Jayden kept a much closer eye on the boy these days as he moved them around the camp, but tonight was special as he sat Lily up front with all her children and his new Synerals children and their wives. Everything has been hushed up until now as to what Jayden did at the hill meeting.
Pa smiles at Ma. She can always tell when something is different when she looks at him. Something had changed or was about to, but this time, she felt a different way about him as she held his hand and looked into his eyes. There is more fire in those eyes than there used to be.
Something important was about to happen as Ma laid her head on his shoulder. Watching Sylen with his brothers by his side every second of the day. Ma sighs, watching her little family around her. She would not trade, not a soul, for anything in the world for each of them. As she thinks of Linda, her heart aches just a little, knowing she can't be here with them, even for Danny, as he watches with interest what's happening around him. Grandma fidgeted as she looked towards the town of New Downing, feeling something wrong as she paced back and forth, looking at the wagons.
Jayden stands in the middle of the crowd and makes it so everyone can hear him across the fields. He notices that another person, hidden under a small bush in some trees, is listening or watching his group with great interest. Jayden begins.
"Folks, before we get started tonight with our festivities as one camp, before we break up over the next week." Jayden paused. "I have made some recent changes of leadership because I can't be in three places at once or more, no matter how I would like to. Yet we cannot travel like we are as a group this large, and more will join us as we progress, as we reach our destination, which is far and dangerous to get there.
"To help you, I have called six men. They will be your guide and leaders of your group. You will listen to them as if they were me or Derrick, because they now have the same orders I gave them, and the skills needed to perform their duties. By doing this, they are no longer Lead Captains."
Jayden waited as the whispers hushed down. "I have given them a new role as Synerals. These three men are your leaders: Synerals Thomas, Synerals Rigs, and Synerals Tweed. Their Lead Captains are Captain Gergans, Erilkc, and Sir Drealin." Now, that got everyone's mouth gasping and eyes popping as he made the major announcement.
"You can't do that!" Some of them shouted back at him.
Jayden just continued with his little speech. "I have, and it is done. Now, then, each group will have a banner or flag of their camp, and each of my Synerals has a list of names in the groups and when they will be leaving. So, for now, I leave it in their hands. If you have a problem or a concern, I am sure you all know where to find me. But for now, enjoy the show." Jayden dissipates into a cloud of smoke. He notices a friend in the bushes as he stands behind him. "Hello, Gartooth, is it?" he replied.
Gartooth screams like a mad dog scampering back towards the woods, then ducked behind a tree, watching Jayden walk back to his people. The anger inside him boils within him. "How dare you walk freely? Why do I hide like a common animal? Yes, my dear friend, you toy with your prize now, but soon I'll take it away with your life. We will see who can outlast who, my dear friend," Gartooth hisses.
Ma casts a spell of protection around their tent and a ward of silence so the family can talk freely to each other as Pa puts EJ down in his bed next to his brothers. His little body is still frail compared to his brothers' and Pa's. EJ smiles back as he yawns. "Ma, don't worry," he said as she kissed him goodnight. "I am not going anywhere," he said as he put his arms around her.
"I know, son, but you know me."
"Ma, that's why I love you so much." As he drifts off to sleep with a full belly and kisses from Ma and tucks from Pa, he has everything he needs right there. Except for one thing: as EJ screamed at the top of his lungs in his sleep, he could feel it happening all around him.
EJ's eyes opened with terror to wake the dead. His brothers jolted, looking up into the sky just above them. Jayden rushed to the Tweed's tent and looked over to the east and west. He could see black riders in the sky, death hounds unleashed with earthworms and teeth dripping saliva, coming at them. Wolves and blackbirds flew over them in packs as Aunty M raised the shield of glass, but it was not in time for some as the Black Knights were fighting amongst the tents. The worms were trying to dig their way through underneath the ground.
In the distance, there was a rider standing still on the hill with a small boy as he watched. EJ screamed as if it was tearing him apart in some way, yet calling to him, Ma and his brothers and sisters guarded him, while EJ screamed out in pain as it tore him apart. Jayden could see Morgan on the hillside as he looked back towards the Tweeds and the camp, now out of harm's way. His people sustained significant wounds. Some he knew well are now dead as he looks upon their faces.
Jayden watched Morgan make a gate with his prince beside him, hearing laughter in the air. "You will never have him, for he is mine now and forever." The gate closed, and all his followers left his old mountain in a crumbling mess. Where Morgan was heading, nobody knew for certain as they looked around at once at a peaceful camp now sobbing in misery for the wounded and the dead.
As much as Jayden wanted to, he could not delay a moment longer for them or anyone else. He had to be hard when the people came to him asking and begging. "Let us stay for another day or two or a week," they would ask. The answer was cold, as he gave it: "No." My dear friend, I can't," he said as he walked them back to their tent.
Jayden knew why; if he needed a reminder, all he had to do was look at the gravesite, for they lost ten more people that night. Three were children. "No, I cannot delay here any longer," as he paces across the compound. He knew more would die along the way, but they would not die for nothing, for it was a chance to be free and have a home again.
The Whitmores and other healers in the camp did their best with the wounded. Some preferred the Whitmores over the other healers, except the wizard families felt and regarded them as small, not wizards or healers at all. They did not approve of them in many ways. They didn't like their willingness to help others, no matter how small the wound was or beneath them.
Wizards felt they were more important and should not be required to do manual labor when others could and would do it for them. This was another thing they despised them for, as they watched this family repeatedly perform chores of labor instead of learning or socializing with their own kind. Whatever they see in the Tweed family is beyond them, known as Jayden's special house guests on the hill.
Just because that husband of hers has won a few metals or has some great importance does not give him the right to lord over them. Imagine having Synerals more like overstuffed monkeys was more like it. That didn't give them the right to be leaders over them, as many as some of them felt, but was a select few. Most were the wizard sects. The Wizards sect was fuming, with smoke rings coming out of their mouths. "What would the High Council say to that Kenworth?" Agonal asked.
"I wouldn't know, considering they never allow us in except by invitation," Kenworth said.
"Yes, but just say if we could," Agonal asked.
"Then there would be a lot of questions I would sure like to ask," he said with his partner Agonal nodded in agreement, as they watched Jayden make his rounds, giving him a fake smile, more of a heated growl of contempt as he passed them.
Jayden slowly made his way down the camp, the crunching of leaves under his boots filling the air with a gentle rhythm. As he approached each member of the first group, he embraced them tightly, the warmth of his hug enveloping them in a comforting embrace. A soft, genuine smile spread across his face, casting a warm glow on the scene.
With deliberate steps, Jayden reached out and plucked an old branch from a nearby tree, the rough texture brushing against his fingertips. He carefully placed the branch into Syneral Rigs' open palm, the weight of it grounding him at the moment. Jayden rested one hand on the branch, feeling the coolness of the wood against his skin, while his group watched with anticipation.
In a mesmerizing display, the branch began to undergo a transformation. The air filled with a faint scent of earthy moss as the branch slowly changed. It morphed into a staff, its surface hardening into a shimmering crystal of vibrant green. The staff radiated an otherworldly glow, casting an ethereal light on Jayden's face and illuminating the awe on the faces of his group.Syneral Rigs takes the staff and taps the ground three times as it encompasses his group with white light. Syneral Rigs knows his group's heart and their mind, for this group is his.
Syneral Rigs turned around, and his eyes glowed as he pointed to the two men in the group. The group separated, leaving two wizards Agonal and Kenworth out in the open, with hearts black and with destruction on this group and journey. "You will not be coming with us." Syneral Rigs takes his staff and pushes it toward them. A soft wind picks them up and carries them away. "But now I am short two wizards," he smiled at the little group. "Perhaps we will find some more on the journey home." Then, he proceeded with his group as they gathered them together again and stepped through the gate. For now, he bonded them to himself as their shepherd leading his flock.
* * * *
Where the two wizards went as they fell to the ground, somewhere near Gartooth, with a hard landing in the bushes, their fancy wizard gowns were now torn as they tried to repair them with a simple spell that fizzled to nothing—for the wind that blew them removed all their magic, so they could not cast one spell, conjure, or shape.
Both wizards looked over their shoulders at the back of the mountain of Morgan's pass. Realizing they were in serious trouble as Gartooth watched them in the bushes, he knew it and them. He hated wizards, worst of all human wizards, as he growled. Gartooth springs forth from the bushes as the wizards scream, begging for their lives to be spared. Gartooth circled them as if toying with a mouse. "And why should I spare you?" he asked, his eyes glaring down with such anger. The wizards were terrified as they watched him.
"Because we could help you," Kenworth cried out.
"Help me? You must be joking. You can't even help yourselves."
"Yes, that may be true at the moment," Kenworth looked at his partner Agonal. "But in time, they will regret what they have done to us, leaving us out here to die." Knowing full well that they could reach the next town easily by walking, at least if they had to. It was more than a matter of pride and principle - they yearned to take Jayden's place as a leader, a desire fueled by ambition and a hunger for power.
"Again. Not my concern, wizard, because I would prefer you dead," Gartooth replies.
"Perhaps we can work together on a common goal," Kenworth cries.
"Which is?" he asked.
"Killing Jayden perhaps," he replied.
Gartooth's eyes glowed at the mere thought as he circled them, entertaining the idea. "And how can you help me more than doing it myself?" Gartooth stopped and stared. The wizards paused, thinking of an answer that would save their lives.
Agonal stares frightened at Gartooth, arriving at the answer first. "We are human and can blend in with the crowd where you can't. Hiding in the trees and the bushes," he replied. Kenworth's mouth drops as he stares back at his partner as he waits to be slaughtered by this beast at any moment.
Gartooth stares back at him, then at the trees, and growls, hating the idea. He looks toward the camp. Gartooth acknowledges that the wizard is right for now and that they need him. Gartooth pulls out two bracelets they use on slaves to bond them to the owner. He was saving them for the three brothers, but he figured he could always make more.
Gartooth pulled out his knife, watching the fear in their eyes as he walked over to them. "Put these on," as he growled. Gartooth handed a bracelet to each wizard as he held a knife to their throat while the wizards put it on around their ankles. "This will make sure you cannot run away from me; now you are my slaves and will do whatever I ask, or you shall and will die." The Wizards have read about these bracelets before, but have never seen one up this close. But they have heard stories about them and what they heard terrified them.
The wearer must obey, or it could inflict so much pain that it could kill them. If they ran, it would be instant death, leaving nothing behind except the bracelet. If they try to cut them off, it will kill them. The only one who can remove them is their master, who knows where you are from the bond.
There is another way to remove them, but it is impossible for the slaves as they watch Gartooth loathing. "He must die."
The two wizards look down at the ground, realizing for the first time that death might have been better. They were slaves to the beast, and their yearning for revenge was a constant ache, but their eyes, fixed on the ground or on each other, held a bleak understanding of the futility of their plight.