After a few minutes had passed I grabbed my pack and left, I really didn't know when I was going to have my meeting with the Prophet, so I was going to walk around until it was time. As I was trying to memorize the layout of the current camp, I noticed a group of teenagers not much younger than me learning to fight with sticks and swords. Now I wasn't familiar with those type of weapons, but I wasn't about to not want to learn. I threw my pack on the ground and started working out with the group, to say that I didn't get my butt kicked was an understatement. Instead of staying down, I got right back up and started again; every time I was knocked down, I figured out what I did wrong and started over again.
I kept going until someone called time, as I was walking to line up with the training group, I inserted myself in without asking; I noticed that I had an audience. Standing off to the side of the training circle was The Prophet, he was looking right at me. Before I could speak or even make my way towards him, he grabbed a stick from one of the ones I was training with. He entered the circle and I have to assume it was The Mourner or it could have been the Destroyer spoke up, "He wants to see what you have learned; you have ten minutes to try your best to beat him. Don't worry if you can't beat me, nobody but Dragon can beat him; well not right now, I don't think Dragon could beat up a fly." Just then Ronnie (oops I mean Dragon) hit him with his crutch.
Everyone including Prophet was laughing, then suddenly Prophet came at me: I began twisting and turning my body in many directions, I could, he was getting as many hits in as he could and then suddenly, I saw an opening. I quickly spun around and knocked his legs out from underneath him with my left leg, and without really thinking I moved the stick to have it hovering over his face with one hand while taking his with the other. A silence came over the crowd, as they waited to see what he would do now that I had both weapons and just as suddenly as I had him on his back, he used his height advantage (what can I say, he is a freaking giant) and knocked me on to my back taking both weapons with him.
As quickly as I could I rolled to the right and grabbed a weapon I saw laying on the ground near the edge of the circle, I stood up and rushed towards him as if my life depended on it. Just as I was about to gain the upper hand again someone shouted "TIME," and we both dropped our weapons; taking a deep breathe I waited to see what was to happen next. As he left the circle, he whispered something to Dragon and of course Dragon just laughed and whispered something back. Then he left, I was scared; had I done something wrong, was I not supposed to be training this early or even get as far as I did when fighting the Prophet. When I finally came out my stupor, I noticed everyone but Dragon and I were left.
"I have to say, I am amazed; few people can almost get the best of Andy. He is amazed trust me, he said if it weren't for the fact, you're a girl and I was still in pain he would have thought he was fighting against me. Now I have been tasked with getting you cleaned up and then take you have your long-awaited meeting with him. Trust me when I say that so far you have impressed him, I told him everything you have said since you began 'taking' care of me in the Temple. I told him of the look of disgust and horror in your eyes when you first saw those of us that were trapped there, I told him that you would even whisper your sorry every time you had to do something you did agree too.
"He likes the name you invoked when you made your promise to get them help, now we have to get you cleaned up and to him fast. It turns out our little escape is now out there and people are looking for the both of us, so we need to move camp in the next day or two." He said as he limped towards me. "I will tell the secret that most of the camp doesn't know, we try to camp near streams of water or even hot springs. That way we have ways to get water to clean up with, today is your lucky day in fact. And said you get first use of the nearby hot spring to clean up and I get to escort you there, I will turn my back out of respect but you will need to get used to having little to no privacy after this, only the children have privacy. We keep it that way, so they don't see something they really shouldn't at their age." He said with a laugh.
I grabbed my pack and said "I am not worried; my parents were teaching me that once I was to be married, I would have no privacy at all. I was to let my husband see every inch of me and I was never to have a door closed within the house when he was home. When I younger I thought it was a game my parents played but now it is just one of those things I came to learn that I was to do, mind you I didn't want to marry the young man that was chosen for me. You remember the Leader's words, that I was perfect for his youngest son; yes, it was arranged. I was sold to him so my parent's social status in the Temple would approve, yes, I bet their status had dropped tremendously now that I am gone.
"I know that there is no going back because I would be made an example of, instead of being chained in the basement with the others I would be put in the middle of the city just outside the Temple and shamed. I would be the one that other girls would be told they would become if they went against F. , so yes it makes no difference to me." You could here a pin drop as Dragon stopped in his tracks, he turned and looked at me. "So, you're saying that they would use you as an example of what will happen to them if they rebel against them? Do you think that they would have done that to me if they knew exactly how close I was to Andy?" he asked as we began walking again.
Sighing I carefully choose my words, "No, I think it might have been worse for you, to be honest. They would have sent you Priest training and brainwashed you to kill The Prophet and the rest of the Lieutenants, plus everyone here including the children. And then when The Prophet or one of the others killed you, F.E.A.R would remove your mask just to destroy them. We both know that it would destroy everyone in this camp from the youngest child to the oldest adult here, if it was found out you were forced to fight against the Wild Ones. You were lucky, you did the right thing by not revealing exactly how close you were. Ronnie, I have seen boys my brother's age go out to fight against you and some come back but their smiles never reach their eyes.
"In fact, it's like they have no emotions anymore, like they are a robot; and they are just waiting on their next orders. I have seen the families of the ones who don't come back exiled to other cities because their sons failed at their missions, I have seen their families torn apart by it. It needs to be stopped, the girls like me need to have freedom to chose if we want to marry and who it is we want to marry. The boys should choose if they want to go to war or not, they have taken the rights of everyone over fifteen away." I leave it at that as we reach the hot springs he was talking about, as I turned around to thank him, he was already halfway back to camp. So much for sticking around I thought, instead of dwelling on it I quick stripped and took what might be my last actual bath in a while.
I washed as quickly as I could in case, he or one of the others came back to get me, I used the shirt I just stripped off to quickly dry off and threw on the only actual clean outfit I had left. It was a pair of black leggings, a long black sweater that was once my brother's and I put my hiking boots back on, I quickly stuffed everything back in my pack and started heading back towards camp. As I was about halfway there, I ran into Fenix; I just looked at him and asked, "Are you my escort now?" Of course, he didn't answer me and just led me back to camp and all the way to the Second largest tent in camp; he opened the flap and pushed me in before disappearing once again.
I began mumbling to myself about how its rude of people to just disappear without saying anything and how I should just get used to it. I said it a little too loud because I suddenly heard a deep chuckle coming from my left, I turn towards it and see of the Lieutenants standing there. "Don't take personally, Dragon didn't mean to leave you alone or even send Fenix after you, but something you said disturbed him and he needed to talk to Prophet. I am the Destroyer or as Dragon calls me sometimes C.C, to your right is Mystic or Jinxx, front and center is Prophet or Andy. To the right of him is Dragon or as you know him Ronnie and finally to the left is The Mourner otherwise known as Jake, plus you have already met Fenix; he left to go check our message boards.
"You see whenever we are near a burnt-out city he sees if he can get messages out on the message board online. Most of the time its just to see if other camps are need of assistance or in your case helping you get Dragon home, it was sheer luck he saw your call for help. How did you find the message board in the first place?" The Destroyer asked as he led me to a seat at the table in front of me.
Taking a deep breath, "It was the night I first saw Ronnie; I had gone home and quickly began to formulate a plan. At first, it was just going to be getting him out of the city but after a couple of hours on my computer, I some how found myself on the Dark Web. At first, I was scared that my parents were going to walk in any minute but after about an hour of being on it, I calmed down. I checked every message board I could find until I finally had the guts to post a message, I wrote "Lost family member of Prophet's family found and in need of rescue. Odd one out in need of help taking him home."
It was about two weeks later that I received a message back, his message back was "I will help you rise above the ashes of F.E.A.R, when the time comes and you see these words 'The Phoenix burns at Midnight' then grab the Lost Brother and run. You shall have safe passage to the ones you seek." And the night before I was to be 'sold' into marriage, the message came and I didn't stop to think, I just grabbed my bag and ran to get Ronnie. When I got there, I thought I was going to be caught but I saved by someone I least expected, he distracted the guards long enough for me and Ronnie to escape. You know the rest; I am glad that didn't know exactly who they had in their grasp; no one should have the death of their family or friends on their hands and that's exactly what they would have done to destroy all of you." I said as I looked around the room, hoping that they will let me stay and continue to help in their fight against F.E.A.R.