The lost gem

Chapter 17

Once again, I can't thank those of you enough, who are continuously reading my story. It really means a lot!!! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

After Charlotte had left the boys, she had ridden for 2 hours non-stop, without looking back to see if her friends were following her. Now, she decided to take a well deserved break. She led her horse to a field and let him  feed on some grass; she knew he wouldn't run off. And to her luck he didn't. Tired, Charlotte slumped onto a nearby rock and thought about the boys. 'Have I made the right decision? What if they are attacked and can't make it in time?' Slowly, she breathed in and then out. In and then out. She needed to get a grip of herself. There was nothing she could do. Suddenly, a thought snuck into her brain. The gem. With all the magic drama, she had forgotten about it for a while. 'What if I don't find it in time?' Her brows creased with worry but then she reminded herself that, the prophecy had chosen her. Not anyone else. She was the chosen one and nothing could ever change that. A smile crept into her face. She was going to find the gem and that was that. She had made the right choice and she had to stop worrying about what could have been and focus on what would be.

After having had a small snack, Charlotte whistled and called over her horse, who came running willingly. Just as she was about to mount her horse, with her elf skills she heard voices. And they were coming closer. They were not elf or human or dwarf. Orc. "Not now!" She sighed aloud. She pulled her bow from her shoulder and nocked an arrow. She could take them, easily. Her grin dropped when she saw the orcs in front of her. There were not one. Or two. Or even five. Instead, there were well over 10. "Oh no! Oh no, no, no! This can't be happening! I can't defeat this many orcs by myself! I'm a good archer but even a master probably couldn't do this by them self!" She whispered to herself. Drawing ever closer, the orcs growled and snarled at Charlotte. They smiled, revealing dirty, unclean and sharp teeth. "Ah! If it isn't the girl that is going to earn us a lot of money!" A short, fat Orc squealed, he looked like a tiger about to pounce on its prey.
Charlotte examined there weapons to see if she had any chance of winning but to her disappointment, they were all fully equipped. They had clearly been expecting a big struggle, Charlotte laughed inside at the thought. They needed this many orcs just to capture her!
"Hello! In case you didn't know, my name's Charlotte and I don't like orcs very much! In fact, I hate them! They're slow, fat and guess what, they smell!" Charlotte teased.
"Shut your mouth! You elvish scum! You'll regre' ever sayin' that!" A tall, broad Orc growled, who Charlotte assumed was the leader. "Charge!" The same Orc shouted.

Time seemed to slow. Charlotte continuously let her arrows fly and felt enemy arrows whizzing left and right. Battle cries filled the air. And Orc blood soaked the ground. But the orcs had surrounded Charlotte and she was becoming increasingly tired. An Orc crept up on Charlotte from behind and whacked her on the head, with full force, knocking the breathe out of her. She fell to the floor with a loud thud and became unconscious.
"Abou' time," The leader grumbled, "tie 'er up and carry her back to the Orc realm! If she wakes up, knock 'er on the 'ead again. Make sure, she doesn't escape," the leader cast the other orcs a warning glance, "or else." The Orc stared at Charlotte, full of hate for several seconds and then stomped away from her and the other orcs. As soon as he had left, the orcs left standing, grabbed Charlotte and carried her away to their home.

(Alex's POV)
What have I done? I should never have let Charlotte go of by herself. I know she's capable enough but...still.

After Charlotte had gone, Lúthien and I had stood dumbfounded, not really sure what to do. But after a while, we had decided to head in the direction of the 5 stones.
"Do you think Charlotte's ok?" I asked Lúthien quietly.
The other boy, continued to stare of into the distance."Yeah. I'm sure she's fine. She's a tough girl. Why?"
"No reason." But that was a lie. There was a reason. Something in my bones was telling me, she was in danger. I pushed my worries aside and focused on controlling my horse, who kept stopping to eat some grass.
"Move, you silly horse!" I whispered. My horse lifted its head, grunted loudly and tried to throw me off the saddle. "Stop it, ok you can eat. Just stop wobbling!" I chuckled. My horse decided to annoy me and not to eat anymore and trotted forward to catch up with Lúthien.
"How long have you and Charlotte known each other?" The elf questioned randomly.
Thinking about the question, I replied, "we've known each other since we were small. We always played together, although Charlotte was always annoyed by the fact that I was older than her. There were some things that I could do that she couldn't. You should have seen her!" I laughed at the memory, "the whole village loved her because she always kept it alive." My thoughts began to drift, when Lúthien said something that brought me back to earth, "she likes you, you know."
"What?"
"It's obvious. Anyone clever enough can see it. She admires you and listens to you. It's nice to see." Lúthien smiled at me and suddenly I felt a connection to this elf.
"You think?" I asked curiously.
"I know so." He replied.
"You're alright, you know. When you're not annoying and all." I laughed. Lúthien looked at me and burst out laughing and soon we were both clutching our stomachs because we had been laughing so much. All the previous worry had been forgotten and I had forgotten about the strange feeling I'd had: that something had gone wrong. Terribly wrong.

Chapter 17 complete!Thank you for reading! I hope everyone is still enjoying this story!
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