Christmas Attacks~Chapter 6, The Hunt Begins A Book by Sana ☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁ Caleb, Oli, Zoey, York, and Kassandra arrived at the place that Zoey and York had been staying. “Whoa.” Oli breathed. Zoey smiled slightly. Her eyes looked like they were scanning Oli down. Whoa was an understatement. Zoey, York and some other banished had built a city up in the trees. Bridges led to tree houses, everything carefully camouflage. Even Caleb was impressed but he was still worried about Kassandra. He wasn’t sure if she could climb a ladder. So he had her walk over to the ladder. To Caleb’s surprise, right after Zoey,York and Oli had gone up, Kassandra grabbed the rung above her and started to climb. “You're going to be okay Kassandra” Caleb whispers, mostly reassuring himself as he climbs the ladder after her. “You have to be. Not just for me, but for your mum and Oli.” He sucks in a breath as he takes a look at the treetop village spread out before him. It takes him a second to locate the others. Then another to realize that they were meters ahead of him. Caleb walks towards them, inspecting every inch of the village. “Breathtaking isn’t it?” Caleb jumps. He hadn’t realized the Zoey had fallen back and was now walking in perfect synchronization with his steps. “Do you always do that?” “Do what?” Zoey smirks.“Appear out of nowhere and scare the guts out of someone.” “Oh well, I thought you heard me slow down.” Caleb rolls his eyes. “Please, Did you really expect a fighter like me to have loud feet?” “No.” Caleb admits reluctantly. “But, I did hear you guys in the forest.” He points out. “That was my idiot twin brother. He accidentally stepped on a twig.” Zoey sighs. “I heard that!” York calls back from up front where he was guiding Kassandra and Oli towards a hut covered in white orange flowers. “Where are we going?” Caleb rushes forward to catch up with Oli, taking his hand. “To Bella and Orson.” York replies. “Who’s that?” Caleb asks. “Our village healers. Now done with the questions? This one is in a rather dire state.” He jerks his head to Kassandra. Oli whimpers, hugging his teddy bear tighter. It made Caleb tighten his grip on Oli’s hand. He felt a rush of emotions, Oli was so young to endure so much pain, fear and heartbreak. Yet here he was, and Caleb could do nothing about it. Caleb felt a pang of hatred in his chest, for the cult, stronger than ever. York enters the Hut, taking Kassandra with her. Oi drags Caleb in as well, Zoey following close behind. As they entered, they were all hit with a scent of mint, mixed with a sweet spicy smell and it was not pleasant.. “What is that?” They all ask at the same time, gagging. A woman, about in her 30's comes from behind a partition, smiling a smile that reached her deep Grey eyes. “That is a rather important medicine.” “Caleb, Oli, Meet Bella, Our adopted mother.” Zoey introduces them. “Nice to meet you ma’am.” Caleb says. “Oh no need for ma’am, Just call me Bella. I should get to treating our patient.” She rushes off to the shelves, grabbing small vials and other things that Caleb had no clue what they were. He sat down on a cot next to Kassandra’s, Oli flopped down beside him. York and Zoey sat on her opposite. “What exactly happened to her?” Bella asks. Caleb hesitates, but only for a second. “She had climbed a Matwinkle tree to scout for a clearing where we could set up camp. In the process, she got smacked by one of the branches,” Caleb says, pointing at the glowing green mark on Kassandra’s cheek. “After we set up camp, very soon, Her father was shot with a dart with a deadly illness it’s tip. He died soon after that.” Caleb’s voice cracks, He clears his throat before moving on. “Then out of nowhere, 4 figures in hooded cloaks surrounded us, We tried to fight them but when me and Kassandra had our focus on the two who were near her mother, the other two tipped sedatives down our throats. They sedated Oli as well. Then they took their mother and we haven’t seen her since.” Bella gasps, as she hurries to Kassandra’s side. She has a balm and a vial in her hands. “What are those for?” Caleb asks cautiously. “The Balm should help the mark and it’s control on Kassandra fade. The Vial shall ease her pain.” Bella explains gently. “She’s in pain?” Caleb quickly jumps to his feet. Squeezing Kassandra’s hand. “Yes, The Matwinkle tree can do serious damage to her brain and it’s giving her massive headaches. Thank the gods that York and Zoey found you so soon.” Caleb and the others stay silent as Bella sets to work. Rubbing the balm into Kassandra’s cheek. Slowly tipping the liquid down her throat. The Color starts to return to Kassandra’s cheek, Her eyes becoming less clouded. They close, and pretty soon, her chest starts to rise and fall as she sleeps peacefully. ~~~~~~~~~☁~~~~~~~~~
(continuation of chapter 6) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3 days had passed, Caleb had insisted to stay in the healing hut. Those 3 days had been quite eventful. First, after Kassandra had drifted off to her 3 day rest, Caleb had been urged to change into something clean and shower by Bella. He did gladly. Right after, he found the village leader staring at him. They had a rather lengthy discussion about “things” and he left. Soon after that, Caleb and Oli had met Orson. Zoey and York’s adoptive father, and Bella’s Husband. He seemed rather nice, but all that was on Caleb’s mind during those days was if Kassandra was going to wake up. Bella had assured him that she would, but he still had doubt in his mind. Though he didn’t let it show. So when Kassandra opened her eyes and croaked out, “Caleb” her voice crackly with no use for so long Caleb had to wipe tears forming in his eyes. ~~~~~~~~~☁~~~~~~~~~ “You don’t know how good it is to hear you say that.” Caleb whispers through his tears. His voice thick with emotion. Kassandra smiles and tries to sit up, but winces and fails. He sees her struggle and rushes over to help her. “Thanks” She says. Then her memories hit her. Hard. She doubles over as she sees remembers everything that happened before the pounding headaches. “Kassandra?”Caleb asks in alarm. “Kassandra, whats wrong?” He squeezes her shoulders as tears stream down her cheeks, He reaches out to wipe them away and Kassandra lets him. Soaking in his comfort. “He’s gone…..She’s gone..” She sobs into Caleb's shoulder. “No Kassandra. Your father is still with you, watching you every step of the way. And your mother is Alive. Not dead. We will get her back.” The determination in his voice only makes her sob harder and she cries herself out. “Am I interrupting something?” A kind female voice asks. Kassandra twists her face to see a smiling sweet grey eyed lady looking at them. “Who are you?” Kassandra manages to choke out. “I’m Bella. Bella Reldonus, But just call me Bella. Your a strong fighter. The Matwinkle almost pulled you under but you managed to stay centered.” “What?” Caleb shouts in alarm. “Why didn’t you tell me?” “Because i did not want to worry you more then you already were.” Bella responded with a sad smile as she turns back to Kassandra. “You should have seen him, He was giving you a dose of your medicine every hour, praying to the gods for you to wake up. He might not even taken a shower if I hadn’t convinced him to. You can thank me later, He stunk up the whole place.” Kassandra pulls away from Caleb, wrinkling her nose. “Yuck Caleb, Not that I don’t appreciate your help but…..” Caleb smirks. “How long was i out?” She asks slowly. “3 days.” Caleb responds still smirking. “Oh gods.” Kassandra gagged, not even wanting to know what she smelled like. She tugged at her greasy hair strands. “Can I go shower?” Bella smiles again, but stops her from getting out of bed. “First there is some news that you must hear.” She sighs. “Okay.” Kassandra sits back down on her cot, Caleb doing the same. “Whats going on Bella?” He asks. Bella sighs and takes a deep breath as if preparing herself. She looks directly as Kassandra. “The Cult has ordered a Bounty on your head.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (sorry for ending with a cliffhanger. not really, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! and sorry for this coming out so late, This week has been busy.)
