The Last of the Dragons-Set 1

182

9 Days Later

   "Come on. Keep your head up." I said as I prodded Bailey to keep walking.

It was early morning, with the sun still not risen, but rather lightly brightening the horizon as it slowly made its way to the sky. We hadn't had much rest in our effort to reach the coast, and it was clearly taking its toll on us. Bailey was struggling the most by far, constantly stumbling, and her speech was rather slurred. 

"Come on. I'll carry you." 

Bailey gave me a slight grin, before I picked her up and continued walking. Amy was constantly scanning the trees for danger, while Tahli didn't seem to pay it much attention. There was a slight breeze whipping through the leaves, creating a satisfying but unsettling sound of the leaves swaying back and forth, coupled with the sudden chill the breeze brought with it. The sky was slowly changing from endless darkness with millions of bright dots, to a beautiful shade of orange that mixed in with the clouds in a glorious display of colours and texture.

"It's so pretty." Bailey said in a mumbled voice.

I chuckled.

"Yes it is, isn't it." I replied.

We continued on trek through the trees, only kept on track by the position of the stars at night, and the position of the sun in the day, but it never felt as though we were making any progress.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Amy asked.

"Nope. But I'm no more sure this is the wrong way than I am that it's the right way. Unless we've mixed it up though, the sun should have us going the right way." I replied.

Tahli scuffed, before suddenly, she stopped and began looking around, clearly having sensed something was wrong.

"What is it?" Amy asked.

"Do you hear it?" Tahli replied.

We all fell silent for a moment, all four of us listening intently.

"Voices." I said.

"All male voices, they sound lost." Amy added.

"Quickly, up this tree, now!" I exclaimed in an urgent whisper.

One by one, we climbed one of the monstrous trees and crawled out onto one of the thickest branches lower to the ground, doing our best to remain obscured by the thick patch of leaves. I scanned the trees, searching for the source of the sound, then, up ahead, I saw a group of five men wandering aimlessly through the forest.

"Soldiers." I said.

"What? How can you be sure?" Amy asked.

"Look at what they're wearing. Just the same as they wore in combat." I replied.

"What the hell are they doing out here? There aren't enough of them for it to be a co-ordinated objective." Tahli asked.

"No idea, but I don't intend to allow them past us." I said as I pulled my bow from my neck and drew an arrow.

Tahli and Amy did the same, while Bailey watched on silently. The five men came nearer and nearer to us, one of them briefly toppling over before being helped to his feet by another soldier. One of the five men had blood dripping down his face, trailing behind the others. I took notice of their lack of weapons, combined with their obvious distress and lack of direction.

"When I fire, you both do the same. I'll take the one in front, Amy, take the second, and Tahli the third. Once those three are down, we'll ambush the other two and figure out why they're here, and if there are more." I said in a whisper while looking over my shoulder.