Aspasia

Chapter 27

   >Aaron<

      I walked into the forest. The sky was clear, and there was a slight breeze. Where was I even going? A heard a sound .I slid Quinn onto the ground and behind a tree. I drew the knife, and braced for an attack. I heard a twig snap. I threw myself onto the ground as something whizzed over my head. When everything was clear, I stood up and saw an arrow implanted into a tree. “Who goes there?” A voice rang out.

         “Careful Sam,” I called happily,” “You could put someone’s eyes out.” 

        “Aaron?” Sam called as he broke out of the line of the trees.  He was holding a bow, and a quiver was over his shoulder. He pulled me into a hug when he pulled away he winced. 

       “You okay?” I asked.

      “Yeah, it’s just a wound. So? Where have you been? Let’s go to the others.”

      “Alright I’m coming hold your horses,” I laughed. I put the knife away, and walked to where Quinn was. I picked her up in my arms.

      “Quinn?”Sam sounded mortified.

      “Yes, I have to get her to James she’s dying.” 

      “Right this way, Aaron,” Sam replied tensely. He led me through the forest till I saw a soft glow of firelight. I arrived in a small little hovel of trees. I saw Sadira tending to the fire. She was talking to a red headed girl, and both were laughing. James was leaned against a tree, a smile on his face.  When Sam walked into the clearing all looked at him. “Guys, guess who I found!” Sam called joyfully. I set Quinn down just outside the line of trees. I stepped out of the line trees. Everyone stood still open-mouthed. Sadira was the first to react. She threw herself into my arms in a hug. When she pulled back she had a huge smile on her face. 

     “Aaron?”

    “Yeah, I’m here.” Sadira stood by her brother. James had a huge smile on his face. He came and stood in front of me.

     “Took you long enough,” James smiled. We embraced. When we pulled away the red-hair girl walked over. She held her hand out to me. 

     “Hi, I’m Anna,” she said as she shook my hand.

     “Well this is fantastic!” Sadira said,” All we’re missing is Quinn.” 

     “Missing is the operative word,” I smiled.

     “What do you mean?” Anna asked. I stepped back into the forest, and lifted Quinn into my arms once more. When I re-appeared all was silent. Every eye was on the semi-lifeless body in my arms. Sam was the first to say anything:

    “I don’t understand. I took the stab wound for her.”

  “I know. This was something else. I’ll tell you about it, but something needs to be done immediately,” I responded quickly.

 “What happened? It affects the cure,” James replied. 

 “Why don’t you tell me what happened here, and I’ll tell you what happened after that,” I told them.

   “Well, it was during the night,” Sam started. “I was on guard while the others slept. Quinn woke up, and told me she needed to go into the forest for some reason. I followed her, and let’s just say some weird stuff happened. There was a fox, and it was on fire. Then there was a dragon. I really didn’t understand what was going on. I saw Quinn get onto the dragon, and then it flew away. I came back to camp. I let the others sleep as I kept watch. Then I heard the dragon again. So I went back to the clearing to see if Quinn had come back. She had. Then we were attacked by a faux water nymph Misty who was actually a transfum. Quinn saved my life, and in return she got stabbed by ice-“Sam left off.