Most of us long to "Be" but when the path gets too costly, or steep, we take solace in what we "Have." Remove the trappings of what we own, and then what is the sum of us?
They were the survivors, abandoned by the allies who swore to protect, in...
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Nathan could plainly see the power inherent in his Master, lingering some distance behind the returned leader and his companions the slave gazed at his Master's back with all the vehemence of a truly black heart. His young mind seething with dangerous possibilities, a mere boy of sixteen with no power in this camp to influence anything or anyone. None there noticed or cared what he thought, and with no voice to vent his vitriolic thoughts he was boiling inside. Both Bennett and Gareth had carried Sven on a crude stretcher for days, his head cushioned on Nathan's precious bundle wrapped in the navy coat. Even the weight of this burden could not diminish the great man's natural stance. Bennett was a born leader, covered in the dust of the desert it shone through, and this day the rightful chieftain had returned to his kingdom.
Eddies of dust rose as the group made their way to the valley's edge where the ground abruptly fell away. Only a steep thorn lined incline gave them access to this naturally fortified place. The western entrance had all but overgrown in recent months and had been abandoned, so this was the only reliable entrance that remained.
Nathan tarried behind the tired men, taking one last long look at the endless wastes under the clear azure sky, green eyes squinting at its vast emptiness. The slender boy quite happy not to have to see it again for a very long time. It had been a grueling forced march, he was faint with lack of food and the beginning of his journey had been hellish indeed. His bruised face and black eye his sole focus initially. The copious swarms of black flies on the laceration to his left cheek tormenting him to madness, as his hands had remained firmly bound behind him for the duration as punishment. The usual four days it took able bodied men to cover the distance had taken a good ten, carrying the recumbent and often delirious Sven had proved most arduous.
They had already been spotted and some of the sentries joined them, jubilant at their return. However not every inhabitant was exultant, quite a number felt just the opposite at Bennett's sudden return from the void.
Carlos was in pure panic, hastily ransacking the cabin he had made his home for the past few days, gathering up some essentials and fleeing toward the fetid dump in the hope he might be overlooked and could flee under cover of darkness. To where? He really did not know.
Pig and Dwayne were both fighting the urge to leave as well, knowing there would be some kind of penance to be paid at their gross misconduct and mismanagement in their Chief's absence. They both knew well enough their oversight would not be left unpunished. Bennett was a far different man from Aran, no one was spared and no one was overlooked. But there was nowhere to run to, no place to live other than this. They must face their dues however unpalatable, life in the vastness on the outside was worse. Sheepishly they followed the others verging on the edges of the gathering, their eyes not meeting anyone's gaze.
A tight knot of people had collected at the base of the pathway. Proud at their center was Aran much larger than almost all assembled, his thick golden hair spilling down over his broad, tanned shoulders, relieved the mantle of leadership could be at last handed over. He was expediently freed from the matter of Renard's promised execution, all that day he had been dreading the evening to come and the act he must perform. He had learned in his brief reign he was a warrior not a leader, the decisions power brought did not sit well with his conscience. Better someone else with a steelier mind assume the leadership and deal with traitors and matters that were neither black nor white.
