Jungle invaded thick into wet dampness.
No wind.
No birds.
Only the creak of boots on wet earth and snap of nerves in the air,
Followed by Dorian, holding the single bladed sword and senses very acute.
As it vanished into thin air.
The Smiling Stranger.
Or maybe.
Just maybe it had been.
They ran. No one spoke. There was no one to start breaking the silence.
Then….
"Take point Cullen
The words made it easy.
Mundane.
Like the speaker in this case was ignorant of what he had just said.
Dorian froze.
His guts went cold
Cullen.
The name that was displaced
And yet…..
His crew didn't react.
Marcus kept walking.
Elias readjusted his hold on the rifle. Ronan looked up the treeline.
And Cullen...
Cullen walked out as if he always had.
Like he'd never been missing.
Dorian stared.
Cullen nudged him. "C'mon lad, there anything wrong, Captain?"
His voice was smooth.
Normal.
Like it was always there.
Dorian knew though Dorian.
Cullen was too close to them.
Had he?
Retching on the memories… it just fading away.
Cullen at the wreck. Hadn't he? ** He fought one with us. He had spoken to Dorian this morning.
Dorian opened his mouth….
But Elias was there first.
We Have To Keep Going, Elias
And his voice…..
It was not right.
Elias knew.
Dorian watched as the crook of his neck tightened, the dark edge etching itself across his features too fast.
But he didn't bother to say a thing.
Why?
Dorian swallowed, and then nodded as hard.
They continued walking.
And Cullen….
Cullen just grinned.
He understood, as they do.
That Night
They almost go out on the embers.
The crew all just sat staring at each other, eating. No one said much, Not after the shit they have seen.
He watched Elias out of the corner of his eye.
Nothing from the man was silence. Too Silent.
Cullen said nothing, when Elias spoke.
Cullen when he moved, Elias went tense.
Dorian laid his tin cup down.
"Elias."
The man stiffened.
Dorian lowered his voice. "You too saw it."
Elias didn't say anything at first.
Then…..
A slow nod.
He breathed out "Tell me."
Elias curled his hand around his tin.
He didn't look at Cullen.
Didn't look at anyone.
But when he did speak, his voice raspy.
He wasnt there, Captain.
Dorian wrenched his stomach.
Elias choked.
"And he remembers things we don't."
Thump thumping of Dorian.
Elias peered at him and he saw fear
They sat in silence.
And Elias sews something worse to the bottom.
And he knows, and he remembers.
Dorian pulse.
With eyes finally on him, there was fear.
Thats how doksa saw it-
Fear.
Not by Cullen.
Of something greater.
What Elias is not telling.
Just before Dorian got a chance to tap the flame, the log fire wavered.
" A gust of wind?
No.
Something else.
The crew shifted.
Dorian looked up.
And froze.
Along the fire…..
From Marcus to Ronan-
A man sat watching.
Smiling.
Not around the edges.
Not in the mist.
Right there.
Just like he always has been.
The Smiling Stranger
Watching them.
When she met Dorian in the eye it would
Its grin grew broader
No at all sides.
Not in the mist.
Right there
Just like he thought he never is
The Smiling Stranger.
Watching them.
But when it gave eyes to Dorian…
It grinned.
It had been waiting for them to see it.
The Breaking Point
Fire crackling.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
The Smiling Stranger had an expression that was stretching in ways which were not human and it sat amongst them. Not quite.
Dorian's hand curled around his cutlass tighter. It shook so hard, he thought his heart would break.
Crew- frozen
Even Cullen.
Like Cullen.
He wasn't sure if he should flee.
He wasn't sure if he should admit it either.
And the Stranger went on to do something worse than just sit.
It spoke.
A whisper at most. Perhaps only a few words
But they shattered every thing
The first to look at Elias, its vision narrowed to him.
And it whispered:
"Do you, I mean….
He winced as if hit.
His breath became hitched. His fingers began to shake.
He knew something.
An omnipresent thing Dorian had never told.
The Stranger had no smile change.
It turned its look on Cullen.
And it said:
"And you… don't."
CROWS FROWNED BROW.
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
His voice, stranger than he intended.
Too loud.
Elias's breath wailed from him.
Dorian got it. Elias had stiffened at Cullens return. How he averted his eyes from him; avoided speaking to him.
And the hammer came down in truth.
Elias did not fear Cullen.
He was afraid for him.
Cullen ain't supposed t' be her
Cullen was not here.
Never was, either.
Not anymore.
The jungle was silent.
The fire crackled.
And then….
Cullen laughed.
Sharp. More sharp than usual. You bastards are crazy. Iona was here. You are going crazy, captain.
Dorian felt it in his bones.
The wrongness.
Cullen was here.
And he wasn't.
And the Stranger…..
The Stranger only smiled.
Like it was enjoying the show.
It had been patience waiting.
And then…
It spoke again.
To Dorian.
It leaned forward- its voice
a mere whimper..
And it said:
"Are you?"
The words coiled in his head like smoke.
Staggering thoughts
The world tilted to one side.
The fire flickered.
And Dorian remembered nothing…..
Or had he always been here?
His breath stilled
And the Stranger still smiled.
It had been waiting for them to realize its answer.