The problem was, it would all be for nothing if they were discovered in the vicinity of the body. They might be able to successfully protest their innocence, unless the knights attacked the moment they spotted them. However, Leo was loath to send the woman off on her own, and a denial would be much less convincing if she was with them. If the knights found her, they would probably kill her on general principle. One of their own had been murdered, and they would be looking for someone to pay.
The sound of armored footsteps drew closer. Leo swiftly wiped off the blade on the nearest patch of leaves so it wouldn’t drop blood as they ran. While holding on to the murder weapon seemed counterintuitive, if the knights caught up with them, then they might need it. It would be far easier to kill them with the sword, rather than try and disguise more bullet holes.
“Let’s go!” he said urgently.
The woman cast a fearful look around, towards the three marines and then towards the sound of the incoming knights. She took Nick’s hand. He swiftly pulled her up and dragged her along with them. If they were found standing over the body of a dead knight, his comrades would likely try and kill them all without asking any questions.
Leo charged deeper into the woods, in the opposite direction the knights were approaching from, but away from the road. They had left the horses not far from the road, tied up, but the knights were too close to run for them. If they were spotted, then all the stab wounds in the world wouldn’t hide their involvement. It was paramount that they remained hidden.
“This way, this way,” Don called, charging forward and taking the lead.
He dove through the trees and the undergrowth, pushing them apart recklessly. Leo swore. He could hear the knights on their trail. They could no doubt hear their headlong rush, but they were so close, they didn’t have time to do anything but run.
“Ah, shit,” Don swore. He threw himself backwards, and tackled Leo to the ground at the same time.
Nick skidded to a stop, still dragging along the terrified woman. Up ahead there was a gorge, with a drop of maybe thirty feet that led into a ravine. In their headlong, hurtling run, Don had nearly missed it and gone over the edge.
Leo leapt to his feet and started running towards the left. “Move,” he urged. The knights were drawing ever closer and they had to find a place to hide.
They ran along the edge of the gorge, dipping back into the forest once they were further on ahead. Leo’s heart pounded in his chest; they were essentially going back on themselves now. He gasped for breath and twisted, risking a glance over his shoulder.
Nick was starting to fall behind, the woman stumbling and unable to keep up. As Leo watched, Nick scooped her up over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry, his face resolute; he wasn’t going to leave her behind to the tender mercies of the pursuing knights. Maybe they would be men of honor like Mathis, and she would be fine, or maybe they would be men like the knight who had attempted to rape her. They couldn’t take that chance.
“Here,” Don hissed.
Leo doubled back from where he had sprinted past the hollow rock outcropping. He hadn’t noticed it on first glance, far more intent at looking where he was running for any trip hazards than looking around him.
It was a cave, and its shadowy mouth promised safety. It looked like it went deep into the bank of the forest, sloping downwards, under the small hill and maybe under part of the forest floor. It would be a good place to hide—it was the only place they had to hide. They couldn’t keep running; the knights would catch sight of them eventually, or they would run into another patrol.
This cave was their best chance.
Don dove into the cave first. Leo paused, anxiously twisting to see where the oncoming knights were, as he waited for Nick and the woman to pass. He backed in, but he thankfully still didn’t spot the knights. Leo waited, rifle in hand and heart in his mouth. He was out of sight of the cave entrance, far back enough that he couldn’t see out—unless a knight came to check the cave.
Something crunched under his feet. Leo looked down; he could see white bones covering the floor of the cave. He sniffed. There was an unpleasant smell, like sweat and rotting meat. An animal had definitely made this cave its home at some point recently. He felt a tugging on the sleeve of his uniform jacket. He turned around to see Nick’s wide eyes.
Nick pointed. Leo looked further into the cave and his jaw dropped. An animal had made this cave its home, and it was still home. While he watched, the beast came further out of the shadows. Don raised his rifle. Leo hissed and violently gestured for him to lower it.
“What the hell is that?” Leo breathed.
“It looks like a giant pig but with a ton of horns and devil red eyes,” Nick whispered. The woman by his side whimpered in fear.
Leo glared at him. “That’s not helpful.”
“We should run,” Nick suggested, his eyes flickering to the woman.
“Right into the patrol?” Leo raised an eyebrow.
Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire. They were screwed. If the knights caught them, then they were in for a fight, and would have to make sure to kill the entire patrol so they couldn’t be identified as having been the killers of Gatlan knights. However, if they stayed in here, the beast would rip them to shreds.
“We should shoot it,” Don said through gritted teeth.
“And have them hear us?” Leo hissed.
Nick was right, the beast bore a passing resemblance to a boar. However, it was much larger than any boar on earth. It was tall enough that it came up to Leo’s chest, jet black in the darkness, covered in rough-looking fur. Leo’s blood froze. In the situation they were in, it looked just as deadly as the dragon they had faced. That had sported razor-sharp claws and breathed fire. They were certainly ticking mythological creatures off the bucket list from hell.
“Maybe if we don’t move, it’ll ignore us,” Nick suggested hopefully.
Leo could hear the sounds of movement outside. He slashed against his throat, and the others fell silent. Leo didn’t even want to breathe for fear of attracting attention. The only thing that could make this situation worse was if they were caught between knights swinging swords at them and this beast trying to savage them.
Although, maybe if they could get the knights between them and the beast, then the beast would take care of them in a way that couldn’t be linked back to the marines. All things considered, though, Leo would really rather that the knights didn’t find them in the first place.
The beast pawed the ground with its front hoof and snorted. It lowered its head, clearly ready to charge. Leo moved quickly, pushing Nick and the woman behind him. He raised the knight’s sword, which he had kept for another reason, but which would now maybe save their lives in a different way.
His hand shook slightly as he stared into the beast’s red eyes. It was like playing chicken, but in a staring contest, seeing which one of them would blink first.
The seconds ticked by. Leo’s shallow breathing sounded unnaturally loud in his ears. He stared at the boar; the boar stared back. Just when he was starting to hope that the threat had passed, the boar lunged forward.
Leo sidestepped and slashed with the sword, but he wasn’t fast enough. The beast clipped him, knocking him to the ground and slashing his chest with one of the horns. He grunted. That had felt like being hit by a car; he definitely had some broken ribs.
He staggered to his feet and swung wildly with the sword, before the beast could decide to ignore the pesky marine who was fighting back and instead go for the juicy vulnerable targets, unable to defend themselves without making noise. Aside from the sword, all they were equipped with that could be used silently was their Ka-Bar knives. It would be like fighting with a toothpick.
The beast was trapped by the close confines of the cave as much as the marines. The sword bit deeply into muscle and the beast roared in pain. Leo’s eyes darted towards the cave entrance, but he couldn’t spare a thought for the searching knights right now. Wi
th any luck, they would be frightened away by the sounds of the beast. Only the brave or the foolish poked a wounded animal.
Leo swung the sword again as the beast turned. This strike glanced off the boar’s tusks and the horns protruding around its neck. The boar shook and Don tried, and failed, to bite back a yell of pain as his leg was crushed between the bulk of the beast and the cave wall.
The beast charged forward at Leo once more, and this time Leo held his ground. He held the sword aloft, the pommel secure in two hands, and he stabbed down. His force, plus the boar’s charge, pushed the sword deep into the beast’s brain, killing it instantly.
However, momentum was not so easily stopped. The beast rammed into Leo, tossing him into the air, several of the horns impaling him through his pants leg and on one side of his chest. The beast fell to the ground, the force of it shaking the cave. Leo slumped down sideways, against the cave wall, gasping and clutching at his wounds.
Blood poured from his injuries. Nick looked between Leo and Don, horrified. He had been furthest away, closer to the entrance with the woman, and had escaped unscathed. Quickly, he unclipped his pack and reached for the magic healing paste that Cyrus had given them.
Leo watched Nick’s frantic motions. The sorcerer’s ominous warning crossed his mind ‘Rely on it, you cannot. Be careful of the dangers that will tempt you, or you will not be saved.’ The healing paste had saved their lives more than once already. They weren’t purposefully allowing themselves to be hurt because they knew they could be healed. However, would today be when the sorcerer’s warning came true?
He hoped not. It was difficult enough for a team of three to complete the mission for Earth. While Leo had the utmost confidence in Nick’s abilities, carrying on the mission alone would be asking the impossible for just one man, even if he was a marine.
Nick fell to his knees beside Leo. He pulled his knife and cut away at Leo’s clothing, and then dipped his fingers into the healing paste, getting a large amount. Leo opened his mouth to reassure him, but nothing came out. Nick looked even more panicked; Leo tried to pat him on the arm but he couldn’t move.
It was getting darker in the cave; his vision was tunneling. The whimpers of the woman were getting quieter. Nick was silent as he worked, biting his lip to avoid making a sound. Leo frowned. Why was he doing that? Then Leo remembered the knights that were searching for them, that could be outside the cave waiting for them to emerge.
He fought back the darkness. This could not be the end.
Chapter Twelve
Leo heard Don groan. He weakly tried to move, to turn his head to look at him. He had to make sure he was alright. Don was his best friend and he was under Leo’s command. Nick placed a firm hand on Leo’s chest.
“Try not to move,” Nick whispered. “Just stay with me, alright? Stay with me. You’re going to be okay.” Nick finished applying the paste to Leo’s wounds. He gestured for the woman to come closer. “Watch him, tell me if he passes out,” he ordered, pointing at Leo.
The woman looked at Nick fearfully but crouched down next to Leo as he had asked. Leo looked at her. His vision was starting to improve and his mind wasn’t as foggy. The healing paste was working, which was a relief, because he really wasn’t ready to die yet. Especially not to some accidently encountered hell beast. If he went out, he wanted to do so when he was on mission, doing his best to save Earth. He did not want to die pointlessly to a magically warped gigantic boar.
Leo twisted and looked over at Don. Don’s expression was a grimace of pain. Nick had split his pants leg up to the knee and was liberally applying the paste to the crushed bone. Before Leo’s very eyes, the discolored and unnaturally shaped tissue started to regain a healthy shape. The bruises vanished, leaving Don’s dark-skinned leg looking as normal.
Don breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks, man.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Leo gasped.
He took a deep breath, relieved that he could. The last shards of agony left as the healing paste worked its magic. Leo looked down, probing his various injury sites with his fingers. He shook his head in amazement. If it wasn’t for the lost blood staining his clothing and the ground around him, there would have been no sign that he had been injured at all. Cyrus’s miracle cure had worked again; it hadn’t failed them yet.
“I hope I remembered my sewing kit,” Leo joked as he looked at his ripped uniform.
It was practically shredded in places. No amount of thread would fix it; it would need a few patches. Fortunately, he had a spare uniform, and hopefully King Oswald would be able to spare a bit of material. It wouldn’t match, of course, but a muted green or brown wouldn’t clash too badly, so the camouflage fatigues would still do their job. Plus, it was more important to keep dry and warm.
Leo pulled himself to his feet. He bent down and picked up the sword that had saved their lives. He couldn’t keep this one; the risk of it being identified as that of a Gatlan knight was too high. However, he did think they should get a sword. This marked the second time he’d slain a beast with cold steel; he’d finished the dragon off with Mathis’s sword as well. It could come in handy, and having a weapon that didn’t run out of ammo, and was silent, was always useful.
Sword in hand, Leo limped towards the cave entrance. He couldn’t hear any sounds of movement, so he risked going further forward. There was nobody directly outside the cave. Leo stepped forward, out of the cave and into the sunlight. He blinked, as the light was bright after the shadowy confines of the cave. His eyes soon adjusted and he swiveled around, taking in the area. There were no knights to be seen or heard.
Hopefully they had moved the search elsewhere. It was also a possibility that they had heard the beast and reached both the right and the wrong conclusion. Maybe they thought that the killer of the knight had been attacked by the beast. Only, they had likely thought that the beast had won, slaughtering the knight’s killer for them.
“All clear,” Leo called.
Nick emerged from the cave first, leading the woman they had saved by the hand. She pulled away once they got outside and looked fearfully at them, before nodding in respect.
“Thank you.” She bowed her head.
“Just don’t tell anyone it was us,” Leo asked seriously.
The woman nodded in understanding and walked away at a fast pace, presumably heading back towards her village. Leo watched her leave, until the trees swallowed up her form. He felt responsible, like they should accompany her. However, they couldn’t save everyone. Intervening as much as they had had nearly cost them everything.
“This can’t happen again,” Don noted, as if he had read Leo’s thoughts.
“I know,” Leo murmured.
He unclipped his pack and pulled out his spare uniform, quickly swapping his ruined clothes. Don did the same with his uniform pants. They would at least be easy to mend; they had just been split along the seam to the knee, and needed re-stitching.
Cautiously, the three marines made their way back to the road, where they had left the horses and the set claymores. The horses were tied to trees a few yards outside the range of the claymores. Thankfully, the horses and all their supplies contained in the saddlebags were right where they had left them.
Don leaned against his horse, slumping dramatically with an exaggerated sigh of relief. Leo rolled his eyes at his antics, then checked his watch. It felt like it had been hours, but barely thirty minutes had passed. A lot could happen in a short space of time. He looked down the road for any sign of the supply convoy.
Wars were won or lost based on resources. Sintiya regularly sent supply convoys to the front every couple of days. They had chosen the ambush spot with care; it was in a natural depression in the land, something of a blind spot. Leo un-looped the reins and turned the horse, leading it back along the path further into Gatlan.
The three marines would make camp on the hill just ahead of the ambush spot until the convoy made an appearance. The road wove in between the trees, but the added height
gave them a clear line of sight. They would see the convoy long before the convoy could ever hope to see them.
“How long do you think we’ll have to wait?” Don grumbled, shooting a dark look down the hill, which unfortunately had no movement in sight.
“Could be any minute, could be hours, it could be tomorrow sometime.” Leo shrugged. “I doubt it will be any longer than that.”
“Waste of time,” Don muttered.
His horse shuffled, disturbing his leaning against it. Nick smothered a smile at Don’s resentful glare that he shot at the horse. Don moved forward and looked around. He ran his boot over the dirt; it was dry, so he parked himself down and retrieved his cap from his vest. He pulled it over his eyes.
“Wake me when it’s my turn to keep watch,” Don mumbled.
“I’ll take first watch,” Nick offered.
Leo smiled at him gratefully. The healing paste had healed his wounds, but he still felt weak and shaky from the blood loss. A chance to sit down and rest for a short time was too good an offer to pass up. He lowered himself down and leaned up against the nearest tree. Leo closed his eyes. It was so peaceful in this world; there were no aircraft sounds or car engines. All he could hear was the wind in the trees and the birds chirping in the air.
He knew that this world wasn’t peaceful. They were only a couple of miles from the frontline. The sound couldn’t carry this far, nor could the sights or smells, but he knew it was there. Leo focused on his breathing and tried to calm his mind, stop it from returning to Earth. He had fought in New York for a short time; he had seen the devastation that by now would no doubt be worldwide.
The more time passed, the more the kernel of hope inside died. What if they were out here, and there was no one back home left to save? Leo shook his head. He couldn’t think that way, because until they had confirmation, he had to assume the best. He had to assume that they would return and be able to turn the tide, to save the world and most of the innocent people that called it home. Otherwise, how could they keep on going? How could they fight to survive, and win, with any conviction?
Justified (#2 Divided Destiny) Page 12
