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CHAPTER FIVE
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Caliko kept her head straight and did as she was instructed.
"Put your hands on your head."
She interlaced her fingers and placed them upon her head.
"Turn around, slowly."
She did and met her captor face to face. In the light thrown by the distant fires, she could see he was younger than she, blonde haired and wide eyed. The gun he held in his hand was shaking. "Who are you?" He demanded.
"Who are you?" Caliko replied, her confidence returning. She let her hands fall back to her sides.
"Put your hands back or I'll shoot!"
"Okay, okay." She returned her hands to her head. "But you didn't answer my question."
The sounds of a struggle broke out behind them in the camp. The boy turned his attention from Caliko and towards the noise. She knew Hawk had been found.
Caliko took the oppurtunity and shoved the boy, hard, to the ground. She grabbed his gun and threw it before running back to the safety of the trees.
She stayed, just hidden from view, and watched the boy, she had promised Hawk she would leave, but she couldn't.
"That wasn't fair!" The boy sat up, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands. "Oh! Marco's gun! He'll kill me!" He stood up and started searching the ground for the missing gun, this time making no attempt to wipe away the tears that ran down his face.
Caliko was confused, what tribe would send out a child like this to keep guard? She made her descion and ran from the trees, grabbing the gun from where she had thrown it. "Come here! Your hands up."
The boy, turned around, frightened.
"Come here." Caliko repeated, raising the gun higher so that he knew she meant business. He walked towards her, slowly raising his hands. She grabbed him around the neck and pressed the gun into his back. "What's your name?"
"Jochen." The boy cried.
"Come on, Jochen, we're going to take a walk." She led him up the hill and towards the camp.
When they had reached the outer circle of the camp Caliko called out "You have my friend and I have Jochen! Return my friend or I'll shoot him!"
There was a group sitting beside a wagon, finishing their dinner. They looked up, surprised when Caliko called out. A girl set down her plate and ran towards a large camping wagon in the middle of the caravan. Caliko continued forward closer to the light of the nearest fire, but still keeping herself from coming directly into the camp. She didn't want to put herself in a position to be surrounded, nor did she want to have to prove her threat about Jochen.
"Caliko! Let him go! It's been a misunderstanding!" Hawk was walking towards her, a short, stocky boy beside him.
Caliko looked around. Was it? Were they playing a trick on her? "Are you safe, Hawk?" She called out, re-positioning her grip on Jochen, letting it slack a little.
"Yes, I am safe. These are friends."
"Do you know them?"
"We're the Gypsy's...we're uh, traders and entertainers." The stocky boy called.
"Marco!" Jochen called out. "Marco, she's gonna shoot me!"
"No, she's not! Caliko, put down the gun." Hawk walked up to Caliko and pulled Jochen away from her and grabbed the gun. He turned to Marco, "You must excuse her, she's," He looked over his shoulder at Caliko. "Been through a lot." He turned back to Marco. "I'm sorry for the misunderstanding." Hawk handed him the gun.
"And you must excuse my brother, ma'am." Marco signaled for Jochen to come by him. "He knows better than to go off and play defender." Marco looked at Caliko, "Now ma'am, would you like to join me in my home and have some dinner?"
Caliko shook her head. "No, I must get the horses."
"They'll be fine for a while Caliko, Marco has some information for us." Hawk gently put his arm around Caliko's shoulders and led her to Marco's wagon.
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Caliko stared, without touching, the food before her. Her stomache would not allow her to eat and her head throbbed, hard against her brain as she tried to listen to Hawk and Marco, who were deep in conversation, discussing the current disappearences. The Gypsy's it seems were from the other side of the mountains. They had travelled here in hopes of finding refuge from the wars raging between native tribes. Many of their tribe had simply disapeared, much in the same way members of the Gaians had vavnished, leaving only remins of the camps and the same strange insignia left in their wake.
"We had hoped once we crossed the mountains that the disapearences would stop." Marco said, lifting his glass to his lips.
"They didn't?" Hawk questioned, watching Jochen shovel his food into his mouth.
"No, we have lost two since we crossed."
"And you have no idea who it is? Or why?"
"We have our suspicions." Marco turned to Caliko. "Is the food bad, Ma'am?"
Caliko looked up at him, as an icy chill ran over her skin. "Huh?"
"The food? Is it not to your liking?" Everyone turned their attention to Caliko and her untouched plate.
"No, it is fine, I am just listening...Who do you think is doing this?" She sat up straigther and picked at her food.
"Well, they call themselves 'The Executioners", they are a disloyal group of Jameson's army."
"Jameson's Army?" Hawk asked.
"From Durentoo..." Marco looked back and forth between Caliko and Hawk "You do know of Durentoo?"
Caliko shook her head 'no' and set down her spoon.
"You live this close to the mountains and you don't know? It seems that the mountains provide more of a buffer than I thought."
"I didn't ask for a geography lesson, who are the Executioners and did they take my husband and why?" Caliko burst out, she was tired and not feeling well.
"You don't look so well Caliko." Hawk reached out and touched her arm, he felt her flesh searing with heat. "Caliko, you are burning up."
Caliko looked at Hawk, her head slowly increasing it's throbbing pressure. 'I am fine, just worried."
"It's late, how about I set the two of you up in a tent or something? We can finish this in the morning, besides, you'll probabley be safer here than out there by yourselves." Marco stood up and then pointed at Jochen "See, Jochen has already gotten the right idea."
Jochen was asleep, his head resting upon the table, fork still in hand.
"Thank-you, I will leave Caliko, she seems to be over-tired, and I will return to our camp and gather our horses. Is that okay, Caliko?" Hawk looked at Caliko, who tried to return his look and object, but found she could do neither, so she leaned forward and put her head in her hands and closed her eyes.
She felt herself being picked up and carried and then laid down somewhere soft and warm. She saw Hawk's face floating over her and in and out of the light, sometimes mingling with Marco's and sometime's it seemed to her that Lynx was hovering just out of reach behind everyone else and no matter how loudly she screamed and how hard she struggled she never could get herself up and to him. Nor did he ever come any nearer.
