Chapter 15.

Mark was absolutely furious. The way the leaves crunched beneath his boots and him stumbling over roots from time to time was unbearable.

  “Listen, monkey boy, not all of us can do that .” Chenle said as a matter-of-fact when he passed Mark who was wearing a glare.

  “Jisung can.”

  “It’s been a while…”

  “You never forget.” Mark looked at Jisung who ducked the other’s gaze.

  “I can’t do this, it’s going to slow, I’m going up.” Mark then said after 5 more steps and Chenle groaned before he started to run ahead and Jisung sped up to jump up on a tree.

  “Avoid the spruce trees!” Mark guided Jisung through the top of the woods as they travelled and it was going great. Chenle was a fast runner and kept up with them. The wind was cool and the sky a pale grey. It was quiet in the woods, they didn’t pass by animals, few birds rose up and left the top of the trees when Mark came through. It was too quiet he thought.

Then a rumble cut through the silence and Mark knew it was the river cutting through the landscape lining the west border of the 5^th Clan’s land. Mark would think they were more south of where they had entered when it all began. When Ten and Mark ran for their lives.

Mark saw Chenle speed up, the other leaned forwards and charged before he sprang into the air and Mark landed on a branch, setting off and flying above the storm grey water sending himself towards the ground. He landed on his feet and sent himself into a roll to take off the weight of his landing, getting up again to stand besides Chenle. Jisung released a howl before copying Mark. Chenle laughed and reached out to punch Jisung on the arm.

  “We’re here.” He grinned and looked at Mark. Mark looked at the river. “The flow of the river leads towards the east side of the 5^th clan, around the mountain and into the lake by our land.” He explained. “We need to follow this river.”

Mark took a step forward, the ground beneath him snapped softly, but there was a slight hollowness to the sound. Chenle’s face switched downwards and he started laughing. Jisung frowned at the look of shock on Mark’s face and Chenle who, besides standing totally still, was laughing hysterically. “What is it?” He asked and Mark raised his gaze to look at Jisung.

  “It’s either a trap or a grave, Jisung.” He explained and Chenle shook his head.

  “They wouldn’t put a grave close to water. It’ll poison it.”

Mark hummed. “Then we could expect a trap.” He smiled stiffly and Jisung groaned.

  “We screwed up.”

  “Not if we figure out the edge of this trap. If we all jump we can make it. We’re lighter than a normal human being, which is why we haven’t fallen yet.”

  “Probably near the edge of it.” Chenle said. “A normal human being trying to jump over this river would land about over there. We landed much further into the clan and since we haven’t fallen yet…”

 Jisung moved, Mark cursed at him not to. “Let’s get off to-”

 

  “Stay still.”

This voice was unfamiliar. It wasn’t deep, it was velvety and youthful. Mark moved his eyes to where a boy stood with a crossbow in hand. Chenle turned his head slowly to look behind him.  “Oh great.” He muttered and eyed Jisung and Mark who was facing the boy. Mark looked at him, he was skinny, pale and had ashy brown hair. His face was small and free of any cuts or bruises. Mark wondered why a boy with a such a pretty face could hold a crossbow and look so mean at the same time.

A taller boy stepped out behind him, his hair was frizzy and dark brown, face of a boy in the teenage years where your features are awkwardly put together. His nose was prominent, jaw too but eyes soft and narrow. Mark sighed and tried to figure out if they would be forced to kill these two boys or make them unable to give away the fact that three Damned had invaded the 5^th Clan’s borders.

  “Which clan are you from?” The smallest boy asked and Mark eyed Chenle who gave him a pointed look.

  “3^rd Clan.” He said and Jisung frowned. He thought it would be wiser to say 7^th but since the 7^th clan and the 5^th clan were close, they used big roads and communicated with each other. 3^rd Clan wasn’t too invested in others except the easy way of passage through the areas without fearing being raided.

  “Awfully close to the borders of the Damned’s land.” The tallest boy said sarcastically and Chenle raised a hand. The small skinny boy lifted his crossbow and Mark and Jisung winced, expecting an arrow at any moment.

  “We travel a lot in our clan. We got curious of the Land of the Damned, couldn’t help but get close, but the Damned kept guard. We fled past the river. Knew it would be safe here inside the borders of the 5^th Clan.”

  “You were chased?” The smaller boy questioned them looking scared of these news.

  “Didn’t you hear about the 1^st Clan and the Damned talking? Some travelers told us of what happened. They brought back a boy who had lived with the Damned for a long time.” Chenle winked at Jisung and Mark. His back was still turned to the two. “Wasn’t he… wasn’t he from the 5^th –“

The tallest of them stepped on something a little away from them. “You can move off the platform now.”

Chenle immediately turned around and walked forwards. Mark noticed the surface of metal beneath the leaves. The skinny boy stood in front of them and raised his bow at them, threatening them to stay where they were. Mark huffed. They could possibly take them. He wasn’t sure of the boy’s skills though.

The other boy had a long sword in hand and he put it in its sheath. The smaller boy eyed him.

  “They’re still strangers, Jeno.”

  “I know.” Said the boy named Jeno. He eyed them. “They’re our age, Renjun. Let’s just bring them to him, he’ll know what to do.”

  “One day we’ll ing die.” The smallest muttered and Chenle laughed.

  “True.” He replied in a deeper voice, smiling wickedly and Mark stepped in front of Chenle when Renjun looked over his shoulder. Renjun frowned at Mark who smiled stiffly. Renjun looked ahead again and then stepped aside letting the three step ahead and Renjun raised his crossbow and pointed it at them.

  “Not today.” He said under his breath. He had heard Chenle clearly. Mark had to admit Renjun was cautious and probably would do very well judging them without somebody else’s authority. Renjun would’ve shot them on the spot, which probably would be a good idea. Mark looked up, it was still bright out. If they wouldn’t be kept there for long, they could make it to the place where Mark supposed Jaehyun would be. Mark felt his heart ache. Jaehyun. He couldn’t help but feel anxious for his friend who had been forced away from the safety of his best friend, Johnny and people he had come to trust. Mark closed his eyes and followed Chenle’s body, which was slightly in front of him, caught up in his own mind. He could still see Jaehyun’s facial expression of despair. He had fought against the guards at first. Turning around and throwing himself forwards, but the guards pulled him by his arms. The gates fell down and the Damned got the 1^st Clan away from the gates by threatening them with the decease the Damned fought every day. Mark was afraid this battle would never end.

Mark was stopped by Jisung’s gentle hand on his wrist, and he came to a halt. His boots were sinking into the earth beneath him and a sweet and strong smell of grass reached his nostrils. The 5^th Clan had a rich nature of rivers and thriving greenery. The 7^th Clan had vast fields surrounded by tall trees. The fields reached the border of the 6^th Clan and the 5^th had a river that separated their land from the 7^th Clan’s and the 6^th. Mark heard the trees softly creak as they were pulled in by the wind, which meant there had to be an open space. Mark inhaled deeply and knew that the soft cracks came from a small live fire. He could smell the fresh wood succumbing to the flames. He opened his eyes, looking up at the smoke that rose up into the light grey sky. A thin layer of clouds covered the sky, the sun could be seen through them, its light still blinding. Mark lowered his gaze and let it focus onto a person who crawled out of a tent. The tent was of faint red fabric and the person exiting the tent had red hair too. It was dyed, his roots were black but his hair dark red. Mark held his breath when the boy looked up at him. His skin was a rich gold, eyes round and fawn in color. His lips were small and full and features soft, except his jaw line that had was prominent against his skin. He looked up at them, brown eyes meeting Mark’s and Mark lost his breath.

  “Who are they? I told you not to bring wild animals home expecting to keep them as pets, let them live free.” He said in a tone that sounded like he really didn’t care about them. Mark and Jisung frowned in confusion and Mark noticed Jeno look guilty while Renjun seemed to wait with his reaction. The boy stopped his casual act of replacing a bucket of water from near the fire and closer to the tent. Then he gave Jeno and Renjun a hard glare. Mark felt afraid of being on the receiving end of that glare from the creature in front of him. “You brought strangers into our camp?!” He yelled. “Without unarming them?!”

Renjun immediately threw out a hand to point at Jeno and it hit Jisung in the face. Jisung gritted his teeth about to shout. Mark grabbed onto Jisung’s arm to stop him from knocking Renjun into the nearest tree. Chenle stepped behind Mark and swiftly pulled Jisung closer to him, away from Renjun who seemed oblivious to Jisung’s reaction. He was too busy defending himself. “His fault!”

  “Oh year right!” Jeno barked and Mark noticed the red-headed boy eye them both as they argued.

  “Shut up.” He said almost so quietly that Mark expected the other two to not hear him and keep on shouting, but the two silenced immediately. “Where are they from?” He asked the two as if not caring about the fact that he could ask them himself.

  “3^rd Clan. Travelers who came too close to the borders of the Land of the Damned.” Renjun answered as if it was some test. Jeno gave Renjun a heated gaze before looking at the golden-skinned boy.

  “They saw what happened with the 1^st Clan.”

  “Heard.” Mark corrected him. This earned him a moment of attention from the leader of the group. Mark anticipated a word from him but he shifted his gaze back to Jeno again. Mark blinked.

Jeno continued talking. “They said that they’ve heard about Jae- The boy being let out of the Land of the Damned coming back to his clan. Our clan.”

Mark felt like this lie sounded stupid coming from Jeno’s lips. Maybe they could explain it better.

Renjun though added to it. “The Damned has guards out now, probably expecting an attack from the 1^st Clan. They were chased here by them. Which means the Damned has left their borders. We should bring these travelers with us and tell the Chief.”

The boy, who now clearly was the leader of the group, raised his brows up and looked at Renjun. “Thank you. Seems like you guys did think it through then.” He said and shifted his gaze to Mark.

Mark tried to ignore the chills than ran through him. “Now tell me your names, your ages and when you last ate.” The leader said while turning away from them, taking a seat on a log that surrounded the fire like a bench. Mark noticed Jeno walk over to sit as well. Chenle tugged Jisung with him to sit and Renjun and Mark still stood. The red headed boy smiled, his eyes were twinkling and he looked young when he smiled. “You must be the leader of the group.”

Mark had to remind himself to breathe like a normal person would and then nodded once, before trudging over to a log to sit down beside Jisung. Renjun took a seat reluctantly. He still held onto his crossbow.

Mark could see the other expected him to talk so he inhaled deeply, trying to find his voice. “My name is Mark.” He said and lifted his gaze from the flames to the brown eyes of the other leader. The same soft features seemed to repeat themselves in the 5^th Clan. It was similar to Johnny’s and Jaehyun’s. “I’m…” Mark thought hard, how long had he been at in the Damned’s land and when he was sick, he didn’t count the days. The weather started acting up which meant it was the end of the Dry Days. Getting colder but also darker earlier. “Probably 18.”

  “We don’t really count the days.” Chenle jumped in with a laugh. The look the other boy sent him was enough to make Chenle lean back and turn quiet.

Mark shook his head. “It’s been some time since we started travelling, my birthday is around this time.” He tried to smile and show kindness. The other boy lifted his brows, waiting for more. Mark remembered his last question. “This mo-morning.” He looked at the other two boys who nodded. They hadn’t really thought of eating.

The other gasped. “We’re in the afternoon by now, how could you not eat?”

Mark couldn’t stop his smile now. “We’ve just been running.”

The boy looked at Renjun who seemed to be staring off into space looking a little dazed. “Renjun.” The skinny boy snapped to attention. “Get some bread and cheese for the boys.” The boy looked back at them. “Call me Haechan.”

Haechan.

Mark saw Johnny’s pain stricken face and the way his lips stretched into a tight grimace. “Haechan.”

Mark blinked. Johnny had mentioned this boy. Jeno had also nearly said… “They said they’ve heard about Jae-”

They could trust these boys. If they knew Jaehyun and Johnny, they would be interested in helping them. Yet, Haechan seemed responsible and caring. He wouldn’t bring three Damned into his village. It would be too much of a risk. Mark would have to wait with telling. He didn’t know why but, he was eager to share everything he knew with Haechan. The other boy seemed to be grounded, smart and warm. Mark couldn’t help but try to compare him to Ten, but Ten wasn’t grounded. He liked chasing danger, even if he’d always taken care of Mark, what was beyond and far away had always interested Ten. Maybe that was why he was so fearless with Taeyong. Taeyong was dangerous and Ten was eager to prove that he wasn’t afraid of this danger. That he wasn’t scared of anything. There were similarities, Haechan was caring. Mark gratefully accepted the bread and cheese, eating while listening to Haechan talk about the situation near the borders. How the 1^st Clan has soldiers patrolling through their land and Mark grimaced, knowing his face probably would be recognized by the soldiers. Haechan seemed young, maybe younger than Mark. Yet even if Jeno managed to make Haechan smile brightly his face could easily settle into a serious mask.

  “Can we talk to your chief? We’d like to get to know the safest roads for out travel back to our clan.”

Haechan nodded. “Sure you can.” He replied and looked up. It was still light out. Mark eyed Chenle and Jisung who also thought of the same thing. Their time was limited. As soon as the sun set and the shadows grew larger, their eyes would change color and then they wouldn’t be as welcome.

A/N:

Now we have the rest of the Dreams in the story. Jaemin can still appear, saving him for later. <3 

Love,
Emma <3