Chapter 106: Chapter 106

“What in the world are those things?” Nana yelled amidst the screams. The horses that were at the far end of the cave startled up and began to neigh and thump around.

“Stealth wraiths. Half-dead creatures but more dead than alive. Which means you can't see them. They're very rare!” Camper shouted out.

“How do you kill what you cannot see?” Avril shrieked as Camper sliced through the air again and black blood poured out of nothing.

“They are as cold as ice. You feel their chill and strike,” Verona answered as she trotted to the entrance to assist Camper. The rest shifted back but didn't lose their guard. The horses were causing a scene on their own and Avril instinctively ran over to calm them down. It didn't work.

A cold chill was taking over the entire cave, the entrance had turned into a battleground. Camper and Verona were fighting invisible, shrieking creatures that seemed to be pushing them backwards and not the other way around. Whatever these things were, they were plenty and the two needed help fighting them. But why was Prince Dakar just standing and staring ahead in the middle of all that? Why wasn't he helping?

“Stop,” Prince Dakar commanded authoritatively. All the shrieking stopped that instant and the two fighters retreated immediately while panting heavily.

“I'd have said show yourselves but I don't want to even see your nasty faces. So turn out of here, stand guard outside and fight off whatever does as much as look this way. Do you understand?” Prince Dakar spoke to nothing with pure menace in his voice, and his eyes terrifying.

Low whines like that of frightened dogs resonated from the entrance, followed by rustling of the leaves as if people were rushing out. In a minute, the air became warm again and all that was left were the screams from outside.

Prince Dakar turned around and began to look frantically until his eyes met Avril's. He seemed to calm down after he looked her over and she was unharmed.

“Fiorella,” he breathed in relief as he made his way towards where she stood with the horses. Everyone else behind him followed him with their eyes. Each pair of those eyes surprised and confused. Even Avril's were.

“Dak... Dakar, what did you just do?” she managed to say as his arms enveloped her in a warm embrace. Despite that he was standing in the midst of the fight, not a single black blood was on him from the wraiths and not one of his blood had spilled. Camper and Verona on the other hand were bleeding visibly.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Of course I am. Shouldn't you be asking Camper and Verona?” Avril replied.

“They're wolves, Fiorella. The best. I can't be worried about them.”

“We could do with a little bit of worry this time though! These injuries aren't healing!” Camper shouted across to them. They both looked over and saw the two were bleeding profusely.

Avril ran over to them and hissed between her teeth.

“These look terrible.”

“Damn them stealth wraiths,” Verona gritted.

“How bad is it?” Nana asked and walked over to Camper. She took his arm and examined the deep gash on his forearm.

“We'll bleed out if we don't stop the bleeding. Stealth wraiths have that specialty of making sure the wounds they inflict don't heal at all,” Camper answered and winced when Nana poked around the gash. For a wolf to wince at that, then it truly was terrible.

The girls exchanged glances. Thank God they didn't try to fight. Humans wouldn't stand a chance. Prince Dakar exhaled and walked over. Before he reached them, a piercing scream followed by rustling and kicking sounds erupted directly outside the entrance. New stealth wraiths were trying to enter the cave, but the ones Prince Dakar commanded were fighting against them.

“If you could do that all this while, then why did you let your friends fight them and get terribly injured?” the quiet guy erupted. Everyone turned their gazes to him. He was frowning and looking at the prince with disgust.

“Because even I didn't know I could do that,” Prince Dakar replied calmly. Avril looked at him and noticed the red in his hair had multiplied. She gasped.

“Your hair.”

“I know,” he responded in that same calm tone.

“Get some sleep, everyone. I'll treat Camper and Verona. They should be fine by morning.”

The cave went back to being quiet again. Except the fearful noises outside. Prince Dakar took out a small bag and treated them with his herbs, while Avril and her girls laid beside each other in silence. They soon fell asleep and woke up to the horses neighing in the morning.

“Good morning,” Camper's giddy voice greeted them.

“Hey, Camps,” Avril said and yawned. They got up immediately and saw that only Camper was in the cave and he was untying the horses.

“Where's everyone?” Xiao Wéi asked.

“Outside, getting ready for the rest of the journey. It's safe to step outside now that the sun is high,” he answered and winked at her. She grinned and stepped out through the entrance with Chidi. Nana was searching through her bag for something.

“Camper. May I ask? Why did the stealth wraiths attack us in this cave? I thought y'all said it was the only safe place. I expected it had some mysterious protection against whatever was outside,” Avril inquired. She took Camper's arm and prodded through his jacket at the spot he was severely injured yesterday. But he didn't wince anymore.

“Only stealth wraiths can penetrate the protective barrier of those leaves. Because they're so stealthy, they can dodge through anything. They're very rare so I'm so shocked why they arrived in hordes yesterday. And my injuries are healed thanks to Remusian remedies.”

Avril let go of his arm and sighed.

“I'm worried,” she said.

“Obviously,” he responded.

“I'm worried about him, Camper. What if they are attracted to what is inside of him? Look yesterday, they didn't hurt him and they just obeyed his command. His hair, eyes, aura, everything about him keeps changing. What if Dojo completely takes over him before this journey ends?”

Camper smiled and rubbed his thumb against her cheek.

“You might know Dojo more than I do because I haven't even experienced what he's like. But I do know Dakar. And Dakar loves you. Even when he pretended not to know you, his love showed. Dojo doesn't stand a chance against the prince when he deeply loves and wants to protect you. At least, not on this journey. So wash up, we leave in an hour.”

Camper smiled again and led two horses out.

“He's right you know. Your prince loves you and he'll protect you against anything, even himself. I'm sure he will hold on until we get there. Just for you,” Nana encouraged too from the other side of the cave. Avril exhaled and smiled.

“I'll believe that. Come on, let's go outside.”

The group rode with speed for three hours before stopping to eat breakfast of already prepared sandwiches and warm milk. All the fresh food was stored in vacuum containers and would last until one more day.

After breakfast, they kept riding through the vast green land that showed no signs of the terror unleashed on it the previous night. It was as if the sun sucked up every stain and sign left by the wraiths.

Evening was fast approaching and they had just finally left the green land behind into a very windy, dry and dusty terrain. They had to wear their masks again. The wind was so strong it was threatening to pull them off their horses. All of a sudden, their horses came to a violent halt and began to turn around in fright.

“What is wrong with them?!” Avril yelled.

“Ssh,” Dakar whispered behind her. “They are finally here.”

“Who?” Avril whispered back.

Dakar did not reply but peered ahead. Finally, figures appeared in the dusty wind. They were covered from head to toe in rags that protected them against the wind, dust, and scorching sun.

“Bandits,” Prince Dakar finally answered. The bandits all simultaneously pulled out their swords as they surrounded them from all sides. Avril glanced at her friends and they were equally shocked.

Prince Dakar jumped down from the horse and began to move towards them.

“Dakar!” Avril called but he smiled back at her.

“You're not with any weapons,” she protested.

“They have enough for us all,” he replied. Camper and Verona jumped down too. Avril gently came down. She pulled out a dagger and saw her friends come to stand behind her.

“My job here is to protect you,” said the weird guy as he stood in front of Avril with a sword. A very familiar sword.

“I can protect myself,” Avril barked.

“Sure. But your prince will have my head if so much as a scratch grazes your skin.”

The bandits were moving closer and closer. They were taking their time, surveying the people and what they carried. Too bad, these guys didn't have any gold or silver or fancy jewelry. But the bandits didn't know that. Then they attacked.

Prince Dakar waged towards them with Verona and Camper doing the same in their positions. The weird guy moved forward a little bit and struck two bandits with two swings of his sword. Avril stabbed with her dagger, so did the girls. The bandits weren't amateur fighters as they fought like they understood the languages of the terrible wind in that terrain. They tore through it and fought swiftly. The weird guy was fighting hard, and he succeeded in dumping a few bandits to the ground. Avril grabbed two swords from them and could finally fight back well. She disarmed them mostly, then directed their swords at her friends. The girls didn't fight to kill, but they injured them in a way the wounds might as well kill them.

Prince Dakar on the other hand...was fighting with his bare hands and using their swords against them only when necessary. As he fought, he looked nothing like Dakar. His hair had come loose and was flowing around him in the wind, his eyes were visibly glowing scarlet and that bone-chilling black smoke was revolving around him, choking the bandits as it made contact with them.

The fight soon came to an end. All the men around the weird guy and Avril's side were groaning on the ground, the ones from Camper and Verona's side were either still or hardly moving but the ones from Dakar's side were as still as rocks. All dead.

Prince Dakar turned around and smirked, but fear ran into his entire group including Verona. He didn't look like a monster, but he didn't look like him either. His eyes were red, his hair completely scarlet and the blood he was covered in made him look grotesque. His eyes met Avril's and the red instantly dissolved back into green.

“Avril, my goodness! You're bleeding!” he stated and sped through the wind to her.

“You're injured,” he said and held her delicately.

“I have to treat you immediately.”

“Dakar,” Avril called and he looked her in the eye. There was still some red in there. And only a little of his real hair color had returned.

“I love you,” Avril said. Tears formed in her eyes and she hugged him so he wouldn't see it.

“I love you so much.”

Prince Dakar hugged her back and kissed her hair. He didn't understand why she was being emotional. They were both fine. No one died.

“I have to treat you, my love,” he stated. Avril unlocked from the hug and nodded.

He treated the human girls there and told them to hang on until they leave the desert. They gently rode away until they reached a forest. They got down and set camp. It wasn't safe, Camper said. But Dakar insisted because the girls were very injured. True to Camper's words, more thieves came along. Prince Dakar and Camper fought them off, while Verona stayed with them in case one would dodge in. Many times, a wild animal would roar nearby and instill more fear. Twice, two bear-like beasts waged towards them and met their deaths.

No one slept a wink that night, because there was always something coming over. When the morning came, they set out again. The girls were healing rapidly and they could ride well again.

“It's the Porta Metus next,” Camper whispered to Prince Dakar as they were filing through a narrow pathway in the forest. Prince Dakar clenched his jaw and didn't reply to his friend.

Camper fell back and let Dakar and Avril ride forward.

“What is the Porta Metus?” Avril asked. Dakar sighed.

“The Gateway of Fear. It's a place where your greatest fear comes alive. We must go through it to reach the north,” Dakar answered.