Bloodlines: Severed Ties

Chapter 7: More Than Kelp

Sylvia slowly walked away from the squabbling pair, knowing that they would be able to sort out their issues themselves. Darian, although normally a rational person, was tired from their long journey. Sylvia also knew that he was secretly stressing about reuniting with his family in New Nortia, based on their prior tensions within the family.

However Aliyah's outburst, Sylvia had never seen them like that. They must have felt particularly strong about the matter, to cause them to flare up in such a way.

She walked past the small group of villagers, all huddling around a small campfire they had created. The sun would be up for another hour or so, however it was wise to make the fire before the sun went down.

As she passed, the humans gave Sylvia a sidewards glance, then huddled together muttering about something. She wasn't surprised. The villagers had been steering clear of their small group, despite Olive's reassuring demeanour. Sylvia knew they didn't quite trust her, and were treating her as an outsider. Despite the fact she was supposed to be protecting them.

Sylvia continued on, to a small lake that was nearby. They had deliberately set up camp near a water source to refill their supplies, however in the warm spring air mosquitoes were bound to be an issue later on in the night.

She gazed out across the lake, noticing the small ripples that traversed the surface. The water was a deep blue, and even with her keen eyes was only able to see a couple of metres below the surface before the darkness consumed everything. She wondered what secrets lay beneath the water, in the depths of the darkness.

It was quiet here, the only sound to be heard the lapping of the water on the bank. The occasional splash of a fish. The rustling of the reeds in the evening breeze. It reminded Sylvia of her home, way to the south. There had been a lake near there also, that she had frequented with Anthony.

Before he was turned.

Sylvia glanced up, drawing her gaze from the sand below her feet to look across the water. She saw a dark blur in the distance, hovering just above the water.

Squinting hard, Sylvia saw the outline of a horse. She rubbed her eyes in disbelief. A horse? In the middle of a lake?

The horse looked up, looking straight at Sylvia. It was pure black, with eyes the colour of charcoal. It appeared to be floating graciously across the surface, tiny ripples coming from it's body and turning into waves that lapped at Sylvia's feet.

Sylvia shook her head, and by the time she looked back, the horse had vanished.

And then she heard a scream.

Sylvia started running back towards the group of villagers, pushing the image of the horse to the back of her head for the time being. The villagers around the campfire were now standing, facing the woman who had screamed.

"What's wrong? What's going on?" Sylvia asked. The woman was clutching her chest, breathing heavily. She was hyperventilating, clearly under duress.

"My... My boy!" She managed to choke out, "my boy is missing!"

Darian, Aliyah and Dirella had joined the commotion by now, all remnants of their fight gone and replaced with looks of concern. Darian stepped forward, placing a hand on the woman's shoulder.

"I'm sure he's alright, he's probably just wandered off," Darian tried to reassure the woman. However, the woman was looking at Darian's hand in horror, shrinking away from his touch. One of the men came forward, shoving Darian away from her.

"You stay away from her! You no good mutant!" The man grunted, putting himself between Darian and the distressed woman. Olive had now wandered over, her eyes wide with concern.