Chapter 131
"Mark Chief, what are your orders?"
Dron could hear the questions and uncertainty coming from the men behind him.
They weren’t the only ones who were uncertain. Of all the lore that he’d heard about the forbidden area of Skoq, one that was prevalent was the knowledge that no one could survive here for very long.
So how was it that there were children? Children that looked to be in better shape than the children he saw in the poor class.
Still, Dron knew he had to do something and fast. The longer he stood there unsure of what to do, the longer the men would believe that he was truly unfit for this detail.
"We follow them." Dron finally spoke out loud.
"To what end? Why are we following them?" Krex asked.
"Because they may not be part of the answers we are looking for, but their parents might be. Unless of course you lot get your kicks out of harming little children." He turned to look over his shoulder and realized that all of the soilders behind him had begun to look down in shame.
Just as he looked back, he realized that quickly, and one by one, the children were all disappearing.
"Forward," Dron ordered.
The group of them made their way to the spot where the children had first appeared. It didn’t take him long to realize that they weren’t in fact disappearing but instead scaling down a steep cliff that was just out of sight from where Dron and the rest of the company were standing prior.
"Damn it. We’re never going to be able to catch up with them." Verux huffed from by Dron’s side.
"We don’t need to catch up with them. We just don’t need to lose sight of them." Dron said over his shoulder.
Quickly the group of alphas scaled down the edge of the cliff. The terrain made it more difficult than it should be for a bunch of alphas to get down some rock, but Dron cautioned restraint. The last thing he needed was one of his men breaking a leg or falling into a crevice that he couldn’t see because they were too focused on keeping up with the children.
The kids barely looked behind them. Every once in a while they would peek at Dron and his group and hoot. Dron couldn’t tell if they were doing that just to keep eyes on them or if they were drawing the group nearer. This could all be part of an intricate trap. One that Dron was leading his men right into.
He didn’t have the time to think about that right now. Those children were the closest he’d gotten to a lead since he’d been on this forsaken island.
Is anyone else feeling a chill?" Krex asked his pace to slow.
"What are you concerned with the weather for? We’ve got to keep going." Krazek barked and jumped high in the air, coming down just ahead of Dron.
Krex, on the other hand, put his hand out to stop Dron from moving any more. Dron looked to the man’s face and could see the confusion and hesitation. Something was wrong.
"What is it?" Dron questioned.
"Danger." It was the only word that Krex could get out before a loud, booming roar caused everyone besides the children to come up short. They continued running while Dron and his men stared in disbelief as a beast he could only describe as a stoned monster pulled itself from the side of the mountain and stood to its towering height.
It would take at least four drones standing on their own shoulders to reach the beast’s midsection. It was a giant.
A menacing giant that had the look of destruction in its eyes.
"Fall back!" Krazek called out.
"Negative!" Dron instantly replied, "Stand your ground." Dron had never seen a beast like this before, but he was an alpha. The last thing he was going to do was run.
"You really want to fight him?" Verux questioned.
"We don’t have much of a choice," Dron answered. " If we run, he’ll see us as prey and come after us harder. If we stand our ground—"
Dron didn’t have a chance to finish his statement. Before he knew what was happening, the large rock beast lobbed a huge boulder on the ground at them.
They expertly dodged the attack and got back on solid ground.
"Draw your weapons," Dron ordered. At that moment he was seriously regretting the fact that they weren’t better prepared for a fight of this magnitude. What exactly was Elecwants going to do against a beast of this size?
Nothing.
Still, he had to try.
"You three, take the flank. The rest of us will stay front." With that, everyone ran off to the prospective spots.
It was a battle unlike anything Dron had ever been a part of. His entire crew did their very best in trying to make sure that the monster didn’t either get away or stomp on any of them. For a moment it looked like they were actually making some progress. That is until the large monster reached down into a reserve of boulders, picked one up, and somehow magically turned the arid piece of stone into solid ice.
Dron stared at it for a second, trying to logically come to grips with what was happening.
There was no explanation for any of this.
He blinked a few times, and before he knew it, the large mammoth of a monster was hurling the stone straight up into the air. That wasn’t what Dron had expected.
Krazek roared and raced forward as if he were about to scale the large beast.
"No wait!" Dron called out. The stubborn alpha paid his order no mind. Before Dron could rush forward and help the man, the large boulder that the beast had hurled into the air came down in pieces. Large sharp shards of deadly ice rained down on the group of them.
Dron and the rest that were far enough away dodged behind cover, while Krazek, who was too close to the monster to do the same, simply fell to the ground and tried to take cover that way.
It was no use.
Dron cringed as he heard the man screaming out in pain as several of the sharp shards found their way into the man’s flesh.
"Damn it!" Dron yelled. "Now! Get closer to him!" he ordered before he rushed over to where Krazek lay on the ground screaming in agony. Dron grabbed hold of the man under his arms and dragged him as quickly as he could behind cover.
"Oh, moon goddess. I’m going to die. This is the end for me."
"No one is dying; just stay calm. I’m going to get you out of here." Dron nodded his head once before he could focus on the battle in front of him. The rest of the men did as he asked and managed to get closer to the monster. In the shortened distance, they were able to do much more damage.
Finally it seemed as if they were doing some damage to the monster. Dron and the rest of the men swiped with their weapons. Pressing the electrical rods against the beast’s legs and wherever else they could reach. There was a deep lulling noise as the large stone monsters swayed slightly and fell to the ground.
"Get on top of it!" Dron ordered, wondering if this would be the chance to put it out of their misery. Not that he knew how to do that? How did one go about killing a stone?
Dron didn’t have the answers, but he hoped there was something that could be done. There wasn’t much time.
He chanced a glance in the opposite direction to see if he could still see the children that they had somewhat foolishly followed. They were long gone.
Krex was right. This had been a trap. One that he foolishly led them all into.
Dron scaled up the monster, getting to where he thought the neck was, and lifted his sword. He didn’t think it would do any damage, but before he could bring the weapon down, there was a loud whistling sound.
His alpha instincts locked onto the source, and he turned his head slightly in that direction.
It was an older woman, dressed in the most unusual garb.
"Enough!" She screamed out in anger.
Everyone stopped as if she had somehow used an alpha tone. Was that what she was? An alpha? Dron couldn’t tell from this distance.
Before he could speak, the rock monster that he and all of his company were standing on got up from the ground, shaking the crew off in the process. It walked back to its space against the side of the large mountain as if nothing had happened.
The blows that Dron thought that they were making progress with had done absolutely nothing.
Thankfully, his crew were all able to fall to the ground safely, and no one besides Krazek was injured.
"Who are you?" Dron called out; he faced the woman who was standing atop the tall cliff.
"Don’t worry about who I am, cursed one. We all know who you are."
All? Dron straighted up and looked around. Suddenly he realized that it wasn’t just the kids in the area but a full community of people. They were surrounded.
By people who shouldn’t exist.
The high royals had lied about the land of Skoq.