Game Alive: A Science Fiction Adventure Novel by Trip Ellington

Author:Trip Ellington [Ellington, Trip]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ellington Marketing, LLC
Published: 2013-10-25T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

In a narrow gully hidden by the trees, several men scurried around a small clearing. They worked at taking down tents, loading them onto a group of pack horses. The shallow river had snaked its way around the hills and ran through the far side of the clearing. The camp had been pitched near the banks, and in the center of that camp stood a tall, burly man with long dark hair. He brushed dirt from his heavy, steel breastplate before donning it, the final piece of his armor. Next to him, a tiny woman with spiky blonde hair and cream-colored robes sat on a low boulder, staring intently toward the streaming river.

“It was a mistake coming back here,” grumbled the man, strapping on his breastplate and flexing his arms. “She didn’t know before, why should it be any different now?”

“Don’t question Prime, Torin,” answered the woman sharply, looking up from her contemplation of the burbling water.

Torin shook his head in angry disagreement. “Don’t question Prime,” he mimicked in a surprisingly high pitched voice for such a barrel-chested man. “And why don’t we question the Prime, Alys? What makes him so mighty? What knowledge has he that is not for the likes of us mere mortals, hm?”

“Without Prime, we would be as the Before,” snapped the woman called Alys. She rose from her seat, crossing her slender arms over her chest. “Only he will guide us to the Next.”

Torin slapped one meaty-fingered fist against his sturdy breastplate as he growled his response. “We are New Ones, Alys. We need no man’s guidance. Besides, I grow weary of your recitations of the Prime and his Doctrine.”

Alys reached for Torin’s arm, but the big man stalked away to leave her staring angrily at his armored back. When he’d gone, she glanced around anxiously. It was almost as if she knew Jake and Des were listening. Then Jake realized she was peering at the hired men, still busy breaking down the camp. Apparently satisfied they had not overheard, Alys set about gathering her own things for departure.

Des gave Jake a questioning look, but the knight shook his head and held a finger to his lips for silence. They waited as the men finished their work, and then led the pack horses off in the same direction Torin had taken. Alys stayed behind, along with the two burliest of the hired men. There was a single tent remaining, bright red where the others had borne blue and white stripes.

Alys gestured toward the red tent, and the two hirelings approached the flapped opening. Alys came up to stand between – but well behind – the two men.

“Interpreter?” she called. “Are you wakeful?”

A rustling from inside the tent startled one of the muscle men, and he took a quick step backward. A hand appeared from within, grasping the flap and flinging the fabric back to allow the tent’s occupant to exit. She came out with her head down, and the two boys could see the faintly glowing iron shackles on her wrists.

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