"Hand me the salt please, Tess. Tess. Tess!" "What?" She said startled. "Please pass the salt." The brown short haired man said starring at her. He was very tall and anyone could tell training has done his body good. Looking around she was at a table apparently eating a meal with him in a cafeteria surrounded by others going on with their day without a care talking and laughing. "Whats with you today you seem really on edge today something going on?" He winked at her. She couldn help but feel jumpy like she was waiting for someone to just slap her in the face. "Just tired I guess strange dreams." She replied starring at him trying to remember his name.
"Look before I forget I looked into those numbers we found and wrote some thoughts. Figured you could check it out. The last one meet first meet me there by six tonight well hit that together." "Great sounds like an awesome plan. She excused herself with the envelope in hand while he stayed eating at the table with a slight secretive smile. She opened her eyes sitting straight up taking in the room that belonged to Emmitt with the furs falling off her as shes drenched in sweat. Air, she thought, I need air. She got up quietly and grabbed her boots not wanting to wake him up. She slid out of the home and slid on her boots. Venturing to the stream that was close by to freshen herself up a bit.
She left small flowers in random places that would not be noticeable by a wonderer but for her to find her way back. It was still dark outside the morning air crisp as the sun starting to creep out. She bent herself down over the stream to start washing sweat off her face. Tess began feeling a twist in her stomach. She heard what sounded of thundering feet and people who were running they were fighting. She looked up at the wide tree behind her not enough to climb it. She ducked down to the tall bushes behind her and waited lying flat on the ground. A man came running in the clearing ahead of her and smiled his eyes were bright blue as if they there own light. A loud noise came off his ear piece. "We got one." The voice said on the other end with a loud scream coming form an unknown woman. "Return back to post." "Copy." The blue-eyed man said." Im on my way just need to finish up the job." He turned around and stood waiting.
Three other men in different tribe attire than those who belonged with the Circles tribes came running hard and fast with weapons at the ready. "Where is she?!" The short one yelled. "What did you do to my sister you sick demons?!" The demon man himself started to smile . While the other men grew angry and shot their arrows straight through his chest. It struck him.
He smiled at the men broke it off and pulled it out as if he felt no pain, he felt nothing. "Youll need to do so much better than that." He answered humorously. Another man with red striped down his right cheek charged at the man . The demon hit him the face and then the throat when he lounged to his face again the shadow caught his hand and twisted his arm to his back breaking it while swinging himself around kicking the back of his leg snapping it straight off the bone.
The painted man screamed in pain. The shadow than snapped his neck and watched his lifeless body fall to the floor. Within seconds that mans life was over. Tessa was stuck in awe that training she knew that training but why did she know that? Another man came up to the shadow with his knife and was able to strike a few blows into him. The shadow she realized was playing with his opponent.
He pulled a knife of his own and struck his attacker in specific small places of the body and within seconds the man was struggling to keep himself standing and to raise his arms. The shadow stood over him as the tribal man hit the ground upon his knees woozy with blood. The shadow had managed to nick every artery vain in his attackers body. The shadow took his blade in his attackers throat and ripped down pass his manhood to the gap of his thighs. The last man was the same one looking for his sister.
He readied himself. They collied with each other and he managed to get the blue eyes monster down and stabbed him in the neck with three darts. The shadow kicked him into a tree where a branch pierce through his shoulder keeping him in place. He cried out in pain. Tessa couldn take anymore cruelty. She stood up and walked out to the clearing." "HEY! Why don you pick on someone your speed?" She lied right before the shadow could finish the man pinned to the tree. "Awe you think so lass? Its such a shame to scar such a pretty thing like you up." He teased walking away from the man in the tree and towards her.
The shadow was amused, until he got a better look at her there was enough light at this point to see everything around them without the sun being completely out. "Awe you are alive than? Well you better live through this weve got such big plans for you lass." "Sorry to cancel them." They came running at each other every swing he swung he missed and every attack she made she nailed right into him. She contacted every blow yet he couldn get one.
She somehow knew every spot to hit him after watching the way he fought the others. He picked her up and threw her at least ten feet back. He was quickly upon her. She was being pinned down and strangled by him he was very strong. She thought she could hear Maliks voice other warriors had arrived. Emmitt and the one called Lalo tried to pull the monster off of her he managed to throw both men back a few feet.
Giving Tessa the perfect time to reach in her boot to grab sages dagger and shove it straight through his evil blue eye. Cutting it out. He shot up off her screaming in a scream shes never heard before. He took off running with such speed. The other warriors had no chance to catch up but they still tried running after him. "You
e a damn fool you know that?" Emmitt said pulling her up to her feet his left arm was now bleeding slightly after being slit by a rock. Tess was bruised on both arms. "The man in the tree." She started." Malik has him in Lucas tent their trespassers this shouldn have happened they shouldn have crossed on our lands." Lalo said full of anger. "They are the tribe that took Sage." Emmitt whisper to Tessa.
"I know." "And yet you still fought for them" Lalo yelled back in disgust aggressively approaching her as Emmitt stood in front of Tess in case his fellow warrior felt brave enough to go through him for her. Tessa shoved Emmitt to the side stepping straight up into the mad mans face. "They got what was coming to them. Look down they are gone and one probably fights for his life even if he doesn bleed out he will fight infection. I believe in a fair fight in justice but they didn stand a shot in hell. They lived their years and died within seconds. They got what was coming to them in a way nobody deserved. " She snapped back. The men all looked down at the two men that lied dead.
"They will be at Lucas shortly. Lets go get cleaned up he said to the others." Emmitt said taking her walking back to the home "How did you know where I was?" She asked Emmitt. "I knew you left I told Maliki I sent you to the river to bring water. Truth is I know what its like to have demons chase you to the point you can breathe. I know every rock and tree in these lands This" He pulled on of her flowers holding it up to her.
"Home, No?" "It makes me sad you know more about me than I do." "I know you through your parents and your personality. Don wonder alone again in the night. Thats when the heartless do their dirty work. " "Thank you." She said softly "Don do that to me again, this is a circle of trust so lets not start lying to each other and sneaking of now ya?" "Agreed."
They entered the tent. "What happened?" Zayne roared out into the room. "Your friends apparently missed you." Piers replied sarcastically. Receiving a hard glare from both Abriel and Zayne. "Enough!" Tessa snapped she walked in the center. "How far would you go for your family?" Tessa spoke up loudly for the whole to hear. They all looked curiously.
"These men, those men did not have any idea where they really were and even if it did it ceased to be important. They were chasing a very common enemy the shadow. Apparently your Tentoria are taking their people from their homes from their own lands and dragging them through yours to possibly start a war with you so they continue taking others without being worried of a friction because you battle each other instead of battling them so both sides of you are losing resources and men." Taking a deep breath looking around the room.
"From the outside eye of all your tribes it almost looks like you are enabling the shadows allowing them to go through your lands and only stopping the other tribe almost as if you are helping with these abductions yourselves. That shadow this morning was a distraction for those men. They took a girl I heard her screams through his radio piece. I suggest we make peace treaty with this tribe clear your innocent name. Expand while combing as much warriors as you can to fight the real enemy instead of wasting time, men, energy and effort on fighting with each other. We should hurry before they start taking your people as well if they had not been already." "To clear innocence is to apply we are guilty first which we are not!" Ira told her with force.
"Tessa is right." Cato answered looking at her. "Look what happens three shadows can plow straight through thirty men. We need men all the men we can gather or train maybe some willing women too." Kai responded "We will think this through privately" Tahlia said flatly. "If your plan is agreed upon you will be responsible of a battle plan and to present it to the other villages you will recruit as many as you can." Tahlia warned hoping Tessa knew what she was doing, even though she knew in her heart that this was the right track. "Should you fail and you are the deceiver you go home to us on a spit." Abriel snarled. "Deal." Tessa smiled. Tessa, Emmitt, and Luca tend to the injured man who was starting to fade in and out of consciousness. Luca examined the mans body quickly.
"There is a small hole in the lung, could I, would sew it." "I will." Tessa said as she examined the room looking through the materials until she found it. "Here." she took the metal like material that seemed wrapped like thread. She had a flashback with it going into her hand. To her mother sewing up the blonde girl with material and it fading away over time.
"This is my mothers." She whispered loudly she quickly grabbed the needle and metal thread lacing it quickly. She cleaned a blade quickly moving around the room with amazingly stead quick speed sanitizing the blade. "Flip him." She yelled. "What?" The men said together "Flip him, flip him now!" Lalo and Malik turned him with the man screaming in pain. She looked him putting a leather strap in his mouth.
"Bite this, this will not feel good." He looked at her with fear and trust and bit. She took the blade and slid down deeper in the skin to expose the wound to reach it better. "What the hell are you doing to him?" Malik asked in concern for the man on the table. "Saving him. Its the right thing to do and we need some sort of start to join forces lets start by saving their man." She replied as she began sewing the small hole inside the man.
"The material dissolves on its own once the wound is healed. We will stitch him back and will happen again with both sides of the skin and with Emmitt salve it should healing a speedy process with minimal scarring. I will need an I.V. he will need blood were you taught or have any resources or do we need to start putting things together?"
"We have what you need. We know how we have reserves just in case. That was your dads doing to make a surplus we won need to test him we have the universal blood in stock. Lalo quickly retrieve it. "How do you know how to do all this?" Luca asked behind her watching her work she moves so flawlessly it was almost as it was a dance with her movements.
"A memory, once I saw the material it hit me like a ton of bricks or slap straight to the face." She finished. They sat him at an angel and started giving him blood. They did restrict his other arm and one leg to make it easier for him to rest without hurting himself or anyone else around. "Go stay with Chloe and help her this morning with any chores around the village. Just stay in the village until Circle has come to a decision. Who knows how long this can really take time." Emmitt said showing her the way out of the medical tent. "I will take you to the village and I will retrieve you to go back home."
"Ok. Ill stay put than and just wait for you, it will be nice to be around the people." Tessa said enjoying the sun as its fully awake in the sky. Emmitt looked down at her. "You are sure you are willing to bet your life on a theory you just came up with while your mind is still asleep? Why?" "Instinct. Its like I ve seen this all happen before the same type of thing or problem a Deja vu feeling in my guy. Almost as if I figured this out before just bits and pieces are coming together and they are just tugging at my soul. I can explain it, but it makes just way too much sense." Tessa spilled out trying not to sound crazy.
"Between you and me I really think you might be right. You took out that shadow so quick. How did you do that?" "They are programmed with chips right? The Tentoria not the shadows right? Well the brain should be used as a data board than for the program to base on as the host it connects to. So a shadow when the eyes shine blue means their like online with the chip like thats when its turned on when they are basically like a walking camera for others. So they blue eyes are more of a window." Looking at Emmitt to make sure he was following along as she continued.
"So make them blind deaf than half of their signals will fail and their body can feel pain. Then gets back control over the senses. No way to up the pain the on-pain juice for them on a half system failure. SO if we damage or alter the head just enough we can turn shadows back to just regular people… right?" Tessa asked like a child hoping to her a hopeful answer.
"I will ask Piers at circle. I leave you to Chloe. Do not leave this village without me make any excuse if you have to or send for me directly." Emmitt made sure he was understood and turned and walked back to tent that no doubt will be his biggest headache for the day. "Good luck." Tessa yelled out to him making her way to enjoy a meal with Chloe and the ever-wonderful grandmother Roca.
They gathered in the same part of the land where they had first met Tessandra. They argued back and forth for what seemed like eons. Emmitt presented Tessas theories and explained them out the best he could with as much details as he can muster out doing his best to fight for choice to bring peace. "How can we trust what comes out of a Skylander who can even remember why shes here in the first place?" Abriel roared to everyone feeling frustrated.
"I think the more realistic question is why haven we thought of this before? Or acted on something like this until now? She may not know why shes here however but we all do its for this. She is the one to save us all. We all believe this and the first signs that she is on her way to doing that how do we deny her? Weve been battling everyone else for so long are we thus blind? Melana said she would be the one to help us, she was always knew what was best and was never wrong not once. Do we dare doubt her now? Tahlia argued with them in confusion looking around the room.
"She is very skilled in combat. Battle plans are flawless very quick under pressure." Cato explained. "Shes the fastest sleep walker to regain her memories her process will be swift and painful but carefully planned out she will be ready." Malik pointed out. "Ill tinker around see if maybe we can fix the shadows theory." Piers offered. "I have a way to help you with that." Emmitt responded back "How do you supposed you do that?" Piers asked curiously.
"Well first we recruit the other villages. Than we set traps all over the combined lands to catch a couple of shadows see what makes them actually tick in an unknown make shift camp far from our people but still make them think they are in our village throw them off mentally. Remember Tessa believed how the eyes are windows well just have to ensure they stay closed." "Are you sure you about this Emmitt what you suggest could be inhuman." Tahlia pleaded.
"They are already no longer human. These are people who need to be set free from the soul no crime anyone ever commits is worth this type of punishment of not being able to control your mind or body. They have no control of themselves or have their own thought process. They need to be stopped before they destroy everything all over again like the war from long ago did."
"Agreed." Abriel, Cato, and Ira replied with no other arguments coming from them. "Its decided than tomorrow we work on calling a truce with the others and return the missing warriors bodies and survivor once hes healed enough to be moved and in the meantime Tessa will train each our tribes in each of their own village. To help us prepare for whatever come what may. She will than use the following day to pursue the process to wake up we will have to alternate the process with training this will be difficult we will have rough couple months ahead of us." Tahlia demanded. "What about rest we don want to burn her out, she needs time." Emmitt argued Malik quick to agree.
"Time apparently something we don have our treaty says we wake them up. If her people are looking for her the odds of her fate turning out like her parents is very high. Keeping her here while awake can break the peace we cannot afford that; we also cannot use all her knowledge if shes asleep. This is very complicated and must be handled with care." Tahlia explained carefully. "Get her ready." Tahlia said to Emmitt everyone turning to him making sure he understood just how important this task was. They adjourned Luca, Emmitt and Malik entered the village watching her move around happily with Chloe and some of the kids running around her with laughter as loud and happy as far as you can hear.
"So, whose gonna tell her?" Malik asked in a sad voice still watching her help pass around food and checking the scrape on the childrens legs. Emmitt started walking towards her. "Well that was easy. "Malik stated. "Do you worry he maybe growing too fond of her Luca?" "We
e all fond of her my friend. I believe she does him a great deal of good." "We can keep her Luca. Maybe you should remind him of that." Malik said sadly turning to walk away. Luca set off to finish his rounds of the sick people around their villages.
"Wow youve been gone awhile, are you hungry?" Tessa said smiling holding up plate before passing it on to a happy child. Shaking his head in response. "We need to talk. Lets head back now." Emmitt said as he waited for her to say her goodbyes to those around her thanking them for the fun she had today. As they got home Emmitt turned to her leaning on a dresser looking her straight in the eye.
"They have accepted your plan. Here are the terms you will train in the next two days as your body still needs the rest. You will train and then you will venture back into the waking up process and we will alternate everything as we go take it day by day as much as we can get done we will get done." He said flatly making sure she understood all that was about to come. "Thats a lot to put one body through." She replied back. " But Im ready." "I sure hope so." He said. They washed up and tried to lay down and sleep. "Emmitt?"
"Ya." "Do you believe me?" "I believe in you for me thats the same thing." He replied scratching the back of his neck looking down at her from his bed. "No. Its not." She said softly. "Its better." She answered smiling to herself as they lay there in their own beds in the dark. "I remembered lots of things of my parents today. Little memories. I think Im almost ready to go to their place, maybe it will jog something greater."
"Thats the hope." He said proudly happy that shes making so much progress on her own and opening up. "Each time I get a memory… its painful. I think Im starting to realize… Im missing something that Ill never have. Ill awake each day am orphan with no real family, no real home and no land to settle down. Even with friends here… Im alone." She had tears silently softly rolling down her cheeks. Emmitt sat up a little higher staring straight down on her.
"When I was a younger boy just before the teen years. My parents were strong warriors quick, swift and smart. They went out on some lead, some call for help. They never came back and theyve never been found. Luca took me in and cared for me along with Malik. Than your parents came and helped me grow in every possible way." "I guess no matter how you look at it, its always going to hurt when the people who are supposed to love you no matter what can give you up. How can I ever expect anyone to love me if I never got my parents to?" "They did."
"They left me to fall into the same mess thats not love. Its selfish." Tessas tears still rolling down her face in both anger and heart break. "When I wake up Ill be forced to leave. Then Ill really be alone." Emmitt nodded "Will you just sit with me . Please. Just until I fall asleep if thats ok?" Emmitt got out of bed without a second thought and came down to sit up on the ground next to her. She tucked both hands under her pillow rolled on her side to have her body facing him on its side. "Thank you." She whispered.
"You are my guest I am happy to be of service." He said sweetly. She fell asleep hard within minutes. She somehow ended up curled into him. He wanted to move back to his bed, but he was like he was drawn to her. It was as almost as if he couldn leave that spot. He fell asleep spooning her holding her close relaxing into him. He awoke in the middle off the night she had not noticed. He opened his eyes to find himself still enwrapped in her. He was content. Thats when he started to realize that this could be trouble.
Novel Bin 