Sheaagos Chapter 2

Chapter 21

Pitch darkness; it covered everything he saw. James, standing in the center of seemingly nothingness, looked around. He remained completely calm, as he stuck his hands in his pockets, craning his neck to look up. The ceiling stretched on forever. Only the moon shone into the space, allowing just enough light to see what surrounded him. 2

James looked foward again and took a step. The sound of the footstep echoed throughout the infinity that filled the room. He held his breath and brought his foot back, the noise that it made too loud for him to remain comfortable. Such a loud sound in such nothingness seemed unnatural- it was sure to alert someone of his presence. But, whom it would alert remained a question. 3

He up and saw no one. So, he turned around. A body stood. Nothing but a profile in the cold rays the moon offered. But James would recognize this image by light or darkness, and he spun is bidy to face it, spreading his legs apart. Anger filled him with its venom, making his fingers pull in to press into his palm; making his teeth clench tightly. 4

With a yell, hatred pouring from his mouth, he ran at the man. His voice echoed through the room, although it seemed to have no walls. It screamed back to him, filling his ears with his own voice. 5

The boy turned to him. The light that glimmered from the moon shone on only the lower half of the figure's face, so the smile that was put on, a dark sneer that seemed to scream louder than James’ yell. He turned around in a sudden sweep, movement swift but stiff and robotic. Water came spiraling out of the nothingness and, upon making contact with James’ skin, it burst into flames. 6

James stopped, staring at his arm. The fire spread rapidly from his bare arm to his sleeve, to the rest of his shirt. Within only a few seconds, James was enveloped in flame and he began to crumble to the ground. 7

That who haunted the darkness faded away in the moonlight, chuckling softly as James watched; helpless. For he was a pile of ash.8

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James opened his eyes. drawjng in deep breathes. His face was flushed with heat. During the course of his slumber he had rolled to face away from the fire and towards the mouth of the cave, where a steady roll of cold wind entered. And, yet, his face still felt warmth that should not have been present. 10

He sat up and faced the gaping opening, where fresh snow had been pushed inside a few feet. His eyes shut as he felt the chilly breeze ripple across his face, quickly drying the sweat that had formed on his forehead throughout the night.11

A dream; that was all the scene had been. This filled him with a bitter sense of relief. That person, who smirked and so easily brought James to his mercy, had yet to come into his reality once more. There was still time for James to prepare for that inevitable moment that they were to battle. The time that he would win, and that person would die.12

Anger covered him, James’ mood bitter and spiteful. Possibly even more so than it was the night before. When a voice spoke from his back, a tremor of true savagery ran through his body, and he looked back at the voice with a hard, dark scowl on his face. 13

“Oh, you’re up.” It said. The girl he had met the night before sat against the wall, long since awake. A smile was on her slender face, long arms up and putting her hair in a pony tail. “I didn’t know whether I should wake you up or not, but I thought you should sleep until you were ready. We have a long day ahead of us.”14

This was his new life. He was going to spend the next uncountable days neighbored by this imbecile. It was too painful to think about. There was still time for him to get away. He turned back to the opening, jaw clenched. She wouldn’t know what hit her, and they would never see each other again. Then, James could go along with his business and the idiot could die in the snow. 15

With one quick movement, he brought his foot up and catapulted forward, towards the exit. He heard her give a shout, the crunch of rock beneath a boot telling him that she had stood up after him.16

But, he was all ready out of the cave, feet pushing into the snow. The ice reduced his traction, slowing him significantly, but not enough to render him unsure of his escape. He was still much faster than that girl, Matt. He smirked to himself. It was going to be easy to get out of that situation. There hadn’t been a reason to worry about it after all.17

Yet, just as he was becoming proud of his escape, arms wrapped around him, binding his limbs to his sides, and he was pushed to the ground, another body coming down on top of him. 18

Matt, letting out a grunt of frustration, brought her hand up and pushed his face into the snow. “Where do you think you are going? You jerk, we made a deal last night, and I’m not going to let you back out of it without a fight!”19

Irritation bubbling within him, James felt the ice crystals dig into his skin. Maybe he should just lay there and pretend he was dead. She would eventually lose interest and leave.20

But, he had no opportunity, as she grabbed his hood and yanked him back up. He glared at her with coldness in his eyes, and stood the rest of the way, brushing the melting snow off his sweat shirt. “I admit, you are fast.” He said, but then with an edge of anger in his voice, he muttered, “But, you are still useless. If you think you can keep me here forever, you are wrong.”21

“If you run away too many times, I’ll put a leash on you.” Matt said back, and smiled. “But, I’m sure that won’t be a problem. Let’s go back to the cave, I need to get my back pack, and we need to put out the fire. Then, we should discuss what our plan is, huh? I hope you have more of an idea than me, because I honestly have no clue.” 22

James rolled his eyes, pushing his pink, slightly chilled hands into the pocket of his hoodie, and began walking back toward the cave. The trip back seemed painstakingly longer than it had been on his run. Her voice ran the entire time, saying things he didn’t care one way or another about. He ignored it to the best of his ability, but, while he could block out the words, he couldn’t block out the sound.23

When they got there, James sat down in front of the fire, feeling the heat that came off it. She sat down across from him. “So,” she said, “What do you suppose we do?”24

He peered up at her briefly, and then looked back down at the fire. 25

She waited for a moment, expecting a reply that wasn’t going to come, and than continued, “First, I guess, we should think about what our goal is.” Her eyes widened with a sense of dark delight, and she leaned forward. “We want to get rid of Sheaagos, right? Because they kill people and they shouldn’t be in charge. It’s not right, thinking they can control us all just because they have powers.” She nodded matter-of-factly. “A lot of people are too afraid to fight back, but I’m not. And, I’m glad I finally met someone who’s also not afraid. I thought, for a while, that I was going to be the only one.”26

“You’re an idiot for not being afraid.” He told her. He did not look up from the flames and he spoke in a voice as nonchalant as he could make it. “Sheaagos could destroy you easily, you don’t even know what you are doing out here.”27

She glared at him. “And, I suppose you do?”28

“Yes.” He leaned back, “You are too stupid to know what you are talking about. You said you wanted to review what our goal is, and then said something so vague. ‘I want to get rid of Sheaagos’. Okay, that is more than obvious, since you’ve come out here to become a rebel. It was stupid and pointless for you to have said that. No, your goal won’t be the result; your goal needs to be your action. What are you going to do about getting rid of Sheaagos?”29

Matt watched him as he talked. He could tell by the interest in her eyes that she was absorbing everything he said. When he finished, she looked down in thought for a moment. Then, with a disheartened sigh, she looked back to him. “I don’t know how to do it. That’s the problem. I know I can’t jus go around and slaughter them, especially with just me and you. Maybe we should start out by trying to build our team.”30

James considered this a moment. “How many people,” he asked, “do you think are going to join us? I mean, it is inevitable that you are going to die eventually because of this. If you go around just looking for teammates, you aren’t going to get started until you are forty years old. You can’t advertize it much either, because as soon as the king gets a whiff, he’ll come after you and kill you.” 31

‘Besides,’ James thought, ‘while I’m here, you’ll have enough of a problem with the king coming after you.’ 32

“So, what should we do while we’re looking for people? I’m sure we’ll meet people along the way.” She thought a moment, and then looked up, inspired. “We should go after the king! What’s his name? King Robert. I mean, we’re going the right direction, and he’s in the mountains, where most of the trouble is anyway.” She grinned in excitement from her new idea. “When we take him down, the Sheaagos will temporarily have no leader, and we can strike hardest then.”33

James looked at her, and gave a dark smile. “You can go after the king, if you want.” He said. “The heir is who I want to get to.”34

“Oh, yeah, that works too. It wouldn’t do much good to get the king when the heir is there too, I guess. What’s his name? The heir.” She laughed. “Isn’t it James? Same as yours? That’s kind of ironic, isn’t it?”35

James glared at her. She looked at him and saw that he was completely unamused. So, she took the smile off her face. In attempt to fix the offense she had caused, she said, “How about we call him ‘Prince’. To simplify things.”36

He nodded and brought his eyes back down to the fire. It was silent for a moment, the crackle of the flame being the only sound that echoed through the cave. After silent observation, Matt said, “You like the fire?”37

He shook his head. “I hate it. Kill it now.”38

She went outside and picked up some snow, dumping it on the wood. It went out with a sizzle and James was finally able to tear his eyes away from it. He stood up, turning around. He began to exit the cave for the second time that day. Only this time he did it at a steady walk rather than a sprint. His body was still soar from the previous day and his limbs seemed to throb even more as he thought back to it. Hatred filled his veins and his muscles tensed. How would he be able to live if every time he thought of life he was filed with anger? 39

Matt came up beside him. “So,” she started and hesitated a little before continuing. “We’re going to be seeing a lot of each other, aren’t we? I think it’s best if we get to know each other, don’t you? So, then we can work together easier.”40

He didn’t answer. He desired no such thing and communication was the last thing he felt like doing. But, he didn’t say so. He couldn’t seem to get up enough motivation to tell her to shut it. So, although he hoped for different, she continued chattering.41

“I guess I’ll tell you about myself at first. I’m eighteen years old. My dad’s name is Christopher, you might of heard of him. He’s been in several rebellions throughout his life. He’s really strong and smart, and he can think quickly. I went with him in the last rebellions he was in, so I’ve seen some battle and stuff, but it’s been a long time. He stopped when I was nine years old, because he wanted to raise his family properly. So, now I have him and my stepmom and my stepsister. My dad taught me some fighting moves, though, so I think if we’re attacked I’ll be okay. Besides,” She smiled, and took her backpack off, reaching into it. From it, she took a dagger. “I have this.”42

James looked it over, unimpressed. It appeared sharp enough, but the blade was so short that it wouldn’t allow you to do much unless you got right up next to a Sheaago, which was more dangerous than it was worth. 43

Matt looked her own weapon over, brimming with excitement, when she turned to James. “So, what do you have? Did you bring a weapon of any kind?”44

“You think you can fight?” James asked, without answering her question. 45

“Ummm, yeah. My dad taught me some moves.”46

James stopped. “Than attack me.”47

“What good will that do us?” Matt asked. “I can’t get you hurt, that will only make us take a step backwards.”48

“I’m not going to get hurt.” James said solidly. “Just try to pin me to the ground.”49

“But, it won’t be fair. I mean, I’ve all ready done it once. So, you know I can pin you down.”50

James felt a new rush of irritation run into his body at this statement. “I was running, earlier.” He said. “Now I am fighting. If you’re confident, do it again.” 51

Matt rolled her eyes and took her backpack off, placing it on the ground. She started to put her dagger away, but James told her to stop. Matt looked back at him. “Why?”52

He smirked. “The best thing for you to do is to come at me to kill me. It’d be better for you to find out that you are completely useless now, rather than when a Sheaago is attacking to kill you. So, keep your dagger out and attack me seriously.”53

“You told me I just had to knock you down.” Matt told him, exasperation on her voice. “I’m not going to try to kill you! My god, James, the way you are thinking right now, you are going to be dead before we get to do anything!”54

“No I won’t.” he sighed. But still, against his wishes, Matt slipped the dagger back into her backpack.55

“I’m not going to fight you with a real weapon.” She picked a stick off the ground. “Here, I’ll do it with a stick. I need to practice anyway.”56

“Whatever.” James muttered and crossed his arms. “Come on, then.”57

She smirked, “If you’re ready.”58

In one movement, she came at James. Being only a few feet away, it didn’t take long for her to get to him and send her fist, with the stick in it, towards his stomach.59

Without a thought, James grabbed the arm that she had sent towards him and easily redirected it to go past his side and under his arm. He pushed it to the ground, sending her falling after it. She toppled down, sliding on the snow.60

This pathetic illustration of combat actually made him chuckle as he looked down at Matt who was picking herself off the ground. She glared at him, “Stop laughing. That was a bad start.”61

“You don’t say?” he laughed, and she stood back up. 62

“Let me try again.” She told him and, this time, moved away a greater distance. James watched her as she walked away and come back foreword, this time at a much greater speed. As soon as she reached him, she sent her fist at his face. 63

James caught it with ease and grabbed the wrist of her other hand as she prepared to stab her stick into his side. He held them both above her head, quickly twisting them so she had to turn around, and then he held her hands behind her back. Hastily, she brought one of her feet back and twisted it around James’ leg. With a pull, she knocked him off balance and they both went toppling backwards into the snow. 64

Matt dropped her stick as she fell and rolled off James, onto whom she had fallen. They both sat up as quickly as they could and Matt jumped onto James, knocking him back, and held his arms down as she kneeled at his side. 65

“Got you.” She said, grinning.66

“But, what do you do now?” James asked. “If I were someone attacking you, you couldn’t just let me go. What do you do now?”67

Matt looked at him. “All you said was that I had to pin you down. I did, so don’t analyze everything else. That’s not fair.” 68

James glared at her, and then brought his hands up, shoving her off him easily. He grabbed the stick, which was right behind him, and pushed her back down, holding the stick up to her throat. “Got you.” He muttered. He then stood back up, throwing the stick to the side. He, once again, felt over heated. The temptation to strip off his sweatband was strong, but he knew he couldn’t. “I didn’t do this as a game, Matt. I did it so you would know that you are completely useless right now. If you were to be attacked by a Sheaago, and I wasn’t here, you would be dead.”69

Matt glared at him, standing up. “I did what you told me to do.” She muttered. “You told me to pin you down, I pinned you down.”70

“No, I told you to attack me. I figured once you had me pinned, you would have at least been able to keep a hold on your stick, but you couldn’t even do that much. And your grip was weak too. I was able to push you off me within a second.”71

Matt looked him over and took a deep breath. “So, what? How am I supposed to get better? I was thinking experience would do the trick, but, according to what you’re saying, I’d be killed before I get much experience.”72

James let out a sigh of reluctance. “I guess I’m going to have to teach you. I don’t know what other choice I have.”73

Matt smiled. “Wow, that’d be pretty cool. I mean, you didn’t do much over there, but I can tell you’re strong anyway. I’m sure I’ll learn something from you, at least.”74

“I’m stronger than you’d think.” James muttered. “You have no idea how much I was holding back. You were going at me for the kill and got no where. If I were going at you for the kill, you would have been dead, whether I had or didn’t have a weapon.”75

Matt smirked and looked at him, “Well, somebody has a high opinion of themselves, don’t they?”76

“Shut it.” he muttered. 77

Matt laughed as she picked back up her backpack. “So, if you really are as great as you think you are, where did you learn this stuff? Who taught it to you?”78

The fists that James had made tightened as he thought back to his days of training. “No one.” He told her. “I taught myself.”79

She looked at him. “Really? That’s pretty cool. Did you watch anyone to see what they did?”80

Scenes of combat ran through his head. He’d seen countless fights, with countless people participating. People who he had known, and who had betrayed him the first chance they got. Anger built up in him. “No.” he said. “I just taught myself. I never saw anyone fight while I was learning.”81

“Hm.” Matt said. “That seems pretty impossible to me, but okay. If that’s your story.”82

They began to walk again. And, again, James was fuming. He walked with his soar muscles tensed and his mind spinning so fast he couldn’t keep up with it. 83

“So, I told you about my family.” Matt said. “What about you. Do you have one, or did you do that by yourself too? I wouldn’t be surprised, you seem like the type who would spawn from the earth.”84

James took a deep breath, trying to contain himself as faces of all of those who had been in his life flashed in his mind. Slowly, trying to hold himself together, he looked at Matt. “Shut it.” he muttered. “I really don’t want to talk about it.”85

Matt shrugged and continued to walk in silence. 86