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CHAPTER FOUR
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A/N: I am none to happy with this chapter...depending on your reviews I may or may not change it. As I have mentioned before, I have two very different endings to this story and still am unable to decide on which to use, this one is sort of the 'fork in the road', so to speak. I hope you enjoy it even though I am still undecided.
Hawk and Caliko had been travelling for three days when they stumbled upon the remains of a camp, well hidden in a forest.
"This is where Geko and his family were said to be." Hawk said as he jumped of his horse and looked around.
"It looks likes its been deserted for months." Caliko followed him and slid off her mare.
A makeshift shack was pulled up from it's supports and now stood leaning, crazily on it's side. A rotted carcass of some animal hung from a tree, the rest of it's body had long since detached and fallen to the ground below.
"What do you think it was?" Caliko covered her nose and mouth with her sleeve and bent over the rotting remains.
"A dog, from the shape of it's skull." Hawk nudged it's head with his boot.
"What happened, do you think?" Caliko asked, walking over to the shack and looking into the open door.
"I don't know." Hawk walked over to a tree. "Come here. Look at this."
Caliko walked over to him and looked at the trunk. "What is it?" She looked at the symbol, crudely carved into the tree.
"I've never seen it before." He backed away from the tree and walked towards his horse. "I say we get out of here, no one here anyway."
Caliko followed him and climbed back on her horse and the two left the remains of Geko's camp behind them.
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That night they camped in the trees a few hours away from Geko's camp. They had decided to not have a fire as they wanted to remain as hidden, to whoever may be in the area, as they could. They sat in silence munching on hard bread and some wild onions Caliko had managed to find, listening to the horses feed on the sparse grass around them.
"Another two days and we'll be where Joy and Karma were last reported to be camping. They were the last of the tribes we heard from and that was two weeks before Lynx and the others left. After that, we never heard or saw them. They normally stay the spring out by themselves, but come back in time to help with the gathering of the crops and the hay cutting." Hawk said as he laid back on his saddle, tossing his last bit of bread to the horses.
"You don't expect to find them there do you?" Caliko laid herself down and covered her arms with her jacket.
"I don't know what to expect."
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They found Karma and Joy's camp deserted as well. Their tent shredded and belongings thrown about.
"Look around at the trees, see if you can find that symbol." Hawk said, soon after they arrived and it became evident that no one was there either.
They searched every tree and soon they found another carved into a pine. It was the same as they had found at Geko's.
"I just don't understand, where could they have all gone?" Caliko said, her arms outstretched."Why destroy everything and leave? Why didn't they just come back after they found Geko's?" She threw herself down to the ground, exhausted, and no closer to finding Lynx.
"They didn't just leave," Hawk ran his fingers over the carving. "They wouldn't just leave." He sighed and leaned his head agianst the trunk. "I think someone took them."
Caliko jumped up. "Who?"
"I don't know. They can't have taken too many people, or word would have gotten to us by now. Maybe they were slave traders...no, slavery isn't big in the city anymore. Maybe over the mountains though...I don't know, it just doesn't make any sense." He hit his fist against the trunk. "Maybe we should go back."
"Go back!" Caliko stormed over to Hawk and grabbed his arm, forcing him to face her.
"All we've managed to find were destroyed camps and carvings...do you want to chance going home and finding the same there?"
She let him go, knowing he was right, that they should return to the camp and let the other's know what they had found. What if she returned and her daughter was missing?
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"Tamik told me his dog had puppies last time I visited the farm --"
"Oh, no you don't!" Caliko interupted, sqeezing Lynx's hand. "Oriel doesn't need a puppy I'll end up taking care of."
"Every child should have a puppy." Lynx looked playfully at her. "Come on, didn't you have a puppy when you were growing up?"
"No, I had a hamster."
"Hamster? What kind of pet is that?" Lynx asked, genuinly shocked.
"If you can find a hamster, she can have a hamster."
"A hamster..." Lynx repeated, "I don't know where to find a hamster...but I know where to find puppies..." He grinned at her, his eyes shinning. "Ah, come on." He put his arm around her hip, pulling her towards him so he could kiss her head. "Please...imagine them, playing together, Oriel sitting on the steps throwing a ball..."
"Puppy messses, chewed belongings..."
"Pleeease." He whined into her hair, mimicking Oriel.
Caliko looked up at him and smiled. "Is this puppy for Oriel or you?"
"So we can get a puppy?"
"You had to beg for your puppy too, as a child, didn't you?" Caliko mock-glared at him.
"Four years of practice under my belt." he replied.
"Wake up!" Caliko was shaken awake from her dreams. "Be quiet...listen."
Caliko's eyes focused on Hawk and as her hearing seperated itself from her dreamworld, she heard the sound of many people and horses not far away. Quickly she sat up, nearly causing Hawk's head to collide with hers. "Where?" She whispered as she quietly pulled herself to a stand.
"Over there.'" Hawk grabbed her hand and the two ran towards the noise, leaving the horses behind.
They crept silently through the trees to the end of the the little hollow they had slept in, over a ditch, and up a slight hill. They crawled on their bellies to the top of the hill and looked out over an abandoned field. Fires blazed brightly and voices called and laughed.
"Lynx?" Caliko whispered, looking hopefully out over the crowd.
Hawk shook his head 'no'. "Stay here, I'm going to get a better look." He started over the hill, then stopped and crawled back. "If something happens and they see me, run back to the horses and go home, don't stick around to find out if they're friends. Understand?"
Caliko nodded her head and Hawk left her. She watched in silence as he crept away and edged the camp. She kept alert, listening for sounds of someone approaching and tried to count the many wagons and carts. She soon lost track of Hawk as he slipped closer to the camp.
"Stand-up, slowly" A voice commanded from behind her.
