XX

Crossover of Lives (Part 1)

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"Long live our clan! Long live the Barbarus Clan!"

The yell of men faded when the Juniors were almost there. In the map, the Barbarus Clan's camp is on a plateau.

"This plateau is too low," William commented and exhaled. Everyone of them climbed the sawed-off plateau with their horses. Because the plateau is not so steep, they had a facile way to reach the clan. They have gone up the plateau where no one sees them.

"Is this really the plateau we saw when we were still down there?" Sally disappointedly asked. "This plateau is not as big as how it supposed to look below."

"This is not a plateau," Elise calmly corrected. "This is a butte."

Everyone of them explored the place through their own eyes. The butte contains nine midsized awnings and two big tents. There were many men roaming around. Some are adults, some are adolescents, and some are geriatric.

"There are non-Barbarus intruders around here!" a man's coarse voice shouted and everyone, including the Juniors, stood still. The voice is heard through the entire camp. "Show yourselves!"

We are the only non-Barbarus people around their camp, Amy thought.

"Let's show ourselves," Elise whispered to all of them and they went down their horses which did not fail to follow them.

Amy looked at Peter and Thaliana. She extruded all her fear and anxiety. The Juniors and kids stepped nearer to the tents.

"We, probably, are the non-Barbarus stuff," Amy said.

A tall and vigorous man aimed at them in general.

"We mean no harm," Amy nervously and tardily said.

"Hold your weapons," the man said and many men went to surround them in a semicircle. "Be brave, stay on guard, children."

Amy breathed heavily and blinked rapidly. She felt something is wrong. What a good approach, she thought.

"AND DUCK!" the man shouted.

The children ducked and held their weapons tightly. The vigorous man shot the arrow away from any of them. He did not really aim at us, Elise thought and looked stealthily at the back. There are Kininvas.

"Stand children! Run inside any of the tents! Kininvas!" the vigorous man commanded and gave them a way to the tents. Amy grabbed Thaliana and Peter's hands as they ran. Lance and the others led the horses to where Amy heads to.

"This tent, children!" a man said and the Juniors, Peter, and Thaliana entered the tent. They left the horses outside the tent.

"Hold your weapons, okay?" Amy urgently said to the two younger children. "If ever you will be facing Kininvas, run away. You can only use your weapons when you're already cornered, okay? Stay here. Come on, Juniors."

Amy looked at the two children and checked their condition. Thaliana has her spear and Peter has his sword. They're safe, she thought. She led her team to the opening of the tent to go out. Two men blocked their way.

"You can't go there, children," one of the two said. "Those are Kininvas and you're just children."

"Most people who can't understand easy things say that," Sally smirked.

"We've shut down tons of Kininvas," Tom said.

"And we have power," Elise added to what the others said. "Power that can make the Barbarus Clan safe from this attack."

"I know you're not cowards and you like to win but you'll be like a coward if you'll be scared of letting us go," William said.

"Let us pass," Amy and Lance perfectly said in unison.

Finally, the two men gave them way to pass. After the Juniors have passed, they carefully guarded the tent where Thaliana and Peter are. The Juniors jumped on their horses' back and commanded them to run. The Juniors found the other men, fighting with the Kininvas. As a soldier, helping is a must.

"There's a possibility that Thaliana's father will still be alive if we will help them. Juniors, let's go!" Amy said.

The Juniors ran to the Kininvas and fought while on the horses. Because they seem taller with their horses, some Kininvas were easily destroyed. The front liners only give one thrust in the Kininvas' head and neck. Amy looked around. The Kininvas were oddly small in number.

Amy shot an arrow to the Kininva having a sword-to-axe with Elise. Elise looked at her. By the smile of Elise, it is clear that she thanked Amy.

"Lance, I can't make fire," Sally said as she trusted her sword into the head of a Kininva. "I might burn the whole camp."

Sally tried to extinguish the fire of her sword to avoid a wildfire. Lance casted dry ice in the air and when the dry ice were touched by a Kininva, that Kininva would freeze. And it happened. All the Kininvas were frozen. All of the Barbarus men took the responsibility in slashing the frozen Kininvas in half to make sure every Kininvas' system is destroyed.

The Juniors went down their horses to fetch Thaliana and Peter from the tent. Thaliana was running towards a man while Peter is following her from her back.

"Tha-thaliana? Is that you?" Ben stuttered and smiled.

"Yes, dad! I'm here," Thaliana said tearfully.

Ben knelt down and hugged her crying daughter. The Juniors realized how much help they brought.

"Dad, they're the Juniors," Thaliana said looking at them. "They brought me here because I told them how Momma – my stepmother – pushed me away the house that should be my home. This is my mighty spear, Daddy!"

"Thank you for bringing my daughter here," Ben smiled.

"You're welcome," Amy replied. "And that's not a problem."

Thaliana introduced them one by one.

"And this is Peter," Thaliana added. "He never left my side and he's brave!"

"Peter?" Ben started asking. "What? That's your brother's name!"

"Maybe. I'm the Peter, your brother. My mother's not with my father," Peter joked.

"What's her name?" Ben asked. "Who's your mother?"

"Delle," Peter simply replied.

"Delle? She's my wife," Ben said.

"We need to take you to her," Lance said. "Why are you away from each other? What happened to your family?"

"No, it . . . " Ben looked at all of them. "She's dead."

"We can see if she's really my mom . . . my real mom," Thaliana said.

"What if I introduce this Juniors to our clan leader? This way," Ben said and led them to the largest tent of their clan leader. The tent is surrounded by several men of Barbarus Clan. The men confidently gave way to the tent. Inside the tent, a curtain is down to cover a part of the interior area of the awning.

Ben led the Juniors, Peter, and Thaliana to the covered part of the curtain. There was an over-the-hill man and a handsome gentleman. The old man is on a bed and can't obviously move.

"Good afternoon, Sir Modestus. I would like you to meet my daughter and her friends," Ben said and he introduced the Juniors individually. "Everyone, this is our clan leader. He is Sir Modestus and this young handsome man is Felix, Sir Modestus' son."

They shook hands. The son of the clan leader started to talk with Amy.

"Wait, I know you, the Juniors of Portland Goldens, right? You're a brave team!" Felix excitedly exclaimed. "Your Majesty."

Amy and Felix talked about Portland Goldens for few minutes. Later on, Felix went out of the topic.

"Dad, may I go an adventure with the Juniors?" Felix asked then grinned.

Lance bit his lip because of some bad feeling. He hid his hand behind his back and started to clench it.

"Lance, are you alright?" Tom asked patting Lance's back.

"Um . . . yeah," Lance replied while staring harshly at Felix.

They finished talking with each other and Lance went a little mad for some reason.

"I think you can just come with us if we weren't busy anymore," Lance plainly said to Felix and it sounded doubtingly. "We're gonna take Peter back to his mom first. So, Peter come on. Let's go." Then he went away.

The Juniors went out the room and politely waved at them except for Lance.

"Amy, I'm coming with all of you. I think I should meet Delle," Ben said.

"Sure, sir," Amy smiled.

It took the Juniors, Ben, Thaliana, and Peter just one hour to complete the way to Delle's house. Peter is the one who knocked on their door and Delle opened it.

"Hi, mom!" Peter greeted and hugged Delle.

"Oh, son, why are you back this early?" Delle asked.

"Well . . . I'm really tired now. Mom, someone wants to see you . . . and know you," Peter said and he looked at Ben and Thaliana.

"Delle, it's you," Ben exhaled. "It's me, Ben."

"I'm sorry, sir. But I don't know who you are," Delle shook her head and looked down.

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