The Dream Shifter

Chapter 172

Eudokia turned about the room still not completely clear what had happened. "They were so full of energy a moment ago… Hmm…" She eyed the bed taking it into consideration before turning away. Her back pressed against the backing of the bed presenting her with a view of the door. 'I guess we'll resolve the rest of the matters in the morning before we leave…'

On the outskirts of the village of Skoupa, a small band of soldiers gathered with the Captain of the South Gate in front. The search drove them into the late hours of the night. The rest of the land slept while they worked tirelessly to keep them safe. A dark unknown fog cast over them in the face of the strange intruders. Each man stood on edge and resolute behind their Captain. Their honor rested upon their success.

Two shadowed figures approached from the village, their black uniforms working well in the night. They came up to the Captain halting together in routine unison. "Captain Simonides, initial perimeter search completed!"

"Report, Kalliope and Philon!"

Kalliope, a twenty-five year old woman, nodded strictly to her Captain. "No signs of strange activity around the village surrounding land." She had a long service with the border patrol distinguished by several captures. "If the foreigners are here they aren't hiding outside of the village."

Simonides gave pause to plan his next move. Skoupa laid behind the two soldiers sleeping with a great unknown. A village made searching difficult with the number of places to hid. The further lack of signs from them around the land had him questioning his previous decision. 'In the end, this will rule out a place if nothing else. We must be thorough.' The Captain focused back on his men dividing up tasks in his mind. "We search the village! Leave nothing unturned!"

The new orders brought all of them to attention with the expectation of commands. "Kalliope and Philon take the south entrance and work towards the village square. Telamon you're with me on the north entrance. Eusebios take the rest of the men and set up a perimeter around the village. No one escapes, understand?"

"Of course, Captain!" snapped Eusebios and saluting him. The Meso Prosecho of the group, his powers came in to importance once the enemies were captured. He directed the attention of the men motioning them into positions in the field to set up.

Reaching the north entrance for Simonides meant circling around the village to the opposite side. His men waited on a delay under his plan. He calculated the time it took to make the entrance and scheduled the search to begin when Telamon and he made their position. The north entrance of Skoupa sat in front of them in anticipation. A few moments remained as predicted by him. 'It's been a while since I've had to personally do a search like this…' His position meant that he often stayed behind at the South Gate while he issues commands to his men. This situation drew him out and found him personally leading his men in the field. The squad might have been thrown together with what he had available, but they were all his men.

He gave the signal to Telamon to head into the village. Simonides followed behind him carefully watching everything in his field of vision. No intruders would escape him. Ahead the sounds of splintering wood and shouts told him that the south entrance team began their move. The first house, a small hovel, stood darkened before the two of them. He examined the exterior slowly checking for any unusual signs.

Once the Captain felt satisfied he motioned to Telamon to make for the door. The twenty-three year old man from the northern region tightened up as he prepared. His black uniform went well with his dark brown hair cut cleanly around his neck. A toned and honed arm reached out to knock on the door. They were still citizens of Atlantis, so breaking down the door came as a second option. Telamon gave the door another firm knock that nearly turned into a pound.

A man's voice came out of an adjacent room crawling through the window. The pounding came to an end hearing it received acknowledgement. Moments later the door opened revealing a half awake man in his thirties wearing a light tunic. "What's wrong?" the man asked not seeing clearly who stood in his entry.

"Stand aside, sir! I must search your house by order of the Captain of the South Gate!"

The title tossed out sobered up the man quickly. "What's the meaning of this?!" He refused to get out of the way of the soldier without a good reason.

Telamon pressed his stance closing the distance and using stature to fill imposing effect. "Intruders from the outer world have been seen in this direction. We have to confirm that you're not hiding them knowingly or not!" He raised his hand up for the man's shoulder to cast him aside.

"Intruders?! Around here?" Panic struck the villager as he thought about the possibilities of a stranger in his village. While the soldier already let himself into the house the man gave way dropping to the side leaning against the wall. Sounds of valuables breaking and shattering did not matter to him. A soldier ripping apart everything in his house no longer meant anything.

Outside Simonides coldly watched the home and neighboring homes for any stirring. A hidden enemy worried over their safety tended to flee when it came into jeopardy. He saw it play out often with the few that managed to survive past the barrier long enough. The only wish he had desired was a larger team to make the search more efficient. Unfortunately, he had cast a wide net with his men for maximum coverage. Preventing the further invasion of the enemy deeper into their territory came at a higher priority.

Telamon came out of the house to report back to the Captain. "Nothing to be found, Captain!"

"Very well, move on!" He watched the soldier rush over to the opposite side of the street to the next home. The polite knocking did not receive a greeting and Telamon forced his way in with a well placed kick. A couple of screams from the back came before yelling for the intrusion into their home. Disregarding any complaints Telamon continued with practiced precision. 'They all act differently. This is for their own good though.'

Towards the center of the village the inn rested untouched. However, the commotion from outside awoke the lighter sleepers, Eudokia and Chiharu (Seiji remained sound asleep). The two girls looked around the room before Chiharu silently sprinted to the window. The window faced away from all of the noise, but her features narrowed. She disappeared out the window before Eudokia had a chance to stop her.

Eudokia picked up the screams and shouts of the villagers building in chorus. 'Damn, Simonides is cleverer than I thought. We'll have to escape now while we still have the advantage.' She turned back and rushed over to Yuki stirring him awake. His sleepy eyes barely acknowledged her. "Start waking everyone up! We've got to leave now!"

"Huh?"

"There's soldiers in the village searching for us!"

Yuki leaped up to his feet completely awake. "What?! They found us!"

"Not yet, but we've got to leave now!"

"Alright…I'll help you wake everyone up!"

Getting most of them awake did not take much effort, apart from Seiji. The greater problem came to dealing with the mess they had. They had to scramble around to put all of the food back into their bags. Eudokia insisted on them putting the new clothes on as well. It meant less to carry and easier to blend in with the rest of the villagers.

Chiharu returned back into the room after her long disappearance. "I count four in the village and another five around the village blocking routes for escape. It should be pretty easy to escape."

"Only nine for the search party..." remarked Eudokia. "That's a lot fewer than I thought. They must be spreading their forces thin." She became pensive for a few moments. Her plans factored for a larger force knowing how they preferred to operate. The new developments pleased her. "This'll make things a lot easier for our escape then. Finding a hole to escape through will be easy. The Meso Prosecho is outside the city?"

"Yes, I saw the white uniform to the north."

Eudokia scanned the room checking on the condition of everyone. A strange feeling came over her that concerned her. They seemed ready. The unsettling sensation grew stronger as well as the feeling she forgot something. She tried to focus on the immediate problem of getting out of the inn and village. "Yuki, it's time to go!" Eudokia looked around for Yuki no longer seeing him among his friends. "Yuki?" She turned to the window finding him staring out with a lost expression in his eyes. "Yuki?"

"I can hear them…" He glanced back in the room, his eyes carrying guilt. "They're destroying the village looking for me."

"Yuki, no!" She saw where his words guided him. Eudokia rushed over to him grabbing him by the arm. "No! You can't!"

"They didn't do anything wrong, Ayumi! It's my fault! I can't let them suffer for something that isn't their fault!"   

Screams from innocent villagers burned into the night air. A stifling atmosphere hovered around Skoupa one that mirrored similar events in other border villages on the search for the whereabouts of the intruders. Nothing got spared in the search, especially if resisted. The barbarity of the border patrol was known and not uncommon during such times, but it still did not mean those that suffered became used to it.

Anything short of burning down the home to ensure no hiding place remained undiscovered occurred. The lateness of the hour made the search all the more difficult. Some villagers already ran off towards the center of the village seeking the mayor. Others stood out of their homes huddling together helpless at the sounds of their homes being ransacked by an uncaring soul. A few even helped in the search falling into paranoia about the scary foreigners that might wander their village.

All of these reached Yuki as cries and pleas that painted terrible pictures in his mind. It made his hands shake with the guilt and helplessness. Each cry floated in his ears filling him with echoes ghostly and horrific amplified by his fears. 'It's all my fault, isn't it?! Because I'm here!' His heart pounded in his chest loud enough for him to feel it through him.

Eudokia fixed Yuki with a commanding stare. She knew the look that he had and needed to stop him from making a mistake. "Don't think for a second that this is your problem!" The distance between them closed and she latched on to his arm making sure he did not escape from her. A moment later ripples came from her feel announcing her activated field. "You're not going!" Little visible shown from the barrier that she erected inside the inn room, but she made it clear that she did not plan on letting them do something stupid again like at the barrier.

Only a slight reflective sheen bounced back for everyone to realize what just happened. When she trapped them it set the room on edge no longer letting Yuki and Eudokia argue. Seiji and Saki appeared on either side of Eudokia ready to protest. However, before they did anything a trap set in the field sprung. From the wooden floorboards long tendrils of fluid light burst up to take hold of Saki and Seiji.

Saki's speed gave her the ability to dodge seeing it coming. She vanished from the center of the tendrils appearing suddenly on the floor sliding away into the wall as a second set of tendrils appeared significantly faster than the last completely tying her up. It took her a moment to realize what happened to her and that her escape failed. "What do you think you're doing, Ayumi!?" Saki tried to make use of her strength to break free, but it only made it tighter for her.

At Eudokia's side Seiji stood tied up and enraged by the act. She looked back at Saki in a flat expressionless face. "You didn't think I wouldn't make plans to deal with the two of you, did you? I know how reactive you two are. No one is going. We are leaving nothing more."

"Damn you!" shouted Seiji struggling with his bonds. "You can't hold me down with this!"

"You won't be able to break them. I made it specifically to deal with your strength. It converts all of your efforts to break into strengthen and tightening the hold. So you're only making it hold you easier."