Knox smiled inwardly, his plan to funnel them in the direction he needed them to go worked. During his little trip last night, he found a bed of snakes and killed them, creating a scene of worry in the directions he wanted them to avoid.
"Too easy, if only they knew ive been in this part of the forest a ton with Mr. Grimm when i was branded a year ago. It was part of my training, I know all the beasts here and the areas they oversee." He thought with a slight smirk.
The smirk suddenly faded and his pale skin became much paler, almost paper white as the image of the strang beast in the river cut through his mind.
"I shouldn't have went there, I was given strict orders to not get within 50 meters of that damn river. Mr. Grimm kept me away from that place as well during my lessons in this forest."
"But, I didn't believe those stupid stories anyway. Was i wrong, maybe what I saw was an illusion of some kind. Im still alive and I haven't seen that thing again. Yea, an illusion, it had to be." He thought dismissing the idea of some legendary creature was waiting for the perfect time to end his life.
"You ok knox, you look drained all of a sudden. " asked Damon who noticed knox's eyes looked sunken in a bit like he hadn't slept in days.
"Oh, yea i think im more tired than i thought is all, I'll be fine." He said regaining his composure which was slipping out of his reach for a moment.
The day went by and they had traveled a great distance without issue. For the first time since entering the forest, they came across a large field of low grass and tall scattered white and orange flowers that were six and eight feet long.
Looking further, the flowers became less further away from the woodline. They could barely see the forest on the other side and couldn't see anything at all where the flowers were clustered together.
"Crossing this field will take a while, night is falling, its best if.... Damon was cut off by Raya.
"We will continue on and set up camp in one hour, everyone stick together and don't get behind." She said with authority glancing at Damon for a moment then at the others before she moved with her spear out in front.
Jasper looked at Damon, his cheeks filled with air. He held one hand over his mouth trying to keep himself from bursting out with laughter. A few seconds later he managed to hold it in, but only because he turned away from Damon who had a weird face expression after being cut off by Raya.
"Ha, and you thought I would be a poor leader, what kind of leader dont take their subordinates ideas and thoughts into consideration. " he whispered nearly breaking out in laughter watching Damon's agitated face grow deeper.
Damon's left eyebrow twitched constantly as they moved. Twisting his lips in aggrevation he looked at Jasper with cutting eyes who tried not to laugh. Knox stayed quiet, secretly smiling inwardly.
"Stay focus and and keep your eyes sharp, matter of fact you protect the rear muscle brains." Raya ordered Jasper hearing all the sly snickering he was doing.
"What a minute...
"No you wait, we agreed to do this leader crap and it was your idea. Im the leader for the day and what I say goes. Now protect our rear." She said with sharp eyes while pointing towards the back.
Jasper's eyes squinted with searing annoyance as he took a step forward with balled up fists. Sticking his arm out, Damon stopped him from advancing with a smile that said it all.
Jasper's gaze intensified a bit more before letting out a agitated exhale.
"Whatever, its just one day. Ya power tripping bitch." He grumbled to himself.
Damon lips balled up as he was now fighting for them not to curl in a smile feeling a burst of laughter was swelling up.
"What did you say?" Raya asked tilting her head with low eyes.
"Oh nothing, let's just go please. Times wasting Damon interrupted quickly before Jasper responded.
Knox shook his head and smiled while thinking how absurd they all were being. Although he wanted to get to his destination as soon as possible, under different circumstances he would have sided with Damon earlier and just entered the field first thing in the morning.
"Its clear the best decision maker out of the group is Damon. Ha, its funny how one little bet along with a suggestion has helped me gain so much control over their movements. Amatures!" He thought to himself while they continued pushing through the high standing flowers.
After clearing a small section of high flowers they set up camp. Unfortunately a fire couldn't be started. The grass and high flowers held too much water and wasn't dry enough to burn. As to make things worse, the temperature seemed to drop as the night went on.
Damon sat there fully cloaked shifting every once in a while with his eyes closed as Jasper began his onslaught of insults directed at Raya.
"We should have waited like Damon suggested. Now were cold thanks to our oh so great leader who has no patience and always rushing to run off." Jasper spoke clearly annoyed while wrapping up in his cloak, which was the only thing keeping them warm a little.
"The real man scared to get a little chill. You complain like a female which is sad. You're always yapping about being a man when you're just an oversized boy who's really afraid." Raya snapped back, her pink and blue eyes glowing with intensity.
"Scared, you're the one who always ran when the first sign of trouble came when we first escaped. You're the type to leave your companions to die while saving yourself " Jasper growled back with the same intensity swirling in his ruby red eyes.
"You know what, the next time your calf muscle head ass is in trouble, count me out from helping you."
"Oh yeah! Hmph, i couldn't care less, I wasn't counting on you at all."
Rubbing his forehead, Damon opened his eyes in defeat. There was no way he could tune them out which made him stop his meditation.
Knox looked at him with smile, but when Damon ignored his lightfilled gesture his smile faded as quick as it came.
"Im sure he's tired of their foolish ways, I am as well. Damon seems more mature even though he's the youngest. His sense of caution and ways of thinking is great as well. He's going to be a formidable ally or opponent in the future after awakening and training in the years to come. Lets just hope he doesn't hold a grudge, after all, this is all for the future and we're going to need people like him." Knox thought looking at Raya and Jasper who was still throwing shots at eachother.
"I may or may not regret this but I have a feeling it may settle the tension between us in the near future." Knox said outloud capturing all of their attention.
Damon's head snapped his way and so did Raya's while Jasper's gaze focused on Raya for a moment before it slowly shifted.
"What does that suppose to mean?" Raya asked.
With all eyes on him, knox sighed and his face turned worrisome.
"I, I lied about the river, I saw traces of you guys being there and the camp in the small hill. I've been trying to catch up with you three from the beginning after getting separated from my group." Knox was intentionally telling them pieces of the truth while keeping some of his fabrications in order like having companions.
"I saw something at the river, something that I wish I didn't." He said, his eyes as still as stone.
A Grim look formed on their faces, they knew exactly where the conversation was headed. Damon's breath became short as the beast, entity, or whatever it was formed in his mind. Raya clutched her spear so tight the blood moved away from her palms as she stared at the ground. Jasper was biting his bottom lip creating small incesions until blood crawled to the corner of his mouth. He didn't stop there, he clasped his hands into fists so hard his nails dug into his palm making him bleed.
"Judging by all of your reactions my thoughts were right, you've seen it as well."
Knox looked into their eyes the best he could, it had gotten darker, but he could make out a little of their features. they all looked like they had seen a ghost. Breathing deeply, he continued.
"A dark creature with red and purple eyes. It looked like a monstrous dog, or wolf, i don't know maybe a mixture between the two. I saw it right after one of my feet slipped in the river. I've heard stories of the sapphire river, but I never thought it to be real. I thought it was just some scary fairytale someone made up that was taken seriously by some fools or something."
"Anyway, i figured id share my experience with you all, im sorry I lied about that part its just...he stopped for a moment to gather his thoughts.
" I thought you guys would think I was insane. " he finished saying.
No one said anything, they couldn't even see eachother clearly in the dark, not without light. It was as silent as a mouse pissing on cotton.
Knox waited while thinking of the mess he had gotten himself into. He really didn't believe the stories and was warned multiple times before leaving for his mission to retrieve the ones who escaped. He was just a kid, a kid with a promising ability that was kidnapped by the same people as them.
The only difference was he accepted their reasoning. He was told all the children who was being taken was for the future. That they were the future, and in order to save planet Syair, many more was needed.