Leavis groaned and writhed, but the taller one let them continue until, seeing Leavis mingled up and disproportionate was satisfied "Stop! Play time's over!" he commanded as he bent and begun digging out the hidden money.
The boys stopped, one spat at Leavis, then they headed towards the taller one. "Vhat a jackpot boys! 12 golds and 5 Diamonds, vree rich!" he exclaimed in excitement as he rose to his feet.
Leavis felt the warm spit on his face go cold, it disgusted him, but a powerless man has no say, especially in the company of the powerful, he gasped, every breath excruciating, feeling his broken ribs crunch.
To him it felt like broken shards of glass were run against his lungs on each inhale. But that was just a small burden compared to the burning pain he felt all around his body, if he could feel his face, the pain would be unbearable.
The taller one chuckled, "Leavis, you powerless—dog." And he led his boys out the path, tossing the letter out of the can, content with his loot, unbothered by the state they left the already old Leavis.
'Powerless—dog' the words echoed through his entire being. He despised being powerless 'I promise to make your lives a living hell!' he raged as he struggled to his feet, falling on several attempts but pulling through in the end. The skies turned grey and the wind howled.
Leavis dragged his battered body against the muddy path, further into the forest until he came across it. Gaskarth's pub, he crept in panting heavily, everyone in the pub glared at him as he announced his presence, they silently observed him creep to the counter top.
Gaskarth was shining a wine bottle but cast a disenchanted glare filled with hate at Leavis, who now lay his torso against the counter. "I see you've met my boys—were they too rough?" Gaskarth bragged as he swung the bottle and shattered it against Leavis' already bloody skull, soaking it in the fragrance of wine.
Then he Drew out a knife and thrust it into Leavis' hand, he moaned and cried helplessly as everyone looked on and enjoyed the show. The pain was unbearable aching through out his entire body.
Leavis fell to the floor, dizziness wrapping him firmly in its cradle as he stared at the nonchalant crowd, 'I finally understand my position' he thought.
"Hurry up and toss him out before he disrupts my business" Gaskarth commanded, and in seconds two men, one chubby and another jacked, both rough looking snatched him from the floor and tossed him out the door, he landed head first.
Rain poured out on Leavis who lay helplessly facing the sky, the mad man chuckled, 'I see it now! What I have to do, I've let these assholes bully me long enough---I'll gain power and burn every last one of them to hell! ---'
Leavis felt as the cold rain dripped into his several bruises, the most stinging pain being the one he felt at his skull 'I've brought my friends trouble through my reckless actions, lost my wife to them, this has to stop'.
Now more than ever, he was anxious for power, no matter what... he wasn't going to lose to anyone.
So, he begun to crawl in the mud, rose up and with shaky feet edged into the Forest, a new man. He soon came across the cabin, but by that time the sun had sunk low, the rain dying down hours ago and Martin sat by the flames as Stanley paced around anxiously.
Their faces molded with worry and fear, Leavis stood by the path, Stanley's eyes drifted to it an observed a silhouette shimmering under the moonlight "Leavis!" he yelled out in relief and run to him.
Things went dark, Leavis managed to only catch glimpses of the events unfolding as Stanley supported him to his chair and lay him "Martin! "He called "go grab the first aid kit and some herbs! Hurry!" his voice filled with worry as he commanded.
Martin, who was now struck with fear for Leavis' life jumped out of his seat and sprinted into the cabin, returning in mere seconds grasping a small brown box and a bunch of herbs in his hands.
"Good lord, Leavis! What did you do now?" Stanley's small face built up a frown as he spoke treating the wounds. Martin stood by, eyes wide, shivering in fear "Just when we've received news of Penso's death... then this!" Martin let out a faint cry. Stanley meticulously treated the wounds, tore a strip from his lime robe and wrapped it along Leavis' skull wounds, as he groaned in pain.
Leavis whispered "I-I met... a dazzling beauty today!", he slowly reached for his pocket and pulled out something, Stanley who was kneeling, squinted, studying it "It's a coupon!" he exclaimed. Grabbed it from Leavis and spoke "It expires tomorrow, who gave this to you?" he handed it over to Martin.
"No, who did this to you? what did you do" his voice grew enraged and commanding "I told you not to get into trouble!", Leavis weakly looked at him "w-what happened to... Penso?" He whispered. Stanley staid silent for sometime a silence filled with sorrow "he was discovered dead by a river bank.... they say it was suicide... can you believe that! Someone as jolly and carefree as Penso... Suicide!" he scoffed.
Leavis shed a tear, felling sorrow engulf him, "look at the kind of life we live out here, every day one of us suffers brutally at the hands of men" He whispered, casting his gaze into the flames. 'But not for long'.
Tonight, regardless of his state, Leavis was determined to find the cave of wonders, even if it was the last thing he did. Each of them were scared for their lives, but strong willed, plotting something.
*********************************************
As the night grew silent, the hooting of owls, howling of wolves and hissing of bats filled the forest with a frightening atmosphere. In his bed, Leavis turned in discomfort. Of course he was uncomfortable, his wounds just kept throbbing but, his ambition kept him awake.
He had waited for them to fall asleep, it was now his time to strike. He slipped out of bed and tip toed out of their room, where he left the fully awake Stanley.
He grabbed a torch, set it alight, wore a black woolly cardigan and shroud, 'Time to leave for the cave' he lurched onto the porch where he had second thoughts upon beholding the chilling fog steeping from the forest, 'This is for power, it's worth it', he proceeded.
Along the path, he felt as though he was being followed so, he glanced back at the cabin 'they are all asleep, I'm sure of it', then he span to face the track illuminated by the bright burning torch to his front and continued.
Deeper and deeper into the forest he trod, the bushes to his side shuffled, this alarmed him so he paused and observed them, instincts telling him to run for it, but he stood his ground and watched it, then... something launched its self in front of the bush.
'The hell could that be', he placed his torch before him, illuminating the figure and darkness.
It was a big, muscular, slightly slim, thick furred black wolf with long sharp incisors protruding its salivating maw, its azure blue eyes with a gaze of one that had not eaten in weeks as it salivated at the sight of Leavis, slowly closing in on him. 'Shit! I should have run when I had the chance!'.
He knew very well who had the upper hand, definitely not him, but he thought of using the torch to scare it away, so he drew closer. It paused defensively, begun to growl and then raised its head up and sounded a deafening howl. 'Shit... now I've really done it' he scattered along the path, each step painful than the last as he out run them. 'They must be drawn to the scent of blood'.
As he run, he decided to throw them off track by unwrapping his bloodied bandage, he halted, bent briefly and grabbed a stone, tied it and waited for the wind to blow, 'come on or I'll die!', heard the snarling of the wolves and the winds blew east, 'bingo!', he swirled his hand, released it far into the east and scattered as they approached.
'That should keep them busy for a while', he gasped and stood under a tree, then the winds blew south, carrying the scent of his blood and sweat, 'The actual hell! Guess I have to keep moving, it's only a matter of time before they catch up to me', he was sweating, his limbs shivering, feeling as though he should lay in the mud to cool down, but knowing the danger, had to press on.
Before long, he found himself standing at the front of a cross road, created by the trees 'now what! I've honestly never had good luck'. Knowing this he thought his chance was long gone, then, at his hour of despair, decided to do a coin flip... just great.
'Heads for left, tails for right, wait... but I have no coins' holding the torch in his right hand, he nervously searched himself and found a wooden button 'This'll have to do it', he held it out in his aged palm and gave the smoother end heads and rougher on tails, then tossed it, watched it spin and snatched it. Opened his palm and it was the rougher side 'tails, then left it is'.
He moved to the right path, pierced the torch in the mud and proceeded to the left, deciding to trust his night vision which was like that of a dead dog, useless. 'The flames will only attract unwanted attention, I'll have to use my hopeless night vision, I'm very much dead'
I'm glad he knows it too. So, along the path, in the distance, he heard the snarls of the wolves and hungry and angry howls. Feeling so smart, but running into several branches in the process he could barely see, but soon, he arrived at a dead end, yeah! the right path was the right path. On realizing this, he knew very well what he had to do, face the wolves.
'What a sad story this is, I'm going to die a nobody...' he thought to himself, as he spun around and proceeded back to the cross road, the torch was gone and the other wolves lay dead, blooded. 'I knew it, someone is stalking me... could it be Gaskarth?' he pondered, and soon, the clouds were blown away, the moon in all its greatness illuminated the path way revealing foot prints.
Footprints that headed up the pathway, 'I don't see the big guy, guess he run off', with that being said, Leavis cautiously paced the path surrounded by tall, crowded trees and the hooting of owls, the footprints started to vanish.
Before him, shrouded in mist was a great opening of a grey stone cave, 'Finally! My long-waited search comes to an en...' but something was off about this cave, a strange other worldly presence's force gripped Leavis and he felt weak, his will no longer his own, his feet betraying his perturbed mind, 'shit! I'm actually moving against my own will...' faintly he begun to move towards the cave's opening.
but just as he approached it, he noticed a silhouette faintly illuminated by the moon light and that of the torch it grasped, casting an orange hue against its human physique 'The hell could that be?' who ever he is, Leavis clearly couldn't tell.
And alas, Leavis was drenched in the thick darkness of the cave, his nose instantaneously struck with the fowl miasma of decaying flesh and a mix of perfumes of females. By all means there was a power at hand being exercised, instinct begged Leavis to "run" but as fate would have it, the power over him was too great an influence and soon.
He begun to see faint sparks like that of flint and steel but of golden luminescence, before he knew it, the cave sparkled in a golden color, so bright it cast away the fowl stench, bringing about a heavenly fragrance of myrrh and rose-honey, 'oh! How divine'.
The strange force was dispelled, he swung his arms around, feeling free and lighter but he noticed something, as the light grew brighter, it also grew larger. And with that, two gorgeous figures emerged, a boy and a girl, their backs facing each other as a bright light hid their details, then the boy spoke loud and confidently 'Oh! It's just as the other two mentioned, a third one would come". "That I do see dear brother "the girl's clear soft voice sounded and from the entrance emerged two men wearing black shrouds "I see you've made it".