章 18: Time To Die
"Oh my, brother Cyrus actually predicted every single move of theirs!" Awe-struck and mouth agape, little Talia was incredibly shocked from this turn of events.
Muttering under her breath, "wow, brother really is super cool! Wait, wait, wait, stay focussed, Talia. We can't mess up brother Cyrus's plans by getting distracted here." Slapping her blushing cheeks lightly, she refocussed on attempting to ignite the fire as Jared and the rest departed.
Grabbing the flint and metal sword, just like Cyrus explained to her earlier, she forcefully grated them together attempting to create some sparks. Striking a few times with only failure as a result, she was getting a little nervous. Her hands started shaking in agitation before thinking to herself, "I-I can do this. Breathe, breathe, just relax, you got this. He trusted me to do this and I just need to believe in myself."
Thinking back, this reminded her of what Cyrus said when he picked her for this job. He sat her down and explained his reasoning despite all of her previous objections. "Listen, Talia. You might be slightly shy, weak, a scaredy cat, easily overwhelmed from pressure, and...well, that's enough, you get the point."
He only stopped now because Talia was currently gazing at him with a tearful expression. Coughing lightly, "anyway, I wanted to say that you're a true brave girl deep down. I noticed your attempt to help me when distracting those wolves. It was a precarious situation, and you barely new me, but still went all out trying to help. From then on I witnessed you encouraging others during training and giving food to other hungry kids."
He stopped speaking suddenly and directly started into her eyes with extreme seriousness and tinge of appreciation."You have potential Talia, belive in yourself more!" Then that broad, sunny smile, that left her in a daze, replayed in her mind and boosted her confidence now.
"Alllmostttt thereeee, g-got it. Hahaha, I did it, I really did it! Waith, he should be able to see this, right?" She clenched her little fists as the happiness faded while watching the smoke lazily disperse. Struggling to tamp down her nervous feelings, she silently prayed to the heavens for her friend's safety to distract herself.
"I've done what I can and hopefully everything will go smoothly....."
.....
Cyrus observed the black tint marring the clear afternoon sky. Contemplating in his mind, "That should be the signal. Speaking of which, we really got lucky with the weather today...that's not important anymore."
Casually shaking his head in a dismissive style, he headed over towards the twins' hiding spot. Traversing through a few bushes, low-hanging branches, and a few stray rocks, Cyrus found them crouched in a hollowed, dead tree. "Alright, you guys are up next. Remember to keep it simple, nothing over the top, understood?"
"We gotcha boss!" They saluted in a half joking manner after standing up. Without waiting for Cyrus's response, they ran away while laughing a bit.
"Just make sure you don't screw up," he thought inwardly. Then again, it never hurts to have a little fun during a serious moment. "Guess that just leaves me to find a nice vantage point somewhere around here."
As he was walking away, loud shouts ensued, and a legitimate argument seemed to take place. "Are they actually arguing? Theirs no way.....if its them, then just maybe." Shaking his head, he kept up his search, before finding a nice, growing tree sapling. It had decent elevation for a safe and fast exit while still difficult to spot a person's figure among the foliage. As long as they were not looking for him specifically, it should work perfectly.
"Hehehe, I'm really going to enjoy this reunion!"
Over by Jared and his companions, Tina heard some loud noises echoing in the forest. She picked up on a few words that sounded like an argument from straining her hearing to the limit. Contemplating on whether to mention it because of the inherent risks, she still chose to in the end.
They were planning on stealing resources due to their superior strength, anyway. Also, it just so happened to be the direction the trail was heading towards. Raising her head from the ground, she stated her findings out loud. "Manny, Jared, did you guys hear people speaking a little to our right? I think the people we are tracking might be arguing over there."
Doing the same thing Tina did previously, they listened intently for the voices she heard. After a few seconds, another round of arguing, and much louder at that, rang clearly in the forest.
Jared could not help smiling in a sinister manner before turning towards the other two and mentioning his thoughts. "This is a perfect opportunity here. Clearly they aren't paying any attention so we can sneak attack one together and claim an early advantage. Based on the different pitch in their voices, the amount of people should be around two, at the very least.
"Hmph, we can simply go over there and bash their heads in. I mean its obvious that they are a pack of fools for yelling without a care in the world. Why go through all this effort instead, makes no sense." Ever since ditching him earlier with no remorse, Manny has been the petty king. Right now is a perfect example from him constantly bickering with Jared over insignificant issues.
Already knowing where this was going, Tina interjected before they could even start. "Stop, we don't have time for your non-sense right now. Manny, any precautions we can take to avoid injuries are necessary and you know that. Jared, you need to stop stooping down to his level. Now let's go!"
A little shaken from this authoritative side of Tina's, they closed their mouths and continued on in an awkward silence. Soon their attention honed in on the increasingly louder shouts. After sneaking around for a few minutes, they could easily distinguish the content of their argument.
Being so close to their next meal, carelessness was non-tolerable. They raised their vigilance to the max in preparation of ambushing their targets. Jared figured that now was the time to re-establish his position of 'self elected' leader and take the helm. Subsequently flashing some simple hand gestures to wait for his signal to attack, he forged ahead without asking for their agreement.
"This fool!" Tina was truly fed up by now with this imperious attitude of his. But considering the bigger picture, she swallowed down some vicious insults that were lingering on the tip of her tongue. Glancing at Manny, who was surprisingly quiet after receiving this blatant disregard, she faintly heard a grumbling sound emerging from his stomach.
Tina resigned herself to the fact she was grouped up with two pieces of trash and just went after Jared's departing figure. "One is an arrogant bastard, and the other is a useless muscle head, phwwwww.(sigh)"
Cyrus watched all this transpire with an indifferent expression, but his heart was beating erratically with no signs of calming down. Seeing everything work left him almost dancing in joy. Just a 100 more feet and these annoying clowns would fall into his trap with nowhere to run.
Patiently lying in wait, Cyrus could not help ridiculing these enemies. "Even now they can't stop arguing with one another and are just making my job easier! Hahahaha, guess this will wrap up in a simple fashion. A few more seconds and I'll make my move." Intently staring, his anticipation only grew as his muscles tensed up in preparation to attack.
"Guess it's now or never!" Seeing that the time to attack was ripe, and any further delay would expose the traps, Cyrus darted forward with his greatest speed. He moved out of the tree like a wraith with one straightforward objective, hindering their escape.
Similar to a chain reaction, Cyrus's quick movement's elicited a sharp whistling sound from the edges of his peripheral vision. Instantly, a dangerous atmosphere covered the surroundings. Jared, Tina, and Manny felt a sharp, prickling sensation around the nape of their neck and immediately went on high alert.
Previous life and death battles had tempered this incorporeal feeling of danger. With no hesitation or doubting their senses, they dove to the ground as their bodies kicked into overdrive. Barely in the nick of time, 2 1/2 foot long, wood spears grazed the top of their heads and left them with a close shave.
Before they could even survey the situation, more spears targeted their prone figures on the ground. Respite was a luxury now, and this small interval of a few seconds between attacks forced them to rely on their reaction speeds. Unfortunately for Tina, she was a tad too slow in her attempt to dodge and felt an electric shock in her calf.
As soon as she glanced down, a scalding heat overwhelmed her senses while her mind only seemed to scream 'pain' repeatedly. Those crude spears Impaled her calf, hindering her mobility extensively. However, now was not the time to worry about that, so gritting her teeth she quickly scouted the area for their assailants.
"BEHIND YOU JARED!" Unable to find the twins, she spotted Cyrus's lithe figure dashing at incredible speeds. The late reminder hardly helped when Cyrus's attack was already inches away from landing.
Jared turned his head immediately after hearing the warning cry, but he was greeted with a left overhand fist to the face. Following the momentum of his first attack, he flawlessly connected a smooth skyward slash. Stunned and disoriented, Jared could barely discern the metallic glint through his turbid eyes.
Detecting the current danger to his life, Jared screamed in his mind."MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!" He narrowly evaded the killing blow from the sheer will contorting his body in an unnatural manner. Off balance now, Cyrus followed up with a quick, basic stab that pierced straight through his shoulder.
Extricating the sword from his wound, Jared retreated desperately while his mind reeled in chaos and fear. Thinking back on each one of this mysteries person's moves, flowing in a tight-knit fashion, he felt his chances of surviving this situation dwindling.
A sentence dripping with disdain pulled him out of his state of shock, causing him to flair up in a fit of anger. "You guys should have thought about the consequences of your actions before, heh!"
Hearing that all too familiar voice, Jared and Manny finally took a serious look at their attackers. Almost as if in unison, they screamed out in fury, "CYRUS!!!!!"
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