The Charred Lands: Apocalypse of Fire (16 page)

“
We made sure that all of the houses in this area had locked
doors. That way we would know if any had been broken into.” The
older one explained.

“
Pretty smart.” Conrad said, feeling rather stupid. And that
was that, the conversation ended there.

We remained in
silence for another five minutes before Carl eventually returned,
red and sweaty.

“
She’s here now, I described them to her, she seems to think
she knows them.” He said through gasps for air. He leant against
the wall and wiped a torrent of sweat away from his
forehead.

“
I guess that’s good news for you guys.” Carl’s father said,
with a sigh. It was almost as though the guy was disappointed that
he didn’t get to kill us on the spot.

“
She also said she wishes to see them alone.” Carl
added.

Reluctantly,
Carl’s brother and father left us alone in the room, not before
taking our weapons though. A moment later, Lynette appeared at the
door frame.

“
Conrad Logan.” She almost laughed when she spotted
him.

“
Lynette Kerslake.” He replied, smiling himself.

“
What brings you back to Warrington?” She questioned, still
standing in the doorway.

“
The boy.” He said, nodding in my direction. Lynette raised
eyebrow in suspicion as she looked me up and down.

“
May we stand?” Conrad eventually asked, Lynette nodded as she
entered the living room and closed the hallway door behind
her.

Conrad quickly
placed Lizzie on an old, dusty chair before sitting beside her. I
stood to my feet and sat on the arm of the chair with them.

“
What’s so special about this boy? Only less than week ago you
were determined to start a new life, elsewhere.”

“
Let’s just say that he has something in his possession that
may lead us to that very life.” Conrad said, wishing to remain
vague. It was clear that he knew this woman very well, well enough
not to be intimidated by her, despite her apparent power over the
people in Warrington. From how things were going, it almost seemed
as though she was some kind of leader, despite the fact that I had
been told by multiple people that Warrington had always been void
of any authority figures.

“
And that is?”

“
Important, is what it is. Something tells me your
circumstances have changed considerably, too.” He said, dodging her
question. I was quite grateful of that – I didn’t wish any more
people than necessary to know that I have a dragon’s egg in my
possession.

“
You’re quite right. Saviour of Man are crushing us. They’ve
murdered so many people here in Warrington – it became evidently
clear that we needed to band together if we were going to repel
their attacks. So, I was elected as leader. We don’t have a name or
anything, but people look to me for orders and such. We’ve banded
as many people as we could in the town centre to count our forces
and determine what our best course of action is. Of course, there’s
still a few lone wolves about, and most people still have their own
interests at heart, but things are a little more,
stable.”

“
Congratulations on your new position, and I wish you the best
of luck in defending the town and your people.” Conrad said. There
was something about their tones which made me feel a little uneasy,
as though they had some kind of a history together. I shot Lizzie a
look, which she returned, looking just as uncomfortable as I
did.

“
Thank you. Now you tell me, what exactly has led you to
Warrington?”

“
The boy is looking for some family. He believes they may have
headed to The Church of Fire. We need directions to
them.”

“
And you think I’ll give you directions?” Lynette almost
laughed.

“
Well, yes.”

“
I guess I could. But I’m not just going to offer it up. When
they excommunicated me from The Church of Fire, they made me swear
never to give up their location.” She smirked, before falling
deadly serious again.

“
Well what will it cost to get that kind of information?”
Conrad reluctantly asked.

“
You’re the best damn soldier I’ve ever had the chance to fight
alongside. We’re launching an attack on a Saviour of Man camp
tomorrow. If you take part, I will give you the directions to
Church of Fire. Deal?”

For a few moments Conrad remained silent, staring off into
space. She was asking a lot, and from the look on her face, she
knew that too. But really, she had him by the balls. She didn’t
look like the kind of person who would roll over and submit. She
didn’t
need
to
give us that information, but we needed it – she knew
that.

“
Let us sleep on it.” Conrad eventually replied.

“
Of course. I’ll have someone escort the three of you to a
vacant house later. But be warned, Warrington still isn’t safe. Not
only are we open to attacks from Saviour of Man, but there’s also a
few questionable characters lingering around. We’re doing our best
to weed these out, but it’s hard.” She explained.

“
I may have left Warrington, but I haven’t forgotten what it’s
like. Don’t worry Lynette, I won’t be letting my guard down around
a single person out here.”

“
I’ll have someone ready a house, but in the mean time you’re
more than welcome to come with me to our headquarters and discuss
things in better comfort?”

“
Very well.” Conrad said, before rising to his feet.

“
I’ll have my men give you your weapons back.” Lynette said,
also rising before quickly making her way out of the
room.

Conrad looked
to me and Lizzie, before he let out a sigh.

“
Not a word.” He snapped to Lizzie, just as she began to open
her mouth to protest about the deal.

“
We’ll discuss what we’re going to do tonight.” He added,
before picking up Lizzie and carrying her out of the
room.

Upon leaving
the house we were given our weapons back and lead into the heart of
Warrington. We shortly reached a large, wooden wall some ten feet
tall. Armed guards were positioned atop, some wielding old, rusty
weapons, others wielding bows. Whilst several stakes and spears
were protruding from the ground in front, each with a severed head
impaled on top, it was a scare tactic, and it sure as well worked.
Every single one of the guards looked dirty and tattered with
hardly a single bit of meat on them. They each had a fearful
combination of sadness, and fear in their eyes. I had known that
poverty ripe in the Charred Lands, but it was hard to stomach it
first-hand. I couldn’t help but feel guilty that I had spent the
majority of my life tucked away behind the save walls of Haven,
with regular guaranteed meals and relatively clean clothes on my
back. It was a stark contrast to the people of Warrington. They
were real survivors.

With a simple
nod of the head from Lynette the gates were swung open and we were
invited inside. I immediately felt uneasy. I felt as though all
eyes were on us, and me in particular. I was a new face in an
unwelcoming town. With my relatively well kept clothes and a
certain innocent, I stuck out like a sore thumb. To them, I looked
like an easy target. I liked to think that I would prove them
wrong, but truth be told, that’s exactly what I was.

It was beaming
with activity, never in my life had I seen so many people all at
once. Everywhere I looked people busied themselves transporting
supplies from one place to another, or frantically worked away on
building fortifications and defences. The people here were getting
ready for something big. I didn’t really want to be a part of it –
I had no loyalties or allegiances to this place or its people. I
didn’t know if it made me a coward, or heartless, but I didn’t want
to spill my blood for things that I didn’t care about. I planned on
doing my best to talk Conrad out of taking part in the attack
tomorrow.

We stopped at
what had once been a library, where Lynette ordered us inside. Upon
entering, I couldn’t help but be amazed by its interior. It was a
large, single story building – I could tell that this one was
particularly older than most of the others around it. The walls
were lined with countless books that must have been nearing two
hundred years old. The pages would have been filled with stories
and tales of a world before the Rise. I wanted so badly to quietly
slip one of the books into my bag, but I feared the consequences
should I be caught. The heads on spikes were a harsh reminder of
what this place was capable of doing to wrong doers.

“
So, this is your headquarters?” Conrad laughed as we were
directed to our seats; he too had been admiring the building as we
walked through the quiet, dusty library.

“
It sure is. I remember all the time we spent here; growing up,
reading books about all kinds of things.” Lynette smiled, showing
her softer side. That confirmed my suspicion that she and Conrad
had history – but I didn’t suspect it being that long! They were
both looked to be in their fifties, meaning there was a good chance
that they actually visited this place before The Rise. Back when
the world was, ‘normal’.

“
Ah, those were the days.” Conrad said, with a twinkle in his
eyes.

“
I couldn’t think of a better place to set up – I couldn’t
believe it hadn’t been damaged during all these years of hardship
too. There are countless books here for me to refer to. Everything
from this history of warfare, to local maps I can study to help me
getting the upper hand on the Saviour of Man.”

“
It’s quite fitting.” He laughed, placing Lizzie down in a seat
before taking one for himself around a large wooden table. The
chairs were taller than me, fitted with fine, well-kept leather to
boot. I helped myself to a chair besides Lizzie. Lynette sat down
across the table from us. For a few moments we remained in utter
silence. Conversation was sporadic and only ever really included
Conrad and Lynette, neither me nor Lizzie said a word for the
entire hour we spent inside the library. They spoke of years gone
by, spent in Warrington together. In a way, I enjoyed sitting and
listening to the pair reminisce about what it was like to grow up
in Warrington. It gave me a whole new understanding of what life
outside of Haven had been like. I was a little disappointed when
one of Lynette’s troops arrived to inform us that our house had
been set up and prepared for us.

We quickly
said goodbye to Lynette and headed for our temporary home for the
night – by now it was nearing dark, yet still the sounds of gunfire
within Warrington rang out. I didn’t feel safe here, not one bit. I
couldn’t imagine myself being able to sleep with the constant
warfare raging on outside; I could only hope that it would subside
come nightfall.

We were lead
to a large, detached house just around the corner from the library.
The walk was a short one, but it gave me another opportunity to
survey the streets of Warrington and get a bit of first-hand
experience as to what the streets were really like. Still, even as
the dwindling hours of the day passed by, hundreds of people busied
themselves preparing for whatever was coming. I could tell by the
faces of the make shift soldiers that these people were scared.
Something told me they didn’t expect to win this war.

Upon arrival
at the house, I was surprised to find just how clean the place
actually was, despite likely being abandoned for such a lengthy
amount of time. It was quite a large building – nowhere near the
size that the farm house back at haven had been – but it was big
enough to give me and my two companions their own bedroom. With
hardly a single word Conrad tucked Lizzie up in her room, before
bidding me goodnight and disappearing inside his own.

I spent a
while wondering around the house, trying to picture what it would
have been like to live here before The Rise. It filled me with a
great sadness. Being in this building, or even walking the streets
of Warrington filled me with a hollow feeling inside. It reminded
me that there had been a world before the Charred Lands, a normal
world full of comforts and luxuries. It pained me to know that I
had missed out on all these things. Suddenly I was filled with a
great sense of motivation. That life can still be achieved out
here, or so I hoped. And the one place that seemed likely to be
able to provide this was simple – the Legion of Light. This made me
more determined than ever to reach the Church of Fire and exchange
my precious egg for the goods that would grant me entrance to the
Legion.

I eventually
stumbled off to bed – I was asleep before my head even hit the
pillow.

Chapter
Nineteen

An explosion
awoke me from my sleep. I almost shot out of bed as the room around
me shook. I grabbed my precious backpack and charged into the
hallway. Already Conrad was returning from Lizzie’s room, with her
strapped to his back as usual.

“
What’s happening?” I frantically asked, my eyes still stung
from the abrupt wake up call.

“
Looks like the Saviour’s are bombarding the town. You slept
through the first few hits; they weren’t too close but that one was
way too close for comfort. I’ve already got all our stuff, I’m
ready to leave.” Conrad said, making his way downstairs. I had no
option but to follow him.

“
What are we going to do?”