Chapter 194

When Amaris' hand touched the young man's arm she suddenly was transported to another time. It was night here. There was the unmistakable sounds of fighting. Growls, and yelling all around her. The young man that Amaris had just been talking to was in front of her hiding behind a tree. He held some sort of black box in his hand and loooked to be waiting for something. "Where are we?" She asked the young man in a whisper as she stepped closer to him. The man did not respond. He did not even look at her. She reached up to tap him on his shoulder. Her hand went right through him. Amaris jumped back startled. She stared at her own hand, and then tried to touch the tree next to her. Her hand passed through that too. She took another look around her. She realized that the man standing next to her was speaking. "They are leaving now. Green transport truck. She is hidden in the back under the tarp. Out" The man said. He was putting the box away and turned to leave in the direction that Amaris was standing. Suddenly a large fur covered leg with huge claws swung through the air. The claws connected with the man and slashed his throat nearly in two. Amaris stepped back covering her scream with her hands. She looked up into eyes that were all to familiar to her. The huge wolf in front of her seemed to look right at her before turning and leaving the man to fall to his knees holding his throat. Eyes wide, the man looked surprised as he fell, face first to the ground. Amaris took another step back away from him. She turned and looked off in the direction of the wolf that she had just watched murder this man. Her heart nearly beat out of her chest. Those eyes could only belong to one man. Lyle. Why had he just killed the youth. Amaris covered her face and began to sob. Suddenly she was aware of being shaken. "Mari. Mari what is it? Are you okay?" Strong arms were now holding her and caressing her hair. "Shhh. It's okay. It will all be okay." Amaris was aware of being pulled and then sitting in the lap that the arms belonged to. "Can you tell me what you saw?" The voice was Lyle's. Amaris took in a ragged breath, leaned back and looked at him. She was sobbing, and could feel the warm tears burning her eyes and running down her beautiful face. "Lyle." Was all she could get out. She lifted her head and looked around her. They were sitting in the courtyard all alone. There were not even any of the people that were cleaning up from the meal left. Lyle brush her hair away from her face. "It's okay. I had them all leave for a little bit. I told them to come back in thirty minutes. What did you see?" His face showed his concern. Understanding light on Amaris' face. What she saw had been a vision. It was the future, but that also means that it would be changable. She grabbed Lyle's shirt in her hands. "Don't kill him! Don't! Please no more killing!" Amaris pleaded with Lyle. Tears began to fall in earnest again. "Don't kill him Lyle. Promise me you won't kill him." Amaris begged. "Who? What did you see?" Lyle asked again. Amaris calmed herself a bit, and thought back to exactly what she saw. She closed her eyes to picture it. "It was night. I was standing at the edge of the woods. I think it was here. The buildings in the distance looked similar. There was fighting going on all around. I could hear the growls and snarls and yelling." Amaris took a deep breath, and continued. "I was standing next to the young man that was here a minute ago, only he was hiding behind a tree watching. He had a black box in his hand, I assume it was a walkie talkie or something, because he spoke a moment later into it. He said that a green transport truck is was leaving and that a woman was hidden under a tarp in the back. Then a wolf. You, showed up and ripped out his throat. He died right in front of me as you turned and ran back into the forest." Amaris shuddered, as she opened her eyes and looked at Lyle who had a look of understanding on his face. It quickly turned to anger and a snarl escaped his throat. His eyes narrowed. "He is a traitor. He was telling the enemy how you were escaping." Lyle breathed in with determination. "I made arraingements with Andreas to use a transport truck to get you out of here before you woke up. He is betraying us and working with The King." Amaris' eyes were full of worry and pleading. Lyle seemed to rein his anger in and as he looked at Amaris. "I promise that I will not kill him unless he poses a direct threat to you, but we will need to change our plans and we will need to move now before dark." He sat still thinking for a moment. I need to talk with Alexis anyway, I will only tell him about the traitor, and that we need to change our plans. He can feed the information that you saw in the vision. He will also need to prepare for an attack." Lyle kissed Amaris' forehead and then put her back on her feet. Taking her hand he led her off to find Alexis. While they walked he turned to see her frightened face. "Don't worry, I will not let you out of my sight." He hurried with a sense of purpose and urgency to a building at the far end. Walking in, Amaris was greeted by a large blue tractor. The tires stood taller than her. Lyle led her past one more tractor to the back of the building that opened into a large open space that was now being used as a staging area. Alexis and Andreas were standing with their backs to them going over what looked like a paper list. They both turned at the sound of footsteps behind them. "Oh good. There you are. I've taken the liberty of setting some supplies aside for you. Since I did not know if you were traveling by car or by foot, I only did what I thought you each could carry on foot." Alexis said as he walked up to Lyle and Amaris. Once Alexis got close and was out of earshot, he shook Lyle's hand and said "I got you a nice green transport vehicle. You can hide her in the back so no one will see you leave." Amaris cringed at his words. Lyle gave her a brief look. "That will be fine. We will take as much as we can fit into our packs in case we need to move on foot and then we will put the rest in the back of the transport." Alexis nodded. He motioned for them to follow him and walked out of the other side of the barn. Just outside the door was a green transport truck just like the one that Amaris had seen in her vision. It made her tense up. Lyle, sensing it, moved closer and put his arm around her. They followed Alexis around the far side where there were two hiking packs and some boxes full of food and supplies as well as clothes, sleeping bags, a tent, and cooking gear. Lyle let her go and started to rifle through the items laid out. Alexis stood back and gave it a brief look. He turned and caught the eye of an older man with a very grey beard. Motioning to him, Alexis called the man to his side. "Help them load their truck and be sure to get anything else that they need." The man stood tall "Yes, Sir." the man saluted. Alexis patted the man on his back. "I need to get back to make sure that we have everything that we need for the rest of us. Kliman here will help you with anything that you need." Alexis turned and jogged back into the barn. Lyle went through the pile and started to sort it. He made three piles. Understanding what Lyle was doing, Amaris jumpedin and started loading one of the packs. Kliman followed her lead and started to fill the other. After Lyle finished going through the items that Alexis had pulled for him, he gave Kliman another list and sent him on his way. As soon as Kliman was out of sight, Lyle hurriedly grabbed his pack and dumped it upside down. Everything fell out. Lyle Brushed his hands through the contents that were now on the ground looking for something. Lyle stopped and picked up something so small off the ground that Amaris could not see what it was. He took a step toward her, and opened his hand. She looked down to see a tiny electronic thing no bigger than a june bug. "Its a tracker." Lyle said.