Chapter 10

Ludger was surprised at how green Rieze Maxia was. There were trees and wildlife everywhere and Ludger was more than happy to stand on the deck of the ship as the land slid by. If he wasn't travelling for such a horrible reason he would probably really enjoy walking throughout the land.

Maybe he could even see where Erston lived.

A stray wave splashed up the side of the ship and caught Ludger on the arm. He hissed as the salt stung his burns and pulled back slightly before being driven to the rail again as more of the land came into view.

"You can just see Leronde in the distance" Leia's voice next to him made him jump. He turned to look at her and saw Alvin hovering nearby as well.

Elize and Teepo were most likely sleeping below deck, where he should be if he was honest with himself, but he couldn't shake the tension thrumming through his body. If he was honest he hadn't really slept since Duval, not that he was going to tell Leia or Elize that. They had left Marksberg three days ago and Ludger had been reassured each day that today they would reach Leronde.

Finally.

The three of them stayed on deck as the small town slowly crept into view. It was picturesque to say the least, he could easily see the mild mannered Jude growing up here and learning how to help people. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Leia furiously wipe at her eyes before disappearing below deck muttering something about waking Elize. "She never expected to come here without Jude" Alvin supplied, filling the silence. "They have been together ever since they were kids, even when we went traipsing across Rieze Maxia to save the world she refused to be left behind. Not even a gunshot wound would stop her. She would always be by Jude's side keeping him safe, it must be killing her knowing she can't help him."

A gunshot wound? How did she get one of them in Rieze Maxia, he didn't know much about the land but he did know they didn't use guns. Ludger's eyes strayed to Alvin's pistol at his side but didn't comment, if there was a story then this wasn't the time for it.

"There is no sign of any other ships, we should be here first." Alvin mused to himself. "Any ship to the island has to go to the Seahaven as the back of the island consists of mountains and mines. It should be easy to set a lookout for them." Leia and a bleary eyed Elize joined them on deck an uncharacteristically quiet Teepo in Elize's arms. Ludger shot a quick look at Leia, he face was still slightly blotchy but she looked determined.

"Right here is the plan" Alvin announced. "Elize as soon as you see Jude you need to link with him and use Teepo drain to build his health and mana back up. I will link with Leia and use shots to keep Scott distracted while Leia closes in. Ludger you need to use that distraction as a chance to get Jude out of there, keep an eye out for Marcus as well. I doubt Scott left him behind."

"What if Jude can't walk?" Leia broke in. "From the pain Ludger was in the other night there is a good chance that he might not be able to use his legs."

Alvin mused for a second. "Okay, Ludger you and I will link while Leia goes for Jude, she might be able to heal him enough to help him walk on his own."

"What if Jude isn't awake? What if the bad man hurt him too much?" Teepo interrupted.

"Scott will make sure Jude is awake." Alvin said darkly, "This is a show to hurt both Jude and Derrick, he will make sure that Jude is aware of it."

"What if..." Leia began.

"No! "Alvin snapped before calming himself. "We will follow the plan, we can't plan for every situation so we will just need to adapt. Our main focus is to get Jude away from Scott." Leia glared at him for interrupting her but didn't argue again. Elize looked between the two nervously while Ludger looked aside. This argument had been going on for a few days and the stress of the situation was catching up to everyone. They needed Jude back before the group broke down any further.

Ludger glanced over the side of the ship as it slowed to dock and out over the quiet town.

He just prayed they had got there first.

XXX xxx XXX

"Well?" Scott demanded.

"No sign of them, I didn't see the silver haired brat or Alvin get off the ship." Marcus replied, stone faced as usual. He was sulking about something but Scott didn't really care. Marcus had been whining about the demon's friends knowing where they were but Scott dismissed him. There was no way for them to know where he had gone, Braht were gone, destroyed, by his hand. Now they were in an entirely different world. There was no way the group that he had seen in the square would come here. Nevertheless Scott had let Marcus check the passenger ship as it came into Leronde before returning to their hiding place in the boarded up inn at the seahaven, their ship having dropped them off the night before.

Scott felt a small amount of satisfaction, everything was going perfectly. With any luck they would be able to grab the traitor and his mate and get them all to bow down before him. Especially that traitorous Alfred. Exodus was his now, he had pulled it from the ruins Gilland's death had left it in and it was he who would take it to the next level and become a major power in Elympios.

He, Scott, would have both worlds cower at his feet.

Starting with the man who had abandoned him, he would break him just like he broke his son. That would teach him to give up his responsibilities and the children who had depended on him as a father figure. How dare he leave his own people to have a kid with the enemy. A kid that was now shaking at his feet broken in body and no doubt soon to be broken in mind.

After all it was all the demon's fault, maybe if he killed him in front of Dr Mathis he would see that Scott was more suited to be his child and would stay with him.

But what if he didn't.

Why wouldn't he?

Scott was much better than the demon wasn't he?

Scott kicked absent-mindedly at the body at his feet and got a small whimper in response. Scott smiled in satisfaction and continued his thoughts.

XXX xxx XXX

Marcus looked in disgust at Scott. Taking the boy to see his father had never been part of the original plan. They were supposed to get the boy to build them a spyrite and if he refused then publicly torture and execute him as a warning to the scientists up in Helioborg so they would give them what they wanted instead.

Win-win.

If Alvin stuck his nose in and Marcus got to kill him so much the better.

Instead as soon as Scott had Jude in his hands he changed. He had toyed with the boy, not even asking him for information, just hurting him for the sake of it. And even worse as Marcus went to go distract Alvin long enough for his goons to get the reporter, Scott decided to blow up the Braht headquarters. Scott had gloated on the way over about how he had killed the leader of the Braht and destroyed them.

He was delusional.

Aside from killing most of the remainder of Exodus along with the Braht they had been hold up with there was one other major factor.

The Voice had not been the leader of the Braht.

Secretly Marcus had a suspicion that Robin had been more than he appeared to be. If Robin escaped the blast then he would know who had attacked the base and where they were going. There was no way Braht let Exodus see their main base, no doubt that had been an outpost. This wasn't a ragtag group like Exodus. Braht were the Judge, Jury and Executioner of Duval, you don't get that much power from one small house of fifty people.

No, Braht was still out there.

Exodus was finished.

He wasn't too fussed about Scott being caught anymore but he had a very keen sense of self-preservation. He needed some sort of leverage if he was going to get out of this alive, once Alvin saw the state of the kid there was no chance of being able to walk away safely.

No.

Let Scott drag the boy before Derrick, then he would kill Scott and hand over the hostages in return for his life and freedom, then he would go and hide in a corner of Rieze Maxia for the rest of his life, far away from where Braht could find him.

Not the most ideal of plans but it would have to do.

XXX xxx XXX

Jude had a fever.

There was no doubt in his mind, something, somewhere had got infected. It was a miracle he hadn't succumbed before now.

Or maybe he did and he was only just realising it.

Who knew?

The point was he knew it now.

He was shivering while feeling like he was on fire. His vision was blurry and it was a struggle not to pass out every time Scott made him move. He was lucky his throat hadn't completely swollen shut, as it was every breath was a struggle and he was feeling light-headed.

If he was honest Jude just wanted this to be over, one way or another.

Ludger was probably dead because of him and he doubted anyone would find him here. He should just curl up and die in the corner before anyone else got hurt because of him.

'How did it end up like this?' He thought to himself, and agonisingly gulped back a sob.

His fever addled mind showed him memories of the last time he had thought that. When he was sitting on a bed in Hamil with Alvin pointing a gun at his head.

When Leia had got shot protecting him. Yet another time when a friend had been hurt trying to save him.

Like the first time Milla had left his side, dying to save his pathetic life. 'Milla, I wish you were here with me. I wish I could have seen you, one last time.'

"Typical kid, How can you be so eager to just roll over a give up?" Jude flinched and looked around in a daze, he could almost hear Alvin's voice. But no, it was the fever whispering to him. Still, it gave him heart. He mustn't give up, there would be a way to fight back. Alvin wouldn't just let him die here and Jude had to do everthing he could to be ready when the time to fight came.

'It's not a matter of if you can or can't, it's whether you do or don't.' Jude's own words came back to him.

Jude twisted his bruised face into a smirk.

He can, and he will.

XXX xxx XXX

Dr Derrick Mathis was just checking in on the patient he had kept in overnight when there was a knock at the door. He glanced up irritably before carrying on with his check up. The patient had fallen off a ladder and had jarred his back, a concussion was also possible so Derrick and Ellen had been taking turns to wake him up every hour. Needless to say he was now very tired and grouchy but the patient wasn't showing any signs of concussion and could now be left to sleep.

The knock sounded again, more forceful this time. Derrick swore under his breath, they were going to wake Ellen if they weren't careful. It couldn't be anyone from the town, they would know the door was never locked in case of emergency.

"I'm coming, I'm coming" he muttered to himself as he made his way over. "This better be impor..." he grouched as he opened the door, his voice failed him as he took in the group standing in front of him.

Erm, so yeah. (Shifts around awkwardly) Not gonna lie I hit a little writers block and kinda left this story for a bit and now after 5 months I've only done a really small chapter. In truth this chapter had to be a stand alone anyway, it would break the flow but I still felt it was important to set the scene as the story reaches its climax (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

Now this is out the way I can look towards wrapping this up :)

Thank you to ignite_lx for your review all those months ago and thank you to epactcadenza for your more recent review which really motivated me to pick this up again.

There is a small edit for Chapter 9 which I have updated as well.

Thank you for your patience :)