Chapter Seventeen: Decisions, decisions

The interior of the cabin voiced much the same image Calin had received outside, overgrown.

The rumble of an old generator filtered in and a single light started to cast some illumination over part of the interior. Many other lights showed no sign of life.

Slowly, he stepped over broken planks in the rotten floor. The wood creaked beneath his heavy boots. It almost made him feel like they were trespassing and shouldn’t have disturbed this place.

It left him wondering what Tyas could possibly want in a cabin that was overrun with cobwebs.

He made his way over to where the man was busy drawing away old torn paintings from the dusty walls. Calin’s curiosity got the best of him.

“What are you d—” but was silenced immediately by Tyas’ upraised hand. He pulled a mocking face behind the man and looked around for anything that could bide his time.

There was an old fireplace. Its walls ran dark with soot, clearly once being used regularly. Beside it, there stood a large mirror, cracked on the one side, but it was still showing the reflection of the slightly unused cabin. Curiosity tugged on Calin as he approached the tall mirror.

With some trepidation, he lifted his shirt and shifted his body at an angle to again see the scar the lightning had left on his body. The glass that had melted into his shoulder blade almost made him sick to the stomach. But he drew his nerves together and used the free time to study the strange scar.

Even with the awkward angle looking over his shoulder at the mirror, he could make out that the edges looked like there was a darker grey ink that was trying to infiltrate his skin. Calin shuddered finally, not liking the idea to have such an ugly scar.

With a sigh, he moved away from the mirror. He stepped on a rotten floorboard and stumbled to the side, he struck something that made a noise of metal hitting metal before he regained his balance.

It threw his attention off of the scar as he reached down between the thick white cob webs. His hands circled an object and he drew on it, the weight of the thing made it heavier than it had seemed, but as the object came clear, it was an iron fire poker.

A good find, especially after he had lost his new knife through the chaos of the attack. Bitterness over it still gnawed at him.

Dusting it off, he was at least glad to have a crude but decent type of weapon, even if just for the time being.

Though, before he could test the iron, a dull thud split the air. He spun around and noticed Tyas was gone and there was a hole in the wall.

Calin tensed, not knowing what had happened. Cautiously he moved towards the location. On the approach to the dark recesses of the gap in the wall, a hand came reaching around the edge. By instinct he jerked the poker up, but before he could swing the iron rod, Tyas’ face became clear in the dark. The man jerked back from Calin’s iron weapon and said, “Hey! Watch it with that thing. You could have poked my eye out.”

Only slightly ashamed, Calin lowered the weapon while Tyas stepped out reaching for an old flashlight. The man flicked at the switch but it didn’t go on. Calin smirked at it and tapped his fire poker against the wall in time with Tyas’ flicks of the switch.

Tyas shot him an impatient glare. “Stop smiling and get me the batteries from the counter in the corner, please?”

Calin’s grin broadened, but he complied and quickly fetched the batteries.

After a few failed attempts of getting the batteries in, the man finally got it right and the room brightened under the extra glow from the flashlight.

Tyas’ satisfaction was evident as he said, “There, now that’s better. You coming?” The man turned away from Calin and stepped back into the dimly lit hole. As much as he didn’t like closed off spaces he shrugged and followed.

The space inside quickly broadened into a hidden room, a musky smell hung thick in the air. It was a cube-like room and three meters across inside, but strangely the place was untouched by spiders. Just then, Calin realized the room was full of hiking and climbing gear. Hiker’s rucksacks and knapsacks adorned the left wall, and the right was covered in all sorts of tools of survival.

In no small manner, it dawned on him that Tyas had spent his life surviving on his own and was prepared for almost any eventuality. If the man’s telling of his mother was any inclination, Tyas really did take after her.

It was a good skill set to have, but at what cost did he do it? To be alone all those years was not something Calin would’ve wished on anybody. He knew all too well what that was like.

A frown creased his forehead as he picked up a climbing axe and asked, “Tyas, why do you have climbing axes?”

Tyas, who had been busy stuffing a rucksack with all kinds of stuff, stopped. A dark look passed over the man’s face for a brief second.

Calin wondered what secrets lay hidden in that mind, but he pushed aside the thought when Tyas said, “Guess you can say I’ve been through a lot of places the last couple of years. Sometimes running away, most of the times looking for something.”

“What were you looking for?” Calin asked out of curiosity. But Tyas glared at him, clearly frustrated, and without answering the question the man asked in a somewhat distracted voice.

“Calin, can you go fetch your own stuff and start packing it into one of the larger rucksacks? Also get the others to come. We need to discuss some matters.”

The reactions from Tyas were enough to raise suspicions in Calin, but he didn’t press the matter as he held the man’s gaze for only a second longer before he left the hidden room.

The moment he stepped outside the cabin, the dawn started to seep over the edge of the trees, the soft blue tugging at the dark heavens and finally giving way to the telltale pink of the early morning. He paused and took a deep breath of the cool morning air. With that, he ventured on towards the truck.

Jerry had clearly had enough of the cold back of the truck. He and Evany sat snuggling in the front of the truck for any heat under the blanket Calin had given her and the one Jerry had used on their way here.

The driver’s door was stuck in the cold and Calin had to lean back, almost to the point of being off balanced. Finally the door swung open and he grinned as much for himself stumbling as for two huddling for warmth inside. “Comfy you two lovebirds?”

Both of them glared at him and he chuckled before he said, “Okay okay, chill you two, I’m just kidding. Anyway can you hand me my bag? We need to go inside, Tyas wants to talk.” While moving slightly forward he made the sound of calling a cat and received another set of glares as Evany handed him his bag. It was a running joke between him and Jerry after Evany had black mailed them a long time ago, she was a wild cat.

Another chuckle burst forward as he left the two struggling out of the truck into the cold air. He hurried into the house and waited at the gap in the wall only long enough to make sure the other two noticed him.

While crouching to enter, Evany shattered the silence as she growled. ”I hate spider webs. It feels so gross.”

Calin ignored her pleas as he blew out air after being startled. He entered further into the hidden room. Inside, he was just in time to see Tyas tying something heavy, wrapped in cloth, to the outside of his rucksack.

While unfastening the top of his bag, Calin asked, “What is that?”

Tyas looked at him thoughtfully. “If everything works as plan, I’ll show you this afternoon.”

Calin narrowed his eyes slightly, but without saying anything he picked up a large hiking bag under the closest shelf, it was clearly meant for weeks of hiking.

With some adjustments, he slowly started to place his clothes and essentials into the larger rucksack and was about to stuff in a compass when Tyas handed him a large heavy parcel. It was wrapped tightly.

It was heavier than it looked as Calin weighed it in his hands.

“Tyas, you’re being overly cryptic,” he accused just as the other two scooted through the small passage with their own affects.

With a shrug at him, the man said, “It’s not because I want to be, but you’ll see soon enough. Just wait another couple of hours and some of it will be explained.”

“Okay, but I don’t like secrets,” Calin conceded after a few seconds.

Just then Evany perked up and asked, “Secrets? What secrets.”

“Nothing, don’t worry.” Calin waved at her, “Here is hiking rucksacks for you two.”

With a slight heave, he sent them flying the short distance to Jerry. The boy caught it swiftly. But in the act Tyas’ hands jerked surprisingly. It was as if the man wanted to stop something. Calin spun on him and demanded.

“What now?!”

Tyas’ frown was deep, but he waited impatiently, and the man finally said, “It’s just that now that we got away from those things, I had guessed that Evany and Jerry could go on from here to Drave’s town. It’s just a few kilometres northwest of here.”

“Okay...?” Calin braved as all three of them stared in confusion, not sure what the man meant.

Tyas’ hand was in his pocket and drew out the keys of the truck and threw it at Evany. The girl almost dropped the unexpected projectile, but with some juggling she got the keys in hand. Without hesitation Tyas started describing how to get to the town. “You take the road left from here and when you reach a T-junction you turn right and you and Jerry will end up at Drave’s town.”

Alarm bells were ringing in Calin’s head. The manner in which the man spoke seemed out of place. There was something he didn’t want to tell them.

Calin narrowed his eyes and stared harder at the man, Evany was about to speak when Calin interrupted her and said, “Huh, what are you getting at? Why should they leave us?”

There was an intense look of panic on Tyas’ face as he stammered, “Because...um...”

“Because what Tyas?!” hissed Evany from the side.

“BECAUSE THERE IS NO WAY BACK FOR YOU WHERE CALIN AND I MUST GO!”

All of a sudden everybody was deathly quiet, Tyas was breathing deeply with frustration.

Calin glanced around in shock at the outburst. Finally his eyes settled on Evany, her face was full of confusion, but her voice was soft as she spoke again. “What do you mean Tyas... please tell us.”

Calin locked his eyes on Tyas, the man had a look intense concentration, a vein in his forehead revealed itself. But then Tyas’ countenance dropped, like something he desperately wanted to say but couldn’t.

With a defeated voice, Tyas said, “I wish I could, I really do.”

“Bull—” started Evany but Calin gave her a pointed stare which made her swallow her word. With that he walked over to Tyas and cautiously asked, “Are we going over the sea, to a different continent Tyas? Is that what you mean?”

Then Tyas’ eyes flicked up to him, something passed over his expression before the man said, “Yes ... yes, I was just thinking that our means to get there doesn’t give us the option to just decide to come back. Something like that.”

At close range Calin stared into the man’s deep amber eyes, something in them made him wonder. But then again, it is what I was thinking. With a sudden grin at Tyas, he smacked the man over his back with amusement.

“Was it that hard to say we are going abroad? Hahaha, Tyas you’re such an odd man.”

That solved, he turned on the other two and said, “Looks like you two have a choice to make, because I’m going with Tyas, there are too many questions that need answering for me to stay. But it looks like we might not easily get a chance to come back.”

Tyas coughed from behind and said, “Absolutely certain.” And to the other two he said, “If I were you, I would take the truck and leave for Drave’s town, you can even come back to the cabin later if you wish. I have no more use for it after today.”

Calin couldn’t help but wonder why the man was so desperate to persuade the others to leave. Tyas had been secretive the entire time since they met a couple of hours ago, but he had a strange sense of honour and Calin wasn’t going to question it.

With a flick of both his shoulders he went over to his own belongings. Everybody else was mulling over the prospect whether to go abroad or not.

Picking up one of the climbing axes again, he asked over his shoulder, “Hey Tyas can I have two of these? It would make a better thing to swing with. I lost my knife.”

With a distracted grunt the man approved. “Take whatever you need. Make sure to pack one of the small gas stoves.”

After that the room went into silence again, only the shuffling of people packing bags disturbing the air.

A few minutes later, Calin finished and only added some final additions, like a small headlight into a side pocket alongside the compass he had handled earlier. It had a little thermometer in it and a whistle.

But before he could tie it closed, Tyas stepped over and handed him a black cloak with a midnight-blue moon on the centre of its back. It was exquisite material, soft to the touch, almost velvety on its interior, but it seemed strong. On the inside it was lined all around the edges with the same blue. Raising an eyebrow Calin asked, “And this? What is it for?”

With a helpless shrug Tyas said, “For in case.” The man stepped towards the others also giving them cloaks. For Evany a black cloak adorned with dark green markings and a tree on its back. For Jerry a dark brown one with a charcoal lining inside with a fist holding a branch on the back.

They both turned to Calin with questioning glances but he could only shrug before they continued with what they were doing.

From the side Tyas grumbled under his breath and noisily donned the overstuffed rucksack and Calin quickly followed suit.

As they stepped towards the door Tyas sighed heavily and turned to the other two and said, “If you want to take your chances, find us behind the cabin in fifteen minutes.”

Calin watched as Tyas bit his lip in frustration a look of deep thought glazed over the man’s eyes before his shoulders slumped.

“Know this, it’s going to be a hard journey.” Tyas said, “I can guarantee it. You can take anything in the cabin, if you can carry it, but if you decide to follow me and Calin, remember we might only have our rucksacks for weeks to come, so choose wisely.”

Making a move to leave, Tyas seemed to remember something and said, “Oh and there is food in the truck behind the seats. If you are wise and decide to go to Drave’s town, I wish the best for you.” With that Tyas left the room and a deep sigh escaped Calin.

The more Tyas spoke, the more Calin believed the curveball life had thrown him was going to bring hardship for a long while. He stopped next to Evany, and said, “I know it sounds like a tempting journey, but I don’t want you to make this choice if it means only to follow me for adventure’s sake.”

Evany looked up, uncertainty plain across her face. She shuddered in a breath while playing nervously with a lock of golden hair before she said.

“I know, I know, but this is my cleanest break from what my father forced on me for my life. It is probably stupid, but I want to go. Besides, by the looks of it, you all could surely use someone with some logic.”

Calin huffed at her but smiled and then moved over to Jerry. The boy held up his hands and said, “Don’t look at me, you know as well as I do that I don’t have any reason to stay behind, Misses T has always had enough on her hands. She will understand... eventually. I hope she does, at least. Though, I am not looking forward to the boat trip. I never enjoyed being on the sea.”

There was no denying the reasoning, since Misses Talsen lost her husband she had to shoulder double the responsibility. Calin only nodded, especially for the part about the boat trip, I don’t either. Glancing at the door finally, he said, “Meet you outside then.”

***

Calin manoeuvred himself and the large rucksack outside and found Tyas busy adding food parcels to his bag from the truck. With fairly heavy strides, with the extra weight on him, he moved towards the man and had to think fast as Tyas tossed him a food parcel. Catching it, he was soon next to the man and said, “I take it the food is for the journey on the ship?”

“Yes, it’s for the journey.”

He had hoped to get more from the man but it didn’t work. Finally to break the awkward silence, he said, “So, these are all things that can last long?”

Seeming more relaxed at the change of subject Tyas nodded. “No veggies I’m afraid, but I’m sure you will be fine without?”

The last seven years screamed yes to that answer, “I’m used to taking what I can get.”

“Good,” Tyas said as he finished his packing. Calin wasn’t far behind. From his left, Jerry and Evany approached the truck. Calin slung his rucksack over his shoulder when Tyas ventured around the back of the cabin. Evany was already packing food as he said, “Make sure to take enough for a week, I know it’s heavy but Tyas packed for that.”

The other two nodded and Calin hiked after Tyas, the hiking bag already weighed heavy on his shoulders, he tried to roll them, but it was certain that it was going to be a tough hike, especially with the added weight of the mysterious parcel that weighed him down.

Reaching the edge of the forest, there was a small path marked by sandstone. Without hesitation, he started along it.

And over at a large fallen tree, Tyas was busy filling up a water bottle at a tap, the man waved Calin over before he said, “Okay, it’s early dawn, we have about three hours time to reach the cliffs. So be ready for a hard hike.”

That caught his attention, and with a frown at Tyas he asked, “Cliffs?”

“Yes, they look over the ocean.”

Calin shifted uncomfortably, the image of the dream still raw in his mind, but he accepted it and took Tyas’ place filling his own water bottle. “So we wait for the others and then we press for the cliffs?” Calin asked with meaning.

He specifically watched Tyas’ face carefully, and when the man cringed slightly, Calin lashed out.

“Seriously, what is your problem with my friends following me? It’s done, we have made the choice. So accept it for goodness sake.” With a glare at Tyas, Calin almost shook his open water bottle at the man, but stopped at the last moment waiting for Tyas’ response.

Tyas looked panicked, but a few seconds later the clear sound of him breathing deeply broke the tension in the air as the man said,

“Look Calin, I’m worried that’s all. I know your motivation for this and mine. There are big things that need answering, and the danger of staying is too great, but their motive is only in following you, maybe one or two other small points. BUT, they don’t know what they are getting themselves into.”

Calin threw up his hands at that and a splash of water flew through the air.

“Neither do I!” He shouted in frustration while folding his arms. Tyas tried to calm him down with little success, but after a moment the man said, “Yes, I know that. I really, really wish I could tell you. But trust me when I tell you that in a few hours when I get the chance to tell you, that you will be the only one that can truly accept the truth. Or at least I hope so.”

Frustrated to the point of screaming, Calin wanted to shout at the man for being thick, but when Evany and Jerry entered the small path to his right he gritted his teeth and said, “Let’s go. I don’t want to hear your excuses anymore.”

At that instant he didn’t care if Tyas’ eyes screamed for patience. He would follow this man, but it will be in silence.

Summoning the deep rooted patience he had for his friends, he waved at Evany and Jerry and told them to fill their water bottles.

A minute later, they all set off after the amber eyed man. At the rate things were going, Calin guessed a truly clouded future lurked ahead.