“You said it yourself. Recruits,” Malic suddenly said.
Everyone turned to him, surprised. His voice was dark and guttural, surprising Thor, as he had never heard it before. He did not look back at them, but stared straight ahead, his hand always on the hilt of his dagger, playing with it as if it were his best friend. Its black-and-silver handle gleamed in the light.
“Recruits,” he added. “We’re all recruits. None of us are members. No one is truly a Legion member until they graduate. Age twenty. Six years to go. They’re trying to weed us all out. They want a force of the most elite knights in the world. If we can’t make it, they want us dead. They don’t care. Why should they? There are a thousand more just like us in every village in the Ring.”
Thor thought about that as they fell back in silence and continued to march, their boots crunching. They headed deeper and deeper into the wilderness of this place, and Thor wondered about the other Legion members, all the other groups, where on the island they were, what obstacles they had to face. He was glad to be in the company of these boys.
As hours more passed, as the sun reached its peak in the sky, as Thor was fading out, beginning to lose focus, suddenly, there came a loud hissing and bubbling noise right near him. He jumped out of the way just in time, and beside him, the earth suddenly bubbled up. He watched the soil turn orange, then bright red, then hiss and explode. Lava shot up, high into the air, sparking and smoking, sending small flames in every direction. A small burst of flame landed on Thor’s sleeve, and he swatted it as it began to burn him; luckily, he managed to put it out, although it lasted long enough to sting. Krohn snarled at it, ready to attack the lava.
Thor and the other boys ran away from the bursting lava spring, keeping their distance as it seemed to bubble ever higher. It was a good thing they did, because the ground around it began to melt.
“What is this place?” William asked, fear in his voice.
“Let’s keep moving,” Reese said.
They all turned and continued heading north, hurrying away from the lava burst. But just as they were gaining their distance, suddenly, another lava spring burst up from the ground, with no warning, just a few feet away on their other side.
William screamed and jumped, the flames just missing him.
They all hurried to gain distance from that one, too-but then, suddenly, all around them and as far as they could see, lava springs burst out. There came hissing and popping noises everywhere, as the land burst up like a minefield. Even while terrified, Thor could not help but notice that it created a beautiful display of light.
They all stood rooted in place, afraid to take a step forward. Lava springs were spaced out every twenty feet or so and it would be tricky to navigate between them.
“How are we supposed to continue through that?” William asked.
“At least they’ve already exploded,” Elden said. “Now all we have to do is walk between them.”
“But what if others explode?” William asked.
Clearly, they had no choice.
They all continued forward, into the lava field, Thor careful, with the others, to weave in between the lava springs. Luckily, no others burst as they went, but Thor was on guard the entire time.
Just as the lava field seemed to reach its end, suddenly, one last lava spring burst up, catching them all off guard. It burst right near O’Connor, too close for him to get out of the way in time. His screams filled the air, as did the stench of burning flesh. O’Connor’s left bicep was singed badly by a glob of lava and O’Connor screamed, smoke and flames rising from his tunic. Standing right beside him was Malic, who could easily have helped him put it out. But he did not.
Thor and Reese jumped onto O’Connor, knocking him down, putting it out. O’Connor screamed, and Thor saw the burn was bad, and it looked incredibly painful.
He and Reese pulled O’Connor to his feet, and Thor tore a fresh piece of cloth from his own tunic, and wrapped it around O’Connor’s arm.
“Why didn’t you help him?” Reese yelled at Malic. “You were standing right beside him. You could have put it out.”
Thor had been wondering the same thing.
Malic shrugged, nonchalant, then actually smiled over at them.
“Why should I?” he asked. “Why should I care if he gets burned?”
Thor stared back, disbelieving.
“Are you saying you don’t care about protecting your brothers?” Elden asked.
Malic smiled back, and Thor could sense the evil in his eyes.
“Of course I don’t. In fact, I would kill each one of you if I thought it benefited me.”
His smile never disappeared, and Thor could see how serious he was. Just looking at him, seeing the depth of his evil, gave him a chill.
The others stared back at him, flabbergasted.
“We should all kill you right now,” Elden answered.
“Then do it,” Malic said. “Give me a reason to kill you.”
Elden took a step towards him, scowling, drawing his sword-but suddenly, the twins stepped between them.
“Don’t waste your time,” Conven said to Elden. “He’s not worth it.”
Elden stopped, scowling, then finally turned away.
Krohn, beside Thor, clearly did not like Malic either. He growled quietly in his direction, the hairs standing up on his back whenever he looked at him.
“Let’s get out of this place,” Reese said. “Can you walk?” he asked O’Connor, who stood between them, breathing hard and clutching his arm.
O’Connor nodded back.
“It hurts like hell. But I’ll be okay.”
The group continued on, marching through the wasteland, all of them on edge, looking out for more lava springs. Finally, after an hour, Thor felt confident they’d passed them, and began to lower his guard.
As they walked and walked, as the sun grew longer in the sky, Thor began to wonder how long this would go on, and whether they would ever find the Kavos. How lost were they?
“How do we know we’re even going in the right direction?” William suddenly called out to the group, echoing what was on everybody’s minds.
He was met with only silence in return, and the whistling of the wind. That was answer enough-no one knew.
Hour followed hour as they marched through the wasteland, dirt and stones crunching beneath their feet. Thor was getting tired and hungry, and above all thirsty. The cool morning had morphed into a hot day, and the wind that whipped through only brought dust and more hot air. He licked his lips and realized he would do anything for a sack of water.
Thor looked up and blinked as he thought he spotted something scurrying in the distance. He’d thought it looked something like an ostrich, though it came and went so fast, he was unsure. Could it be? An animal in this place, in the middle of nowhere?
He squinted into the light, the morning mist now mostly burnt off, and thought he saw a small cloud of dust.
“Did you see that?” he asked Reese.
“What?” Reese said.
“I saw it,” Conven said. “It looked like some kind of animal.”
Now Thor wondered. As they all continued to march, suddenly, another animal sprinted right for them. They drew their swords, but the animal moved too quickly, and veered away at the last second.
“What the hell was that?” Conval asked.
Thor had definitely seen it this time-it had a bright yellow and black body, a round belly, long, skinny legs, at least ten feet high, with short, thick wings for arms, and a huge head. It looked like a bumblebee on stilts.
Suddenly, another one came darting out of nowhere, charging right for them. This one screeched as it went, flapping its wings with a buzzing noise, and seemed to charge right for Thor. Thor, his sword drawn, dodged out of the way at the last second, as the beast brushed by him. He swung his sword, but the beast was so fast, he wasn’t even close. He swung at air. Krohn snarled and snapped at it, but also missed. He didn’t know how something that big could move that fast. The brush with the beast left a bruise on his arm.