7: King's Guard

With the bright blue stretched out above, and the sun nearing its peak, everything was going as planned. The sea still and the air alike, the heat of the day only rose. The town was alive with people rushing to and fro, preparing for the big event at midday—the awakening of the Damdam a.k.a. snail.

"You sure this will work?" I asked Philip as we headed towards the cliff.

"I'm sure this'll work. But..." his voice trailed off and he halted. "But nothing. This will go smoothly, hopefully."

"You don't sound so sure," I grumbled.

"Trust me alright. You have issues." He smirked.

"No I don't."

"Yes you do," he teased.

I scoffed, ending the bickering. "What if it doesn't?"

"Plan B."

"What if plan B doesn't work?"

Philip folded his arms over his chest and stared ahead, stoic. "We'll see how it goes. Don't worry, let me worry."

The whole village gathered at a cliff, where the snail's head would come up. The chief and his sidekick ladies sat in a little shelter that had been specially prepared for them for the ceremony. The mage who'd be waking it stood at the edge, dressed in only a grass-skirt. He sat there, in meditation pose, not looking up for anybody.

"Has it already started?" I asked Philip.

He looked over and down at me. "He's working on it."

"And then, how does this work? He'll just borrow a little of its magic and undo the curse?"

"Hopefully it's just a little."

I felt like I had just smacked right into a brick wall. "But you told the chief that we'd only use a tiny bit. You lied to the chief?!"

He scowled. "Sshh keep it down, you lied too, don't forget that."

"I-I, that doesn't count, you lied about it first."

A resonating dong sound interrupted Philip.

"Stand back," the old chief said. "Silence while the mage works, or suffer the consequences."

I hung my head in defeat, this man was the end of me.

Silence, suffoacting silence, as my mind chruned a million questions. The village people sat about on the grass, not one daring to disobey the chief's orders. The chief shut his eyes and sat in meditation, almost imitating the mage. We waited and waited and finally a large round ball rose from just off the cliff's edge. The silence continued as the ball rose higher on its neck-like structure. Another ball followed beside it.

"Those are the eyes," Philip said.

I nodded, mesmerized by the sight of this ancient magical creature. Soon both its eyes were lifted to equal heights. The mage stood, chanting strange words. He moved his arms about as if in dance. As he worked, the atmosphere turned tense and suffocating, it felt like everyone had been holding their breaths. I wiped the sweat off my brow and gulped, my throat was a desert. I looked to Philip who was pale-faced to say the least, maybe even more than we all were. I nudged him and he looked down at me, bewildered.

"What's wrong?" I whispered.

"It's not working." He said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"What do you mean? Its awake isn't it?"

"He's not rejuvenating the island; the snail's magic feels the same."

"Why don't you help him?"

"I can't. Its magic will kill him if I distract him. This simply needs to end."

"Alright then what's stopping him? Get rid of it."

Philip froze. Looked at me. Shook his head. "It can't be."

"What?"

"Come with me."

He grabbed my hand and ran. I ran along with because there was no use struggling, he was quick. We raced through the crowd and towards the mage. Philip turned just in time before he could collide with the mage and leaped over the edge. We plummeted into the sea. This was the second time I fell with this guy, and I wasn't keen for a third time. We went below. The salty water rushed into my lungs. I pushed through the water and emerged at the surface with the man who brought me here.

"What did you do that for?!" I roared.

He sighed and wiped the water from his eyes. "You needed to get off the island."

"What?"

He shook his head and waded his way to shore. I followed behind, puzzled. But at shore we were met by several warriors. I assumed they were there to help us, instead they pointed their spears at us as soon as we were on land.

"What's going on?" I asked. That's when I felt the suns heat on my cheeks, without my scarf on. My hands clasped my face, I stepped back, but the sea was all that was behind me.

"What are you?" A warrior demanded.

Philip who had his hands raised above his head replied, "she's nobody. She won't hurt anyone."

It all happened so quickly, the warriors restrained our hands to our backs and led us back into the village. All the while, I racked my brain to recall what in the world I had done. Maybe it was because I lied. Maybe it was my scales.

They brought us to the chief's hut at the village center where they forced us to our knees before the chief, the two creepy old ladies and the mage who stood beside them. Chief was furious, to put it simply.

"Philip!" The chief bellowed. "What have you brought to the island!?"

"She's not dangerous," Philip replied, not a drop of emotion in his voice.

"And yet she almost cost us a year of the damdam's magic! How is she not?!"

"She didn't know. Forgive her." His gaze downcast but his tone anything but pleading.

"I would, but she, she is an abomination. Look at her face! If the king caught word of this, he'd have my head!" He shouted, slowly turning red, the veins on his forehead bulging, as his chest rose and fell rapidly.

My head was practically touching the earth. I knew that if I looked into the chief's eyes then I'd have burst into tears.

"Don't jump to conclusions, you haven't even confirmed that she is one." Philip's voice was unchanging. My life was in his hands, I only hoped he knew what he was doing.

"Well then allow me!" Boomed the chief. "Prepare the fire."

My head snapped up to meet the chief's eyes. "Let him go then! He doesn't deserve to be punished too!"

"Shut up Mo," Philip growled, emotion finally sipping into his tone.

But they were already preparing the fire just outside the hut. It was already blazing in mere seconds.

"Take her," the chief ordered, motioning to me.

I didn't struggle, I didn't fight back, all I asked was, "please give the gem to Philip."

Philip looked at me so miserably, I knew this was my end. Except it wasn't. "She's one of the King's guard."

The chief's face morphed into fright. "You're lying."

Philip stared straight into the old man's eyes. "You know what kind of people are on the guard: people like me."

The chief waved a hand and the warriors dropped me. He looked to me expectantly. "Are you a King's guard?"

I was shaking. Couldn't think clearly. About to cry. When I looked to Philip, whose face told me to say, "yes."

The chief inhaled sharply. Then released it slowly. When he spoke again, his tone was sickeningly sweet. "Well I'd hate to be an inconvenience. We will prepare for your departure when you please. Why don't you two get cleaned up for supper?"

"We'd like to leave now, if you don't mind," Philip said.

The chief nodded. "Very well." And to his warriors, "prepare the boat!"

We stood and headed for the dock. I never liked lying, it always weighed so heavy on my chest. And here I had agreed to the worst lie one could tell: I was a King's guard. Little did I know that it would soon become a reality.

A/n: so, recently I finished the first book of the hunger games. And it is absolutely amazing. I was up till 3 in the morning and as soon as I woke up I started reading again. Damn, it's so good. Won't watch the movies though, I hate all adaptions.