Burning Embers: Part Seven
I looked behind my shoulder once more, to check nobody had actually seen me leave before turning to face Brande.
Her glazed walnut eyes pierced through me and she grabbed my wrist to take me further out of ear shot. Angrily I resisted her. “What?! What is it?! What do you want?!” I was confused, and her silence added to my ferocity.
Swivelling me around and pushing me against the damp wall of the tunnel she looked fiercely into my eyes. “It’s not what I want. It’s what I plan to do, but first you must agree to be quiet. You talk too much.” Brande spoke calmly and quietly, being sure we couldn’t be heard. My eyes widened in shock at her rudeness but I nodded slowly.
“I’ll be quiet, but please, tell me what you know.” Brande bit her lip and considered her words carefully for a while, like a parent explaining the death of a pet. She took a deep breath and looked at me with a deadly serious expression. “Ash... Ash has manipulation powers beyond anything you or I have ever encountered before, she twists your mind. It’s not just her abilities as a Kenna, she can... how you’d say, brainwash people.”
“What?!” I gasped, breaking my vow of silence. Brande remained calm and continued.
“Please, let me finish.” I apologised and focussed my gaze back into hers, desperate to hear more. “For some reason, you and I can resist this ability of Ash’s - however Aiden, Blaze and your friend Flint could not. They are clearly under her spell and now she is able to bend them to her will. I realised that Ash could do these things a while back and last night - when I stared into Flint’s eyes, I saw the blackness spreading. The black in his eyes... it means Ash has touched his mind. I believe Flint knew I noticed something deadly, but he didn’t know what it was himself. His mind transformed that night. Ash is very young however and I doubt she is aware of the complicated details of her power. In fact she is very irresponsible with it. I believe she is under the impression she had captured me in her spell, and perhaps you.”
Brande paused and backed away from me, pacing as she began to speak again. “The reason I’m telling you this is because I need you to believe me. I need you to see what Ash is doing and I need you, like me, to act as if you are under Ash’s spell so she doesn’t realise we are not.” Brande seemed to be finished speaking but she continued to pace. My jaw dropped open in shock to what I was hearing, I couldn’t just believe that Flint was brainwashed.
“No you’re wrong...” I began to say before Brande cut me off.
“No, listen, you’ve seen him. You can believe me or allude yourself to your own ideals. It’s clear I’m thinking straight and if you don’t just accept these facts then you could lose your friend forever.” Her tone was harsh and sharp. Feeling fear begin to paralyse my body, I nodded silently again.
But... what do you want to do about it...?” I squeaked, just managing to push my voice through the closing tunnel of my throat. Brande’s eyes flickered towards me.
“You won’t like it.”
“Try me.” I answered almost immediately, feeling a small pocket of confidence motivate my voice box. I wanted to know how to escape, I wanted to get away from Ash, the person I had felt was tainted from the day I met.
“We've got to escape,” Brande began, I nodded in agreement - that part I had worked out. “But we have to take her down with us. There are more Kenna in the world, that is for sure - but Ash... she wants to start an army. She wants to gather the Kenna and bend them with her mind ability. She is young and foolish but too powerful to be ignored. We must act, or face a deadly destruction at the hands of her power.”
Brande was so definite about everything she said, I had no choice but to believe in every word she uttered. I was terrified, more scared than I had ever been since the dreadful day when I first left home and escaped to this awful mess.
“What do we do?” I asked, raising a trembling hand to my face. Brande looked at me with a solemn expression, as if the truth of the situation was terrible, as if she had had time to plan this over and over and no other option could save us, as if this option she was about to speak was the worst we could face.
“We burn this hell hole.”
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IMAGE: IMG_4854 by {Guerrilla Futures | Jason Tester}
4 Comments – Post a comment
RoLouG
Commented 64 months ago - 20th January 2011 - 21:07pm
hey this is still really good! i've given up with mine now, it was really rubbish
neilramsden
Commented 64 months ago - 21st January 2011 - 09:12am
Wait, wasn't that 'blood on the snow'? I was enjoying that!!
RoLouG
Commented 64 months ago - 21st January 2011 - 19:01pm
i kind of gave up it was a bit lame and predictable really :P but thanks now i know people are reading it i may post the next bit.
neilramsden
Commented 64 months ago - 22nd January 2011 - 11:54am
haha i saw you said before it was predictable but I didn't know where it was going! Hope you do carry it on. Or at least tell me what happens :p