HUNTING THE HUNTERS (1st INSTALLMENT of THE HUNTERS SERIES)

Chapter XII

APRIL

"Wakey, wakey."

I shot up from my leaf, looked around, but saw no one.

"Get up!"

There it was again, I crawled over to Peaches, who was snoring unbelievably loud.

"Peaches, there's something outside," I said as I shook her.

"Leave me alone, go check it out then," she whined.

I stopped shaking her and looked towards the opening. I scurried back over to where I was sleeping, grabbed my sword and then slowly rose to my feet. I cautiously walked over to the opening in the tree, stepping on huge leaves as I did.

The sun shone brightly into the opening which I was in, its golden rays dancing on the leaves on the floor and my body as I walked closer to it.

Within the golden rays, dust could be seen, they were about the size of my head. They seemed like dancers dancing in unison yet haphazardly in the streaks of light. The space I was in was a crack in a tree, the crack was not that deep within the cross-section of the tree, it reached the beginning of the heartwood.

The annual rings could be seen above and below me, it had many rings that meant it was an old tree.

I focused now on the job at hand, finding out what or who made that sound.

"April come to me," It said again.

I was becoming a bit jittery without all my girls, usually on missions when they were around I acted brave but, right now I was too worried about them to be brave.

I walked closer until I was a foot away from the opening, I gripped my sword tightly and braced myself for what I might find. I jumped out of the hole onto a branch ready to attack, swinging my sword franticly but to my surprise, I saw nothing nor did I see anyone. I breathed a breath of relief, maybe it was all in my mind. I turned around ready to go back inside.

When I came face to face with a masked figure! "Boo!"

I screamed, swung my sword towards the figure but the sword just passed through. The force at which I swung the sword knocked me off balance and I went down, meaning I slipped off the branch.

I deftly operated the sword, sticking it into the branch far enough for it to hold my weight. I then swung my legs forward, releasing the sword and curling my legs around the branch. My legs now held me firmly on the branch upside-down. I swung my torso upward until I was in a sitting position, I then grabbed the sword and pointed towards the direction the figure was.

"Ah!" screamed Peaches as the blade grazed her elbow as she was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Damn April, mind where you point that thing," she said as she applied pressure to the wound.

"Sorry Peaches," I said as I got up and walked over to her. "Did you see the thing?"

"What thing?" She asked with anger laced in her voice.

"I think she means me," said a deep voice above us. We snapped our heads up to see the guy who put us here, he was now in a black cloak and a golden vendetta mask. This mask had high cheekbones with a black moustache and a smile that went all the way to the eyes.

"Hey you why the hell did you put us here!" Peaches screamed at him, he was on a branch above us.

"This is your next test," he said.

"What! This is a test! You put us here for another test, I thought the fights were the only tests we had! You damn masked coward! You lied to us! You bastard take off that mask let me see that face of yours," she screamed, anger radiating from her.