《The Scarlet Demon》3. Seth

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When I woke up I was stiff all over, but somehow I was warm. I pulled back the sleeping bag to find several large stones. I picked one up only to drop it. The stone was warm to borderline hot. I muffled a cry of shock and pain. I did not want to wake Algea, nor did I want to see her smug face when she heard of my stupid action. I noticed at my feet was a pile of folded clothes and a pair of boots. They looked furry and would be really warm.

Once I pulled on the clothes I pulled back the flap of the tent’s entrance. I shivered at the reintroduced cold. Outside of the tent I saw Algea around a recently dead fire. She had a slight smirk like she knew that I had nearly burned myself, but that was impossible. As I approached her I noticed that it had snowed last night. Where we had sat last night was completely covered in a thick layer of the powder. I brushed clean a place for me to sit.

“Did you sleep well?” Algea asked..

She was leaning on a tree, arms crossed.

“Yes I did.” As I sat there, my head finally started to get over the shock of the situation. A million questions started to crowd my mind. I was about to start asking them when she cut me off.

“I’m sure you have many questions, and they all will be answered… eventually.” She paused. It was a brief one but still there. “But, I will allow one question.”

My mind went blank. Right as the opportunity arose to ask one of the questions I was just thinking of. Poof. My mind was calmer than a sleeping rabbit. I sat there thinking. I knew that I would have to choose my question carefully. She seemed like someone who would avoid questions that were too personal, but I knew she wouldn’t lie. She will just give me a vague answer. I sat there for several minutes when it finally hit me. I knew exactly what I was going to ask.

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“Why me?”

Her eyes widened with surprise.

“Well, when you found me in the woods, I saw something behind you. Right above your head, burned into a tree, was my mother’s symbol. It was glowing, so I knew that she wanted me to take you along.”

“What in the world does that mean!” That was the most confusing answer I could have ever gotten. What kind of cryptic nonsense did she just spit out. Her mother’s symbol was burning on a tree. Though, she was obviously not from around here. Maybe where she is from it’s normal for your mother’s name to be burned into a tree. In fact, there were a lot of things that were off about her.

One thing was how she dressed. She sported a long black trench coat that was now lightly dusted in snow. Looking closer I noticed what she wore under the coat and it made my eyes widen. At her neck she wore a choker of sorts. It looked like a black strip with a large ankh hanging from a metal loop in the necklace. At a quick glance it kind of looked like a door knocker. Looking down she had a linen cloth wrapped around her chest like a mummy, from under the cloth a fish net like chainmail covered her midriff. In order to hold the chain mail to her body a suspender-like fabric formed an “H” like formation around her stomach with the bottom attaching to her skin-tight shorts.

Algea suddenly lunged at me and we both went tumbling into a snow-covered log. She quickly put her hand to my mouth and shoved my head deeper into the snow.

“Don’t move. Don’t make a sound, and close your eyes.”

I lay completely still half covered in snow as Algea jumped into the tree canopy above. That’s when I heard it, the sound of footsteps approaching. I quickly closed my eyes. I could hear my heart hammering as they entered the camp.

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“She was here, I can smell it.” Growled a deep voice. “When I get a hold of her….” He got cut off by another smaller voice located right above me.

“Her scent is strong. She couldn't have gotten far. At least we know our information was right.”

“Thank you Echo. I just want my wife back where she belongs.”

There was something about how he spoke that made me not believe a word.

He was now walking to about where the tent stood. The girl named Echo was close behind him.

“Yuck! This was a human camp. She really has lowered her standards.” He said this with disgust. Like He was currently covered in slugs. I heard the sound of crushing charred wood.

“Lord Ulysses, we need to get going. The trail is fading.” I could hear her shifting in the snow as she spoke.

With that, I heard them run into the woods. I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath until my lungs started to burn in protest. I gasped for air and opened my eyes. I still didn’t dare move. Algea still isn't back, and I was starting to get restless. I risked moving my head ever so slightly. It was just enough to see that the fire pit was completely scattered all over the clearing. As my adrenaline lowered I was starting to lose feeling in my fingers and toes, but Algea was still gone.

“You can move now.”

I jumped straight up. She was standing only a few paces behind my head, and had started walking towards me.

“How?” I was completely confused about how she got down from the trees and across the clearing without a noise. She hoisted me up with little effort and dusted me off.

“I made a space where no one could see you. I marked the hieroglyphs last night as a precaution. I didn’t think I was going to actually have to use it.”

Her brow creased and I could see a light scar that snaked under her bandaged eye.

“You're married?” Was all my rattled nerves could come up with.

“I need to explain. You need to know what you have gotten yourself into.” She shook her head and then lifted up her bandage to expose her left eye.

Instead of a damaged dark brown eye like I expected, a golden eye stared back at me. When exposed to the sun its pupil contracted into a slit like a cat’s. She then took me by the shoulders with a look of guilt.

“Do you like tea?”

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