Chapter 6
Ororo landed softly in the middle of a large meadow after weaving through the trees hiding this place from view. Here the tree line made almost a perfect circle covered by the dome of the sky. Ororo looked up to see the last traces of fiery sunlight inching its way over the dark green pine needles, shadows following closely behind. Across the meadow, Ororo saw fireflies beginning to rise, dancing among the colorful wildflowers and sighed. She loved this place, especially at night. She wished she could take a few minutes to just lounge in the soft grass and watch the stars appear in the sky, but she couldn’t. She had a carriage to catch.
Taking one last glance around the meadow, Ororo took off in a run in the direction of the dirt road leading through the forest, her long white hair whipping behind her.
Logan swore under his breath as the wind died down almost as fast as it had appeared. It had been sending his scent downwind of the horses so he didn’t have to be as careful when approaching them. Now he had to change his approach to avoid spooking the horses. At least he no longer needed the wind to bring him the scent. He was close enough now that he could catch traces of the passengers as well and by the scents he was detecting they were definitely royalty. It reminded him too much of the red head and he didn’t like that one bit. She was trouble and if these guys were connected to her, they must be trouble too.
He crouched down in some bushes, waiting for Remy to catch up. Logan hoped the kid was quicker than this when he was stealing from people. He turned back in the direction that Remy should have been coming from, but heard footsteps headed in the opposite direction. Logan considered going after him for a moment but then decided against it. The kid was headed towards the village and he could track him down later.
Taking a deep breath, Logan looked around at his surroundings, ignoring the scent of the horses and the carriage’s royal passengers for a minute. It felt good to be back in the forests that he considered home.
Remy had no idea where he was. He had been following Logan pretty well through the woods until it got dark. Remy could still see enough to make out the foliage but the other man completely disappeared. He stood still, trying to listen out for Logan making his way through the forest but he couldn’t hear a thing. Remy couldn’t understand how Logan was able to move almost silently through the woods especially at the speed they had been tearing through the shrubbery. Although, Remy did recall the other man mentioning that he had lived in these woods before he was arrested.
Swatting at the mosquitoes that flew in his face, Remy took another look around but he wasn’t expecting to see anything that could possibly be a clue
Muttering to himself, Remy heading off in the direction he was facing, hoping that he would eventually cross paths with Logan.
Warren stared out the carriage window, beginning to feel a little unnerved as the sunlight disappeared. The trees pressed in close to the carriage on the narrow dirt road, their branches scrapping along the sides as they passed through. Warren glanced over at Erik, who was calmly watching the trees pass by the opposite window.
He didn’t like the old man. No, he hated the old man. He knew Erik felt the same way about him. Warren had heard him suggesting to Jean that he should continue to rule and Warren should be discarded. Thinking back on it, he knew he shouldn’t have been so surprised. If he was in Erik’s place he probably wouldn’t like himself much either.
“Erik, where are we going?” Warren asked, returning his gaze out of the carriage window. “We were supposed to be spending the night in the village.”
“We need to have a little chat,” Erik replied simply.
“And what is it that we need to talk about that couldn’t be done in the inn?”
“If we could talk about it now, I would have brought it up on the way.”
Warren sighed. He really wished Jean could’ve come along on this little journey. It would’ve made things so much simpler.
Jean pressed herself against Scott’s side as he slept. She knew she should be leaving, but she couldn’t resist a few more minutes. With a soft sigh she reached up tracing the line of his jaw, brushed a few locks of his dark hair off of his forehead and placed a gentle kiss on his shoulder. She had her spells and other powers, but she couldn’t make everything to be the way she wanted it to be. If it worked that way, the spell she had used on Scott wouldn’t be temporary.
Jean then felt Scott begin to stir against her. Frowning, she reached out with her mind sending him back into a deep sleep. Sighing again she decided she had had enough fun for the night and climbed over Scott, placing one last kiss on his sleeping lips before leaving the bed. She reached up, shaking her already tousled hair. She had many things to take care of while Erik and Warren were away. Her plans were beginning to be put into place.
Shaking her head, she leaned down to grab her discarded gown, catching her reflection in the nearby full length mirror. Jean dropped the gown as she straightened, running her eyes along every curve of her naked reflection. A wicked grin settled on her lips as she continued to stare.
‘Mirror, mirror…’
Remy felt like he had been walking for hours and he still hadn’t seen any signs of Logan. He had no idea how big the forest was but he figured he would reach a village soon or wind up back at the prison gates. Remy was hoping for the latter. The forest couldn’t go on forever.
He saw a lighter patch through the darkness of the trees and ran the last few feet, managing to dodge the branches threatening to slap him in the face, hoping it was the outskirts of a nearby village. Instead he skidded to a stop at the edge of a meadow full of fireflies. Walking slowly towards the center, Remy looked around him. It looked as if the trees had been cleared away in preparation for some type of building project that had never begun.
As he reached the center of the meadow he noticed small lights twinkling from between the trees. Not taking another glance around the meadow, he headed towards those lights; sure they were coming from within someone’s home.
Logan stood a couple hundred feet away from the dirt road leading through the forest. He had lost track of Remy, but decided the kid would be fine. It seemed as if the occupants of the carriage had decided to take a pit stop, one of the men telling the horsemen to continue on for a at least a mile and to return in half an hour. Once the horses had gone, Logan could’ve easily gotten to closer to the two left standing right in the middle of the road, but he didn’t need to see them. He just wanted to make sure they weren’t up to anything.
“Warren, are you trying to ruin everything?” The older man asked. His scent almost made Logan sneeze. Underneath all the fine cloth and fancy cologne the man had a bitter metallic scent to him.
“I don’t know what you mean, Erik.” The younger man replied, sounding indifferent. His scent was harder to catch. It almost the same as the cloth he was wearing. “And I would prefer if you didn’t speak to me as if I were a child.”
“You were supposed to gain the trust of the people today. You were rude, snotty and didn’t seem to care that those people were there to see you.”
“Like it matters, Erik, it’s not like I need them to gain the throne. All I needed was to get rid of my parents and that has been taken care of.”
“Yes, I’m well aware of how you and Jean took care of your parents, Warren. I never approved of hiring that killer.”
“Please, Erik. That was seven years ago.” Logan’s eyes narrowed. He inched closer, crouching in the bushes.
“The least you two could’ve done was to make sure he didn’t get free after your parents were disposed of.”
“Oh who cares? Wasn’t someone arrested for the little incident?” Logan felt his knuckles itch as he continued making his way through the bushes. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. These bastards were the reason he’d spent all that time in prison. Them and that red head that he had seen flouncing through the prison. Snarling, Logan nearly burst through the bushes, claws ready to attack.
At that moment the wind picked up, causing the two to stop talking. Logan caught the scent of rain, fresh flowers and dish soap coming from across the road. He felt his claws retract as he relaxed, looking up through the bushes for the source of the scent. Logan thought he caught a flash of white near a tree close to the road.
Running a hand over his face, Logan crawled back out from underneath the bush. The wind was dying down again. Thinking over what he had just heard, Logan headed towards the village. It was time to find Remy.
Ororo settled quickly on the high tree branch, hiding in the shadows made by the leaves. Below her she could see two men standing in the middle of the road. In the moonlight she could see the older man’s reddish cape fluttering in the dying wind. The other man stretched his wings a bit as if he was getting ready to take to the sky.
“That wasn’t just some incident, Warren. A young girl was murdered because of you and Jean. It’s not like she had anything to do with our plans.” Ororo eyes widened.
“And your point is?”
“My point is he’s still out there, killing people.”
“He was out there before, Erik. How do you think we found him?”
“There are assassins around Warren.”
“Yes, but he does it for fun, not money. Besides, we might need him again, so why not let him continue his play time?”
Ororo couldn’t listen to anymore. Calling her winds to her, her eyes glowing white, she took to the sky. She needed to talk to her father right away.
Remy reached the back out a small house just as a young woman came running out of the back door holding a candle. He watched as her auburn hair settled around her shoulders, the white streak in the front framing her face. Remy could see her green eyes sparkling in the candlelight even with the distance between them.
Rogue stared at the young man that was standing at the edge of the yard. She knew she should’ve called for Betsy or at least asked who he was and why he was there. Instead she stood just outside of the door staring at him as he stared back at her. His dark hair hung over his eyes that almost seemed to glow faintly red.
They both took a step towards each other, still gazing as if in a trance. Before they could take another step forward, Remy turned back towards the woods where he heard someone calling his name. Turning his attention back to the young woman still watching him, he blew her a kiss, sending her a flirty wink before running back towards the woods, his trench coat flapping behind him.
A/N: Continue?
