Chapter Seven

Hearing the commotion from the base of the small cliffside, the hairs on the back of Rand’s neck suddenly stood up. The rest of the Domineers were jumping to their feet and murmuring anxiously amongst themselves again. “They’re here,” Rand muttered to himself. The messengers from the other Domineer party were growing increasingly on edge. Rand suddenly turned his attention back to his company. “What are you doing!?” he scolded them. “Spread out and find them! Kill them all!” With that sentiment of authority, the Domineers immediately drew their swords and hurried out into the woods.

Rand stepped closer to the Domineer messenger. “Listen carefully,” he said as he surreptitiously removed one of the many pouches from his belt. “You say your message is very important, and the Runners are very dangerous, but if you listen to what I say, I can see you to safety.”

The messenger nodded his head nervously. At the same time, he watched as Rand casually untied the pouch and poured the contents into his hand, but he could not make it out in the darkness. “Alright, I’m listening,” he responded.

Rand then began playing with the contents of the pouch in his hands and started running them along his shoulders, arms and his abdomen as he continued to speak. “The nearest campsite is about twenty miles east,” he explained as he pointed out in the opposite direction of the commotion. As he spoke, he opened up a second bag and performed the same procedure as before. “You move as fast as you can, and if you keep heading east, our boys will find you and take you behind friendly lines. You do not stop for anything, understand?”

“Yeah,” the messenger muttered warily. “What about you?”

“Don’t worry about us,” was Rand’s cold response. “Just get as far away from here as possible.”

“What if we’re followed?” one of the other Domineers spoke up.

Rand shook his head almost maliciously. “You won’t be.”

At this time, most of the Domineers in the scouting company had dispersed into the trees in search of their attackers. What they failed to consider, however, was any possibility that the Ravennites might outsmart them. Rand, of all people, should have understood this, as he was the only one in the company who had seen a skirmish with the Runners. So why would ever let his guard down?

The sky was still dark, but the early morning light was beginning to seep through the leafless tree branches; enough light to cast faint shadows of the Domineers. Several among the company were still standing by the cliffside. Something strange caught the attention of one of them as he glanced down at his shadow in the snow. It was barely visible, but for a second, he could have sworn that a second shadow had appeared on top of his own, and it was moving. The unknowing Domineer instinctively looked up. However, before he could even register it, he was immediately plowed to the ground by somebody landing on top of him. He landed on his back, and in an instant, his attacker had driven a blade down into his heart, and he gasped in vain before the breath completely ran out.

The others at the cliffside lit up in total shock as the Ravennite Runners began raining down on them from atop the cliff and executing them swiftly. As Arin leapt from the short cliff, she rolled smoothly onto the ground. Standing to her feet, Arin quickly scoped around as the rest of her fellow Runners hit the ground and slaughtered every Domineer in the immediate area. In a matter of seconds, the quiet pre-dawn environment had erupted into battle, and Arin, with her muscles tensed and her sword drawn, let out a confident battle cry as the Runners engaged their enemies once again.

Seeing the Runners’ sudden entrance, Rand grabbed the Domineer messenger by the shoulder and shoved him away. “Go! Now!” he shouted viciously. The messenger briefly hesitated in shock, until Rand produced the hatchets on his back and prepared for battle. The Domineer party took off into the woods toward Ramon’s territories.

The numbers on both sides were small; only around fifteen of the best Runners had set out to hunt the scouting party, but it did not hinder their ability to decimate the Domineers’ numbers with every moment that passed. The only Domineer who was iron willed enough to challenge the Ravennites was Rand, swinging his axes with such force that he knocked his adversaries off their feet as he slayed them.

Amongst the chaotic skirmish, Alex Lee marched out from the shroud of the trees, sword on his arm and gun in his hand. One of the Domineer fighters turned his eyes on him. Alex pointed his gun directly at him as his opponent raised his sword defensively, trying to maintain a threatening posture. Suddenly, a second Domineer attacked him from around one of the many trees. Alex was more than prepared. His reflexes as a Runner had become incredibly on point, as he almost instinctively turned his makeshift gun on his surprise attacker and pulled the trigger immediately. When he did, the mini-slingshot positioned directly above the gun’s body was released and threw the arrowhead projectile at its target with blinding speed, planting itself into the unfortunate Domineer’s forehead. He grunted painfully as he collapsed forward, bleeding from his head into the snow. At the same time, the first Domineer Alex targeted attempted to charge him while he was distracted. Alex plunged his right arm forward and impaled him with his attached sword.

Working each side of his body autonomously, Alex flicked his thumb swiftly along the handle of his gun, triggering a small switch that caused the axis supporting the five slings to rotate so that the next armed one was in position to be released by the trigger. Alex was proud of his innovation with the weapon’s design, as it allowed him to quickly twist around and fire a second shot at another adversary charging his rear.

In minutes, the clash had come to an end. The Ravennites fought with unrivaled cooperation and they effectively dismantled the Domineers’ entire company. Rand fought vigorously, killing several of the Runners who attempted to bring him down, but with the last of his party depleted, nothing stopped the rest of the Runners from surrounding him as they all pointed their weapons at him. Rand hissed through clenched teeth and held his hatchets in a defensive formation.

With the action ceased, Alex walked into the circle of Ravennites to confront their only remaining prisoner. He locked glares with Rand, who stared at him with deathly eyes. “Your weapons,” Alex growled, not allowing himself to be intimidated. “Drop them.” He knew that this Domineer was completely at their mercy, but he was still surprised when Rand immediately threw his axes into the snow. 

Alex signaled for two of his men to quickly move in and collect his weapons while he kept his gun pointed at him. Rand never took his eyes off Alex. He almost seemed as though he was biding his time for something. Alex shook his head as he continued to speak. “Don’t you see what you’re doing?” he asked in an interrogating manner. “All these years attacking an innocent culture, and for what? Look around you; look at all the death you’ve brought upon yourselves!”

Just then, Rand took a bold step forward and spit at Alex. The Runners immediately pointed their blades closer to him to keep him away from their leader. Alex wiped the spit from the side of his face in disgust. “Well, I intend to lead these people to victory,” he said as he tried to ignore that blatant act of disrespect. “But you might be able to save yourself if you come back to our camp and tell us everything you know about Ramon Morenno’s plans to fight. Tell us and we can guarantee your safety.”

There was a brief moment of silence as nobody moved a muscle. Alex’s patience was running thin as he waited for their prisoner to give him an answer. His options were either to talk or be executed on the spot, Alex did not care either way.

Suddenly, Rand opened up into a mocking laughter. The Runners encircling them exchanged glances of confusion and suspicion. “You thoughtless idiots!” he hissed at his captors. “You really think that just because we haven’t moved in months you actually have a chance at beating us? You don’t know anything! No matter how hard you try, Ramon will always be ten steps ahead of you! Do you know what happened while you were busy slaughtering all my men like the bloodthirsty animals you are? A messenger passed through this very area and is now headed straight for our nearest outpost. He is carrying with him an important message directly from the defector himself, and it is on its way to the ears of Ramon Morenno. I don’t know what information it contains, but for a message of such importance, you can bet your ass it will come to haunt you very soon. Mark my words.”

The Runners held their composure, keeping their swords on this seemingly dangerous Domineer warrior. Alex narrowed his eyes. “And you’re just telling us all of this?” he asked curiously. He did not trust this man in the least. Something definitely did not seem right about him. He almost spoke as if his mind was slipping. “Why?”

Without hesitating, Rand suddenly reached down and tugged on the edge of the thin rope winding around each of the many pouches on his waist. The mouths of the small bags immediately opened up. Alex could barely make out a dark substance pouring out of them and piling onto the snow around the crazed Domineer. Alex was on high alert now.

“Because none of it will matter anyway,” Rand answered in a hoarse tone. In a rather quick gesture, he reached his hand around his back and snatched hold of another rounded object attached to his belt. As he removed it, he was sure to whip it swiftly across the surface of his belt. Alex’s blood suddenly ran cold as he recognized the sound of this movement. It sounded like the lighting of a match. Rand brought his hand back around and held the new object in front of him. His hand was concealing the object itself, but Alex could see a short rope extending out of his enclosed fist, and to his horror, it was sparking. 

It was at this moment that Alex glanced back down at the strange, black substance covering the ground surrounding the Domineer, and he also realized that this man had coated himself in it as well. Rand smiled grimly at Alex’s shocking revelation. “You won’t be walking away victorious this time. Goodbye!”

Alex’s eyes jolted wide open. His instincts immediately took over. “MOVE AWAY!” he shouted as he turned and attempted to flee from the proximity. The rest of the Ravennites were completely unaware of the situation, and they unfortunately failed to react in time. 

Almost an instant after Alex screamed for them to get clear, the object in Rand’s hand exploded. As it did, it directly ignited the substance he had coated on himself and emptied onto the ground, causing the blast to greatly increase in force and radius.

Alex felt an intense burning sensation sear the flesh of his face as his eyes were forced shut. However, to his surprise, he was beginning to feel a familiar experience come over him as he was thrown backward by the force of the blast. “Oh, no,” he uttered in his head, and to his disdain, Alex knew that he was seeing a mysterious symbol flashing in his mind’s eye; a blood red symbol, consisting of two triangular shapes with a diamond form resting between their slopes. He had seen it several times before; the first time was when Rowan showed him the pendant made for her by her grandmother, and he could still see the symbol on its wooden surface to this day, while Rowan claimed to be blind to it. Alex had seen the symbol invade his vision on two more occasions when he had been suddenly knocked unconscious. He never experienced it again after that, until now, as the power of the sudden explosion knocked him clear off his feet and onto the cold, snowy ground.

Alex blacked out briefly, but he soon slowly came to his senses with a high-pitched ringing sound in his ears. He was lying on his back in the snow, and groaning painfully as he tried to regain his full consciousness. He reached up and touched his hand to the side of his face, wincing as the contact irritated the slightly burned flesh. Strange, he thought. The intensity of that blast should have burned his face off completely. 

Suddenly, his eyes flew wide open at the realization that he was alive. Alex pulled himself to his knees and quickly scoped around. His eyes were still readjusting due to the flash of the explosion. He knew exactly what had happened. The insane Domineer covered himself and his immediate proximity with gunpowder. He managed to ignite it with a makeshift bomb. Such a psychotic idea instantly drew Alex’s attention back to the center of the circle where the Domineer had been standing, and he was sickened by what he saw.

The snow around the area had been completely blown away. The body of Rand was lying haphazardly on the ground. His body had been absolutely mutilated by the point blank blast of his own explosive. His clothes had melted away, and there was barely any flesh left on his corpse. Alex choked on his shock as he slowly observed the rest of his surroundings. The force had not only thrown him off his feet, but his entire team had met the same experience. Unfortunately, they had not been as lucky.

Alex shifted his attention shakily back and forth several times. He could not believe what he was seeing. His entire team had closely surrounded their prisoner, and Rand knew it. It was all part of his intentions. It was why he shared his information so openly. He wanted them to get close to him so he could take them all out with one sudden, deadly action, and it worked. Alex stood up and moved around to each and every one of the figures lying in the snow. 

He could barely breathe properly. He saw Arin’s body lying at his feet. Her garments had melted into her flesh. She had turned her head to look at Alex when he screamed for them to move away. Forget the scar above her eye; the entire left side of her face was now gone. Not one of his Runners had survived the blast. All of them had been fatally burned by the explosion. Everybody, except for him.

Alex could not understand why everyone else was killed while he survived. To make matters even more astonishing, with the exception of the minor burn on the side of his face, Alex felt perfectly alright. However, he was not alright on the inside. His Runners gave him their absolute trust and confidence when they fought with him tonight, and in a matter of mere seconds, he had failed them all. He had sentenced them all to their undeserved fates.

The Domineer mentioned a messenger heading east for the nearest defensive outpost. From what he understood, it was clear that the message he was carrying was very important to them. Alex believed that the Ravennites might soon be in grave danger if they did not find out exactly what it was the Domineers had in store for them. His prisoner mentioned a “defector. Caine, he thought; the traitor who turned on his people in cold blood and joined with their enemies. Whatever he was up to, it had to mean bad news for the Ravennites. Alex could not let that happen, but he was in no way prepared to chase down this messenger, not anymore at least.

Alex’s body was heated, but his heart felt shot every time he thought about his slaughtered team. He would have to mourn them later. Right now, he knew that he had to hurry back to his camp as fast as he could. The sick Domineer thought he would kill all of the Ravennites around him when he willfully blew himself to kingdom come, but he was wrong, and Alex Lee would see to it that the lives of his friends were avenged.