tilted towards me.
“Why aren’t you asleep?”
He nodded towards the twins. “They’re too heavy for that right now. And what‘s your reason?”
“We’ll be there soon.” I sighed. “All of his will be over.”
“According to Deiman, Crisis is unconscious so we are going to have to wake him.”
“No.” I rubbed my eyes in frustration. “You’re going to have to wake him. All I have to do is hand you his bracelet.”
Rods was quiet for the rest of the night.