~Burdon~

During like the entire time we were walking-we don't have horses because it's way too uncomfortable, not because it's too much money. And plus, why would a wolf ride a horse?-Ryderr talked with Father. Father and Ryderr were in the front, while Malhaw and I are in the back. Which I didn't like because Father was with a stranger, and because I never really been in the back before, I didn't like it at all.
When it got dark, we stopped. We had dinner, Father taught Ryderr how to control his werewolf powers-which I was totally annoyed by. We rolled out our bedrolls and went to sleep.
Before I fell asleep I heard Father and Malhaw talking about something, but I fell asleep right then and there. When I woke up I felt something on my eyes. Something slimy? I reached up to feel or wipe away-whatever was on my eyes-when Father said, "Aeri, come here."
I got up, and walked over to him. "What?" I asked.
"Time for breakfast."
"You could've of done that instead of throwing a bucket of water on me yesterday," I snapped.
"No, I couldn't-you were asleep. So, therefore, I couldn't just say, 'Aeri, wake up' to wake you up," snapped my Father.
My Father and I were face-to-face-about to 'butt heads'-when Malhaw said, "Let's eat breakfast."
"Fine," said both my Father and I-without taking eyes off one another. We sat down and ate breakfast. Every time I went to feel what's on my eyes, my Father or Malhaw would get my attention and talk to me about something random. After breakfast, we packed up and left. Father talked with Ryderr, again during the whole time we were walking. Every time I went to rub my eyes-to get the slimy stuff off, of course-Malhaw would talk to me, so I couldn't do it.
We stopped when it got dark, had dinner, Father trained Ryderr-which annoyed me so much. We rolled out our bedrolls, and laid down.
After a few minutes, I heard someone get up. A minute later, I heard some else get up. I didn't move. I couldn't exactly hear what they were saying. But I heard bits and pieces.
"...isn't it working?" asked Malhaw-it sounded like him. But if it wasn't then I have no idea who else it could be.
"...getting older so it's not working very well on..." said my Father-it sounded just like him. If it wasn't my Father then I have absolutely no idea-none at all; totally clueless-at who it could be.
"...have to put so much on? I mean he's noticing it now and..."
"...remember if we don't and..."
They said something else I couldn't heard, and I heard them go back to bed.
What are they talking about? I wondered, a bit frightened even. My thoughts were going all crazy, and going all over the place. I want-no, I demanded-to know what they were talking about. Eventually when my thoughts calmed down, I fell asleep.

I opened my eyes to see a man, who was dressed very fancy-like, standing over a map. The man made a few markings on the map, then threw the map, angrily, off the table.
Another man, dressed less fancy, came running in. When the less fancier dress man was a few feet away from the more fancier dress man, he stopped and went on his knees and stayed that way, with his head bowed.
"Well, found anything?" asked the more fancier dress man.
Without standing up or raising his head the less fancier dress man said, "No, sire."
Making the, apparently, higher rank man walked away angrily. "Why can't I find them?"
"I do not know."
Swirling around, the fancier man snarled, "Did I give you permission to speak, Valln?"
"No, sir. Sorry, sir," said Valln, with his head still down.
"I will let it pass, for now. Get me the map," ordered the fancier man, who was closer to the map. Valln stood up, while keeping his head lower than the fancier man, picked up the map and handed it to the fancier man. The fancier man put it on the table and bend over it. "I looked everywhere. I searched every single piece of land and they're nowhere to be found!"
"Can I see the map?" asked Valln, carefully, making sure he was getting permission to speak. The fancier man passed him the map without a word. I saw Valln studied the map. "What about the sea?"
"Of course I had the-" the fancier man stopped himself mid-sentence. The fancier man then lean down to study the map again. "Hmm, no. The sea can't be possible, there's no islands charted on the sea."
"What if there's a uncharted island they're hiding on?" suggested Valln.
"Where?" asked the fancier man, gesturing to the map.
"You can asked the Pak Islanders-they're from a uncharted island and might know some other uncharted islands."
"There's an idea." I noticed that the fancier man paused before asking again, "You didn't find anything?"
"No, King Jazer," said Valln, as if he was asked this a million times-most likely was.
"They're impossible to find! I just want them, so I can win the war!" yelled Jazer, angrily. Valln said nothing. "It's about time I take matters into my own hands and not rely some mythical creatures!" Valln, again, said nothing. "Valln, go to the Varden with some of my soldiers and destroy the Varden."
"Yes, sire," said Valln, bowing.
"And use all force necessary," commanded Jazer.
"Yes, sire," said Valln, bowing as he left the room. Suddenly, the dream was coming apart. For some reason, that I don't know of, I closed my eyes.

I opened my eyes again, and saw that everything was normal and that I wasn't in a dream anymore. I looked around and I saw that everyone was asleep. I tried to go back to sleep but I couldn't. Soon later, everyone got up, had breakfast and were about to leave when I said, "I think we should go back to the Varden." Everyone-besides me, obviously-looked at me, surprised.
"Why?" asked my Father. It sounded as if he was suspicious.
"Uh... instincts," I said, not wanting to tell everyone that I had a dream. My Father-for some reason-walked up to me and looked at me, in the eyes. I went to lower my eyes-a sign of respect to someone who has a higher rank than you, especially a alpha male-when my Father gripped my chin, forcing me to look at him in the eyes. He grip tightened around my chin. I wanted to shrank away, but Father held me in place. There was also something that wanted to me to challenge Father, but that must be the alpha wolf in me. Suddenly, Father let go of me.
"Aeri, come with me," ordered Father, walking away. I followed behind Father-like a lamb.
When we came to a lake, Father sat down, and I sat down next to him. Then Father stood up and walked to the bank, and told me to come over. "Yes, Father?" I asked.
"Look into the water."
Okay? I thought, confused. I looked into the water and I saw-of course-my reflection, but other than that I had no idea why Father wanted me to look into the water. "What am I looking for exactly?"
"Look that your eyes," explained my Father.
I looked down again at the water, and I saw that my eyes were a completely golden color. "But that's impossible."
"No, it's not impossible."
"But I mine eyes were brown when I was born, not gold."
"They started turning a golden color when you were around five years old-a very late time-but it was probably because you weren't completely a werewolf."
"But mine eyes have been a brown, or a hazel color, my whole life-not gold."
"I was trying to stop the process, or at least slowing it down," admitted my Father.
"With what?" I asked, curious. As in answer, my Father pulled out something. It was a white cube-ish round-ish jar with a lid on top.
Father handed it to me. "Open it." And I did. Inside was some white creamy stuff inside. I put my finger inside, wipes some of the white creamy onto my finger, and smelled it. It tingled my nose. Once I put the lid back on, Father said, "That's so your eyes won't go completely gold. But it didn't work as well as it used to, as you can tell." I handed the jar back to my Father.
"How does it work, or use to work?" I asked.
"I would put a little bit of the creme on your eyes when you were asleep. But that stopped working, so I put I would put a lot on-so it would work better. Then that even stopped working so I can't use it anymore. Let's go back, we should've left by now." We both walked back and noticed, immediately, that everything was packed and ready to go. So we left right then.
When we were walking I was in the back with Malhaw, but this time I didn't mind because I wanted to talk with Malhaw. "Are you wearing the stuff?" I asked.
"No, it didn't manifest in me."
"Then why did it manifest in me?" I asked.
Malhaw shrugged, saying, "I do not know."
"Hmm... maybe she might know," I mumbled.
"Maybe," said Malhaw.

∞

We stopped once it got dark. We had dinner and I checked on Licá-like I always have done. I let her out of her hiding place. I fed her some meat until she was full. 'Licá, you grown!' I said, once I got a good look at her.
Licá looked down at herself. 'Yes,' said Licá, voice humming, slightly, in my mind.
You're almost big enough to ride, that is if I get to ride you once we get out of the Empire, I thought, bitterly.
Cheer up, you'll get to ride me eventually, said Licá.
Good, I said with a slight smile. Then I went to sleep along with everyone else-including Father, because he didn't have to wait for me to fall asleep, to put the stuff on me. At least I think he did. I closed my eyes, prepared for the dream that I knows is coming.

Something was running through the forest that looked like a human, but then I realized it was a Razlk. Multiple Razlks in fact. The Razlks were running through the forest. They kept running and running through the night. The vision zoomed in and I could hear their voices.
"Are you sure they're heading this way?" asked a Razlk, who's probably Lolf.
"Yes, I'm sure," said someone who looked like Nlof.
"They better," said Lolf, the hidden threat implied.
The Razlk kept on running until they saw the campsite where I and everyone else is sleeping. The dream kept going on while I was trying to wake up from the dream, but I couldn't, it was like it would only stop when the dream wanted to, or when I was waking up. And the Razlk were directly a crossed from them. I was desperately trying to wake myself up to warn the others, but I couldn't-this was the worst part about having the dreams. The Razlk were so close that I could see my own face in the Dream. No one woke up, everyone-not including the Razlk-were asleep as if in some sort of trance.
Lolf smiled. "Perfect, it's working very nicely." Upon Lolf's orders, the Razlk tied us up and put us in a wagon.

I woke up and I opened my eyes. I was tied up in a wagon along with everyone else. I couldn't tell what really happened besides we got captured. Soon everyone was awake.
"What happened?" asked Malhaw.
"I don't know. Aeri do you know what happened?"
"We got captured by Razlks," I explained.
"Why didn't you stop them?" asked Ryderr, suspiciously.
"You ask like I didn't try."
"Maybe you didn't," said Ryderr, suspiciously.
I was about to made a comeback when Father interrupted me, saying, "That's enough, Ryderr! Aeri would do everything to make sure we all escape the Razlk."
Ryderr turned to me, or at least tried to. "Aeri, I'm sorry I accused you for not trying to escape the Razlk," apologized Ryderr.
"I accept your apology."
"What do we do now?" asked Ryderr.
"We escape," said Father, trying to twist out of his bonds.
I couldn't help but think, obviously, when my Father said that we needed to escape.
We were all trying to get out of our bonds when the door to the wagon opened. Someone came stepped inside the wagon. It was... Eucer?! "Hello, boys... and Kar," said Eucer, smirking.
"Why are you here?" asked Malhaw suspiciously.
"A cold greeting for someone who's here to rescue you."
"You're here to rescue us?!" asked everyone-but Ryderr and Burdenn because they didn't know who Eucer was.
"Yes, now come on," said Eucer, gesturing towards the door.
"I don't know if you noticed, but we're tied up here."
Sighing, Eucer pulled out his knife and cut the ropes that are bond around our feet, but not around our wrists. He dragged me first out of the wagon, than the others. "What are you five doing in there?" asked Eucer suspiciously.
"You asked that if we volunteer to do it," I snapped. Surprisingly no Razlk were coming to take us back. Strange.
"I'm not saying that."
"You implied it."
"No, I was just asking a question. Now come on, before they return."
"We would love to, but our hands are tied-literally."
"I don't think you need your hands untied to run away."
"Just untie our hands, Eucer, we don't have time," said my Father, already out of the wagon.
"Exactly, we don't time, so let's go."
"Fine." And we ran.

∞

We ran, and ran, through the forest with our hands tied-expect, of course, Eucer. And we kept running, and running, through the forest towards somewhere. I noticed that we were near the place where the Varden are. Eucer led us all the way where Nasha was staying last time. Eucer said something to one of the guards, probably seeking permission to enter. Once Eucer got permission to enter, we walked into the tent.
Nasha looked up and saw us, she was obliviously surprised to see us. "Eucer, why are Kar, his sons, and some other people tied up?" asked Nasha.
"I found them in the of a wagon while their captors were away," said Eucer, as if that would explain everything.
"You can untie them now," ordered Nasha. To put it shortly, Eucer untie us, with his knife. I swear his nicked me on purpose. "Why were you tied up? Who were your captors?"
"It was some creatures that are called the Razlks-they were the one who tied us up." "There are no such things called Razlks."
Shows how much you know about what creatures live in Aljustlia, I thought-and pretty much Malhaw and Father.
"There is."
"How do you know?" asked Eucer.
"I met multiple of them on different occasions. In fact, I was force to marry one. But, luckily, I'm no longer married to her."
"So you have proof?"
"Yes, I just said so."
"Kar, who are the young man and boy you have brought with you?" asked Nasha. My Father motioned to Burdenn, saying, "This is my son, Barber-whose mother is the Razlk I was talking about. But, luckily, he has more human blood than Razlk blood." My Father then motioned to Ryderr saying, "This is Ryder, who we met along the way, who's traveling the same way as we are."
"Nice to meet you two."
"Nice to meet you too," said Ryderr and Burdenn.
"I'll have someone show you to your tent," said Nasha to my Father.
"Thank you."
Nasha ordered someone to show us to our tent. Once we got to our tent-and we put our stuff down-our escort left. We were all so tired that we fell asleep as soon as we laid down, and put our heads on our pillows.

-
Question(s) of the chapter:
What was a time that you were so tired that you fell asleep instantly? Even though you may fall asleep while doing so, use the last of your energy to write a comment. Most of the time I take a while to fall asleep(around half an hour to an hour), but I think there was one time when I was truly exhausted that I zoned out almost immediately. I think it was when I was traveling.
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