Efferent

Chapter 24

It was hardly an hour into our trek when we realized that we were being trailed. By the Afferent or the Officials, we knew naught, but regardless of who was following, the snapping of the twigs echoing after our footsteps told us that someone was close on our heels.

"Should we confront them?" Clark whispered hoarsely, exhaustion tainting his voice.

"Or out maneuver them?" Blaise added from the side. Amelia turned her eyes to me, remaining silent.

I looked about our small group, tripping over the brambles in our exhaustion. Even Clark had long since given up on covering his own tracks. "Our strength is waning," I muttered, "How much of a head start do you think we have? Do we even have enough time to hide?"

"If Clark can teleport us-." Blaise started.

"No," Amelia reached over to Clark, and grasped his forearm. Her eyelids grew heavy, her chest rose in slow patterns and her neck rolled limply back as she swayed on her feet. My heart was pounding in panic, and Clark's previously hooded eyes went wide as Amelia fell to her knees.

I rushed to her side, "Amelia?" I shook her shoulder as she slowly recovered her energy. "Amelia, what was wrong?"

Instead of answering, she glanced over to Clark, who had only his head turned in our direction. "How are you still on your feet?" She stiffly scrambled upwards. "He is exhausted. I have never felt anything so powerful in my lifetime."

"No more exertion on your part," I said frimly, touching Clark's shoulder. He leaned into it, nodding his head simply. "We might need you later on."

I paced around our group, eyeing the darkening forest around us, searching for any visible sign of our hunters. "Who has anything left?" I asked, although it might as well have been rhetorical. Amelia staggered about, Blaise was absently tracing his temple with his index finger and his eyes closed shut, and Clark was toeing the edge of consciousness. Travis, who had diligently remained in the background, crossed his arms and eyed me.

My chest felt heavy as weariness crept in, accompanying a single thought that I wished not to voice, "I do. I can distract them long enough for you to find a place to hide, wait for the flame to burn it's kindling."

"You can't." A voice called from the shadows, "You are just as spent as the rest of them, and you have no Efference. No power."

"Travis," I sighed, " I don't have a choice. You do not need Efference to outrun an army." He had paced closer, and was less than a foot away, his eyes dark.

"Do you remember our talk, Ardyn?" He grit out in a whisper, "You are far too valuable in the battle against Katherine. When you get your power back-."

"-If, you mean-." I interjected.

"- We will need your stamina to form a coherent attack against the Afferent, against the Officials." He continued on, ignoring me, leaning down to look me closer in the eye. "Sacrifices must be made. Cut out the dead weight if you must, but you will not be staying behind."

I blinked, mouth gaping as I hesitated. "Are you trying to hint at taking out one of our allies?"

He opened his mouth to respond but I spoke instead. "We are spread thin as it is, Travis." I quirked an eyebrow, "And as far as I am concerned, you have done nothing for our group but complain and offer irrelevant advice. Should I kill you?"

He fell silent. "I did not think so." I furrowed my brow. "Get out of my sight. Protect them, Travis, or I will track you down myself. The Officials, The Afferent, Katherine?" I scuffed my toe against the soft earth, "They will become the least of your worries."

"You are not staying behind." He got closer, clutching at his shirt in irritation. "You are only wasting time."

My breath came quicker, but this time my fingers did not grow hot on the tips, and my vision did not blur around the edges. "Then do as I say."

Travis grimaced, clutching at his head; his eyes were squeezed shut before they came flying open. "N-no." He spat, "You will not influence me on this, Danvers." His gaze remained locked on mine as my words resonated between us and then ebbed away in waves and we were left to stare in silence.

"You want me to protect them?" He spoke softly, looking over his shoulder to where they stood as alert as their consciousness would allow them to be. "You will have to trust me. You will have to allow me to protect you too, above them. You are far too valuable."

It did not sit right, yet I knew that he was the only one we could depend on in this moment, the only one with the endurance and the strength to defend us. The shadows crept along his face as the silence grew, stretching until it fragmented into scattered pieces.

More branches could be heard, breaking off in the distance, and this time, the uniform march preceded it. "Ardyn?" Clark called wearily from across the clearing, "Did you hear that?"

I nodded, though I was sure he could not see me from that far away, his vision hindered in the darkness. But it was not meant for him. Travis saw it and reciprocated in kind. "Okay," I offered, "Get us out of here, Travis."

He gave a small smile, before stepping back and turning to face the treeline surrounding us. Amelia, Blaise and Clark joined us in the center, and we watched as Travis moved the trees around us. Branches folded in places to create a stiff border, the wood creaking with its effort. "Be ready," Clark whispered in my ear. "When they come, something tells me that Travis will not be afraid to give justice where justice is do."

"What?" My breath caught in my throat as I followed his train of thought. "He'll kill them?"

"All of them," Travis interrupted, calling over his shoulder. "Every last one."

Amelia's face transitioned to one of horror, similar I am sure, to the expression that I myself carried. Blaise paced forward, standing in front of Amelia to face Travis. "Nothing has changed with you, has it? You are just like Katherine."

"Power is meant to be used," Travis grit out, sweat beading on his brow.

"Not abused," Blaise countered with hostility tainting his voice. "You don't know when to stop!"

Amelia pulled Blaise back softly, and he listened, standing firmly behind her with a dark glare. "They are being controlled, Travis!" Amelia called, fighting to clutch at the hem of his shirt, "They can not help it anymore than you could!"

"You are wrong, Amelia," Travis grit out, raising his arms and pausing at the pinnacle in an extended hold, waiting, biding his time until our followers showed their faces at the edge of the forest. "They had a choice."