The Water Warrior(Book 1)(Completed)

Chapter 13: Regrets

Darkmoon, as usual, had an almost grumpy expression on his face as he approached as if out of thin air. Firestar was now in his wolf form and was walking next to Darkmoon and stopped a few feet from where Aqua and BlackHawk were standing. Aqua was the first to speak, "Darkmoon I-" but before she could finish BlackHawk interrupted her. "Sir," somehow sir sounded right. "I was the one who told her to come and I take full responsibility for what happened."

These words seemed to shock Darkmoon, in all his years everyone usually had put the blame on someone else and never owned up to their mistakes. "That is very commendable BlackHawk. And I thank you for being honest, that is very hard to come by in this day and age." Now it was BlackHawk's turn to be shocked, he was not expecting this type of reaction. Attacking him, maybe. Angry, most likely. Never actually happy or at least nice. With Darkmoon's rather odd response, BlackHawk remained silent, not quite sure what to say.

"Aqua can I see your arm?" Darkmoon asked noticing the bandage. Aqua walked over to him where she removed the bandage for him. That was the first time Aqua had actually seen her cut, so when she saw the extent of the wound she noticed how bad it was. The crimson and almost black blood made it look fake, but the pain was absolutely real. Darkmoon stared at it for a few seconds before he spoke, "I think I have someone who can speed up the healing process for you. Follow me," then Darkmoon began to walk away expecting everyone to follow.

Aqua and Firestar began to walk in Darkmoon's direction, but BlackHawk stayed behind knowing he was not wanted. As they continued to walk away, Darkmoon looked over his shoulder only to see that BlackHawk was not following. "BlackHawk you too." BlackHawk looked surprised but began to chase after them.

"Are you sure?" Firestar questioned.

"Yes, a man who can admit his faults is a man I can trust. And the only way one can grow is by learning from one's mistakes," Darkmoon replied.

No one spoke as they trudged through the forest and toward the entrance of the Guardian Camp. As they approached the tree, Aqua did the pleasure of removing the vines and opening the door to let everyone through making sure to close it behind her.

Even though Aqua has been to the Guardian Camp several times, she still found it absolutely amazing the way it was set up. The way every house was connected by bridges and walkways kind of reminded her of the Ewok villages from Star Wars to a certain extent, except there were no Ewoks, there were wolves, hundreds of them.

Darkmoon led them to a specific house where a female wolf with a gentle voice and a kind smile greeted her at the door. Aqua recognized her from the last patch job she did when Firestar had brutally beaten her up in a training exercise. "Good to see you Darkmoon, Firestar, Aqua and..." said the wolf looking at each of them, but when she saw BlackHawk, she did not know what to think. "I'm sorry, I don't think we have met. My name is Starla and you are?"

"BlackHawk. Nice to meet you," he replied.

"And you as well. What can I do for you Darkmoon?" Starla said returning her attention back to her visitors. "Arrow wound to the shoulder," he replied getting right to the point. Aqua walked forward showing Starla the exposed wound. She looked at it for a moment, then disappeared deeper into her house.

A minute or two later she reappeared as a monkey holding a makeshift jar with some sort of cream in it. Starla then turned into a human and applied the gel or cream to Aqua's arm. Instantly the burning sensation subsided a great deal, leaving Aqua super surprised by the effect. "Thank you so much."

"You are very welcome. Now I will bandage it up and it should be healed in about three days." After speaking, Starla disappeared for the second time, but returned with a large bandage in hand. Just like she said, Starla wrapped Aqua's arm and sent them on their way. Aqua thanked her once more as she left and followed her mentor and friends out of the open doorway.

As they headed out Darkmoon spoke up, "Aqua I hoped you learned your lesson today. Next time you won't be so lucky." All Aqua could do was nod her head. "And no more special training sessions with BlackHawk." Again Aqua nodded as they approached the entrance and exit out of the hidden city.

Darkmoon descended the dark staircase that led back to the Forbidden Forest's floor, with Firstar following behind him first, then BlackHawk and finally Aqua. Once they reached the bottom Darkmoon added one last thing. "Once your wound heals, I expect to see you here ready for training." "I wouldn't miss it," Aqua replied thankful that Darkmoon had not changed his mind about training her.

Next, the two Guardians and two humans said their goodbyes, then they each headed off in a different direction. As each of them disappeared, a hidden figure smiled to himself from the shadows of the forest. He had been watching and listening to everything they said from the moment they appeared and he could not be happier. After he was sure they were gone, the man came out of his hiding spot from behind a large number of bushes and fallen tree limbs he had built as a blind.

It was clear that the man was a soldier with his armor shining in the small amount of light that filtered through the trees, but in the center of his armor was the blue and silver wolf, the Lamada crest. The man had been on his usual patrol when he had seen BlackHawk leave. Knowing the King would be very interested that his most trusted guard had snuck off; he followed him into the Forbidden Forest and saw him go through the waterfall. Too scared to follow him because he believed the stories that were told about the Forbidden Falls, he decided to make a blind, only to find out he had made it right in front of the Guardian Camp's secret entrance, what luck?!

As he crept out of his hiding place he spoke aloud. "King Sinergy is going to love this," said the soldier with a sinister smile as he raced off through the woods to tell his king what he had just heard.