Defeating Darkness

Chapter 6

Rustle! Rustle! 

I woke with a jolt. It was still dark out but I could see the sun trying to peek over the horizon. I peered through the darkness, trying to see where the noise had come from.

The rustling had come from the bushes to the left of us. 

The sound hadn’t woken Emara. I gently stood up and unsheathed my glowing green sword, creating a soft metallic scraping noise as I pulled it out of my sheath.

As quietly as I could, I shuffled my feet closer to the bush and raised my sword. I gently tapped the bush with my foot and braced myself for whatever could be behind it. 

Rustle! Rustle! Rustle! 

Then, it stopped and the clearing went quiet.

SSCCRREEEECCHH!!

I whipped around to face a large bird.  It was almost as tall as I was, with a large pointed beak and four long talons on each of its four feet. It’s feather were of all different colors creating patterns of all sorts on its body.

I lowered my sword, but only slightly.

It studied me with wandering eyes, debating whether or not I was an enemy. I began slowly taking steps towards Emara. My sword glowed in my hand beside me.

When the bird spotted it, it let out another screech forcing me to cover my ears.

I dropped my sword, with a clatter, and took a step back.

The sudden movement startled the bird causing it to charge at me. I had just enough time to jump out of the way before it could ram me with its sharp beak.

Emara was awake now and was surprised to see the bird. In one swift flick of her tail she took out the birds leg giving me enough time to grab my sword and take off its head.

But, just when I thought it was dead, a dark shadow rose from the carcass, creating a sudden burst of wind that threw my blonde hair around my face making it hard for me to see.

The shadow growled before taking flight out of the clearing taking the wind with it.

I spun around to face Emara, who looked as shocked as I felt. 

“This must be the thing King Gepredice had told us about. Only I wish he had mentioned something about its ability to take the form of another,” I explained still shaken up from the experience. 

“Maybe he didn’t even know.” 

I nodded aware of the possibility.

“We should probably go,” Emara said. 

“Before the shadow comes back.”

I threw her saddle onto her back and tightened the straps. Hopping into Emara’s saddle, a chill ran down my spine as the rustling returned. Hearing the sound Emara leapt into the air. As we gained altitude, I saw a bird emerge from the bush and fly off in the opposite direction. Flying higher and higher Emara said: “Shadowcloak is watching us. We need to be careful of his spies.” I nodded as Emara let out a roar. 

The sun was high in the sky when we flew around Mt. Suwas. The sun glittered off Emara’s green scales, creating patterns on the trees we flew past. We were getting close to Rokarsa now, I could smell the foulness in the air. 

“The closer we get the more I can feel Laxis’s presence.” This news made my heart flutter and brought a smile to my face. The more I thought about it the more I realized we weren’t just friends, and we’ll never be just friends ever again. Every second I grew more anxious to get to Rokarsa. I often sat playing with my sword and checking for any weaknesses in my shield. I hardly ever ate anything, the butterflies in my stomach made me feel full. 

“How much longer do you think we’ll be?” I asked impatiently.

“Not much longer, only a few miles. I was going to hunt to get my strength up before we have to battle, and then I’ll need time for the food to digest.”

“Let’s land behind that rock so you can hunt now.” Emara agreed and glided down behind the giant rock. After removing her saddle, she said “I won’t go to far. If the shadow were to appear again, I wouldn’t want one of us to be alone.” I nodded and she took off again.

I watched her soar away until she disappeared behind the trees.

Suddenly feeling alone, I went and sat down and leaned against the rock.

Pulling out my knife, I grabbed a nearby stick and began to carve small details into it. All of my emotions flowed out of me and onto the small stick. Anger, hate, love, hope, they all appeared on that small piece of wood. I could’ve sat there for hours and it would feel like minutes. I smiled to myself as my carving began to take shape. 

My small pile of wood shavings steadily began to grow. 

When Emara returned I had finished my carving. The stick had been transformed to the shape of a sword, with a rose vine wrapped around a bejewelled hilt. A moon and stars was carved on one side of the blade and the head of a dragon on the other.

When I showed it to Emara she nudged it with her nose and said ,“This is truly beautiful. Keep this close, you do not want it lost or stolen.”

“Thank you Emara, for everything. We should be off. The sooner we get to Rokarsa the better.” As I grabbed the saddle, I heard the familiar sound of hooves, heading in our direction.

“Hide!” I whispered, throwing the saddle into a bush, and jumping in after it. Emara jumped into the air and hid behind a cluster of trees a few hundred metres away.

As the horse stopped in the clearing. I held my breath when I heard the clatter of armour as the soldier dismounted the lead horse. 

To my despair he noticed Emara’s very large footprints pressed into the hard ground.

“Their around here somewhere, but by the look of these prints I’d say they had already taken off,” the soldier explained.

His eyes then found my small pile of wood shavings.

“Ah the girl must have been doing some arts and crafts before they left,” he laughed.

As I listened to their conversation my foot slid ever so slightly, creating a soft scraping sound that only the horses could hear. All of them turned there heads in my direction. Noticing the motion the soldier began to walk toward me.

Panicking, I quickly grabbed a rock and threw it to the other side of the clearing. Hearing the sound the soldier quickly retreated to examine it.

“It was probably nothing,” said the soldier with a deep voice, after he thoroughly checked the bush. “Let’s keep moving, we can‘t be that far behind them.” As he mounted his horse, I slowly released my breath. I didn’t leave my hiding place until I could no longer hear the sounds of the hooves. 

As I crawled out of the bush, I saw Emara jump from her hiding place and into the clearing. I dragged the saddle out of the bush and threw it on Emara’s back. After tightening the straps around her stomach, Emara let out a roar and a jet of green flame.

“What’s the matter?” I asked, ripping my sword from its sheath.

“It’s Laxis, he’s hurt. I can feel his pain.”

“Then let us go, he needs us now more then ever,” I said, hopping onto her back. As soon as I finished tightening the straps around my legs Emara leaped in to the air.

Flying faster then ever before, Emara got us to the shore line of the Dark Sea in less then a half hour.

“So this is the Dark Sea? Let us hope nothing evil lurks beneath the dark waves,” I said, jumping off Emara‘s back, and into the sand.

Emara nodded and laid down beneath a small tree. I sat on the hot sand beside her and tried to fall asleep, but it was no use. My mind would not stop worrying about Laxis. Eventually I decided to take a walk down the beach, hoping to clear my mind long enough for me to get some sleep.

The moon shone reflected across the waves creating shadows across the already dark water. The thousands of stars shown brightly in the night sky. The sand underneath my feet was fine and shifted with each step I took. I sat down against a rock and watched the waves crash on shore. The soothing sound lulled me to sleep.