CHAPTER 4
To Jake, it felt like a crazy rollercoaster ride. He was whizzing through a wide, white tube. He seemed to be going up.
'Up. As in to the top of the mountain!' thought Jake. Suddenly, there was a dazzling light and Jake emerged from the tunnel. The young man dropped Jake. It gave Jake a chance to take in his surroundings. The tip of the mountain had been carved into a castle. It was tall and majestic, with that small sense of majesty. At the front of the castle, just above the castle gates and below the first castle tower, was the mark of the Capria. Jake felt strong, soft hands pulling him to his feet.
"Come, boy." It was the same man who had brought him here. He led him through a series of passageways before stopping in front a makeshift elevator. They got inside and the man pressed a button labelled 'prison cells'. Jake was scared and confused. He didn't want to go to prison, but weren't the Capria smarter than that? Wouldn't they kill him as soon as they got the chance? That would mean all obstacles were eliminated. What was going on? The man tried to start a conversation with Jake.
"My name is Edgar. What is yours?" he asked. Jake crossed his arms and said nothing. He couldn't stand it anymore.
"Your people destroyed my village, my home!" shouted Jake. Edgar shrank back.
"Hush. Be quiet. They can't know you're here." He hissed. When he saw that Jake had relaxed slightly, his expression softened. "I too had a family, once a long time ago. I had a beautiful wife and three of the loveliest sons. I knew they would be in danger if the village got attacked, so I came here, swore my allegiance to the leader and I've been trying to learn as much as I can about the Capria so we can defeat them." Jake stared at Edgar. The man's story was sad, but was it true? Jake decided to risk it all and trust the man. What more could he lose? He might even learn something useful.
"My name is Jake." He said. Edgar's head shot up at the name. "I have two brothers; Mark and John." He continued. "Mark is 17 and John is 15. When I was two, my dad disappeared. Everyone said he was dead, but I knew it wasn't true." He looked into Edgar's face. His face was deathly pale.
"My sons' names were Mark, John and Jake. Jake was two when I left. Nobody knew I had gone." Now it was Jake's turn to turn pale.
"Dad?" he said.
Before they left, Mark removed the arrow from Eleanor's arm and applied a new bandage. They packed only the essentials- a few metres of rope, a grapple hook, a pocket knife and a few light weapons.
"Do we need a plan or are we just gonna wing it? "Mark asked the others.
"I don't know. You're the leader." Said John, his arms crossed and a pout on his face. Mark looked at him, a hurt expression on his face.
"That's unfair John. I didn't want to be the leader." He began. John stared at him. "Okay, maybe I did want to be the leader. But that's because I'm the oldest, the strongest and the smartest. So, I get to be leader." John glared at his brother.
"Number one, you're only two years older than me, two, since when does strength matter? and three, it's a well known fact that I'm smarter than you." John felt a sudden rage towards the young man in front of him. He wanted to scream at him, then to run away and continue the mission alone. But John knew that was unwise. He needed Mark, and Mark needed him. They were a team. They always had been. There was no point endangering himself over a silly dispute about who would be leader. Mark had been thinking the same thing.
"Maybe you are the better choice for leader. Your older so you've got more experience and your stronger so you've got more of a chance when we need defending." Said John. Mark smiled.
"You can always be second in command. We need your brains anyway." He said. Eleanor, who had been watching the worthless argument in amusement, got up from her seat in the trees.
"Is this what you boys do every day?" She asked. The boys saw the smirk on her face.
"You know what, I'm starting to regret bringing you here." Said John.
"Aww. Don't be so mean. Okay, I'm sorry. You boys are just so annoying. Anyway, you wouldn't have known that Jake was captured or where the Capria are without me." Said Eleanor.
"I think you've got competition for the smartest in the group." Whispered Mark to John. "She's certainly got brains." He said with a smirk. John replied with a scowl.