‘Gregor, see that you do not taste of the others when you take them into the forest! You must only concentrate on Cassandra. Do you understand me?’
‘Grandmother, I know what I am supposed to do but I must not be in a hurry’ Gregor stated.
‘On the contrary my boy, in a hurry is exactly what you should be. The group will be leaving in the end of this week and then you will have lost your chance to complete your task and we will lose her forever. Therefore, no wasting time!’ she demanded.
‘Alright, I will do it the soonest possible. Now let me be, we are leaving soon.’
Cassandra and her friends were almost finished with breakfast and they had laid out a map on their table marking the points they wanted to see.
‘Hey Sam, do you have a GPS on your mobile?’ Cassandra asked.
‘No, I don’t have one on my mobile but I do have a GPS. You’re welcome to use it and it’s all charged up and everything’ Sam replied.
‘Great, we will use it to find our destinations after our tour with Gregor is over. I don’t think he would like being dragged to every photo shoot venue.’
‘And why not may I ask?’ Rebecca inquired. ‘Don’t you think he would be great company and perhaps he could continue his story while we are out there?’ she added.
‘Actually, I think he wouldn’t deny us if we ask him to come along to all the sites but, you must understand that it wouldn’t be polite on our part to put him in an imposition knowing that he has so many duties to attend to’ Cassandra answered.
‘Don’t worry you two. When we are out there if he is enjoying our company and there is still much to say, I will discretely ask him if he would like continuing on with us for the rest of the points. It’s that simple!’ said Sam. ‘Now let’s go, we’re going to be late.’
It was a quarter to ten and the girls had to get their bags from their rooms unlike Sam who had brought his down to save himself from a flight of stairs. He was always very smart and practical. The three girls ran upstairs to their rooms took their gear and were back downstairs in no time. They all sat on the sofas and waited patiently for Gregor to come. Mrs. Marina came to them with a large picnic basket full with savory smelling foods!
Placing it on Sam’s lap as she spoke.
‘Here are some local foods you will probably like to snack on when you get tired. I have made spanakopita(spinach pie) and creatopita(meat pie). I believe it will be a delight after walking through the mountain trails for a few hours. All that fresh air gives birth to hunger, you know. There is a variety of fruit and some nutty snacks and don’t forget to fill your canteens with water before you leave’ the woman reminded.
‘We don’t have canteens, we have plastic bottle though’ said Sarah.
‘There are plenty of canteens in the cupboard over there for all of you. The cupboard that is behind the door there. Fill them up, they will keep your water cold for hours and they hold much more water than your bottles. Believe me when I say; you will need plenty of it!’
Gregor walked into the room with a somewhat troubled look on his face. Going over to the group he asked.
‘Everybody ready?’
‘Yes, of course’ answered Cassandra.
‘Okay then, pick up your gear and meet me outside; I will be there in a few minutes’ he said.
After preparing their canteens they all took the rest of their things and left. Gregor stalled at the door turned to his grandmother to speak but she beat him to it.
‘Gregor, why are you upset?’ she asked.
‘I have just been informed that there was a massacre at the point we are going today. A young hunter, only nineteen. He was attacked by two of them. They have done it purposely leaving him to become one of them. We had an agreement. They didn’t keep their word about turning others nor about staying out of our territory. I can not put those young peoples life at risk today by going out there!’ he said troubled.
‘Gregori, you are rightfully upset but then again you are the strongest of the line. If they should cross your paths you will be able to protect them. Besides from the four of them, only Cassandra is innocent, only she needs your protection. The rest will not draw them. Keep your eyes on her at all times!’
‘Grandmother, Rebecca is also innocent; I was very well drawn to her from the start. I scratched her myself, I couldn’t control it. They are both at risk. How can I protect both of them at the same time?’
‘You mustn’t let them separate. Keep them together and at eye’s distance. You will come through, I am sure of it!’ the woman replied.
‘Now go, they are waiting for you!’ Gregor kissed his grandmother’s forehead, took his backpack and left. Upon meeting the others outside he gave them instructions.
‘Before we set off, you all must have an understanding of how dangerous it is in these parts. Not only because of wild boar, bears and snakes but also because of animal traps that have been set to catch them, trails that can lead you deeper into parts of the forest you cannot get out of without a compass and a guide and hills that have abrupt steep cliffs that are not noticeable until you are falling off of one. Those are only a few of a hundred or so dangers that we’ll find where we are heading. For these reasons I strongly suggest that we all stay close together and as a group at all times, no wandering off by yourselves. Now, go ahead, I’ll catch up in a bit! If one of us needs to stop we will all stop together. Is that understood?’ he asked seriously.
‘Sure!’ said Sam. The girls also answered yes all in one voice.
‘We won’t be meeting any monsters out there will we?’ Sarah asked teasingly.
Gregor’s eyes darkened, his lips tightened and still very serious he answered.
‘Yes, or much worse!’
Every one of them turned to look at him hoping that it was his way of joking. Sam put on a huge smile and spoke again.
‘This should be fun. W have a great guide and with a sense of humor too!’
The rest stopped looking serious, laughed and they began their excursion into the woods.
Chapter Three
The sounds of the forest were beautiful. The rushing river waters played tunes that the forest birds danced to. All of nature’s elements gave a harmonious symphony in the midst of the mountains. It was not imaginable that on such beautiful land, such terrible massacres had happened in the past and now were happening again.
Every step of the way Gregor explained exactly where they were, how far from the hostel and of course how they could get back to the hostel on their own should an emergency arise. While he went on, Cassandra turned to Sam and said.
‘I don’t think he is going to leave us alone, meaning that he is probably going to join us to all the sites we wanted to see later.’
‘Yes, you’re right! Did you notice he is a living, breathing navigation system? What detail indeed!’ Sam replied.
Along the trail Gregor pointed out to some trees and some bushes that had edible berries and nuts and challenged the group to try some. He also showed them how to distinguish between berries that were poisonous and those that were not.
‘Gregor, how do you know so much about the forest?’ asked Rebecca.
‘Let’s not forget that I was born here and raised here. I played in the forest throughout most of my childhood and I have hunted here since my early teenage years until now. It is home and I know it like the back of my hand’ Gregor replied.
‘Gregor, are you going to tell us the rest of your story?’ asked Cassandra.
‘Yes, why not. We are pretty far from our first point, that is, if everyone else agrees?’
The group all agreed.
‘After the authorities confirmed that my parents had surely disappeared and neither of their bodies had been found after weeks of searching they found the courage to tell my grandmother to be strong because she was chosen by fate to endure a great loss but also to be challenged to raise her grandson who had now know other family but her. She knew what needed to be done and didn’t need out
siders telling her how to go about her business. She hastily got rid of them telling them to go away and leave us alone.
She was cold as ice, rude and full of fury. Then she showed them to the door and slammed it behind them without a second word. She turned towards me and her eyes were flooded by her tears.
“Gregor,” she said, “I will never let harm come to you, I will die before I allow harm to come to you. I am your grandmother but today I will become your mother and your father as well!” She promised and took me in her arms squeezing me tightly. I will never forget that day. I felt her enormous pain over my own. After everything that had happened though my grandmother didn’t want me to live in fear so she tried her best to give me a most normal life given the situation. Every morning she brought me into these woods and said, “Gregori, you will grow up to love your homeland and even though death lingers all around this forest you shall not be afraid to live, to breath to be a part of the natural scene!” She taught me every trail I know, showed me every secret cave and every last crevice in this forest. Later in that year after several months had passed, Marina let me go out alone. She warned me not to take the long trail to the river and to take a whistle with me so that if I should stumble upon trouble, I could use it and she would be there in no time.
My first time out alone wasn’t scary at all; I had no fear what so ever after my grandmother’s talk. Deep in my heart I believed that my parents were somewhere nearby and that they would be found no matter in what state they were. I would go out into the woods more and more and searched for clues believing that one day I would find them.
One day, about two years after those events, at Martyr Point another family was attacked and found their macabre death. None had survived. I sat on a boulder at that point waiting endlessly for the trout to bite the line. I heard the thrashing of the autumn leaves as if someone was walking through the forest. Turning I saw no one. I tried the line again, sending it out deeper into the river waters and felt peaceful and serene without a fear in mind. Sometimes this made me wonder about myself. Why wasn’t I fearful after all that had happened or of what could happen?
The thrashing sounded even closer a moment later and again I turned to see but again nothing was there. I scoped the area in detail and that’s when I saw man behind a large maple tree. He was slouched and had a sun burnt face and stared back at me. I noticed he wasn’t alone. There was a woman with him as well. She had long black hair. Having no fear I called out to them. “Hello, I am Gregor, Gregor Dracopoulos.” They held each other’s hand and backed away. That’s when a hunter appeared.
“Boy,” he said. “You shouldn’t be out here alone. There are many wild animals that can rip you to shreds. Come along I’ll escort you home.”
Finishing his sentence I saw the two slouchers come out and attack him. He hadn’t seen them being all interested in my safety. They ripped their long nails through his neck and wrists draining him of his blood. The poor man hadn’t the chance to even put up a fight. Everything happened so fast he hadn’t seen it coming. Finishing off their victim they suddenly looked up at me and I became aware at that very moment that all that time I could have ran to save myself but I had just stood and watched putting myself in great danger. The woman tried to get closer to me but not as if to hurt me but as if she wanted to get a closer look at me. The man pulled her back violently and they quickly disappeared. That was the first time I encountered the ghouls. They were human, alive not dead, they were just like all of us and I felt sorry for them. Sorry because they hadn’t asked to become what they were, it just happened to them and they were condemned to it. Their eyes looked sorrowful. It seemed that they had a heartache of some kind and I realized at that point that I sympathized with them.
I picked up my line, bucket and the two trout I had caught and headed home. I was a six year old with no fears, capable of providing to survive. I had become an adult prematurely do to the circumstances and again knew not why I was so fearless. When I arrived home my grandmother was waiting nervously pacing at the door. “Come Gregori, I was so worried, you are very late!” she said.
“Grandma, I caught two fish today!” I told her.
“Bravo my boy!”
“I also, saw a man and a woman drink the blood of a hunter.” I said.
“What? Are you alright” Did they come to you?” she asked.
“I am fine grandmother, they were staring at me for a long time but they did not come near me nor did they talk to me. Then they ran into the forest.” I answered her.
“I told you to blow the whistle, why do you have it hanging in your neck of you are not going to use it?” she asked angrily.
“I didn’t blow on the whistle because I was not in any danger and most of all I was not afraid! I stated.
She looked at me strictly at first and then her eyes became calm again.
“I know you are not afraid and I don’t want you to be but that doesn’t mean that you must stay in danger’s way. You must promise me that if you should ever come into a similar situation, fearless or not, you will get away as fast as you can and blow that damned whistle! Promise me right now!” She had raised her voice. She did that once in a blue moon. “I promise!” I said.’
Marina knew that Gregor had come across his parents who had been turned to ghouls. That was the reason their bodies were never found. Had they been other ghouls they would have taken Gregor with them. His parents though wanted him to live his original life and would never attempt to turn him into the freakish monsters they had become.
‘After that day, I went nowhere without that whistle’ he said.
‘Let’s stop here please’ said Cassandra. ‘I want to take shots at this point first. It’s beautiful here!’
They all stopped, unpacked their gear and started taking photos every which way. Gregor rested his leg as he stood upon one of the smaller boulders and stared out at the river. Cassandra slightly turned her camera towards him and took some shots hoping he would not notice that she had focused on him. Spontaneously was doing the same thing from another angle.
‘It’s not polite to take pictures of someone you know, if you haven’t asked their permission’ Gregor said in a low voice.
‘Sorry, I have no intention of publicizing them, I will give them to you when their printed. I just couldn’t pass up perfect photogene!’
At hearing this, Cassandra gave out a sigh of relief thinking ‘Thank God he didn’t see me!’
She had thought this too soon though because at that moment she heard his voice.
‘How about you Cassandra? Will you give me your pictures as well or will you post them in a magazine?’
Turning blush Cassandra answered.
‘Of course not, absolutely not! I am a professional. I take pictures of everything and everyone all the time but that doesn’t mean I go ahead to invade their privacy. You can have all of them once they are printed. I have never made public anything that I didn’t have permission to’ she said in a very serious and sort of offended voice.
Rebecca on the other hand went closer to Gregor and spoke once more.
‘Would you like to sit with me and have a snack? I’m a little hungry.’
‘Yes, of course, I am not hungry but I never give up the chance to accompany a lovely woman. Over there, near the bank, let’s sit there’ Gregor said.
The river bank was only a few meters from where they all were so from that point he could see each one of them.
‘Would anyone else like to join us?’ he asked.
Rebecca was annoyed at this. She really wanted to be alone with Gregor even if it was for a moment. She didn’t show her frustration she was too proud.
‘Yes!’ called out Sam. ‘We’re done up here. By the river I could take some nice shots of the trout.’
‘Sam, you are not taking off your clothes!’ Sarah affirmed.
‘Now Sarah love, you know I love underwater photography so just watch me!’
Sam started taking off his clothes.
>
‘Close your eyes ladies’ he joked as he took off his pants.
All of them were gathered at the bank and Sam started taking pictures with out any intention of taking in a snack. As he got into the water waste high he spoke again.
‘It’s bloody freezing in here!’
‘Perhaps it’s best you took pictures from where you are?’ said Gregor.
‘Perhaps you’re right, friend’ answered Sam as he shivered in his shorts.
The girls wandered near by taking shots of the wilderness although Rebecca stayed as close as she could to Gregor. He noticed this and let it be so.
‘May I see your camera?’ he asked.
‘Why yes, you may.’
She sat on the edge of the river and through pebbles into the water.
‘I meant if you could please show it to me how it works.’ He sat next to her.
‘I would be happy!’ she said with a grand smile on her face.
Gregor could feel everything she was feeling, he was sensitive like that. He felt her heart pounding rapidly, her adrenaline climbing to all limits. He felt for her and was compassionate. After all, they have been like one, since he drank of her. Only, she did not know that.
Cassandra and Sarah were thirty meters away shooting pictures of a family of squirrels. They had captured the girls’ attention as they played merrily amongst the branches.
‘Can you continue here please?’ asked Sarah. ‘I would like to take a few shots of my silly fiancée in the river!’
‘Sure, I’ll take care of this side’ Cassandra replied.
They all did their own thing happily as the hours passed quickly.
‘Tell me, are you originally from England?’ Gregor asked Rebecca.
‘Actually, I am from a small village far from the capital called Fobbing. We moved to London when it was time for me to go to college. I now live very close to Thames River.’
‘That is a well known tourist site, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, it is, but I’ve gotten quite use to it.’
‘Would you consider me as rude if I asked you a personal question?’
Secret Of The Crest Page 5
