He looked. He couldn’t see them. He called out for them. They did not answer. How could they? He had seen them die with his own eyes.
David woke with a sweat that had nothing to do with the heat of the summer and everything to do with the dream he had just had. He had had that particular dream quite often of late.
He could hear his friend Sam call him through the garden hedge. ‘There you are,’ said Sam, brushing his long black hair out of his eyes as he climbed over the geraniums. ‘I’ve been looking for you for at least twenty minutes. This just came for you…’
But David had already grabbed the parcel from Sam’s hands and begun to unwrap it. It was wrapped quite crudely in brown paper though tied with a lot of string. ‘Typical,’ thought David, ‘He was always paranoid…’ But it had finally come! He’d been waiting for this for quite some time. ‘… and of course we’ll need to find a proper place for it…,’ said Sam, but David wasn’t listening. As he unwrapped the brown paper he saw that it was indeed what he had been awaiting. He opened the package and took out the amulet. Sam watched with apprehensive eyes. ‘Be careful with that Dave,’ he said ‘You know what that… that thing… is capable of…’
‘I thought I told you I don’t like being called Dave?’ said David. ‘I’m proud of the name my mother gave me and I’d much prefer it if you used it rather than Dave…’
‘Whatever you say David…’ Sam replied. He knew better than to argue with David. The boy was as stubborn as they come.
‘And anyway,’ David continued ‘I know exactly what this is capable of, which, as you very well know, is why I asked him to send it to me. By the way… how did he send it this time?’
‘Old Marion dropped it off. I think he’s realized not to show himself in public after the incident...’
‘Of course he has. That’s why he’s gone underground hasn’t he? To stay out of sight for a while… and in all fairness to him, I can’t blame the public to bay for his blood…’ said David. He shuddered as he was reminded of the horror of that incident. More than forty people had been lost… including his parents. Of course, the public didn’t know the whole truth. The full extents of the damage had been deliberately withheld. David could not blame the Imperials. After all, Mezhoul and the others had been working on their orders. But the essentials had, inevitably, leaked to the public.
As David sat thinking about Mezhoul and his parents, Sam was looking closely at the amulet. He remembered the engravings along the side of the amulet. But he could not remember the odd inscription carved at the back.
‘This wasn’t there the last time I saw it.,’ he thought. ‘ Hey David, do you remember this inscription?’
‘Of course, how can I forget? ‘ he said without looking up, ‘‘Beware the Beast in Man’ That’s not something you forget so easily Sam…’
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