Hero's Journey

Chapter 60

Woohooo!  Chapter 60 here we come! Happy Late Thanksgiving to you Americans out there!

~Ashlee

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Kagon's feet make thumping sounds on the hard packed dirt as the sun beats down upon his back.  It is only morning and already the heat is a burden on the travelers.

Kagon adjusts Delia's position in his arms.  She's out cold, she had hit her head on the wheel of the ship when the wave carried them onto the sands of Roaria. 

After they all pulled themselves from the wreckage of The Sea Sorceress they set up a hasty camp, hoping she would wake in the morning.  Even when the morning rays caused everyone to stir, she did not wake, leaving Kagon to carry her as they searched for any sign of life.

"Has she moved at all?"  Tavius asks suddenly, interrupting the sound of the whirring bugs and quarreling birds of the savanna

"No."  Kagon answers simply.

They fall back into silence, once again swallowed up by the noise of the wildlife  surrounding them.

As they continue their arduous hike, sweat begins to drizzle down his back and his mouth dries up like the ground beneath them.

"Where are we even going?"  He asks.

Kip shrugs, trotting alongside him and watching Delia with the eyes of a mother hawk.
Despite the lad's vigilance, Kagon can see just how weak he is and the toll it's taking on his body to be so far from Gahenna.

"There should be a tribe up ahead."  Maude replies, face red and body slicked in moisture from exertion.

He's probably feeling the effects of the distance from Gahenna as well.  Kagon thinks.  However, not as much as Kip is now.  Kagon notes, taking in the boy's deathly pallor and waxy looking skin.

Even without the curse, Kagon can feel exhaustion taking over.  His arms have begun to ache from carrying Delia for so long.

"There should be a tribe up ahead, eh?"  Tavius grumbles.  "You happened to mention that an hour ago."  The pirate accuses whilst pushing back his hair from clinging to his face.

Kagon licks his dry lips, tasting the saltiness of the perspiration along his Cupid's bow.  "Both of you..." He trails off for a moment, losing track of his thoughts.  He blinks and the glaze over his mind disperses.  "...Both of you, stop strumming your vocal chords or I'll tear out the whole lyre."

Maude's bushy brows come together in confusion.  "By the wretched name of Gahenna, what are you talking about?"

"I-I don't know."

Kip collapses to ground.

"Kipdale!" Kagon sets down Delia and touches the boy's forehead, worry coating his insides with acid.  As soon as the skin of his palm meets Kip's forehead, he pulls it away as if he's been burned by fire.

"What is it now?"  Maude groans.

Ignoring his tone, Kagon answers his question.  "His skin...it's as cold as ice and as hot as white flame."

"What?"  Tavius asks, bending down to touch the boy.  His reaction is the same as Kagon's, he quickly pulls his hand away, letting out a hiss of pain.  Upon speculation, Kagon sees that the finger on Tavius's hand that touched Kip is a blistering red.  Looking down at his palm, Kagon can see Kip's skin had the same affect on him as it did on Tavius's.  However, as he looks at the blisters they fade before his very eyes, as if they were never there in the first place.