Leo put his arms on Marcus's, chains for a short moment.
"Ouch" Marcus was burnt by the heat.
He looked at his left arm.
"What in the…" Marcus's cuffs split into two, he was astonished.
He looked at the wrist of his left hand and saw burn marks.
It hurt but was numbed by the greater pain of his broken arm.
"If it did this to me then…
Are you alright Leo?" Marcus forcefully turned Leo around.
He looked at Leo's palms.
They were red, he was on the verge of getting second degree burns.
"It hurts much more than back in the wagon" Leo was in excruciating pain but faltered not.
"Leo, I don't know how you did it, or even what you did, but I know it's harming you.
I don't think you should use it again" Moore told Leo, concerned for his wellbeing.
"Marcus, you've felt it too haven't you.
Since earlier in the boundary, you changed- no, we changed.
Even back at the town when you were surrounded by sparks..." Leo said as he recalled that very moment.
"...I don't know how to put it but, recall that feeling." Leo rotated his palm, the fire quenched.
"Do you even hear yourself?
You sound like a madman right no-." Marcus covered his mouth with his palms, he had bitten into his tongue.
"Of course, he'd behave like that.
The fault is on me for not sounding convincing enough" Leo was in a pinch.
"Then let me ask you this.
I've known you ever since you were little.
You don't let them get scratched and you don't go anywhere without them.
Now ask you this.
Where are your glasses…Marcus?" Leo gave Marcus a stern look.
Marcus touched his eyes to his bewilderment; his glasses were truly gone.
"Impossible…
Since when.
I can barely see what's in front of me, but now.
I can see better than ever before." Marcus finally took Leo's words to heart.
His distrustful look swayed into one of self-doubt.
Leo let the words simmer into Marcus's heart, and proceeded with his preparations.
He took the spear and sword.
He held out the sword, he swerved it calmly, then shook his head.
He passed it to Marcus.
"And what do you intend I use this for?" Marcus queried.
"Self-defence of course." He smiled.
The smile wasn't confined to him as Marcus chuckled faintly, it had reminded him of the conversation they had in the night.
Though the situations were different.
In the night they were running away.
In the day they are now facing their oppressors head on against their will.
Now Leo held the spear up, the metal tip reflected the sunlight.
He broke the bottom part a little to shorten it, then spun it around.
"I feel more drawn to this.
I'll tear through them like butter." Leo looked determined as he muttered this.
"Leo in front of us, Look!" Their horse was situated at the centre-rear of the group, so they were amongst the furthest from danger.
"Turn the horse around!" Marcus ordered Leo.
Leo did nothing, the reason was clear;
The horses had no rein, no lead rope nor halter, nails were piled into their hind quarters to make them charge ahead.
"They had no intention for anyone to survive from the start." Marcus realised; fear gripped him.
The horde of critters were imminent, their wails, cries, and shrieks were like a dangerous weapon
With the prisoners who were the riders cuffed up, they were left to the whims of their mounts.
It started with the cry of some horses, one after the other they resisted the pain and were rearing up.
Of those few many, another few attempted to turn around.
They tried to escape the inevitability that was the horde.
An animal's innate instinct to preserve its life is the most important for survival.
The ones that tried to turn collided with the ones who were charging ahead.
It caused a chain reaction of the horses tumbling all the way to the back.
The horse on which Leo was mounted was no outlier to this, It charged straight into the tumbling bodies of its kin.
In an act of impetuous thinking, Marcus grabbed Leo's hand and pulled him down to the ground.
-
Their ears were ringing as they tumbled and rolled on the floor.
Leo had suffered a concussion, while dizzy an occurrence in the past flashed before his eyes.
***
It was about 7 years ago.
Cries could be heard.
"This is your baby brother.
Say hi." A woman held a baby wrapped in thick white cloth.
She looked exhausted but sounded energetic.
"His head is shaped like a little helmet." Leo grinned at the baby, then put his hand forward.
The baby brought both hands out and held on to his hand.
"Helmet huh…Honey!" she called out.
***
Leo finally came to, his head still hurt but the ringing had gradually stopped.
On his body platitudes of scratches and bruises could be seen.
Leo coughed; dust had entered his mouth during the tumble.
"Marcus, where is Marcus" It was hard to compare his thoughts.
His nausea from the earlier concussion wasn't helping much.
Grunting noises could be heard beside him, Lo and behold it was Marcus.
Leo shook him up till he woke.
"Marcus are you alright" He asked as he stood him up.
"Well do I look alright to you?" He dangled his broken right arm to Leo.
His left arm - his only usable one was the one that had been injured previously that day.
His clothes were torn, and he sustained heavier injuries than Leo, even sustaining cuts on his face.
Leo assisted him up, his legs hurt he felt like he might've broken something, but he managed to stand upright.
Leo and Marcus started running towards the wall, there was nothing they could do to a horde of that size.
Chaos had ensued, the critters trampled and gnawed away at the fallen horses and the prisoners.
They were preoccupied with that for the meanwhile.
Well most of them.
"Am I imagining this?" As Leo ran, he felt strange.
He was slower than the he was in the night, it wasn't his personal delusion, it was a fact.
He looked forward; Marcus was ahead of him, even with his injured leg and arm.
Marcus looked back to check what was keeping Leo.
"Leo behind you!" Marcus urged Leo.
A critter took a leap from the body of their fallen horse, and pounced at Leo, aiming straight at his head.
Leo turned, it was too late to dodge, he used the impromptu staff and extended his arms out.
He blocked its advance, as he pushed back.
[Snap!] It chomped straight through the wood but was recoiled by the push of Leo.
It shook off the wood from its mouth, then pounced once more.
[Thump! Thump] There was not trace of his previous determination.
He trembled in the face of adversity.
He felt fear as he looked into the critter's face that had no eyes.
Leo's eyes widened then he squinted his eyes and cowered with his hand in front of him.
-
[Stab.] The sound of something piercing through flesh.
-
He gradually opened his eyes, he was alive.
Marcus stood between Leo and the critter.
"I'm glad you gave me this sword." Marcus said as he dislodged the sword from its body.
Now another critter jumped towards Marcus.
"Look in front of you!" Leo screamed at Marcus who was now closing his eyes.
"Ahh, I see…
So, this is the feeling he was talking about…" Marcus thought.
"Disconnected from reality but still present at the same time." Was all he could describe the feeling as.
As the critter pounced, he cut it down; then came another.
And then another.
Even with one arm he sliced through them effortlessly.
His body released yellow sparks; his arm was enshrouded by a yellow substance.
Slice, slice, slice ; slicing through with calmness, they posed no threat to him.
They came in pairs, then tens, he still sliced through regardless.
Then in hundreds, he cut through.
"What is this?
Is this what Leo was talking about…I feel so hap-" He coughed up blood.
[Cough! Cough!!] He was coughing uncontrollably.
-
"Marcus!" Leo screamed.
"Leo? W...hy are you cr-ying" Marcus asked.
Blood dripped out from his nose and mouth.
Leo, looked away, he was running with Marcus on his arms.
"Why a-re we running?
I thought I ki…lled a lot didn't I…" Marcus now closed his eyes.
Leo squinted his eyes, as he remembered vividly what had occurred.
-
[Stab] Marcus stabbed the critter, He now stood between the critter and Leo.
The cut was nowhere deep enough.
[Slash!] It cut through Marcus's body, after the first slash Marcus just stood there.
He wasn't moving.
Slash after slash after slash after slash.
It tore through his frail body, from lower to upper.
"Move Leo! Move!" Leo's mind crumbled, and his body trembled.
He pressed his right thumb against his burnt left palm.
It hurt, but it momentarily numbed out the fear.
The tears that came out of his eyes were tears of blood.
[Tsss] They evaporated before they could hit the ground.
His pupils had turned amber.
Leo took one step.
One moment he was there, the other he wasn't.
The scorched traces of his footsteps were all that could be seen.
He took a full swing and punched the critter straight through its gut, releasing a blast of fire that burnt through the beast.
The blast travelled nearly 12 metres, scorching everything in its part.
He felt dizzy; he wanted to fall.
The thought of he and his friend getting eaten kept him standing.
Leo carried Marcus on his hands as he ran towards the wall.
Marcus was smiling to himself muttering something as he bled.
-
"Hallucinogens…
I see, so it was all a in my he…ad." Marcus realised he left a waning smile.
[Cough!] "Hey Le-o.
I ca…n't feel my legs." Marcus said to Leo.
Leo looked down at Marcus's body, then grit his teeth.
"Hush now, we'll soon be at the wall.
You just got scratched a little on the leg, that's all." Leo's tone was awkward, he had an awful smile to accompany it.
"I…see, it's that bad." Marcus understood.
Moore shed more tears, he was in excruciating pain.
"Dad…I want to see my Da-" Marcus's left arm fell flaccid.