"We have to move." Louis said as they ate the food prepared for them by Sheelah. The thought of them moving as of now had some people shaking, Louis waited for someone to object, and it came, "You're crazy if you think I'm going out with all of you to get killed -especially that maniac.", Amalia said harshly, and Bowen nodded beside her. Ryan didn't say anything about what she said, and dint react either though his mood dampened a whole lot. "You want to wait here for wave 2 because if anyone is getting killed, it's you and that snobby brat behind you, - yes I said it" their eyes widened and now everyone's eyes were on the 2 waiting for their response, "How dare you!-" "No, how dare you!, call you family member a murderer after he did the right thing to that bastard," her face was turning red now and she looked around for back-up, no one dared to open their mouth. "Everyone needs some time to calm down because of her stupid anger issues." Louis said followed by a sigh and now everyone was doing their own thing again but this time everyone was more distanced. Louis, Ryan and Caspian sat on one side and the other was for Bowen and Amalia, Sheelah and Kamali still sat and ate their food slowly, so they were in the middle of the separation.
Sheelah touched Ryan's shoulder, "Don't let her get to you, I saw the way the count scoffed, he's not a good person. Although you did not do the right thing, you did what was available." She smiled at him. Louis snickered at them, resulting in a slap on the back of his head and Caspian trying to fight Sheelah for hitting her older brother. The day continued like this until it was time for the second meal of the day. *clink* the sound of people's utensils hit their plates and that was the only sound that was made, 'the silence is killing me! I need to do something', Caspian thought while looking around. "Everyone-", her little voice echoed in the wind and most people looked up at little girl, "What do you call a fish without eyes, a fsh," "Wait i don't think that was the joke-", a small snicker turned into a chuckle and then everyone was laughing heartily. Louis caught sight of Bowen and Amalia laughing too, they looked pretty laughing now. They might as well have been twins because they were the only members of the county family that inherited the counts brown hair. Caspian smiled sheepishly before joining in the laughter, "Thank you Caspian for breaking the ice, everyone is calmed so now unto the last topic." The atmosphere was not as tense as before, but it got colder as Louis continued, "Amalia and Bowen, I know you don't like us, and you don't want to go but please trust Ryan not as your brother, but as future count of the territory. Just think about it, were not going today or tomorrow, we'll take the time because we are not leaving anyone behind." Most eyes were on Amalia and the boy behind her, "We'll go with you and be cooperative. You better take care of us on the journey." She crossed her hands and huffed, that was all Louis needed for her confirmation because he didn't care for Bowen. Dinner continued, and the uncomfortable silence was replaced with light-hearted chatter from time to time.
Two days passed and there was nothing heard from outside the crumbled territory, no enemy assailant had been seen but they were still on guard. During the last two days, Amalia had found a spear on the ground belonging to one of the territory's late guards, she started training with it through the instructions of the guard Kamali. Bowen refused to do anything and would wait for Amalia to come back from her training before doing anything.
"Everyone please stop what you're doing, it's time for dinner!" Sheelah screamed and all exercises came to a stop. Louis hooped his arm around Ryans neck and walked with him to the little circle of broken chairs and tree stubs. The smoke coming from the open-air pot filled the air and Caspian ran from watching her elder sister train with her spear. Everyone sat down and ate the food; everyone was hungry but of course some people were hungrier such as Amalia and Ryan who scoffed down the food without a care for the heat. Ryan stared at Louis who had been holding his spoon up for at least two minutes, "You're not eating, are you okay?" Louis raised his hand to hush him up and it worked but it called attention to himself. 'Braize, scan the area, please' 'On it!', there was peace and quiet in his mind for a short amount of time and he would have enjoyed it if not for the feedback from the spirit. 'They've surrounded us, there are people in the trees-', Louis had to work fast if he wanted to protect everyone.
He had been quiet for a long while now after Ryans question. Caspian had tried her luck and gave her elder brother's hand a nice high five, but he didn't snap out of it. Ryan wanted to try something else when Louis stood up abruptly, he walked towards Sheelah. She was sitting down so he bent and whispered in her ears. She nodded and it was clear from people all around that her face was changing from calm to distressed. Louis took her plate from her, and she put her hands behind her back to do some magic.
Amalia stared at the two in confusion. Confusion can turn to anger if not taken care of and that's exactly what happened. "We're all together here, so please tell everyone what you're whispering about!" It wasn't as loud as Amalia could shout but, it was loud enough to alert the people with bows in the trees. Louis stared at her deadpan, there was tension once again between Amalia and one of her brothers. "I'm done!" Sheelah exclaimed then covered her mouth, "Everyone step in one at a time, starting with the smallest." Louis smiled at her and then walked towards Caspian, 'such a bipolar...'
The order was Caspian, Bowen, Kamali, Amalia, Ryan, Louis and Sheelah. Although Louis was supposed to be down the list, he had to stay back to keep watch and or guard Sheelah as she held the spell steady.
Ryan had just gone through; Louis went through the portal quickly so Sheelah could come through quicker. It was like everyone was holding their breaths, there was no sound and it was all because Sheelah had not come through. Her hand came through and a smile crept on most of their faces, 'she's okay.' They celebrated too early, it was like she was struggling to come through the portal and Louis noticed this as professional struggler. "Kamali, pull her! She needs help!" Kamali did as he was told and held the hand from the portal strongly. Kamali succeeded in the tug of war and Sheelah was pulled into the portal with great force making her fall on her savior. There was a red grip mark on her left arm meaning someone strong was on the other side, the portal broke as soon as Sheelah fell through though, so they were safe. Sheelah got up from Kamali and lent a hand to him to stand up, she laughed awkwardly.
Now that Sheelah was okay and with them, they could look around where they jumped to. It wasn't as bad as their territory but it's not good to compare territories in war, right? Not many people were dead, but some citizens were injured. Louis looked closer to identify who was the cause of the battle, if it's an enemy organization, they step in but if it's a civil war, they step out, but this was just Louis' principles. He stood with seven different people who had different perspectives of the world and he was not about to let his own ideals get in the way, "Ryan, what do we do? Do you know what the cause is?", all eyes turned to Ryan. He was quiet, too quiet. "This is a civil war. This is Velstrit territory, it has been blocked off for ages, but the word says that their ruler is a tyrant. People, ready your weapons and Sheelah, cast a spell on Bowen and Caspian to protect them." Louis smiled at him and shook his head. 'He's count, you have to listen.' That voice inside his head wiped the smile off his face. 'Vicious'. Everyone thought.