"Brandon!"
Larry reached out a hand and grabbed me before I could run over to his body. My logic failed me. All I could think about was him lying there, blood slowly staining the floor, cuts all over his body.
His breathing was rather shallow. He didn't seem to have heard me when I screamed. "S" nudged him with his foot, smiling.
"He will not be able to hear you, young one. He's far too deep inside of his mind."
"You monster!" I screamed, trying to lash out at him. Larry kept a firm grip on me.
"Stick together. We cannot fight them all on our own."
I gritted my teeth, nodded, and glared at the man. He was still wearing that stupid, jeering grin, the face that said that he had won and that he was superior to all of us.
"He may not be able to hear or feel what happens here..." He continued, "...but that won't prevent him from dying, will it?" He unsheathed his sword, a short sword made of Celestial Bronze. As I gazed closer, however, I thought I could make out tiny flecks of gold also embedded in the blade.
"Now, then, shall we make some deals, children?"
I turned to Larry. He had worry on his face. He knew what the price would be to keep Brandon alive. Whether or not he would take it, I didn't know. He finally hung his head and nodded.
I stared into the man's Eye. "What do you want?"
"Just a few things," he began immediately. "One, you will give me the dragon horn that you had received from Mr Lee over here. Two, you will revoke your use of the Eye, and three, you will serve as those tortured in his place."
I thought for a moment. It was a steep price to pay for one boy. I was sacrificing the quest, sacrificing the world for Brandon. Was it all really that worth it?
My mind reached out to one day back at camp, before the quest. There had been an accident at the rock wall and one of the campers was near death. It seemed impossible to save him, but Will said that there was a way, that there was a medicine of some sort that could potentially work and stop him from dying. The only trouble was, it was still in its experimental phase, and it was located in Taiwan.
Never before had I seen Brandon run that fast.
It only took him twenty seconds to come back to camp with the capsule and a syringe. He ran all over Manhattan and Camp fetching Will supplies that day, getting him what he needed to help that guy. The guy made it, in the end. Those two were able to save his life.
Brandon could get out of a lot of impossible situations himself. He cheated death, solved the unsolvable, did the undoable. I could see the two of us working a way out. The two of us.
"Ok, on one condition."
S raised an eyebrow, luminous eye still on me. "And what might that condition be, darling?"
"Larry does not need to fulfill these requirements and may leave."
S sneered. "Very well then." He snapped his fingers and the soldiers shuffled away from the two of us. "Escort him out." Two of the monsters grabbed Larry by the shoulders and dragged him out.
"You've done a lot already," I whispered as he was forced to leave, "I can't let you go through more for this."
S clapped mockingly. "Very touching, Ms Stone. Now, my end of the bargain." He extended his arm. "The horn, if you may."
I grabbed the horn from my inside coat pocket and thrust it at him. He caught it lightly and examined it. "Still nice. Now, the protection really must go."
My turn to smile. "I'm afraid I don't know how, S."
He froze, then relaxed and maintained his smile. "Very well then. As long as Mr Lee is here under my control, you will have no will to oppose me anyways."
"Hold on! You said you'd let Brandon go!"
He raised his palm. "I said he would not be tortured. He is still to be imprisoned."
I let out a yell and charged at him, sword lifted high. At the last second, he faded and reappeared behind me. "Tsk, tsk. Off to a bad start, aren't we?" He flicked his sword and a small cut appeared on Brandon's wrist. "I recommend you do what I say, now, before I do worse."
I gritted my teeth, anger rising within me. "Fine!"
"Alberto will escort you to your cell. Stay there until further orders are given." He gestured to an Earthborn, who bowed and began to walk down the hall.
I started to follow him. As I walked past Brandon, I brushed past Brandon. I could have sworn I felt his hand grip my arm for a second before I was walked down the hall to my new cell.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
I kept my eyes closed to keep the illusion together. Inside my mind, I waited for him. Finally he came.
He looked like the same old guy that had always lived inside my mind. Still, it felt like I was seeing him for the first time. It felt strange to be in his presence again, after so much pain and so many days.
"Hello, Brandon."
"Hello, Caleb. We have work to do."
