The next morning I wake up and see that Alora had already left the room, so I get up and throw on a regular black shirt, jeans and some converse then head for the living room where Alora and Aurelia should be. They're both sitting in the living room drinking coffee and I sit on the couch and they go silent.
"Am I interrupting something?"
Aurelia looks at me
"Oh no I was just telling her some of the stuff I found"
"Ok so tell me what you found"
"Alright so what my father told you that day is all true…. But"
"But what???"
"There's more to the story…. Like it gets pretty deep"
"Just spit it out"
"Well first let's start off with that symbol that appeared on your chest. From what I read only a rare few have ever had that symbol on them"
"Go on"
"Well those select few were the Tribal chiefs"
"So you're telling me I'm a tribal chief?"
"I mean it's possible but that's not all, the reason they had that symbol is because they were the ones that could control the thunderbird…"
"NO FUCKING WAY?!?"
"Jay… can you please shut up and listen, you're getting annoying"
"Fine go ahead"
"As I was saying, they could control it and they would call it in during times of war. Some stories even say that the chiefs would be able to ride on it and fly through the skies"
"Man… that's crazy"
"The protectors of the Great Plains would help people in need…. But they were also feared throughout the land."
"Why?"
"Let's just say they would only help if it would benefit them in the long run"
"Are you serious?"
"That's why they helped my ancestors, we begged them for help to win a war we had no chance in."
"What happened?"
"We agreed to give up most of the land that would be won, they allowed us to only keep the swamps and they would also take some of us as slaves"
"What the fuck…."
"That's not all, they would destroy whole tribes if they thought the tribe weren't meeting their standards. But that's not even the worse of it all"
"What??"
"When the Europeans started arriving, they made a choice…..they went into hiding to protect themselves and their powers instead of helping the other tribes avoid being slaughtered."
I just put my head down
"They were supposed to be protectors… but they abandoned them in a time of need, my own ancestors did this"
"It's not your fault"
"Yeah… then what happened to them?"
"Nobody knows, they just disappeared. There's been no trace of them"
"There's got to be others like me around"
"No one knows for sure, but up until this point you're the only living descendant"
"Could this be why I have that bounty? Someone wants to end the whole bloodline once and for all?"
"It's possible, everything is on the table"
Alora speaks up
"I told you not to worry, I'm here to protect you"
"Yeah but I was the one carrying you out last night, what happens if you're not there?"
Alora just looks around and takes a deep breath
"I.. I don't know…."
"What are we going to do? We can't stay locked up in here and hiding at the cauldron for the next week"
Aurelia speaks up
"Who says we can't?"
"We'll be sitting ducks, eventually whoever is coming for me will just wait outside the cauldron for me or they'll just break in here like those guys did a few days ago. You think… uhh never mind"
They both look at me and Alora speaks up
"What were you going to say?"
"If I leave Louisiana and go home… you think everything will stop?"
Aurelia butts in
"Ummm yeah about that"
"What"
She takes a deep breath
"You can't leave"
"Why not?"
"From what I heard, when a bounty is placed on you, you're bound to the land."
"Which means.."
"You're trapped, once Mardi Gras ends and the bounty is over, you're free to go but until then you can't leave, you're stuck here until you're dead or the time is up"
"This is bullshit!! At this point… I don't even care anymore"
I get up and start to walk out the house when Alora speaks up
"Where are you going?"
"Don't worry about it… just leave me alone, you don't need to protect me anymore"
On the way out I grab the tomahawk I found back in the swamp and put it in my backpack, I don't need anyone to protect me anymore. As I head out onto the crowded bourbon street I look around trying to figure out where to go.
"Uhhhhhh fuck… where do I even go, I can't go to the cauldron because they'll just follow me there and I definitely don't want to head back into Aloras place"
At this point I just decide to start walking and see where I end up, im either gonna end up lost or dead and at this point…. I'm ok with either one.