The Element Table

Chapter 15: Shadow Creatures

"So what are we supposed to do Jacquelyn? Scoop water in our hands and throw it at them?" Henry hissed

"Uh...I don't know, I haven't gotten that far in the plan yet"

Henry rolled his eyes.

"We jump in" Alianor whispered

"What?" Ryia asked

"We jump in" she said louder

"Into the river?" Philip asked

"Yeah, they might not jump in after us" Ryia answered, getting Alianor's idea

"Well let's do it" Henry quickly said "It's not like we have a better plan"

They looked over their shoulders then back at the lion, each securing their satchels under their arms or to their chests. Ryia tucked the map deep into hers.

"Ready?" Henry asked and they all nodded "One...two...THREE!"

In one swift movement, the five turned and jumped into the river behind them. There was a large splash and the mountain lions stepped back.

The water wasn't fast flowing. It only reached mid thigh, except for the youngest, the water was at her hips. They were able to jump in without going under.

"It worked!" Jacquelyn said "They aren't coming after us"

They looked up on the bank and watched the lions standing there, growling at them. None made an attempt to come after them.

"So what do we do now? Just wait for them to go away?" Philip asked

"The path we have to take continues along the river, so I say we walk upstream until we loose the beasts" Ryia said

The others nodded in agreement and they started walking on the river bed, against the flowing river. Ever so often they would look back and see the lions and vultures following them. But soon, their numbers began to lessen and lessen.

"They're leaving" Alianor pointed out after checking

The others turned and watched as the last few shadow creatures retreated to the trees and bushes.

"Good," the young blonde said "Can we get out of the water now? It's starting to get a bit dirty"

The others looked down at the water around them. They could no longer see the bed of dirt and rocks through the water. Now it looked brown, and it wasn't flowing as easily as it was before.

"Yeah, let's get out of here" Henry agreed

"Look, over there" Ryia pointed out "The bank there is low enough for us to climb up on"

They spotted the place she was referring to and started walking towards it. They were a few feet away when Ryia felt something move against her foot. She looked down but couldn't see anything through the murky water.

"Are you ok?" Philip asked, he was right behind her

"Uh...yeah" she answered, brushing it off "It's probably nothing" she thought to herself

She continued walking, making her way to the bank. Henry was the first to make it out of the water. He helped Jacquelyn and Alianor once they got there. She and Philip arrived together, and he climbed out first, then turned to help her up. She took her satchel off and threw it on the bank. She was about to take Philip's hand when she froze. She had felt it again, something touched her foot. There was definitely something in the water.

"Ryia?" Philip questioned

"There's something in the water" she whispered

"What?" he asked, not hearing her before

"There's something in..."

She had no time to finish the sentence. Something had grabbed on to her leg and pulled her back into the river, pulling her up stream.

"Ryia!" Philip yelled

He had tried to grab onto her, but she was too far away. He quickly took his satchel off and jumped in after her.

Ryia swung her arms, trying to swim away but she couldn't get away. She tugged at her leg, but whatever it was had a tight grip on her.

"Ryia!" Philip called

"Philip!" she cried back, watching as he came towards her "I can't get out"

"I'm coming!"

On the river bank, the other guardians started running along the river, keeping a good pace with Ryia as she's being pulled.

Philip swam after her for a few meters and he was only a few feet away from her when she was pulled under water.

"Ryia!" he yelled

He had to get her and had to do it quickly. He pulled out his sword from its sheath before taking a deep breath and diving into the water.

When he opened his eyes and the dirty water stung it. There wasn't much he could see, just a foot or two ahead of him. But he wasn't about to give up, he had to find her. He continued diving in the same direction, trying to spot any sign of movement. Soon he spotted what looked like fingers and grabbed onto them. He got closer and was greeted with the terrified face of Ryia, who was also holding her breath. He held on tightly to her hand as they were being pulled deeper and deeper into the water, further than they thought the bed reached. She used her other hand and pointed to her foot, indicating that it was trapped. Philip nodded and raised his sword that was clenched in his hand. He swung it as hard as the water would allow and as low as he could go. He felt the blade cut through something and saw Ryia eyes widened. For a second he thought he had cut off her leg, but when she started swimming upwards, he was relieved he hadn't.

He followed her, his hand still holding onto hers. It didn't take long for them to break through the water's surface, breathing in as much air as their lungs could hold.

"Over here!" they heard the voices of their fellow guardians

It was hard to see while coughing out water, but they both made their way to the voices as quickly as they could. The coughing died down a few seconds later and they were able to spot the others and swim towards them. As soon as they were close enough, Henry, Alianor, and Jacquelyn helped them out of the river. Philip took no time to check on Ryia.

"Are you Ok?" he asked as he knelt in front of her, heaving

"Yeah" she answered also on her knees, still trying to calm her breathing

She grabbed onto his face.

"Are you?" she asked

He placed his hands on hers, holding it to his cheek.

"I'm fine" he answered, his thumb rubbing her hand

He was so relieved that she was Ok, he didn't know what he would have done if she wasn't. He stared into her brown eyes, grateful that he had the chance to and that she was able to look back into his. He began to lean forward and so was she, ready to be grateful to do something they hadn't gotten the chance to do in a few days.

But they froze when they heard the sound of a cough. It was then they remembered they weren't alone.