Chapter 47

SOMA:

“Hmph, new hair,” Leonard comments as I make my way to the front where he is seated alongside several warriors that I can hardly make out their identity. There is also Zane who, to me, isn’t dressed like he is accompanying us on the mission.

“Yeah,” I say as I bend with a knee to the ground to lace my booth for the umpteenth time. I don’t know the reason I still haven’t gotten it right.

“Black sure looks good on you. But why did you have to dye your hair black now?”

As much as I want to facepalm myself for how stupid that sounds, I still have to finish the lacing of my booth so I keep it in me. But when I stand upright eventually, I shake my head in disappointment. Really disappointed that Leonard would even make such a ridiculous statement.

“Leonard,” I start by calling his name in a manner that reverences my disappointment, “You already know what we are going for. It’s a mission that would require us to hide if the need be. So how do you expect me to go with a red color flashing on me? Are you wishing for my instant death?”

He suddenly looks embarrassed. Pretty obvious that he realized how petty his statement was. Sometimes it takes an atom of thinking for you to know you are in the wrong.

“Yeah, right. I get you now,” he says, which I must commend because it was hard for a man who actually acted petty before to bounce back like that.

I look around at the group of warriors that are here with us. If I am to count, they should be about twenty of them, which I would say is a little too much on my side. And for sure I would have to request a little breakdown.

“I don’t think we can go with this amount of warriors. There’s a little too much of them,” I tell both Leonard and Zane because they are both in charge of this.

“How many do you want us to cut out?” Zane asks.

I observe, already sighting the ones I feel would make a good bonus to the team. “Ten,” I utter to the surprise of them all.

“Isn’t that going to affect the team? I mean, taking out ten of them would make the team crumble quick,”

I shake my head, disapproving instantly with Zane. “No, it’s not affecting negatively. In fact it’s going to help this team. The goal here is to come out with few casualties. Now going with the number that you have right here would definitely not be helpful in any way. Mark my words on that,”

Murmurs start to fill the crowd that I am facing and I can only shrug mentally because I know I’m right. They just can’t see what I am seeing, if not they would have agreed instantly.

“Silence everyone!” Leonard orders them after a long round of murmuring that has already put an ache in my ear. It felt good when they all fell silent. “So we will be taking out ten of you from the team. The rest of you will be accompanying Alpha Soma and me on this mission.”

“Before you pick your choice of warriors, I have mine to pick out first,” I tell Leonard, already spotting a warrior that sure as hell is going with us on this mission. “You there,” I fish him out by pointing to him among the crowd of warriors. When he comes out, I ask, “What’s your name?”

“Crane,” says the slim warrior. He is the very one that gave me a bit of a tough time when I decided to spar with a few of them a day after I first came to their pack that I am in right at this moment.

“Good,” I say, “‘cause you’ll be going with us on this mission,”

And then Leonard and Zane handle the rest while I watch them. Patience isn’t my call. Especially not under this hot sun. Don’t know why this timing was chosen for us to assemble to get to where the mission would take place. If only I had an idea where the location is.

Feeling a little bored, I adjust the band on my hair. It is a leather band with the Blood Crescent symbols inscribed on it with tiny gold letterings. So tiny that it was a little hard to see. And that is why it is perfect for this mission. Totally won’t give anything away.

I am dressed in a tight-fitting top with an armless leather jacket over it and then black cargo pants and booths. I chose to go more western today in this mission because I was unsure of how long this would last on my body, knowing what kind of mission this was going to be. And yeah, my sword was right by my side with no gun whatsoever.

Eventually, they are done picking the other nine that would be with the one I chose already. And by deciphering their aura, I can tell that they are good additions to the team.

“So, Zane, you will be on standby according to the plan, is that right?” I throw out a question to Zane which gets an instant response.

“Yes,”

“Fine then,” and then I stare at Leonard. “Are we leaving now?” I ask him.

“Most certainly,” he says before telling the men chosen to go with us. “Let’s move!”

And the men all move to the front, rushing into the woods ahead which is a part of the Dark Moon territory. The best thing about the woods was that it connects to the outside of the territory but within the woods. At least that was what I was told when I made inquiries. I only hope it’s safe.

When Leonard starts to move, I follow him. Not without directing a nod toward Zane as a means of bidding him farewell.

“Still can’t process why you have a robe on,” I say, observing Leonard’s choice of clothing. “This is a crucial mission, you know,”

“I know. But in times of war, wear something that makes you comfortable. This right here makes me comfortable so why shouldn’t I put it on?”

I roll my eyes at how ridiculous that sounds in my ear. Yeah, he is right but why should one use a robe that would most definitely hinder the movements of a fighter?

“Your choice. But I do hope you will get rid of that when the time comes,”

He shrugs. “If I see the need to, then why won’t I do it?”

“Lest I forget,” I say and then insert my hand into the arm of my shirt. From there I bring out something like a bracelet but is much bigger than that. “Have this,” I hand it over to Leonard who reluctantly collects it. “I want you to have it on you all through this mission. I don’t know when I will be needing it but I know I will be collecting it from you when it is time,”

Leonard states at the bracelet-like material that I gave to him. It has a shiny texture to it. A little dark by the edges and the whole area but exudes high quality.

“I will like to ask you about the usefulness but I’m sure you have your reasons for having it with you so I won’t ask,”

I smile and he nods in return before putting the material into his pocket. Now I feel relieved about knowing that it might be in safe hands. At least until I need it.

We start to walk quietly and quickly to meet up with the warriors that are way ahead of us. I make sure Leonard leads the way because I still have no idea where these woods lead into. Even the pathway is confusing.

I do not bother to exchange comments with Leonard. At least for now. Probably when I know we were out of this territory would it trigger me to say something to him. Times like this called for seriousness as well as serious measures.

I am a lot uncomfortable with how the woods were. I mean, c’mon, they are too thick for my liking. Definitely not something one would like to explore with how piercing they could be.

Time has long gone, let’s say about twenty minutes now, since we started walking through the woods. Feels like a pretty long time as my legs were getting weary from how long the journey would be. And I do not have it me to ask yet if we have left the territory.

I should probably do so soon. Because I cannot be led to a dead end. Would ruin my whole purpose of trying to act all tough in this sort of situation.

About fifteen minutes later, Leonard says, “We are now out of the territory. Anything that happens now would be at our risk because we have no idea how things work outside,”

The words hit me in some weird way. I feel a lot apprehensive now about what is coming my way next, and it certainly does not sit right with me. But there is no turning back now. So instead of responding to what Leonard said, I continue to walk. Wouldn’t want it to seem like I ignored him so I raise a finger in the air for him to know that I acknowledge what he just said.

The rest of the journey goes on without much of a word between us. Most of the time he speaks is when he is instructing the warriors on something. And he does even to the extent that I get tired of hearing him ordering them constantly. Figured it’s because he alone knows the route we are to go to. Wonder why he let them stay in the front instead.

When nighttime kicks in, we continue with the journey until everywhere seems so difficult for us to go through. So we choose to make camp at a secluded side of the woods with hopes of getting on with it tomorrow.

Little did we know we were in for a lot of trouble...