Chapter 6: Heading North
As they continued to flee from where that metal dragon was patrolling, they had come across a cave. Gwenn pulled Kayla into it quickly looking outside from the mouth of the cave, checking if they were followed. Gwenn, letting out a subtle sigh noticing they weren't followed, Kayla who had stared at him in confusement, "Was...that supposed to be a dragon? I thought they were more...mythical and less manmade." she asks. "All that was….was just a war machine by the barbarians... But that was a design that seemed...more advanced even for them.." He says, even confusing himself.
He looked back down at Kayla and then past her at the deeper part of the cave, trying to remember if this cave can be used to shorten their journey only to remember about the cave dwellers as he shivered at the thought of how they lived.
He glanced back at Kayla as an idea hit him, being sure going into this cave would be safe for the most part, "Kayla, how do you feel about a dark enclosed space?" he asked her, only to have her look at him confusingly, "why..?" She asked.
"Oh no reason..." he says as he picked up a stick from a dozen of them that laid on the ground, wrapping it with a cloth before lighting it. He glances back over at Kayla, "Stay close..." he says to her as they attempt to venture deeper into the cave, looking back periodically to see if Kayla is following and staying close. Both of them begin to hear faint chanting echo through the cave, Gwenn who looked back once more making sure Kayla was still there and hasn't wandered off on her own like she seemingly tended to do sometimes.
"I'm scared..." Kayla whispers to him in response to the odd chanting going through the cave, she had developed some trauma after all she's been through since she arrived on the surface, so now the seemingly strange sounds had begun to frighten her. She had begun to feel the air get unnaturally cold, and had started to shiver, "How much longer..." She asks, glancing at Gwenn, feeling like this cave stretched on and on.
"Shouldn't be much longer...hopefully." he says to her, trying to reassure her, seeing the cave slowly twist and warp in front of their path. The chanting only growing louder and angrier as shadowy figures start to reach out at them from that walls, Kayla frightened tried to keep close to Gwenn as she gripped his arm, feeling the walls closing on them, Gwenn tried to hurry as he now saw faint light at the end, knowing now they don't have far, but had to hurry.
Feeling the darkness swallow the path behind them, approaching ever so fast as if it hungered for the both of them as they both scampered quickly trying to get to the cave exit with the hope all that trouble brought them further north. They both had quickly made it outside, coming to a sudden halt a bit away from the cave exit and started to breath exhaustively, "Let's never go through that cave again..." Kayla said, "Agreed..." Gwenn says responding to her, quickly looking up to see their surroundings as they both noticed snow out in the distance.
Kayla looked wide eyed at the sight of the snow as if amazed by it, "I...is that.." She began to ask, "Snow, well...at least this brought us the right way hopefully, we can find you a way home from here..." He says to her staring out at the distance still.
With Kayla and Gwenn pressing on after what happened with that cave, they had come across a cabin. With the weather beginning to change, seemingly like it was going to rain, Gwenn had gone inside the cabin before Kayla, to make sure it was safe for her, only to see a recently lit fire inside the cabin.
Gwenn beckoning Kayla inside as the rain outside started to build up quickly, as time flew by and the sound of the rain patterning on the roof above them with Kayla sitting curled in front of the fireplace staring at the crackling flames burning away the logs, feeling the warmth on her face.
The sound of the rain giving a fleeting sense of safety, as if that inside the cabin was disconnected from the reality outside, especially after what they both went through as it was nice to finally have a small breather without worrying about any trouble.
Kayla looking above the fireplace had noticed a clock, immediately recognizing that there was something off about the second hand, "Gwenn...you might need to look at this..." she says out to him while pointing at the clock.
Gwenn brought his attention to see the second hand was moving at an unnaturally slow rate, almost as if time is slowed outside compared to in the cabin.
Gwenn, unsure of what to make of it, as for this phenomenon was certainly new to him, but he can feel the energy of the cabin, it felt so safe but felt extremely drowsy, seeing Kayla slumped over and passing out. This immediately made him substantially cautious and alert, feeling something was clearly off.
Gwenn, fighting the urge to fall asleep quickly glanced around the room of the cabin they were in as he stood there, beginning to hear voices as several minutes had passed, he had already attempted to kick down the door or even use his shoulder and weight, only to have those attempts result to failure due to whatever was being released within the cabin had weakened him to an extent.
People dressed in grass like hooded ponchos, had approached and peeked into the cabin, looking at Gwenn through multiple small open cracks of the cabin, "Hey, is that who I think it is!?" One of the men said out to the others, "He doesn't seem to be unconscious yet..." one called out in response, "Impossible, he was in there breathing that mixture in for twenty minutes!" Another growled.
"Isn't that Ace!? I thought he was dead!" One of the hooded men questioned frighteningly, "I thought the leader of the Barbarians killed him…?" Another questioned, Gwenn letting out a subtle annoyed growl at these men's conversation, obviously loud enough for him to hear, had clearly told him this cabin was a setup trap that had taken time to prep, which must've been the result of the recent campfire.
Noticing movement at a few of the several cracks, he can make out that there was clearly a few several of these men, who they were exactly, he was unsure, nor did he really care as he subtly glanced at Kayla who was fast asleep next to the ongoing fire he had setup not too long ago for warmth. He knew he had to get her out of here, but how, everything was sealed off, no windows, and he was too weak to whatever they were exposed to in order to break down the door, he knew them walking into the cabin had triggered this trap and it was clearly a scentless exposure of some kind of mixture, most likely chemicals which caused small hallucination, eventually knocking said person out for who knows how long.
Gwenn giving another subtle weak annoyed growl had finally collapsed as he was continuously being exposed to the chemical, only prompting him to want to sleep more. "Did it...finally work?" One of the men questioned, that had kept watch on him until Gwenn had hit his limit to fight the chemical.
"Guess that'll do, here someone who wants to go in to get them back to camp say I." A man stated, whoever brought live wanderers or strangers to the camp would be well rewarded though none of them replied, causing that one to sigh, "Ok let's try it like this…" he began, immediately blurting out "123 n-" before he was able to finish, the rest had blurted "Not it!" almost in unison.
This caused the man to sigh, "Fine, just watch the door..." he says walking into the cabin as he opened the door, only to mumble "Bunch of scared little...ugh" he growled stopping before Gwenn, at least 5 feet away only to just stare at him, he glanced around, quickly taking a stick from the fire that wasn't touched yet had poked Gwenn with it to check and make sure if he was out cold.
The hooded man looking back at the door, yelling at the others, "It worked, he's out cold, come inside!" He yelled out as the nine other men entered the cabin, with two of them carefully taking Kayla to deal with her later, they knew full well Gwenn was a major issue as seven men were left, trying to get Gwenn out of the cabin.
Gwenn's body felt really heavy and resistive for the men to lift and carry, "Geez...what does he even eat?!" one of them said, "It's his wings you dumbass, probably another hundred pounds there…" Another replied annoyingly, about to lose his grip which caused Gwenn to immediately open his eyes.
Gwenn, quickly taking action, had wrapped his legs around one of the men who were going to lift him from his legs, due to being substantially weakened to the chemical, it was very difficult to put strength into choking and knocking this guy out, though it eventually worked as he flipped him over roughly slamming him into the ground. This caused the men to immediately back away, quickly making space between him and each other as they all circled, staring at him trying to watch his next move.
The men murmured among themselves as seconds felt like several minutes, "Is...he going to do something…?" One said anxiously watching Gwenn who seemed to be standing there menacingly as he had a foot placed on the man he knocked out, keeping held down just in case. Gwenn glanced around slightly with his eyes, noticing the seven men planning, quickly seeing the door was still open behind them and the men taking Kayla in view of said door.
Gwenn reached his hand into one of his pouches, still glancing around as he waited for them to make the first move, with one suddenly shouting "Now!" As he and a few other men charged at Gwenn, only to cause him to react quickly in a single quick motion throwing a smoke bomb at the ground as it immediately bursted from the impact, the charging men had become disoriented including Gwenn himself who didn't bother to block himself from the smoke bomb as it was hard enough to stay awake.
Gwenn, quickly taking the opportunity, made a dash for the door using his wings to boost his speed as he slid out and kicked the door closed, and quickly locked it. Able to still pick up on Kayla's scent despite the rain, was trying to keep a clear head despite his vision getting slowly blurry, attempting to shake it off as he almost stumbled and lost balance from exhaustion only to catch himself and let out a small growl.
Seemed once you breathed in those strange chemicals, despite leaving and being out of range of them, it still took effect, Gwenn could feel himself slowly drifting and the persistence to fight it was fading, he really just wanted to sleep, even just a little, though at the risk of losing Kayla and having her captured once again, just that thought alone caused him to shake the tiredness off, even if it was just briefly as he wasn't going to let it happen again.
Though he didn't say it to her directly, he promised himself he would help her get home, no matter what, he had nothing better to do anyway. Even if there was said to be no one way in, seemingly having a way out despite the magic and the crystals, despite that as a 11 years ago there was a way in without that, so there had to be a way in as well without even if it was sealed.
Kayla was right with how she made it seem when she convinced him, running and hiding his whole life wasn't going to solve or make anything better, using that said injury in the past to fake his death seemingly made things worse as these clans had apparently upped their games over the years since he's last came to them as a result of stealing or hurting someone in the process.
Despite knowing Kayla only a few days, she has by far been the only person to accept him, the only one to make him feel joy, calmness and contentment. He's never felt more committed to doing something ever until now, a simple innocent girl from a different world that she lived in, entirely unaware of the dangers of the surface. In both their cases, anyone would want them done after what he's done in the past, he wouldn't be forgiven so easily, maybe never even be forgiven and that was fine by his case whether others liked it or not, but if people found out about Kayla being from Arkawa, they would have her killed to no extent.
"Ace!?" The man shouted who was standing next to the other one that had been carrying Kayla on his back who instantly turned around slightly, both staring at Gwenn who had a menacing glare fully directed at them, though slightly slumped over and obviously looking weak only to have these men underestimate him already.
"Those fools couldn't handle one freak!?" The man carrying Kayla growled, though the fright could be heard in his voice. "Get closer to the camp, he won't be able to get near because of the traps!" The man shouted at the one carrying Kayla who didn't hesitate to listen and take action, this only triggered Gwenn to immediately take action himself.
Being flooded on emotions and thoughts for once, careness and dedication to help and protect someone for once. "How are you still awake!? That stuff can knock out even the largest and strongest of animals, despite that, once you breath it in, it still takes effect for hours!" The man growled angrily but only to also have fear in his voice as he stood there, pulling out a small dagger in defense.
Gwenn, not entirely aware of his surroundings as he had now become not entirely conscious, acting on instinct and persistence but still had a subtle clear mind as he propelled himself off the ground, using his wings as a boost for speed. Within not even seconds he had the strange unknown man in his grasps, one hand on his wrist to keep the dagger away whilst the other gripping the front of his shirt and lifting him up into the air.
The man struggled to break free as he began to panic at the height they had approached compared to the ground, "You should've stayed dead!" The man shouted frighteningly, only to receive no response as he was clearly being ignored by Gwenn who released him mid air, decently high up, though not high enough for the fall to cause death, only minor bone breaks if anything.
Gwenn flying over the tree's, barely able to keep in air as he staggered every now and then as the strange chemical substances were still taking effect, attempting to knock him out only to have him persist more, Gwenn was unsure himself how he was capable of fighting it despite how very badly he wanted to just sleep and let it finally limit him.
As the rain rushed down and the thunder sounds echoed throughout the skies, it caused Gwenn to slowly lose Kayla's scent despite how strong it was, the rain was washing it away because of her most likely getting wet from said rain. Gwenn managed to spot the man with Kayla, only minutes away from their camp as he noticed the faint lights in the distance of their resting area, where there most likely were significantly more of them there and in Gwenn's condition, he would not be able to fight them, let alone most likely escape them.
Letting himself fall, as he quickly darted towards them, pulling out a kunai seconds before the ground he had thrown it mid air, having it hit directly in the mans leg and causing both him and Kayla to fall to the now wet and cold ground.
Gwenn let himself crash land onto the ground, using his shoulder as a small barricade to shield himself from severe injuries, he lifted himself as he began to hear the man cry out in agony, glancing over at them and noticing him rolling around and crying like a baby from the kunai that was deeply stabbed into his leg which caused Gwenn to subtly squint at him unamusingly.
'Kayla is tougher than this dumbass…' He thought, staggering as he stood only to almost collapse once more as he made his way over. He kicked the crying idiot unconscious so he wouldn't just follow, but also alert anyone else nearby with how loud he was before crouching down and lifting up Kayla into his arms who was still passed out and sleeping like a peaceful baby herself, though shivering from the cold.
He had remembered a small cave nearby, one that he had discovered himself that was completely clean and no one has ever been too due to it being very well hidden, one in fact he used to hide away in after escaping a nearby clan that he had no idea was still around after the years that had passed. He wished he had remembered it sooner, otherwise they would have stayed there instead of running into a trap.
Gwenn held Kayla close, shielding her the best he could from the cold rain as he made his way towards said cave, he despised the cold a bit himself, it wasn't more so he feared it than he did rather hate it, it always made him feel strange and tired. The cave would be the best place at the moment in their situation currently, he couldn't stay awake any longer as he almost losing conscious completely only a few feet away from the cave that was now in sight, though he managed, finally hitting his limit as he collapsed, knowing they were now safe and protected from the rain as well.
After hours passed, the rain started to die down, the sound of rain fading gave way to minimal shouting as if of a sounding of a verbal alarm, and the sound of men running around was making splash sounds from the puddles and wet mud. The men shouting and the sounds of horns ring through the area, with horns ringing back as if whatever it came from is going under alert, like some kind of evacuation or attack.
And the sound of more men show up searching for both Gwenn and Kayla, with their footsteps growing ever much closer to the cave they were passed out in only to have loud sudden stomps approach fast, causing the men running and screaming "It's a brood mother!" As the fleeing sound of the mens feet fade following by the sudden speed up of something big and heavy running after said men.
The creature let out a earth shaking roar, the rumbling caused from the roar woke Kayla up in a panic, as if she wasn't aware of what happened or how she was now in a cave.
"W..what happened.." Kayla said, looking down to see Gwenn asleep under her, causing her to become confused as she lifted herself slightly, placing a hand on his shoulder, only to glance down and notice that both him and her were somehow apparently wet. This confused her even more as she had also noticed fresh bruises on him, she shook him slightly in an attempt to wake him, only to of course have that fail as he gave no response.
"G..gwenn?" She says out with a slight whimper in her voice, she attempted shaking him a bit more harder and he still didn't budge, "Gwenn!?" She cried out to him, she quickly resulted in the slapping which seemed to work everytime last time, until now. She was shocked to see it didn't work and she was now worried, quickly placing her ear on his chest to listen for a heart beat, hoping he wasn't dead.
Hearing a slightly slow heart beat Kayla let out a sigh of relief, knowing at least he wasn't dead, but she didn't know what was wrong with him, it was like he was in a small coma and completely out of it and she didn't know why. She became frightened to hear those heavy stomps come back towards the cave, with heavy huffs as it was sniffing around near the cave.
Kayla then seeing the creatures huge paw stop in front of the cave, caused her to cover her mouth and hold her breath, being perfectly still, trying not to move seeing its nose come into view, Before it could sniff the sound of a spear hitting the side of the creature was heard just before it let out a pain filled roar. It quickly started to stomp around, and ran full speed towards where that spear came from and a way from that cave.
With that creature gone, Kayla takes the chance to peek outside the cave to see if it's safe, and thankfully it was moderately safe, Kayla looking back at Gwenn "Come on..wake up.." She said to him hoping he could hear her.
Frowning as she saw he didn't respond, walked back to him and sat on her knees next to him putting her hand on his forehead to check for a fever, "Well..no fever.." She said as she continued to look at him, sighing she wraps a blanket around him as she grabbed it from the bag she apparently still had that rested on her back, she had to admit, it was as if she always held and kept the bag close to her like a kid with it's stuffed animal, she hugged the blanket and slightly rested herself on his chest while watching the mouth of the cave.
It almost felt like hours had passed as she waited for Gwenn to regain consciousness, unsure of what to do to help Gwenn, for she was at a loss. Something must've clearly happened when she was out of it, she didn't think of herself to be that much of a deep sleeper though, and the result of Gwenn not budging from anything scared her.
She then heard that same roaring engine from before, and saw from outside the cave the same motorized dragon riding full speed, breathing fire throughout the area, only to get slammed from the side by the brood mother, which looked like a massive wulg.
The massive wulg unhinged its jaw and bit into the motor dragon shaking it around and slamming it against a boulder, dragging it everywhere. The men inside were screaming from pain and fear as their war machine was devastated in mere minutes tossing it aside and stood on it, giving out a triumphant roar towards the sky.
Kayla shaking her head realizing if that thing knew where they were they would be in serious trouble, she stayed close to Gwenn as she tucked herself into him slightly, trying to wait for the danger outside to pass.
The brood mother Wulg, started to make loud clicking like calls, and the sound of wulgs start to rush over in a massive pack of fifty or more as they start to hunt through the area for more prey.
Kayla, now more annoyed, had lifted herself and looked at Gwenn, shaking him while whispering "Wake up, wake up, wake up!" she said repeatedly in a vain attempt to wake him, "Come on Gwenn… what's wrong with you? Please, give me something…" She cried lowly, placing a hand on his cheek hoping for something.
Kayla flung her arms in the air clearly accepting he was completely out cold, she thought for a second, shrugging and sat down watching outside from the cave. The cave was pretty small, though it was somewhat deep inside too, she wondered how Gwenn even found it, though it made her wonder if these wulgs will find it.
After several minutes had passed which felt like hours, the wulgs had retreated as they followed their superior, heading towards a new direction probably to search a new area for prey and food. Surprisingly enough, with only a single Wulg coming close to the cave, they were not found, in a way, Kayla was grateful that she and Gwenn were still pretty soaking wet from the rain and water, otherwise they probably would've picked up on their scent.
Kayla, glancing back down after staring at the outside and seeing them leave, had gently grabbed Gwenn's arm, removing the bandages from the wulg bite a few days ago to check on it. Not only that, but his bandages were wet, which was not good, but seeing the injury was just about fully healed gave her some more relief, whether he liked it or not, she still blamed herself for having him save her and getting hurt like this that day.
Though she quickly noticed the color of red on his shoulder, to be exact, where he was shot. He had somehow reopened that injury a bit as she noticed blood that had seeped through the bandages, Kayla, gently now placing a hand over the bloody bandages and injury stared down at him worriedly.
"What happened…" She questioned herself, trying to put it together as she clearly was asleep through whatever did happen. As a result to it and knowing this, was from the sheer fact that she woke up here in a cave, remembering that they were originally within a cabin that clearly felt safe and it was dry and now they were both wet, and Gwenn was deeply unconscious, not responding or budging from anything she did in an attempt to wake him.
She's never seen him like this and it honestly scared her, he clearly wasn't unconscious because of blood loss, she didn't see signs of possible poison in his system, nor was he ill again, he was completely fine aside from his gunshot wound being reopened.
All she could honestly do was wait him out to regain consciousness, and the only other thing she could do to help him was keep him warm and dry due to them both being wet still. She prayed he actually wasn't in a coma, though having hardly signs of that, she doubted it, it almost seemed like he was drugged in a way due to his slow heartbeat and uneven breathing.
She was unsure how much time had passed, clearly several hours as she noticed the sun coming up. Letting out a small sigh, she quickly tended to his reopened injury before taking the chance to slightly wander out of the cave for some wood, dry of course that she could find, keeping a very far distance from that motor dragon machine that was still crashed and laying on the ground with smoke coming from it like a beacon.
Kayla knew they couldn't stay here for too long, in case more of those barbarians came around to check up on the scouting and hunting one's that were now dead due to a so called brood mother wulg, which seemed like the size of your average house, it was huge.
Kayla luckily found a bit of dry wood, quickly heading back to the cave and making a small fire for warmth and dryness, she used this opportunity as well to make a few things to block the cave entrance a bit to hide them better so they would be less noticeable incase something or someone dangerous came around and wouldn't notice the fire.
Removing her scarf due to how wet it was, placing it next to the fire to let it dry along with her long coat as she glanced back at Gwenn worriedly, he hasn't moved a muscle or given any sign of consciousness. She slipped her shoes off, also putting them next to her other bit of clothing to dry and walked over to Gwenn. Sitting on her knees beside him, she inched the blanket up more over him, reaching her fingers under and removing his mask due to it also still being wet, along with his scarf.
She can tell he wasn't going to wake up for quite a long time, something was definitely wrong with him that she just can't seem to figure out, let alone most likely have the medical supplies if it was something in his system. Then again, he did have a very keen sense of smell, so it could've been something similar that caused this, though trying to figure it out only frustrated her.
She didn't understand why he pushed himself over his limit, resulting in end results such as this, she didn't need to understand though, what she did know is he clearly had chosen to help her to no extent as they've gotten this far and he's already gotten hurt for her sake more than once.
She couldn't resist but to sooth two fingers down the center in between his eyes, over the strange patterns. She hadn't entirely taken focus to it, but she had meant to ask him about the strange patterns on his body, she couldn't tell if they were tattoo's or just outright markings, let alone if he was born with them or not.
Letting out a subtle sigh, she quickly became shocked, feeling a small grip on the sleeve of her arm, she immediately glanced down at the grip and realizing it was Gwenn, only to shoot a look at him and notice his eyes very slightly open, though not looking at her. She hated to admit it, but he looked miserable and exhausted, though full of relief he wasn't by chance in a coma.
"Gwenn…" She said softly, relief in her voice. "Thank you…" He said weakly, only to have Kayla become very confused. She didn't understand why he was thanking her, nor did she really want or need the thanks, it should be her thanking him. "I should be thanking you… why?" She questioned him, "For making me feel contentment… for once in my life…" He responded weakly. Kayla, immediately forming a mix of a surprised and sad expression on her face, had noticed that he had already fallen unconscious again, feeling his grip release and eyes close, she knew that he was clearly unable to stay awake at all.
Kayla was speechless, she's never felt so much pity for someone like she did for him. He was alone his whole life, independent and always relying on himself, running and hiding, doing whatever he had to in order to survive without the assistance of others who clearly despised him. He didn't understand entirely what it was like to be with someone else by your side constantly, and there were clearly things he still didn't understand either.
Though she had to say the same for herself, she's always been with her parents, relying on them and not wanting anyone else in her life, to be independent, though seeing Gwenn and how it turned out for him, made her think otherwise. Maybe they all were correct, maybe it wasn't bad to have someone by your side in your life, watching each other's backs, helping and understanding one another.
Tears had begun to form in her eyes, gently falling below her as she slumped slightly, these thoughts had caused memories to return, she missed her home, her parents, her patients. The place where she was respected, not being hunted down and having people trying to kill her aside from the fact someone clearly hated her down in Arkawa as they resulted into framing her, and now she was here.
Kayla, immediately letting herself collapse a bit as she tucked herself into Gwenn and gripped him, she wanted these thoughts and memories to go away but they just weren't and it hurt as she ended up dozing off, crying herself to sleep from the small drowsy feeling she had been feeling since she woke.