Sing Your Way Out
Chapter 11: Welcome to Command
Cj POV:
We raced towards the grounds. Not even daring to look backwards to see if Ian was following, I shot out of the building, and raced toward the Tree of Knowledge. A hollow tree that I had found with Susan and Tiki. You climbed to the top, and jumped down into a tunnel, down, far underground. We said that if ever there was a battle, we would use it as command, and a place for the hurt. Between the roots, the exit was hidden. I raced towards the giant oak. I stopped right below the lowest branch. Ian caught up.
"Follow me!" I said, jumping up onto the branch, and making my way up to the concealed entrance. I waited at the top, and when Ian caught up, I jumped into the tunnel, I heard him do the same behind me, muttering something about poisonous spiders. I reached the bottom, and moved out of the way. Ian plopped out of the tunnel a few seconds after me. I looked around. I saw the three tunnels of the main underground cave. The furthest left was the medical cave. The center tunnel leads to command. The farthest right was a tunnel that lead to another cave, and two tunnels. The right one was a sleeping quarters. The left was a kitchen. Right under the tunnel we had come in, was a small scrape in the ground that showed years of people coming in. Another tunnel, that was right next to the entrance tunnel, as the exit. A trail of blood leading towards the medical cave caught my attention. A horrible thought crossed my mind. I had not seen Swan since the run-in with Torm. I raced into the tunnel, and it eventually opened up into giant medical center. I heard Ian gasp from behind. I followed the trail of blood, to a gleaming white coat. It was not Swan, but James. I raced over. He opened one eye, his breathing was slow.
"James…" I whispered, my voice barely audible.
"Raaaa…." He feebly roared, which meant 'Cj… watch out for deceivers…' I watched as his eye closed. He slipped out of consensuses. Not dead, but not conscious.
"Ceej…" Ian whispered. I felt a tear slide down my cheek. I looked up at Ian.
"Come on. Let's get to command." I said, leading away from James. We entered command. It was a another large underground cave. A set of stairs carved into side of the cave, lead to a narrow balcony that encircled the top of command. In the center, a section was blocked off by knee high walls, with a gap as an entrance. In the center was a table with 20 chairs. All carved out of stone. My eyes traveled to the narrow balcony above, people raced around, disssaparing into smaller caves branching off of command. These rooms were for intelligence, communication, and situation reports, among many others. My eyes were brought back to the table. Jay, Tiki, Susan, Swan, Jasmine, Redfang, Connor, Suki, Gabe, and Ork all sat there, Swan trying to comfort Susan. Whatever she said, only seemed to make here wail with anguish. I hurried over, Ian hot on my heels, and sat down.
"Why isn't Roark here?" I asked.
"Whose Roark?" Ian questioned. All eyes turned to him. Only Gabe and Suki seemed not to know ither.
"Roark is the leader of the Outsiders." Ork said with calm anger.
"Why is he not here?" I asked again.
"The bell, it has not been sounded." Tiki said slowly.
"Then why are there Outsiders already here?" Jay asked.
"They may have been sent on recon, and found the entrance, and unwillingly joined the fight, unable to get out and tell the others." Swan said coolly.
"Then someone needs to get out there and sound that bell!" Jasmine said.
"Not that simple, there's bound to be a group of knomes patrolling the area. Connor said, looking straight at me.
"Unless, we had some one behind the lines…" Jay said understandingly, looking at me. All eyes turned to me.
"your not seriously considering that." I said slowly.
"You're the only one who can do it." Susan said between sobs
"you have to, your our only hope." Swan said.
"You must! Think of it, we might win if we had more fighting power!" Jay argued.
"Fine ill go. But I go alone. I don't want what ever happened to James to happen to any of you." I said, I spun around, and raced out of command, into the main underground cave, and raced a bit faster as I entered the exiting tunnel. My face brushed the vines that covered the entrance, and I was out in the open, blinking in the moon light. I heard Ian racing to catch up with me, before he could, I plunged into the thick wall of bushes that lined the small clearing. I meant what I said. No one else was going to get hurt. I raced through the thickest parts of the forest, attempting to throw Ian off of my trail. I reached the clearing. A oak tree towered above me, before anyone could stop me, I jumped up onto the lowest branch and began to work my way up. I was about half way up, when I dared look down. Ian had reached the clearing. He saw me, and started to climb up the tree. I climbed faster. I reached the top. The top was where the main trunk of the tree branched out in a fork. In between both branches, was a platform. A simple wooden platform that could not be seen from the ground. I raced forward to the bell. The bell was bronze, and glinted in the moon light. It was supported by two strong branches. The rope to ring it hung down. The bell was about half of my size. I raced forward, grabbed the rope, and without hesitation, pulled on it. The silence of the night was broken by the ringing of the bell. In the distance, another bell rung in response. The Outsiders. They had heard the call to battle. I turned to leave.
"So, was that a signal?" A voice hissed from behind me. It chilled my blood. I turned around. Cal.
"Why do you need to know?" I hissed.
"Because, I'm one of you now. I would never hurt you." He said walking up to me.
"Then why would you ever join the Knomes!" I spat.
"I thought I was doing the right thing, I saw the error in my ways." Cal said, a spark of disaprovement rang in his voice.
"Of course you saw the error in you ways." Spat a voice from behind me. I turned around. Ian had reached the platform.
"You have no right to be here." Ian spat.
"Well, towel boy, you think you can boss me around?" Cal hissed
"No, just get out of here." Ian hissed.
"Fine, I won't fight, but for Ceej, not for the cause." Cal spat, and disappeared into the darkness of the tree leaves.
"Thank you, Ian." I said.
"Any time Ceej." He said with a smile.
"Now, let's got out of here before Cal's Knome buddies show up." Ian said.
"Sure." I said, following him. I looked back for a second. A heard a small whizz, and a piercing pain in my side. I said nothing. I knew what it was.
A poison dart.
I'm evil. The next chapter will be up soon. Thanks to all who have reviewed. For those of you like Cripple X, who were confused on who Torm is/was. Torm is another of Cj's cousins. Thanks to all who have reviewed! Till next time!