Shadows of the Past

Chapter 8

"S-sleeping,"

~~~

She looked scared, probably because of the giant rat, that was about my height, a littlw shorter.

"Okay, Maggie, how about you go get Lizzie," She nods, and speedwalks down the hall.

"So, what have you been doing these past hmmm 10 years, boy?"

"I'll tell you later, okay, when the girls aren't around,"

"Why?" Luxa looked at me dumbfounded.

"Just wait, please,"

~~~

"Lizzie, wake up," She groans.

"What do you want?"

"Gregor wants you,"

"Why does that nerd want me," she grumbles angrily. I giggled. She swung her legs from under the blankets, her eyes, heavy with sleep and her chocolate brown hair, a mess as it fell on her shoulders. She grabbed her usual hairtie on her wrist and used it to tie her hair in a messy bun, then rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and stood up.

"Come on,"

~~~

"Have you told him yet?"

"Tell me what?"

"She'll tell you in a minute, boy," What were they keeping from me? Did the gnawers rebel again? The mice driven to the deadlands? Diggers surfacing in the palace? Or another prophecy? I wanted none of it to be true.

"Oh, there's Lizzie and Maggie," I say. Lizzie walks up to me, and punches my arm, it wasn't hard, but it kinda hurt.

"What do you want, nerd," She says, prolonging the word nerd. She looks over my shoulders, to Ripred and Luxa, deep in conversation, "Ripred?" He looks away from Luxa, the conversation put on a sudden hold.

"Your almost as tall as me now!" Ripred said. She runs over to him and wraps her arms around him. He awkwardly wrapped his arms, around her. Probably never had been shown affection this way, the human way. I looked over to Maggie, her brow furrowed with confusion.

"Where's Temp?" I ask Luxa.

"He died bravely in battle, against the diggers,"

"Oh," I was shocked, Temp had been through it all with us. It was our small team, that helped me get through, now 2 of which were dead. Ares, now Temp, and countless others, who died in battle.

"Ripred, why don't you show the girls around the castle, while I go show Gregor," When he turns around, I see a small patch of his red-brown fur, missing.

"Okay," Lizzie takes Maggies hand, and Ripred takes them around the corner.

"So what do you have to show me?"

"This way," She leads me down the way, opposite of where Ripred went.

"Nerissa, she is much like Bartholomew of Sandwich, she has the gift of prophecy. 8 years ago, she prophesied you would return, as you did, but, there is more to it, than just you returning," I see the familiar wooden door ahead of me, beyond it lay the room covered in prophecies. Luxa turned away from the door and into a separate room with a torch in it, "There it is," Next to the torch was handwriting carved into stone.

The Warrior shall return,
shelter from the world above.
Besides the happy reinion,
Lies a curse,
Needing to be broken.

The gnawers are soon to perish,
Of a curse,
Resulting in death.
The cure lies in the Jungle.
Beware of the intoxicating smell,
Of a plant of blood red,
And heart leaves.

"What does it mean, 'Gnawers are soon to perish,'?"

"Our doctors have already detected it, but, its a horrible skin disease, causing their fur to fall out, and they go crazy,"

"What do you mean by crazy?"

"One, the worst case actually, went crazy, and attacked the Fount,"

"Oh-, did it kill anyone?"

"No, no one was injured, everyone was here, for the yearly feast,"

"But, Ripred is already losing his fur, Im afraid we'll have a month at the most to find this plant,"

"Then, we should leave right away,"

~~~

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