Chapter 11 The Will to live.
The cracking and quick rapid thuds upon the ground were all that could be heard throughout the forest.
The charred forest had no wild life around it, no where's to hide.
31 men were running as fast as they could, including James.
"Shit! Zain wake up please!" James yelled while running through a outcrop of fallen logs and burnt trees.
(I was able to lose a couple of them….they had to spilt up, since they lost sight of me…but I can still hear them…following my tracks) James thought, and knew he was in a bad situation.
James was able to lose around 5 men, who were to slow to keep up with the rest of the group. Another 3 men had lost their way and had to regroup, outside of the burnt forest.
This left 25 men James still had to deal with, all of them were still blood thirsty, even after running for over 30 minutes straight.
(Have to keep running, can't stop…I have about 3-5 minutes between them. I need to use that in order lose more of them) James thought to himself while he kept running and trying to think of a plan at the same time.
James kept on running until he started to see some green forested area, out of the blackened, charcoaled like forest that he was forced to run through.
James quickly devised a plan to get rid of a few guys that were chasing after him.
"Zain…sorry about this…" James told Zain, while he was still sleeping.
James gently put Zain next to a still living tree that had all of its still branches intact.
James then went to grab a hold of a thick yet bendable piece of wood, and used the little bit of rope he had to tie the shield up to the branch.
"This will is bound to hurt" James stated while he started to bend the branch backwards, he held the branch with another piece of rope. James then hid inside a small bush and waited for his targets to come to him.
The Branch was about 2 feet above Zain's head.
(I can't believe I'm using Zain as bait…) James thought to himself.
James soon heard footsteps, only a few…it appears the entire group had split up in order to cover more ground.
James could see anything; the bushel of green was in his line of sight. He had to rely on his hearing.
"Well will you look at this?" One man nearly laughed
"Ha, that coward ditched the dead weight" The other man stated
James kept on listening for more than just two different voice…there was only 2 men by his count.
"Well, let's take him back to the village" The man stated
"You want to carry that monster? It'll be easier to kill him here and now" The other man retorted
"You don't have to carry him, I will…at least until the knight tells us what to do with him." The man responded
James could start to hear the man getting closer and closer to Zain's position.
(Have to time it right…if they spot the trap…I'm screwed) James thought while he kept track of the one guy that was making his way to Zain.
James heard the man slightly tap Zain with his foot in order to find out if Zain was truly knocked out.
Then James heard Zain moan in slight pain, as his open wounds came into contact with an abrupt touch.
(You hurt him…I'll send it back 10 FOLD!) James thought as he let the rope go, which release the branch.
A load crashing sound was heard, with a sound of a adult male falling on the ground.
"What the hell?" The man shouted
James grabbed a nearby fallen branch and ran up behind the last man standing, around the tree, for he wouldn't be spotted.
James could see blood on the ground…and blood on his shield…it was a direct hit.
While the man lay on the floor unconscious.
James swung the branch downwards as hard as he could against the man who was seeing if his buddy was alright.
The impact didn't crush the man's skull, but it knocked him out.
Two silent wins
James quickly untied the kite shield from the tree and placed it on his back. He then quickly, but gently picked Zain back up, and put him in the same position as before.
(That should buy me some more time…) James thought as he continued running.
Around 10 men came to the area where the two men had been knocked out.
The knight that was in charge of the situation had seen human tracks heading away from their direction.
"The kid has spunk, I'll give him that. But without that monster to aid him, he's nothing" The knight told the other men.
"What do we do about these two?" A brute asked.
The knight pointed out two other men.
"You two, carry them back to the village, then rejoin us as soon as possible" The knight ordered.
The two men did as they were told, and carried the two unconscious men toward the village.
This left 21 men left for James to deal with.
"Well then, let's get back to the hunt. Shall we?" The toughest looking man in the group asked.
The 8 men then started to chase after James once again.
Even though James was able to get 4 men out of the equation, he skimmed off 4 minutes he had between him and the rest of the hunting pack.
"Damn it! I can hear their footsteps…I have…to run faster!" James yelled to himself as he tried to quicken his pace, but found it difficult. His lungs felt like they were out of air, his legs were on fire, and the latest battle with Nora and Claire had already left him exhausted.
"Give it up kid!" One of the men shouted as they then seen James within the distance.
"Shit" James looked back to see a half a dozen men right on his tail.
James kept on running; the ground he was running seemed to start going downhill.
"Zain…buddy. Please wake up!" James pleaded to his partner but got no response.
"Shit, Shit…Shit" James kept on saying between breaths. "Sh-It!" James yelled, he kept on running blindly until he ran straight down a 50 degree hill, there was nothing to grab onto, nothing to stop his fall.
James tumbled down the hill, as he did he held Zain closely to him in order to either protect him from the fall, or to simply not let him go.
After about 50 feet of rolling down the uneven surface, James had finally reached the bottom.
"After him!" The men yelled.
The first to go was the one that seemed like the fastest.
He too started to run down the hill, trying not to lose his balance and tumble down the hill, like James did.
James quickly realized he might be caught soon, but he didn't care. He looked around him and grabbed a decent size stick and broke off the end of it to make a quick amateur spear.
James waited for the man to pick up his speed, to the point where he would be able to stop himself. The man seemed like he was going to bee Line James.
(Now) James thought as he firmly slammed the stick into the ground facing at a angle where it would penetrate the man that was running down the hill
"No! Wait!" The man yelled as he started to panic when he was more than halfway down the hill and was going too fast to stop.
The man tried turning slightly but found that he almost lost his balance and he would've tumbled, which the pointed stick might then kill him.
At the last possible moment, the man jumped as high as he could, but the stick still jabbed into his leg.
"AHH" The man screamed in pain, as the caused him to bleed and fall to the ground.
James by now had already picked Zain back up and was on the run.
"I'll freaking kill you!" The injured man yelled out while reeling in pain.
The other 5 men soon fallowed down the hill to help their fallen comrade.
And once again, they had to use another guy to bring the injured man back to the village.
This left 19 men left for James to deal with.
Another 5 minutes passed, the scenery started to change, to burnt wood, to the living forest.
Flowing water could be heard not too far away.
The ground was still going into a downslope, but it wasn't very noticeable…Until James spotted a large river with fast moving water. The river must've been around 30 feet wide, the deepest part went down to about 8 feet in the middle.
James looked around to see that there was no other way around.
From left to right there seemed to be impassable water blocking his way. The rocky shore lined the edges of the river.
"Damn it!" James yelled then looked at Zain.
For some reason, looking at James gave him of a flashback of the time Zain went swimming in Lake Geneva, the way he seemed like a turtle in the water.
"He's trap!" The knight shouted
James looked behind him to see a group of men about 80 feet away.
(This...is a really bad idea) James thought as he took out his remaining rope and tied Zain to his back. James then put the iron shield over Zain's body in order to further protect him.
James started to quickly step forward to the river and went as far as he could.
The water touching his skin was freezing cold, the water seemed to push him harder and harder as he went deeper…or the deeper he went the more effect it had on him.
The men soon reached the river.
"You idiot get back here! You're going to drown!" One man shouted
"Heh, it's better than burning to death" Another man laughed.
"I'd rather see him burn" The knight stated bluntly
The knight pulled out a bow and arrow and took aim.
The water got too deep for James to simply try to wade through it, his feet couldn't touch the bottom, and Zain's head kept on going under the water, causing him to choke and cough.
(Hang in there Zain…don't drown on me damn it) James thought as he took in a deep breathe, and tried kicking his legs and moving his arms back and forth through the water in an attempt to try and swim…it looked funny and desperate. Half of the time James was under water being dragged by the current downstream…but James was still able to move forward in the water, and Zain seemed to be holding on, self-consciously holding his breathe while James went through the ordeal of swimming through the river.
The knight pulled back the bow, with the arrow lining up to hit James in the back.
The knight then released the arrow, flying seemingly; James didn't know what hit him.
The arrow smashed into James's shield, near the top of the shield which covered Zain's neck.
The sound made a shiver go down James's backbone…he knew the person who shot that arrow was aiming at Zain.
James tried to swim faster; he even noticed that his feet could once again touch the ground of the river bed.
He found that it was faster to just swim and wade his way through the water.
James then turned around to see what the men chasing him were aiming bows and arrows.
There were 4 men that had their own bow and arrow set and aiming at him to fire across the river.
James quickly ripped off the shield off his back which caused Zain to fall to the ground.
The men on the other side didn't hesitate; they fired their arrows at James and Zain.
James put the Kite Shield on his left arm, and used his own body to cover Zain, but used the shield to cover his body.
The first two arrows that struck hit against the iron shield, and imbedded themselves inside the shield.
1 arrow missed entirely and fell into the river.
The last arrow to struck, James didn't block, the arrow grazed James's right shoulder and caused a ½ slash.
"Go after him!" The knight ordered the men.
The men seemed reluctant, and unwilling to try and place their life in trying to cross the river.
James didn't even try to tend to his wound. He slung his shield onto his back, and picked Zain back up.
Both of them were now soak and wet, and freezing.
James began running without any sense of direction.
"You're letting them get away!" The knight shouted at the men.
"Why don't you go through the water then?" The brute asked him.
The knight didn't want to answer the question.
"Fine, we'll find another way around then." The knight stated.
"I know of a way, it's shallow and we can cross" A villager stated and pointed the way.
…
Meanwhile with James getting a new head start
James's soaked cloths were admittedly slowing him down, and it felt as if Zain had gotten suddenly heavier.
James went on running for about 30 minutes until his legs ultimately gave out on him and he had to rest.
Not even trying to sit, James collapsed to the floor of the ground, and leaned next to a tree.
The forest around him had not been touched by Nora's flames; he guessed the river prevented the fire from spreading.
"I…should be able to run farther then…this…I've never been so tired before in my life." James stated while he put Zain down right beside him.
(Zain should only weigh around 40 pounds…but he feels like 100 pounds) James thought then remembered that he was still wounded.
James looked around to see that he was bleeding, and making a trail for the hunter to track him easier.
Tearing off a piece of clothing from his leggings, he wrapped the cloth around his arm to try and stop it bleeding, and therefore stop it from giving away his position.
James was once again about ready to get moving.
James gently picked Zain back up to actually hear a soft, almost silent response from him.
"Zain?" James asked softly.
Zain gave out a low moan.
"Zain, wake up" James told Zain
Zain was still in James's arms, as he slowly opened his eyes.
"Where the heck am I? And better yet…why are you holding me? LET GO!" Zain demanded as he pushed himself away from his book master.
Zain landed on the ground to remember that he was still injured.
The burns on his legs met the ground and it caused him pain.
Not wanting to apologize, Zain didn't complain.
"Zain…can you move?" James asked
Zain tried moving his arms and legs slightly, and found it painful. His wounds were only slightly more healed then an hour ago.
"No…I can't. What happened? Did we win?" Zain asked with a concerned look
James had a sully look on his face and shook it left to right.
"No Zain, we…lost" James told Zain
Zain seemed upset, and disappointed…but then for some reason he let out a smile.
"Well…I still got my book. So I can always beat her later, right?" Zain asked in a hopeful tone.
James seemed to brighten up a little.
"Yeah, we'll get stronger." James responded
Footsteps could be heard throughout the forest, people running on the dry leaves of the seasonal changing forest.
"James? What's going on?" Zain asked James
"…We're being chased" James answered simply
Zain took a look at James and noticed that he was injured and exhausted
(I…must've been a burden to him) Zain thought to himself.
"Well then… Shall I get rid of them?" Zain asked in a near polite manner, but with malice hidden within side his words.
James pulled out the yellow book.
"I got 1 spell left…I can split it into a couple if I make them weak Zakers" James stated, and then faced the direction of the multiple footsteps.
Around 6 men came running into view of them; another 3 men came jumping out of the bushes behind them.
Within a near second they were surrounded.
The hunting party soon realized that Zain had awaken.
"I'll give you 5 seconds…to get out of my sight" Zain warned.
Zain was in pain, and was tired. He didn't want to deal with the "Human's" Bullshit.
Another man soon came into view, and joined in on the blockade they created around Zain and James.
It was the Knight leading the pack of Hunters.
"We have you surrounded boy, and you're injured, and exhausted. DON'T act so high and Mighty when you have just lost!" The knight shouted at Zain.
Zain glared at the man, his eyes were full of hatred.
Zain didn't even count the full 5 seconds, he aimed his hand at the knight.
"5" Zain growled
"Zaker!" James yelled, he put in 1/5 the energy needed to cast a full Zaker.
Zain shot out a small size lighting attack that struck the Knight directly, which sent him flying into a tree.
None of them knew if he had survived the attack.
"Crap, they can cast lightning still!" The man shouted in fear.
"Time's up you stupid humans!" Zain shouted as he aimed both of his hands outward, pointing at the men who surrounded him.
"Kill the older one!" The man stated and charged at James with his pitchfork aiming for James's back.
"Zaker, Zaker" James recited, putting in minimum energy for both attacks.
Zain shot out a small size Zaker that went towards the 3 men behind him.
Zain swung his hand, making the lightning attack go into a whip like motion, causing all 3 men to get hit directly.
Zain's other hand started to glow, he then shot out another small size Zaker, and once again did it in a whip like motion, causing the 6 men in front of them to get hit directly.
Within a few seconds, the men that were surrounding James and Zain were knocked out.
"Let's get moving" Zain demanded
James put away the yellow book, and picked Zain back up, and put him on his shoulders.
Zain looked around and noticed something very quickly
"Wait! Where's all our gear? Your backpack, my stuff! It's gone~!" Zain yelled
The only thing James had was the clothes on his back, which consisted of a cotton tunic, and a heavy fur coat that he had used to cover Zain up with, plus some rope, and an Iron Shield.
"You still got that broach of yours" James responded
Zain looked around to find it tucked inside the Fur coat.
"Well…at least I should have my cloak back by tomorrow…but we're flat broke now" Zain said in a depressed mood.
James started walking west, basically leaving the 10 men that were knocked out to fend for themselves.
"I guess…we'll have to return home" James sighed.
"No! Tomorrow! We must take back our stuff!" Zain retorted
"Our supplies are in the town that we nearly burned down, Zain…It wouldn't be wise to go back there." James explained
Zain calmed down in defeat.
"But…fine…we'll resupply back home" Zain said in a low tone.
The duo walked for another 4 hours, taking alternate routes to go around the town of Montez, they only stopped due to the sun was starting to go down.
Zain jumped off of James's shoulders, 1/5 of his wounds were healed, so he was able to move a little bit.
James meanwhile tore bark off the trees, and grabbed as many leaves as he could carry, and placed it down next to Zain.
Of course James made more trips to gather bark, leaves and fire wood.
Within the hour James was able to make only 1 bed for both him and Zain to share, and a decent amount of fire wood that could last roughly 6 hours before going out.
"Zaker" James said quietly
Zain lit the sticks on fire and prepared himself to go to sleep.
Until both, him and James heard footsteps in the forest.
The footsteps were light, and there was only one set walking on the forest grounds.
"James…the book" Zain warned
James pulled out the yellow book and flipped to the first spell.
A few moments went by until they heard a voice.
"I…don't wish to fight" The voice called out.
Nora came into view, the fire raised up slightly near her presence.
"NORA! James the spell!" Zain demanded while aiming at Nora
James didn't recite the spell, but glared at Nora.
"What do you want?" James asked
His answer was soon responded with 2 packs of supplies being thrown at him and Zain.
"What the?" Zain replied, he went searching through the pack to find that it was their supplies they have left in the village of Montez.
"Like I said, I don't wish to fight. Claire isn't with me at the moment" Nora stated, and then sat next to the fire along with James and Zain.
"You could've said that…oh…I don't. DURING THE BATTLE!" Zain screamed at Nora.
"But….it was my first battle. I admit, it got out of hand, but we had to make it more realistic right?" Nora asked
"NO!" James and Zain responded
"Now Claire hates us" James told Nora
"My skin feels like it's on fire…still!" Zain yelled at Nora
"I'll tell Claire the truth of today later…tomorrow, for sure." Nora stated then looked at Zain. "Is there any way you can forgive me Zain?" Nora asked the boy.
"Hell no!" Zain shot back
Nora stood up on her feet.
"Then what if I gave you something in return? Would that change your mind?" Nora asked Zain
Zain thought about it.
"What on earth, can you give me? How about your book?" Zain responded
"I have something better…Information that every mamodo here in this battle wants" Nora stated and walked closer to Zain.
Zain's curiosity got the better of him
"What?" Zain asked with a frown.
Nora kneeled down next to Zain and looked him in the eyes.
"I know where Banome is" Nora stated with a reinsuring look.
Zain's eyes glowed with anger and excitement of those words.
But he soon snapped out of it and grabbed Nora by the throat.
"Zain" James responded
"You better NOT be lying to me! Where is he?!" Zain demanded out of Nora.
Zain pushed Nora away from him and awaited his answer.
Nora got back on her feet.
"South from here, the last I heard of a duckbilled boy heading towards the town of Marseille. If you're looking for him, I would start there." Nora stated
Zain looked down at the ground…then started searching through James's pack to find the map.
"Marseille…Here I come" Zain said in an excited manner
"So, you are interested in fighting Banome then?" Nora asked Zain.
"Of course! That bastard has it coming to him! I'll burn his book, and make him cry!" Zain said determinedly
"Is that so? You do know Banome is even stronger than me right? So…before fighting him Zain…Become stronger" Nora warned Zain.
Zain snapped back into reality.
He looked away from Nora and looked at James.
"We can, and will become stronger." Zain stated, with determined manner.
James didn't know who Banome was, but he could tell that Zain hated him with a passion.
"Of course Zain" James responded
"So…do you forgive me now Zain?" Nora asked him
Zain looked at her
"It's a start" Zain responded bluntly.
"Then I should be leaving" Nora said while standing up and was about to leave.
"Nora, wait. How did you find us? We're 2 hours away from Montez" James stated
"Easy…Zain has been touched by my flames. So now, I've marked him. I will always know where Zain is from now on." Nora stated
"Mark? Where!" Zain shouted while searching himself for what would look like a mark…unfortunately he was still burned all over so he couldn't tell the difference. "I'm going to have a scar when I'm all healed, right?" Zain growled at her.
"It's not that kind mark Zain" Nora laughed. "If you're truly strong, you'll awake without any scars to your body." Nora told him then left.
"That lying witch…she marked me!" Zain stated in a frustrated tone.
James finally felt it was time to ask, who this "Banome" character was.
"Zain…who's Banome?" James asked
Zain looked at him.
"Oh, right, you wouldn't know him." Zain said plainly.
(Obviously) James thought
"He's the…Prince of the mamodo world, so his father was the King of the mamodo world." Zain explained. "And since I can't hurt the king…for what he has done to the mamodo world, the next best thing is to hurt his son…Banome" Zain stated.
"Sounds personal" James responded
"Personal? No, everyone wants to burn his book. Not just me" Zain stated with anger, he clenched his fists. "I want dibs on him…I want to make him pay for what his father did to the mamodo world." Zain stated. "We go South James" Zain demanded
James sighed.
"Fine…" James stated, and then lay down on the makeshift bed he made.
(I guess I'll wait a bit longer to see what happened to my father…I still got to keep my promise to Zain) James thought as he went to sleep.
Zain stayed up for about 2 hours, reflecting on the first thing he'll like to do to Banome, then the second…Most of the idea's that popped in his head were…unpleasant.
