The Destined Protector (The Chronicles of Mistar - Book 1)

Seventeen · · · Monta (.3)

When Monta woke up, he found himself in another soft bed. Quickly as he could, he grabbed at the nearest thing to him and was relieved when his hand didn't go right through it. Then he grabbed at his mouth, sticking his fingers in his mouth as he felt for his tongue. Thankfully, it was there, but when he tried to speak all that came out was grunting noises.

From across the room, he heard Tapalla's voice say, "Oh, you're awake."

Then he heard Cass's annoying voice as she said, "Yay!" Then she ran to Monta's side and started stroking his arm. "Are you okay? You were sleeping for a long time."

"And you were being a creeper everytime he even moved or took a deep breath," Tapalla said, aiming her insult at Cass.

Cass sneered at Tapalla but then turned back to Monta with a smile on her face. Monta then gave her a half smile back unsure about Cass's intentions.

Monta sat up, looking around the room to see where he was. It was dark and dingy with only a few lights lit up around the room. Bunk beds stood along the walls in a large circle. No windows covered the wall, only rusty metal bars holding up the beds and their sheets. Another circle covered the room, made of tables in the center of the room. Tapalla and Janna sat across from each other both play with their own set of cards. Every once in a while there was the sound of shuffling, a sound that Monta liked well.

As Monta tried to talk, he mumbled the words so they didn't come out correctly, "Haw...lung mus...I sneepning?"

Cass gave Monta a strange look as he talked. "What's wrong with your voice?" she asked backing away from him. She then turned to Tapalla and asked, "What happened to him?"

Right when she heard Monta's voice Tapalla stood up, letting her cards spill on the table and floor. She hurried over to Monta and bent down so she could look in his eyes. Monta desperately wanted to talk to her. He wanted to tell her what happened to him in his dream and what was happening around them. What happened to the Night Warriors?

"Haw lung mus I sneepning?" Monta said faster, doing the best he could to speak.

Tapalla hummed as she thought. "I think something happened to his voice while he was passed out," she finally said.

"Then what did he say?" Cass asked scratching her head.

Annoyed that he would have to repeat his question, Monta was relieved when Janna said it for him, "He asked how long he was asleep."

Tapalla smiled at Monta as she said calmly, "A day. Maybe two." Monta must have looked distraught because then Tapalla frowned at him and said, "I'm sorry, Monta. We tried to wake you up, but you just wouldn't so we let you sleep."

Monta wanted to roll his eyes, but he knew it would be rude. He didn't feel like he had slept through a whole day or more. It felt more like two minutes.

"Mhut appened tith nit morniers?" Monta then tried to ask, hoping that they could understand. Hopefully, he could speak normally soon.

"I have no idea what he said!" Cass exclaimed as she started to walk around the room. "Personally," she started to add, "I think he sounds like a baby learning to speak!"

Monta felt like screaming. He wanted to scream at Cass to shut up. To scream that he was tired of his stupid mission. To scream that he hated life. To scream that people could just understand. Most of all, he wanted to scream at Tapalla for not being what he wanted her to be, but Monta knew that wasn't real life. That's why Monta just let it go. That's why Monta didn't scream, though when he looked back at Tapalla he got the feeling that she knew exactly what he wanted to do.

Tapalla looked away from Monta and to Janna who was shuffling her deck of cards. "What did he say, Janna?"

Janna sighed before she said, "He wants to know what happened to the Night Warriors. And he didn't say it, but I'm pretty sure he wants to know how you, or we, escaped."

Tapalla turned back to Monta. "Makes sense, though I don't know if you could say we really escaped. It was more of, we were saved. By who, you say? It was Jastka and his soldiers." Tapalla was beaming at the thought of Jastka being alive. "Well, when the Night Warriors hit us upside of the head, they just skimmed me not knocking me unconscious as they did to you," Tapalla continued. "So they wouldn't kill me on the stop, I acted like I was passed out. They dragged us outside and put us in the mothball arena."

From behind Tapalla, Janna exclaimed, "There were like ten of them out there!"

Tapalla nodded. "Yes, there was. They started speaking a weird language that I didn't recognize, but I did hear a name. Jack."

She let the name sink in as Monta shivered with fear. Jack was the man who had supposedly killed Tapalla's parents in the gaz pine forests. Monta hoped he would never hear that name again, but here it was. It was the name of his captor and a name he feared.

"They took us," Tapalla said, almost sounding desperate. "You, me, Janna, and Cass. May was there too, but she wasn't in chains. Part of me thought I heard my mother's voice somewhere, but it wasn't her. That night, Jastka, along with Chanta and his small troop, ran into camp and attacked the Night Warriors. Many died on both sides, but mostly on ours." Tapalla stopped to take a breather before she continued by saying, "Either way, the Night Warriors retreated. Right now, Jastka and Chanta are getting the O.R. flyer ready for our trip to Ablatin. They said we should stay in here until it's safe. Oh, and I know what your thinking. Why are Janna and Cass in here with us? From some rumored information, the Night Warriors want them too."

A new thought entered Monta's mind, making him stand up straight, scaring everyone. "Kata? Fay?"

"Who?" Cass asked in her annoyed voice as usual.

"I think he meant Chaka and Ray," Janna piped up.

Wiping the frown from her face, Tapalla said, "They're fine. They were on the top floor of the house and the Night Warriors didn't go up there since they knew we were downstairs. Chaka, Ray, and even Dirken were fine. May is fine too, though a bit shaken."

Thinking, a thought popped into Monta's mind, though he didn't say it out loud. How could May have been captured by the Night Warriors if she slept with her husband and the Warriors didn't go upstairs? Even though it is was an interesting thought, Monta waved it off. He didn't want to be bothered by conspiracy theories about people he thought he trusted. Instead, even though they said he had been sleeping for two days, all he wanted to do was go back to sleep. Maybe the next time he woke up he would have his voice back, but that was only a maybe.