Mountains [Vikklan]

Chapter 15- Swordpoint [Vikk]

Choco folds his arms, brow furrowed.

We've moved the big table from his house into the market place, so everyone in the village can fit.

Well, kind of. There's actually only eighteen seats, and twenty of us, so Mitch sits on Jerome's Lap and choco stands at the head of the table.

"Okay, first of all, Pete, can you please explain to me how you know Kara?"

The two of them sit at opposite ends of the table, still glowering. I'm sitting in between Landon And Lachlan, nearer to Kara's end of the table.

Pete twists his neck to the side.

"It was the day after I arrived. I was guarding the gate, and then she showed up. We were all friendly, for a bit, and then she asked to come in. I let her in, offered to give her a tour, and all that. So there we are, walking around for a while, and then she pins me against a wall and takes my sword! And then, like, holds me at sword point and tells me to take her to where I woke up!"

"Hey, I had good reason for that!"

She stands up, hands planted on the table. Lizzie touches her arm, and she slowly sits down again.

"Oh, really? Well, all it looked like to me was you trying to rob us! So, as I was saying, I took her to the street we all woke up in, and then she knocked me out! With my own sword!"

Choco sighs.

"Kara, is this true?"

She rolls her eyes.

"Yes, it's true. But I needed to figure out where you were all waking up. It- It's important. Unlike this argument, though! Brandon needs to calm down, for gods sake."

I glance at Pete, who's lips are pursed. I can tell he's thinking about it.

"Fine then, Kara, why have you come back, now, with this lot?"

He gestures to our end of the table, where Nade, Jay, Ali, Landon, Bee and Lizzie are.

Kara smirks.

"We're going to get your memories back."

There are gasps from around the table. Choco turns to her.

"What? How?"

She runs a hand through her hair.

"I- I need to check a few things first, and talk to some people. It's going to be complicated."

Pete tuts, from the other end of the table, but Mat hits him lightly. They all want their memories back. Under the table, I squeeze Lachlan's hand.

Choco stands up, and gestures to Brayden.

"Can you find everyone a place to stay while I talk to Kara? We'll all meet back here at Sunset, okay? "

There are mumbles of confirmation as everyone starts to go back to their own business. Brayden, Speedy and Side lead the girls and Nade's group away from the square. Kenny leads Ali, still weak, to another house that I think is their makeshift hospital. He's probably still recovering.

Pete gets up, and twists his body around to where Kara is walking away.

"Oh, and Kara? My name's Pete. Not Brandon."

Then he marches off.

Suddenly, I feel the hairs on my neck rise. I turn on my feet, scanning the area. My breath catches in my throat.

Preston is staring at me from across the square.

Though he may be a new person now, I've seen what he's capable of. I watched him murder Rob.

He starts to step towards Lachlan and I. I nudge him, to warn him, and watch as he notices Preston. Immediately his whole body goes rigid. His brow furrows and his lip begins to quiver slightly.

"Hey Lachy... Hey vikk..."

Preston says as he arrives. His voice is smooth, suspicious.

Still glaring at me, Preston steps towards Lachlan. The blond boy's eyes go wide and he recoils.

"No... Don't touch me!"

"What? Lachlan, It's me!"

I watch the exchange.

"No. No."

Lachlan is shaking his head, holding out a hand to keep Preston away.

"What is it, Lachlan? What's wrong? It's okay, I'm here." I can hear the hurt in his voice. Whether it's fake or not, I don't know, or care. Then he goes still, and turns to me. "What have you done to him?"

I stumble backwards.

"N-nothing, I swear!"

He clenches his fist.

"You lying, manipulative-"

"NO!"

Lachlan shouts.

"No, Preston! He's not the reason for this! You are! Don't think I didn't see you last night, with Rob. Y'know, I thought you were the only one I could trust, here. But no! It seems you've proved me wrong. Now let me go, and go find rob. I would say you deserve each other, but I think Rob could do so much better than you. Leave us be, Preston."

Preston's face turns from scary and threatening to hurt and shocked in an instant. His mouth drops open and he backs away.

"Oh my... Lachlan, I'm so..."

"LEAVE!"

Preston flinches, and glances at me, before turning tail and running off behind a house.

Lachlan sighs.

"He hurt so many people, in Season 3. But sometimes you can see behind that. When we all get our memories back... I don't know what'll happen to him."

I go over to him and wrap my arms around his torso.

"He'll be okay. We'll all be okay."

"I hope so."

*A/N: Hello, all! So, as you know updates have slowed down a bit for this book! Don't worry, it's definitely going to be finished, but updates will probably have to be every two or three days (ish) from now on because i'm getting caught up in a lot of schoolwork. But in other news, Thankyou for 3K reads! It means so much to me!*