Dwellers of the New World Chapter Fifteen ( Pt 5 ) Camp of Suspicion

Travelling was a lot easier on the return journey. The weather remaining clear and sunny, leaving a cold crisp day. Their skin boots crunched with each stride they took, leaving a trail through the snow, the children looked back and spied their prints that seemed to go on for miles behind them. There was no signs of animal tracks anywhere, so food would have to wait till they reached camp which was still quite a way to go.

The children kept pace with Liora as she sang, they joined in, their breathing helped by the singing and giving them their last bit of energy.

Jay held back along with Addie and his men. He felt he needed to let Addie know about Dawson and how he came to be a prisoner at the hands of a man named Gregor, who then shipped him out to Wild Whistling Isle where he was now a prisoner on the island.

“Do you know where he's being held captive?” Enquired Addie, who could still not understand why Dawson should be here at all.

Jay stopped in his tracks confronting Addie. “I'm afraid he has faced a lot of danger since arriving here. A boy named Varden was the first to discover him back on the mainland, Dawson was lost and alone in one of the chambers where they keep young boys prisoner, now he's been left to rot in the catacombs deep down underground here on the Island.” Jay paused realising they were being left behind. “Sorry...but I think we'd better move faster, the others are a long way out in front.”

Not even considering how far the others had gone, Addie was shocked, his expression was one of confusion as to why one of his men would be here and not with his ship. He remembered giving strict instructions to his crew not to leave under any circumstances. But there was nothing he could do now, so the two men trudged on, eventually catching up to the rest of the party.

It was late afternoon when they reached the grove of trees they'd stopped at on the way to the mountains. Liora knew they were close to civilisation now, they were all hungry, tired and in need of some fresh water, so decided to stop and rest. As the woman gazed through the trees, she noticed smoke rising and thought they must be still celebrating at the camp, it wasn't unusual for men to carry on drinking for a number of days after being at sea.

After their short rest, they began walking once again. The path leading to the camp was littered with parts of clothing. Liora felt troubled as they approached Bracus's camp, there was a sinister atmosphere that made her shudder, though she had no idea why. It was as if they'd entered a ghost camp, even the others could feel the despondency. No one in the group uttered a word, they just walked around alarmed by the scene that was before them. Food was still on spits, some large birds pecked at the leftovers, enjoying the feast they hadn't had to forage for. The embers of some of the fires still smoked, while others lay in ashes. Tankards lay where they'd been dropped on the ground, as still more skins were scattered about...but the strangest thing of all, was that after checking all the shelters there wasn't a single person in sight.

“Where's everyone?” Declared Jay, walking up to Liora and touching her shoulder.

“It looks like something has happened here...though I don't know what that might be.” She walked over to Bracus's shelter pulling back the cover, but still not a single guard or man was there. “If they'd decided to leave, surely they'd have packed everything up and put the fires out, it's as if they've been spirited away, though I've a feeling there's more to this than meets the eye.” Liora and Jay both gazed at each other at that moment uncertain of the disorder.

Addie approached not understanding the situation. "What's going on? Is this meant to be your camp?”

“No...no!” Exclaimed Liora. “It belongs to a man by the name of Bracus. We left here two nights ago and everyone was in high spirits.”

“Perhaps they've gone hunting!” Uttered Addie, remembering the great hunts they watched on their cinema screen on Obsidian.

Liora broke his chain of thoughts. “They wouldn't all go on a hunt and in any case all the wood's still lying around, they were going to build dwellings here.”

Jay then made a suggestion. “Why don't we go down to the ship? Maybe someone there can tell us what's going on.”

Liora was about to answer him, when a couple of the children began to run towards the meat that was left. “No!” She shouted. “Don't touch the food, it could be contaminated, we don't know what's taken place here, I suggest we don't tamper with anything until we find out what's happened.”

Some of the youngsters began crying with hunger, as others stood stunned by what they were seeing and the fear of not knowing where they were going. Quickly the woman made her way over to them and came to kneeling beside two of the boys placing an arm around each of their shoulders. “Children...I want you all to gather round and listen to me.” The youngsters looked at each other then back at the woman. With hardly any energy left, they made their way slowly over to her, eager that she would feed their empty belly's. “I want you all to stay calm, there's meat back at my camp which isn't far and water too.” Liora turned and called Jay over. “Will you stay with the youngsters, take them back to my dwelling? I'll catch up with you just as soon as I find out what's going on.” She came to standing seeing the others.

“Oh yes...can you take Addie and his men too?”

Jay agreed, but if truth be known he would have rather gone with Liora. “Let me know as soon as you hear any news,” he insisted giving her a kiss.

“Of course. I shouldn't be too long.” Giving Jay a hug, the woman turned to walk away, but suddenly remembered her animal. “The goat will need milking Jay, so there should be enough for everyone to drink a little.” Her voice faded as she got further away, Jay acknowledged that he'd heard her.  She waved her men to follow, leaving the others to carry on back to her camp.

Dwellers of the New World Chapter Fifteen ( Pt 6 ) Blundering Consequences | ABCtales