[COMPLETE] R E V E R S E #NaNoWriMo2k17

Chapter 12

Beeping wove into his dreams. He groped around in the darkness with a free hand and smashed down on he alarm clock, effectively silencing it. Wind howled outside, and the ceiling rattled.

Ajax wretched himself from his covers, stumbling around in the dark, reaching for his clothes. He fumbled with buttons and zippers, a nervous wreck. After what seemed like an eternity, he snatched his torch off the rack, picking up the clock and illuminated the screen, squinting.

4:00AM.

He dropped the clock back on the table, slinging a prepacked bag over his shoulder and tiptoed into the hallway.

He almost blew it. He was so occupied ans wrapped up in his thoughts, he almost slammed straight into Stella.

She made a shushing motion, waving her arms around, which was kind of unessesary. He could only vaguely make out the outline of her face, and she turned away, already sneaking down the hallway again. He followed her as quietly as he could, finally and grudgingly appreciating the stealth drills he'd practiced years ago. He felt a pang in his heart as he remembered the fact that he was expelled. No more warrior duty. The next time he saw Sakura, he was going to wring her neck like a chicken and throw her off the Cloudscrape Crags.

He still wasn't sure what to do. Warrior training had been an integral part of his life, and suddenly he felt as if though a major part of him has been cut away and stolen. He spent most of his time cooped up in his room, writing his stories. Stella suggested he could publish his stories, but he turned down the idea, knowing that they would never sell. Besides, this was war. Who had time to read books?

He snapped back to the present as Stella approached the dining room table, sliding a note onto the surface. Nothing complicated, just a quick paragraph saying that they were going on a short trip and would be back in a week. It was mostly true, anyways. Ajax estimated that it would take them two days of flying to reach the edge of the Isles and two days to head home, which only left them with three days to uncover some answers. It wasn't a lot of time, but neither of them wanted to ask for more than necessary. In fact, Ajax was already on the edge. One week seemed like a lot to ask for, but Stella assured him that it would he fine.

He didn't have much faith.

His bag rubbed against his shoulder. They'd agreed beforehand just to pack the bare essentials, since they'd pretty much have to carry it around the entire time. One set of clothes. A small purse of treasure and gems. Minimal amount of food. A compass. A dagger, for emergancies(he wasn't very proficient with small weapons, but it was better than nothing.) A torch and a box of matches(neither of them could breathe fire.) His beloved notebooks and pens. And of course, a map of Sornieth with directions to the Starfall Isles.

"It's really dark," Stella commented as she closed and locked the door behind them. "Did you bring a torch?"

He groped around the sides and flicked it on. The torch only lit up about two tailengths infront of them, brcause the rest was obscured by a blizzard. Perfect timing.

"I am NOT flying in that gale."

She glanced that him. "We could either wait it out, which might put us way behind schedule, or we could suck it and fly through the storm. You know how blizzards act here - they stop right before the floes. That's about how far the Icewarden's power can extend these days."

He scowled. "I should've bought thicker clothes."

"Too bad." She suddenly materialised infront of his face and tugged on his coat, squinting from the glare. "I thought I told you to buy a red light, not a white one."

He took out his compass, only half payonf attention. "Well, I'm sorry that the store didn't have any," he grumped. "Are we going to move or what?"

"If I die, I'm killing you." She took up without warning, spraying snow into his face. Growling, he took off after her. The snow cut into his skin like tiny shards of ice.

"Excuse me, but you were the one who came up with the idea in the first place."

"Oops. Short term memory. Soooo sorry," she answered sarcastically. He paused, before rolling his eyes, secretly a little worried. Sarcasm wasn't her thing.

"We're probably going to have to make a stop at the boarder. There's nowhere to rest in the middle of the ocean, and it may as well be swarming with Maren." He held a bitter grudge against the aquatic Beastclans, not only for their side but also the fact that their breathen killed his parents. Just thinking about them left a sour taste in his mouth.

"Fair. You've calculated the distance correctly, right? Four thousand wingspans?"

"I'm certain." He yawned, and recieved a fresh mouthful of snow. He quickly spat it out, his teeth stinging from the cold. He heard her laughing somewhere infront of him, and he squinted. It was extremely easy to lose each other in such a storm. He suspected the only reason why they weren't lost already was because of the light from his torch, marking where he was like a flare.

"Erun isn't far from the the ocean, so we have to be careful not to overshoot it," he shouted. "We can stop at Blizzard's Rest once we reach the edge of the tundra."

"You mean the old solo army organisthingy? I thought it perished after... y'know started."

His compass was going nuts, and he realised that somehow the storm was interfering with the magnetism. "No, the war hasn't killed them yet. At least not all of them. Akira was torn apart by Beastclan allied wolves. Boreas was downed by Greatowls. Artemis and Apollo are still alive, though. They're... rather old now."

"Sounds fun."

"You don't know half the story." He banked sharply, overshooting her. He heard her curse and flap madly to catch up. "My compass isn't working, and I have no idea where we're going. I'm going to have to touch down and see if I can get it to work again."

"Why did it suddenly die?" She shouted after him as he started to freefall towards the ground.

"Something's up with the storm. It isn't natural. Somehow, the snow is interfering with the compass' magnetic ability." Right as he said that, the storm started to ease. Mist rose around them, but the compass still refused to work.