Chapter 252: blood oath

Cassius finally let the old man go but he was not gritting anymore. He was trying to hold the men laying on the floor. We moved and tried to help one too when i went and held the man Shui was trying to hold. She looked at me with a questioning gaze.

"Hold the boy, he is the youngest with the least weight. The man you have chosen is one of the strongest and heaviest one, you would not be able to handle him.`` I explained but she shook her head.

"We are going to get married tomorrow. He is my life partner. I would save him no matter what." she said adamantly and I frowned.

"You both would die right here if you continued to be stubborn. Do you think you will be able to live with the condition you are in? Ha! Just let him go and I promise I will return him safely to you.`` I said and she looked at me and then at the man laying there on the ground.

"Now," Cassius shouted and she finally moved and heralded the youngest one who would be around 15- 16.

We all moved towards the other side and soon the thumping on the ground could be heard. The animals were close.

"Come with me, there is a cave where we rest. Take everyone there." said the old man and I looked at Cassius, he felt my gaze and nodded.

But I was not satisfied. Could we really trust them?! As if sensing my worries he gave me a smile as we continued to move.

"They can not break the blood oath, it is connected with the god of their clan. We are part of their clan now." he said and i furrowed my brows, was it so easy to be part of an outlaw clan? And how did he know that?

There were so many questions in my mind, but all I could do was nod. We could feel the animals close and started dragging the men faster with us.

"We are close, just a bit more" said the old man and I could see he was carrying both men easily despite his old age.

Finally what felt like an eternity, we reached a cave where the ground was covered with grass. Strikingly the grass was looking odd.

"Don't walk on the grass. It is a trap" spoke the girl and i nodded so that was the reason i felt so.

We walked in a narrow line as we finally reached inside the cave. We almost slumped leaving the men on the floor.

The girl moved and checked his soon to be husband first and i shook my head, lovestruck fool!

But what did Cassius do to all of them that they did not wake up even after so much dragging and time.

The girl stood and passed the water. I looked at her gratefully but before I could drink some water Cassius snatched the pitcher and threw it on the ground.

"Hey, what are you doing? We do not have that many resources that you can waste like that?" shouted the girl while it finally clicked my mind.

"You mixed something in their water?" I spoke my thoughts aloud but he nodded.

"You did what?" shouted the girl, and he turned to look at her.

"I did what I needed to survive. It would not have happened, if you all would have let us go our own way. Or would have shown the path as promised." he spat and the girl bit her lips and looked away.

"So, we don't have water now?'' I asked the main point and Cassius nodded.

"Great and where are we by the way? Mother and brother would be looking for us, everyone would be looking for us, for christ sake and here we are in a cave in the middle of nowhere.`` I shouted, I was just holding the last thread of my patience. Could this day be any worse!?

"We did have some herbs for wounds though" said the girl as she opened another bundle of cloth that we had dragged with us.

She took out some herbs and then gave them to me, "will you help me a bit?" I nodded and opened her wounds.

"Put it on the wound and tie it again," she instructed and I followed.

Once done, she laid there silently. Taking the hand of the man in her hands. She leaned on his chest and closed his eyes.

The old man got busy checking the nerves of everyone. While I just sat there looking around, I felt his hands on my hand.

"Come, let me put the herbs on your wounds too." There was so much softness in his voice as if he was afraid that I would be hurt by his loud voice too.

The wound was dried and my dress was stuck to it. When he tried to move it, it hurt so much that for a second I forgot that he was taking my dress off.

"I apologise for what happened today, Marianne. I am truly disappointed with myself too." he said as his hands gently moved over my wound yet it burned like hellfire.

"It was not.. Not your mistake Cassius. And in the end you are the one who saved us. But how did you do that?`` I asked, as I was sure we did not have anything to mix in water.

"When we were walking with them, they were discussing the amount of animals they needed and I realised it was a lot. They would not be able to kill so much no matter what they do. So I noticed what they had. Then I asked one and he told me they have herbs to make people unconscious. They mix it in the water of the animals they capture. I just stole it and used it against them." he said with a painful expression. "But I am still ashamed to be so late."