This area was beyond the plains, both
dust and industrial. This set of lands, known to all as “green sepulchre”. Its
distinctive features are of the tall evergreen trees that grow in abundance.
Their bark is tough and incredibly sticky with its sap, which is toxic. The
trees feed on insects and small rodents, but have also been known to trap
people who get too close.
While
Ellyn woke with the dawn, she decided to make the most of the comfortable bed.
While she did appreciate the carts hammocks they had nothing on that bed. Seth
meanwhile had decided to not lie in and was doing some errands for himself and
the other members of the Regal Syndicate. By around 10 o’clock Seth had already
completed his list of tasks, and now he decided that it was time enough. So he
opened the door to Ellyn’s room, peered in, saw she was still asleep, and then
threw Acorn on to her bed. The post-aerial Acorn was less pleased with the
Ellyn shaped landing pad then she was. It certainly woke her up. With a scream
Ellyn leaped out of bed, pulling the bead sheets and a confused acorn with her,
producing a tangle of sheets and limbs on the floor. Ellyn pulled herself out
of the mess and stood up, straightened her clothes and smoothed her hair.
“I’m
up.” Ellyn said, acting calmer than she really was, swaying slightly with her
eyes still closed. She yawned widely and stretched her arms, then opened her
eyes and saw Acorn staring at her as if she had some sort of mystical treat for
him. Seth was leaning on the door frame, recovering from a laughing fit, Ellyn
looked to him and asked “So, what does today bring?” Seth walked into the room
and fell onto the bed and with a sigh he said “I have no idea!” Ellyn rolled
her eyes “Great…” she replied. There was a knock at the door and Seth pulled
himself up, left Ellyn’s room and went towards the door to their apartment.
Ellyn followed him out and watched from the other end of the main room as Seth
checked the peephole before opening the door to allow Julian in, “Morning all!”
he beamed as he wandered into the room. Julian continued “Will you be joining
our activities today Ellyn?” Ellyn, who had been studying his tie, stammered
“Uh-hm?-what?-yeah sure, maybe, I don’t know, ask him” she finished indicating
to Seth. Seth held his hands up in defence “I’ve got no plans for today,”
“Well
that’s settled then!” Replied a now exited Julian, “Seth, join us outside at
noon, make sure Ellyn is ready!” Julian seemed much more serious about the last
sentence then he usually is. Julian nodded to Seth, patted Acorn on the head and
turned out the door. Seth rubbed his face with both hands and mumbled “Great”.
Ellyn was getting the feeling that she may have signed up to something other
than she had thought. “Right then, what does he mean by make sure I’m ready?”
asked Ellyn. “Well, for starters I should explain to you what it is we are
doing exactly.” Seth indicated for her to sit down, as he did so himself. “So
you know that these guys are uh “information brokers and secret spreaders”?”
Ellyn nodded. “And do you remember that ritual that I spoke about before?” Ellyn
just looked confused, until Seth brought out the two blue test tubes from that
bar, “Yeah, ok” Ellyn said. “This activity is
the ritual.” Ellyn nodded and said “Get on with it!” getting impatient. “Ok, so
this activity involves those tubes, us and a secret base nearby. Basically we
are sneaking into the base, it’s mostly underground but we have ways in, it
belongs to one of the factions, the Narcomats, or just Narco’s for short. These
guys specialise in taking areas of land by force and …uh… “having their way”
with the inhabitants. Regardless, this happens to be where they keep most of
their battle-plans and ideas, so, what we do is, go in and “Borrow” them!”
Ellyn nodded once more feigning understanding. “You’ll understand once we are
doing it” Continued Seth. “Ok, if you say so, but what’s the catch? As in why
do we need to keep it a secret?” asked Ellyn. “Put it this way, if the Narco’s
see us or find out what we are doing, then they will be less pleased, and will
try and kill us, a lot…”. Seth sighed. “Perfect…” muttered Ellyn, rolling her
eyes. “Right, you heard the man! We’ve got till noon to prepare you!”
“What
about you?” Ellyn complained. Seth had gotten up and with his back to her; he
turned his head and said “I’m always ready!” with a wink. “Go put your outdoor clothes
on, oh and your shoes” with a nod to her feet, which were bare. She wandered
into her room and picked up her clothes from where she had discarded it last
night. She pulled it all on then re-emerged from her room, the various straps
and fastens clinking as she walked, her boots clacking on the hard tiled floor.
Ellyn followed Seth out the door, after checking that they had left nothing,
Acorn leaping after Seth’s heals.
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