The Fifth World

Bo: The loud sounds continue. It is like thunder. So deep, so loud and so close. With every thud there are shrieks from frightened children. Their parents are holding them, assuring them that everything is going to be okay even though they know it won't. Thirty minutes have passed since Wendell and the Seabrooke guardians left Council house. These are probably the longest minutes of my life.

"There is Janine!" I hear Nancy yell.

She pushes herself through the crowd and runs towards the door where Janine has appeared. Janine's red hair is a mess from the cold winds outside... and her white clothing is a little bit dirty. She walks slowly, her face looking at the floor. I can see she is upset. When Nancy meets her she throws her arms around her and holds her for a good twenty seconds.

She lets go of Janine, "where is Cynric? Did he find you?"

Felicity and I slowly walk over to the pair. Janine doesn't even look at me, she appears as if she in a trance, mixed with fear and sadness, "there are Thornes at the Seabrooke wall. They carry weapons - none that I have seen before. They will not stop. Wendell is trying to speak to them but nobody, not even their commander, will listen."

"What do they want, Janine?" Nancy asks her as she brushes her fingers through Janine's hair. It is as if she is trying to calm her. Janine doesn't even meet Nancy's eyes. Her eyes stay firmly on the floor.

"It is not what they want," she whispers, "it is who."

"Who do they want?" Felicity demands impatiently. Nancy shoots an unpleasant look Felicity's way but she does not respond.

"Cynric wanted to help Wendell. He told me to come here. I just kept hearing the commander of the Thornes speak every so often - or yell and motivate."

"What was he saying?" Felicity asks again. "What is it, Janine?!"

Janine's eyes finally look up at someone and a fear shoots through me - because her eyes are staring directly at me. "They want the hybrid."

Cynric: It is quiet amongst the trees. I am surrounded by darkness but even the slightest move will give my presence away to anybody around me. I squat, my shoes almost buried in a load of mud. I can hear Wendell. He is standing on the insides of the wall, the guardians behind him. I can also hear the commander general of the Thornes. He is instructing them, yelling at them and encouraging them to keep trying to demolish the wall. It must be a ram that they have. By morning I am sure they will gain entry... that is unless they bring even more destructive weapons this way - such as catapults.

"When inside, capture the hybrid!" I have been hearing these words for the passed ten minutes and every time I hear them my heart pounds. They want the hybrid. The hybrid. Half Angelican, half Time Jumper. Bo.

"If you do not cease to attack, we will fire upon you!" I hear Wendell say for the tenth time.

The Thornes do not listen. They ignore him. Wendell turns around and nods his head once. I watch, in perfect formation, how some Shape Shifters and Time Jumpers lift up their bows and draw the arrows. There is a perfect sound... of the wind being pushed far behind. The arrows fly brilliantly up into the air, curve and shoot downwards towards the Thornes that stand just metres on the other side of the wall. That takes great skill.
I hear the arrows shoot their way into the earth or the flesh of men on the other side. There are yells and suddenly the commander general changes his instruction. "Fire!"
There is a loud sound, it is of something being hurled, ropes are being pulled, wood is creaking... and then I see something huge being thrown into the night sky. It is a giant boulder. My eyes widen in horror. Just as I thought! Catapults! I run out from the trees, pull my Angelican dagger from my pocket and join the Seabrooke guardians. It does not take me long to realise that I am standing side by side with Caine. He looks towards me and then up into the sky at the boulder.

"Separate!" He yells loudly and the guardians scatter in all directions, Caine grabs for Wendell and pulls him safely towards the trees. I follow. The ground suddenly vibrates as the boulder comes crashing down. Luckily, nobody is hurt. The guardians slowly move back towards their positions they were standing in earlier as do I. Wendell struggles in Caine's grasp. He is growing angry. The stone on our side of the wall finally cracks thin but long lines. I can hear the gasps, including my own, come out of each mouth around me. In a matter of minutes... they will be inside.

Wendell twists himself around to Caine, "get to the Council house now! Announce the evacuation! Check every building, every inch of the land - get all signs of life out. All animals, all people. Do it now!"

Caine nods his head and vanishes before my eyes. My heart pounds. Do I stay or do I go? I look up at the wall and then back towards the trees where I was hiding moments ago. I run towards them, knowing that at this moment I look like a coward, but I know that I am not. I see a tree that is closest to the wall and begin to climb it... somehow I manage to get to the top without scraping bits of flesh from my body or even falling out of the tree itself.
I stand atop it. The breeze brushes passed me and I almost lose my balance. My arm is wrapped around a long branch, my feet planted on the thickest of them all. My body churns inside when I look out at the forest that surrounds Seabrooke. It may be deep and dark in there but it is not difficult to see the glowing lights - of fire - beneath the trees. They reach for hundreds of metres and can only mean one thing - the army of Thornes continues to grow. The torches are moving with each new rank of men. I can hear feet trudging in the dirt, Armour clanging together. My head drops and I know... that this is it.
I slowly move down from the tree and return to Wendell. He is yelling again, trying to communicate with the outsiders.

"Sir," I say to him, "it is no use remaining behind. We must leave! There are hundreds out there! Everybody will be slaughtered!"

He turns to me and looks at me with disgust, "this is my home! I will defend it!"

"Defend your people, Wendell! Please! They need you!"
I hear a woman's voice and I look towards her. She is a Shape Shifter, possibly mid-thirties and she is looking up into the sky as another boulder is flung into the air.

"Retreat, Wendell!" I yell at him, my hands on his shoulders. "Think of your people!"

He looks around, fear in his eyes, and then towards the Seabrooke guardians who are just as afraid as him - this is a change from when I first met them. They were so organised and coordinated before... now for once they don't know what to do.

He looks back at me and then at the ground, "retreat. Retreat!"

The majority begin to sprint, the Time Jumpers vanish, the few Thornes disappear in a blur and some of the Shape Shifters change into lions and dogs. They sprint back towards town. Only I, one Thorne and two Shape Shifters remain. We all stand around Wendell waiting for him to move so we can escort him safely back to town.
He nods his head and begins to run but he stops abruptly once we all hear a strange sound - a sound that is familiar but that we should not be hearing at this time. A sound of the wind breaking, of something shooting. I look up into the night sky, see the many bright stars and finally in front of them several arrows curving and heading directly downwards towards us.

"Move!" I yell loudly.

I try and push Wendell out of the way but something hits me, not an arrow, nor any other kind of weapon... but it is a body. I am shoved out of the way by a small body, long blonde hair whips my face and the first thing that comes to mind is that someone is attacking me... but I realise that I am not being attacked but I am being barely acknowledged at all. It is Isabelle and she is trying to push her father out of the way of the arrows paths. I fall to the ground. Wendell and Isabelle do too as I hear a sucking sound. I look up and see that an arrow has entered the stomach of a Shape Shifter. The man sucks in some air, his hands instinctively flying to the weapon in his chest. He grunts a little as I notice the other Shape Shifter, the woman, run to him and try to help him move. He struggles but manages to shift into a fat Tabby house cat, I watch him, with the arrow in his front. He walks slowly, the woman tries to follow him but he manages to get away and hide amongst the trees. The woman doesn't even look back at us, I am guessing she is his wife. She shifts into a mouse and disappears in the long grass.
I hear a little cry, struggle to stand up and take Wendell's and Isabelle's hands whilst doing so.

"Isabelle!" Wendell hisses, "I told you not come here-"

He stops midway and he gasps when he looks down at his daughter. She slowly gets to her feet but her knees buckle almost immediately. Her feet sink into the earth, her hair is full of grit. Her hands are at her chest, her fingers covered in a scarlet liquid. Her eyes are wide, abnormal. I almost feel her pain.

"Isabelle," Wendell whispers. "no."

She begins to cry, the youthful beautiful girl who was destined for so much more...
I help Wendell pull her further towards the trees and right now, at this moment, nothing else is important to Wendell. He is in a panic, his eyes shooting in all directions, his mind racing... all while his heart is breaking.
A shadow covers her body and we watch her, in agonising pain, pull the arrow from her flesh. Her fingers are entirely red, gore drips from them. She winces from the pain but pays most attention to her father. He tries to stop her from removing the arrow but she shakes her head - she knows she will not survive.
A pool of blood forms in the mud. The remaining guardians crowd around us. They all listen in, peer down in sadness at the girl who could have been a leader of this town someday. I listen to Isabelle, hear her deep breaths... each one is if she is choking. Wendell's hand touches her cheek as he leans over her. I stand up and step back, knowing that these are the last moments this man has with his daughter. I should not interfere.

"I am sorry, father," Isabelle whispers, there is no voice, no high pitched angelic voice... just a whisper. "I have failed you."

"No," he says quickly as a tear runs down his cheek. He takes her face in his hands, "never have you failed me, my child."

He places her head gently onto the earth but remains leaning over her. He takes her hand and lets his other hand trace her face, memorizing it - though, I know he will not forget it. She looks at him, love in her eyes, and then it disappears... along with her life.
Wendell's body falls across her and he cries and cries for his dead daughter.