Daring Saviors

Raz

Raz:

I was skipping stones on the ocean. My boots and sweatshirt were over with my pack, which was a few feet away from where I was standing, my jeans rolled up to my knees. For some reason, after the museum incident, the ocean had always called me. During the summer, I would swim into dangerously deep water, but during winter I was content with just standing in the damp sand, water up to my ankles.

I was deep in thought, hands by my side, face tilted up towards the sun, like a flower. I was in a sort of meditation state, everything was so peaceful. Alani used to say she wanted to draw me like this. Then something felt a bit off, and against my better judgment I decided to ignore it. I hadn't felt this good in a long time. A few moments later, a brisk tap on my left shoulder brought me spinning back to Earth. I whipped around, drawing my sword and grabbing for the figure.

My sword was at her throat, ready to decapitate her, and I heard a laugh. "Raz! It's me. You don't want to kill me now do you?"

I glance at her face, all familiar features. Her pine green eyes stared calmly into my golden green ones. She was always calm, even when a very sharp sword was being held to her throat. I quickly dropped my hand from her sweatshirt and sheathed my sword.

"Sorry Alani." I glanced back up at her shocking figure, skinny, yet somehow, you knew she was strong. And her hair. Her hair was white, all the way around her head, except the red tips. But yet redder were the headphones that were wrapped around her neck. "I guess I was in this trance. You startled me."

"I startled you? This must be a new accomplishment. You must have been in some seriously deep thoughts."

"Sounds about right. And for the record, I knew someone was walking on the beach, I just chose to ignore it."

"Yeah, okay." Alani responded sarcastically. "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know, but you seem really talkative today." I said as I pulled on my boots and sweatshirt.

"I found a herd of deer. Do you wanna go chase 'em?" Alani started walking backwards off the beach when she saw me swing my messenger bag on my shoulder. I didn't need to see her eyes to know they had a feral gleam to them.

"Why not." I started to jog towards her, thoughts of deer on my mind.

~~~~~~~~~

I hate trees. Well, no. I hate being at the top of a tree, looking down. Yes, that explains it better. Alani had turned into a giant bird and flown me up to the top of an extremely tall tree. She had then flown back down, looked up at me, smirked, then turned into a deer. The plan was that she was going to change into a deer (done) and then get the herd to come under my tree. I was then supposed to jump out of the tree onto a deer (not her) and kill it.

So here I was, at the top of a tree, waiting for a herd of deer to come 30 feet under me, then jump on one, hoping that it wasn't my best friend, and kill it. This is a genius plan, no wonder I agreed to it. I don't think I did agree to it exactly. I think she told me this plan of hers on the way to the forest and when I started to object, she started on the plan anyway, so I got swooped up into this tree. It's great to be in a democracy.

I could now see the herd. I picked out Alani based on her fur pattern and the shimmering of the shape shifter, mentally telling myself not to pick that one. If I weren't about to jump out of this tree it might be quite nice. I reached up to my throat and twisted the wooden ring that was on my necklace. It's not a girly necklace, it's made out of survival cord. Part blue and part black, the ring was a Christmas gift from Alani a few years ago. The ring rested in the hollow of my throat. I wore the necklace everyday, it kind of held me to the past. Telling me that the time of safety wasn't just a dream.

They were getting close... Then they were right in front of my tree. I stole myself, then jumped. It was a horrible feeling. My stomach stayed at the top of the tree while the rest of me plummeted towards the ground. The brown-grey dirt was coming up fast. Then the deer came into view. I landed directly on one, landing on my side, then rolling to cut it's neck. Alani had changed back and killed another one, too. The rest of the deer realized what was happening and ran away. Two deer!

"That was totally worth two deer!" I could already feel bruises forming. But in these times, I was never without a bruise or cut.

"How was that fall?" She could probably see my wince when I prodded my hip line.

"I don't see why people would do that for fun. I prefer my feet on solid land or my body surrounded by water." I bent down to close the deer's eyes, Alani did the same. We laugh as we struggle to drag the deer back to town, where Alani's "family" will help us butcher and trade them.

"Nyx is gonna be soo jealous!" I laughed at her comment. Alani had a huge grin on her slim face.

"Right, cause everyone's jealous of falling out of a 35 foot tree."