The Dark Ages: Convergence (Prequel to the P.O.E. Chronicles)

Chapter 21 The River flows

*Picture of Katerina!*

A soft, surreptitious light shoots out of the necklace and hit the lion square in the face. I don't think the other would be able to see it due to the limited lighting. Also, its pack arrives behind this one, all of them smaller in sizes.

My mind seems to be running a thousand miles per minute as I process the scene, the necklace growing so hot that I'm sure it scorched me. The lion must be their leader, and it's currently whizzing with its head bows after being hit by the light.

The new beasts eye us and I take the stalemate to retreat to my group, doing so slowly and carefully so I don't aggravate these animals. The others are all standing still and staring at me with open mouth. I don't know what's going through their mind, and I don't care to know. I keep my eyes on the leader; it's digging the ground with its front leg and its hair moves along with his body.

"What did you do?" Anastasia elbows her way next to me. She's staring at the lion with her jaw hanging open and I survey the scene probably. There are a dozen lions. The odds don't look good.

"We need to go, now," I command. Everyone begins to shuffle into position just as the lion look up right at us.

"Run!" I scream, pushing Anastasia in front of me. I cast a look back, my heart almost stopping as the herd gallops towards us; they're certainly in advantage with four legs. I cast a mind wall back towards them. That should slow them down. For now.

We run back towards the city. There's no way we'd survive unless we got reinforcement or shelter. I shoot a few mind wars as well as from the rifle every now and then, and as do everyone else. But they still outnumber us massively.

"Turn!" Jeffery screeches but it's too late. The group in the front runs straight into a gang ibexes that came out of the narrow street.

"Will!" Jake screams as Will get stomped by the ambushers. Will lets out a blood-curdling cry before falling silent and I feel sick to my stomach. Craig, who retreats just in time, looks green as the rest of us pick up the pace; Will's a goner.

"Craig, try to keep an eye out for dangers. Jake, help him," I shout. My mind is reeling from what just happened. It was all so fast. This is worst than last time. We can't even bury his body.

I push my feeling into a corner of my mind. I can feel guilty about it later. Now I've got to get the rest of us back in one piece. I dig into my trousers pocket and find what I'm looking for. I didn't want to use this because it'll cause a big scene, but it seems we've no choice.

The necklace suddenly glows hot again and I stifle a grunt. Is this Fleur's way of saying that I shouldn't use it? Because whatever she did hasn't worked, and one more of us had died. This whole reconnaissance mission is a disaster. Not only are the Betes further out than we've expected, our chances of making it back is looking slimmer and slimmer.

Anastasia turns around and fires an energy blast into the mingled herd behind us. The blue light is blinding and for a second, all I can see is white light as I continue running forward in full speed. I've never seen her fire something this strong before; it must be the stress of the situation. As my eyesight begins to come back, what I see in front of us makes my blood runs cold.

We've somehow made our way due west and now the Sein is looming in front of us, with the train tracks stretching in between. Nearing the Sein isn't a problem, in fact, it would be great news if it isn't for the looming wall and the complex train tracks that lay between.

"Akram!" Jake shouts at me.

"Keep going," I shout. A few throw me skeptical looks but they continue. The wall in front of us grows taller and I look around. I need something, anything will do.