The Shadows

2

As they ran further into the dark forest, Rose noticed Sam was limping badly. He had also seemed to be close to collapsing.

"Do you need my help?" Rose asked as she rushed over to stop him from falling. He shook his head and put one finger over his lips to tell her to shush.

"We are almost to camp, but I need you to stay behind that tree." He nodded at a large, gnarled oak tree that sits on the edge of a river. Rose decided it would be better to not argue with Sam. She walked over to the tree, carefully avoiding dry leaves and scattered twigs. As soon as she stood safely behind the tree, she looked through the ivy stems on the right side of the oak.

In the center of a gigantic clearing, stood a monstrous, black tree. It's thick, twisted branches sprawled in all different directions and were intertwined with lush ivy that bore beautiful fruits. Sitting on one of the enormous roots and sharpening a menacing axe, sat one of the most fierce looking girls that Rose could think of. Her golden hair was braided into an intricate French braid and her somewhat tanned skin showed that she spEnt a lot of time in the sun. Her ocean-blue eyes flicked up and down the sharp edge of the axe. But these things were all things that made her pretty. The one thing that marred her beautiful face was a long, gruesome scar that ran from over the bridge of her nose to underneath her left eye. A pure moment of terror gripped Rose when the girl's eyes flick up to look straight at her. Rose stood completely still, and soon the girl's eyes went back to her deadly weapon. But not for long. Her gaze shot to Sam as he limped out of the bushes at the other end of the clearing.

"Sam!" The girl screamed, dropping the axe and sprinting to Sam. She caught him just as he started to collapse and dragged him to lean against the trunk of the massive tree. "Where have you been?! I was so worried! And just look at your leg!!"

"Hey, hey. Calm down." Sam soothed her. "I'm okay. Just a little tired is all." The girl glared at him, but he just smiled as she pulled the piece of cloth off of a large gash that wrapped around his ankle and up his right leg.

"What were you thinking?! You knew that you were supposed to rest today!" She ranted. "You could've been killed, even if you are super strong. The infection could have spread farther, and then where will be?" She opened a leather satchel that was slung across one of the roots. She pulled out a roll of thin bandaging cloth and a small vile of a purplish liquid. She cut off some of the small amount of cloth and poured the last bit of the purplish liquid onto Sam's bleeding wound and wraped the cloth around it, making sure to tighten it to stop the blood flow. "There. You'll be happy to know that was my last vile of the Healer. My cloth is also running low."

"I know! Scarlett, that's why I went to the Boxes. I-" Sam's explanation was cut off by the girl, Scarlett.

"The Boxes!?" She screeched. "Sammy, you of all people should be smart enough to not go there!" She sighed and looked down.

"Scar, there was a girl there." He said as he lifted her chin with one finger. "I was about to turn back, but I heard her and I couldn't leave her. I saved her from a Leaon."

"N-no! You didn't...is she...she's not here, is she?!" She screamed. She immediately ran to pick up her axe. Sam stumbled to his feet and calmed her down. He then motioned for Rose to come out from behind the oak.

"This is Rose." Sam explained as Rose stepped out of her hiding place, cautiously avoiding the river. "I couldn't leave her to die." He added when Scarlett glared at him.

"That's the game, Sam. Kill or be killed." Scarlett seethed. "Wait a second...Sam, how long have you been bleeding." Panic filled her eyes as the realization hit.

"Since I fought the Leaon." Sam winced and Scarlett went into panic mode. She ran to sheathe her axe and strode to the other side of the tree. She returned with two swords in her hands. She shoved one into Rose's hand and muttered, "Survive, and you can stay." She then went to stand under one of the gnarled branches of the black tree and yelled something up at the sky. But then Rose saw that it wasn't the sky, but a boy, their age, who stood picking the lush fruits from a vine. Rose then noticed how handsome he was with his chiseled features, black hair, and blue eyes. He nodded and jumped from the branch. Terror for the boy filled Rose as he plummeted towards the ground, but at the last second, something spectacular happened. A pair of magnificent wings folded from his back, and he landed gracefully beside Scarlett.