She winced. Noah hovered over her, unsure what to do. He looked like a lost puppy, his eyes darting here and there. Emma almost laughed at the sight of him looking so helpless, and her grin seemed to quiet his uneasiness.
He gave her a small smile back as he proceeded to scoop her up into his arms, being careful with her ankle. Emma looked around as he walked, searching for some sign that would indicate help.
She finally decided that they needed help finding help. She told Noah to carry her to Opa.
He obliged, his feet dragging from her slight weight. She didn't know whether her injury was serious, or if it would hinder her training. Time had passed her by quicker than she wanted, as it did when she was working hard, and the supposed war was only three weeks away. She couldn't afford to lose much time.
Noah approached the door and Emma ducked her head to avoid the frame. Opa looked up from preparing vegetable skewers when she glanced over and saw Noah slowly lowering Emma down onto one of the kitchen stools.
Opa hurried over to Emma, feet shuffling along the tiled floor. Bending over the lame ankle, Opa studied it intently. It was bent at the wrong angle, and Emma was worried that it might be broken. Unfortunately, her suspicions were correct.
"Oh dear. I'm afraid you may have to sit out for the next few weeks."
Emma sat up, her mind buzzing. How many weeks was a few? And could she afford to lose them? Concern crinkled her face and Noah's eyes darkened. He knew what it meant too.
Opa looked at her as though she were made out of glass. She said, "I'd say about 2 1/2 weeks, at the most. We have strategies to help you heal faster."
Furious, Emma shoved herself off the stool and cried out in pain as her broken ankle took the weight. She spilled into Noah's arms and he looked at Opa questioningly. "What do you recommend?"
Opa sighed and looked like she was in deep consideration. "For the fastest recovery, she needs to ice everyday for the next week, and get some serious rest, along with taking some healing remedies I've whipped up.
The week after that, she can begin to try some exercises to rework the muscles. By the end of the third week she should be back at full strength."
Emma exhaled, still supported by Noah's forearms. It wasn't a lot of time to get better, but at least she wouldn't be immobilized while everyone else fought.
She heard Noah's voice above her. "Well, I have to get back to training. Emma, if I tell Ravetin and Damgatia, do you think you could stay here and I'll come get you when I'm done?"
Emma groaned. He made it sound like she was a preschooler. But she resisted the urge to roll her eyes and replied, "Yes, of course. Could you tell Julia as well, please?" It wasn't much of an introduction, but it would do.
Propping herself back up with Noah's help, she waved goodbye to her brother and fingered her dragon pendant. She noticed it had lifted one paw up of it's own accord, as thought it had hurt it.
That wasn't weird at all.
She quickly dismissed it. She had more pressing issues to worry about. Her body would be restored to full health in three weeks time, but would her strength? And she wasn't sure if she could maintain her magic progression without practice and repetition.
Emma supposed it couldn't hurt her ankle to practice magic. It was propped up beside her, covered in ice that froze her skin. The injury made her frustrated. It was one obstacle in her path, and she was determined to get to the end of her path. She remembered how it happened.
She was in the training room, practicing on a punching bag, her skin becoming red from the tough fabric. Punching and kicking with all her might, she heard a noise behind her.
Julia was arguing with some other girls, by the names of Leona, Tiffany, Jasmine and Rachel. Emma stopped punching and pretended to examine her fingernails, listening hard. She had seen them in the lounge before, listening to music or watching Jersey Shore.
"I really like her! Stop insulting people just because they're there!" Julia's voice rang out.
It was Tiffany who answered. "She's not like us, Julia. She doesn't watch Jersey, she's a magic worker, and she doesn't have a phone!" Tiffany's laugh sounded like a breath of air, shallow and insignificant. The other girls joined in.
Julia crossed her arms. "Well, she's my friend."
Leona smiled, and it was a wicked smile, like it was carved into her face by someone who only had the slightest idea of what a smile should look like.
"Then you're not our friend."
Julia was unruffled. "Fine." She turned on her heel and strode away.
Tiffany was steaming, Emma could see through her peripheral vision. Then she noticed that they were all coming towards her. She pretended to scratch the back of her hand and aimed a side kick at the bag.
She waited for the torrent of insults to be like the torrent of blows she bestowed on the punching bag. But the girls wore sweet smiles, and she was unnerved. But she knew that they couldn't really hurt her.
"So, Emma," Jasmine said, showing off her white teeth, "How are you at fighting?"
Emma rolled her eyes. "I'm not bad," she replied while still vigorously pounding the punching bag.
Jasmine smiled. "I challenge you to one on one combat." Emma ignored her and continued with her routine. Punch, kick, punch, kick. It became a mantra, in her mind, rubbing up against her skull, sawing away at her brain. And her sanity in that moment.
Jasmine repeated herself. "I challenge you to one on one combat." Emma made a sound that grated at the bottom of her throat and turned slowly to face them. "Fine."
Rachel was actually the one to oppose her. They took their positions on the mat, circling each other like hawks. Then Rachel made a sudden dash forward and kicked her hard in the ankle.
She didn't know if Rachel's foot was made out of steel or what, but her ankle now hurt like hell. She hopped around on one foot, trying to maintain her balance.
For someone one -footed she did surprisingly well, bloodying Rachel's nose and possibly breaking her arm by using a maneuver she had seen on TV. She was the last one standing, and she felt victorious.
But as soon as the girls exited, muttering and casting dark looks in her direction, she felt the fight go out of her and the pain wash over her in a wave of black spots at the edges of her vision. She fell to the ground and called out for her brother.
He came running.
"Here you go, honey. Chicken soup is the best medicine you can get." Opa smiled and returned to her hamburgers, sizzling on the grill.
Emma laid her head on one hand and dreamed of the time when she would be back on her feet once more.
___________________________________
Dear Diary,
It's so frustrating to sit on this rickety old bench and watch while Noah, Julia and the others practice! I wish I was up there too, learning the Incognito Manuever with the others. From what I can tell, you sneak up behind the enemy, catch him in a headlock from behind, and then stab him before he overpowers you with brute strength.
Opa says my ankle is progressing well, which I guess is good news. I'd have thought, with all their technology around here, they'd have invented a way to heal injuries faster. But I suppose they were focussing on developing the food chute. Not that I blame them.
At least I can still practice magic, although sometimes I wish I couldn't. You need to use your entire body to do the most complicated kind of magic, so I'm stuck here levitating apples while I could be out there washing away waves of Movopare with floods of boiling lava.
Sometimes it's fun to watch Noah when his sword mysteriously levitates into the air, though.
He told me what Dad wrote about that Maud girl's funeral. Nobody has died yet, but I understand what he was feeling perfectly now. It's infuriating to feel useless. I don't know if that is selfless or selfish, though knowing me, it's probably the latter.
I'd better go. I have lunch in fifteen minutes and it's probably going to take me that long to hobble down the hallway.
So long,
Emma
She shut the diary with a snap and began to slowly make her way over to the cafeteria. Julia noticed her hobbling across the floor and came over to help.
"Julia, the session isn't over for fifteen minutes, you don't have to -" Emma started.
"It's fine. All we're doing is practicing and you know how talented I am," Julia proclaimed, and Emma laughed, the sound bouncing off the silent hallways. Julia smiled and supported her weight to Opa's kitchen.
When they arrived, everyone else was starting to fill in. Julia looked around, unsure of where to sit. Her old friends had deserted her. Emma was pained at her helplessness, for it was her who had caused it.
She tried to remedy it. "Come on, you can come with me into the kitchen today and then I'm sure Noah and his friends would let you sit with them."
Julia's face lit up. "Oh, thank you! Is Opa as nice a lady as she is a cook?" Emma laughed at that one. "She's rough on the outside, but she has a kind heart." Julia nodded gleefully and helped her walk to the kitchen.
Emma watched Julia's face turn from excited to awestruck as she experienced Opa's magnificent kitchen for the first time. Still gazing at her surroundings, Julia helped Emma onto one of the bar stools and then hopped up herself.
Opa came bustling out of the back room, balancing an elegantly topped pizza on her arm. "Hello Emma," she said in her deep, gruff, voice. "And who's your friend?"
"Opa, do you mind if my friend Julia eats here today? Her friends ditched her." Emma received a glare from Julia but just shrugged her shoulders. It was the truth, and Opa liked things blunt. Everything except her cooking.
"Why would they do that? Seems like a pretty girl." Opa complimented her, and Julia blushed. "She stood up for me," Emma explained between mouthfuls, savouring the delicious food.
This time Julia gave her an approving look and Emma was amused by her shifting moods. At least with her ankle she was always frustrated, but she got an A+ for consistency.
No one talked much throughout the meal, until Julia said, "So, did Ravetin fill you in about the war plans?" Emma nodded through the burning the spicy jalapeños had left in her throat. She had enjoyed that meeting, because it had given her something worthwhile to do other than sit around the complex and mope pathetically.
It was a good and strategic plan, but Emma feared it wouldn't work - not because she could find any flaws. No, she just had a strange yet strong feeling the Movopare were planning something that they weren't expecting. Something they could have never foreseen.
Then there was the crash.
___________________________________
She was his first thought.
Noah pushed his way through the crumbling blocks, catching Emma's sword as it fell from a shelf that went tumbling down beside him. Noah dodged it and fought through the debris with his own sword.
In his journey to Emma, he encountered tons of small battles going on all around him. He spotted Kyle on the ground, his eyes rolling. He must have been hit in the head by the Movopare's gigantic fist. Noah ran and stabbed him in the head as he helped Kyle up.
Finally he reached the area that used to be the kitchen, with pots and pan scattered everywhere. He stepped on one as he fought his way over. Emma, Julia and Opa were fighting their way through with carving knives, taking out the Movopare this way and that.
He tossed Emma the sword, and she threw the knife into the heart of another creature just coming through the doorway. She caught the leather handle and began to fight with even more fierceness, using her magic to enhance her combat skills.
Jumping in to help, Noah found himself back to back with his sister, Julia fighting to his left, while Opa was to his right. Glancing over, he saw she was doing pretty damn well for an eighty year old lady. She whirled around ferociously, using one of the beasts as a shield for the other's blow.
To his left Julia seemed to be excelling as well. She hacked off the head of one Movopare and then used her carving knives to stab two surrounding her at once. Their bodies still on her blades, she whirled around and used them to protect herself from the last beast's stab at her chest. Noah was impressed.
The Movopare that was engaged in a fight with Noah took advantage of his distraction and lunged forward, the point of his blade pointed straight at Noah's chest. Noah turned quickly and caught the blow just in time, but the Movopare was stronger than him and pressed in for leverage, pressuring him to release the sword.
Noah gritted his teeth and swung his blade along the length of the Movopare's, creating sparks that exploded up in the air. He dodged quickly before the Movopare could try to skewer him again. But he had forgot Emma was behind him.
Just before the blade passed through her body, he yelled, "Emma, dodge, right!" She did and the Movopare's blade instead stabbed the other Movopare, sending the alive one to the ground.
Opa came in out of nowhere, driving her carving knife straight through the Movopare's chest. He let out a grunt and then his head slumped to the floor, near his friend's dead body.
Julia rushed over just as the Movopare died, ready to help, but there was nothing to do. They all caught their breath together, and then looked towards the door.
~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
It was pandemonium. Everyone slashed their blades or shot fleets of arrows, and for a while it was all they could do not to get stabbed. Noah spotted a few dead Warriors, but most of the dead were the Movopare. The remaining Warriors seemed to be doing well.
And suddenly he knew what the plan was.
He motioned for them to come with him, then stopped. "Emma, your ankle..."
Emma smiled, surprising him. Noah looked at her questioningly. She laughed for a split second, but then quickly explained, "Opa found something in the Movopare's belt that seemed like a medicine. She did some sort of test with her oven and it was, so I took it and now my ankle feels normal."
Noah was startled with this news, but not particularly affected by it. He nodded curtly, and then sprinted towards the door of the complex. The other three ran after him, not sure what his plan was but relieved to escape the chaos.
As he reached the door he stabbed a guard Movopare in the chest and then wrenched it open. The sky was a gloomy grey today, with torrents of rain pouring down and strikes of lighting flashing in the distance. He knew he was right then.
The Movopare were sending a small section of their forces to the complex; they were concentrating their main efforts on the Great One's magnificent palace.
He motioned for the others to hurry up and then scrambled behind a tangle of bush-weeds that settled themselves before their crouching figures. Noah whispered hurriedly, "We need to sneak in. There's a guard at every entrance."
Emma understood the frantic look in his eyes and said, "We can drop through the hole in the roof."
Opa replied, "Yes, but how do we get there?"
"We could tunnel underground..." Julia suggested.
Noah frowned. It would take them way too long to make their way underground. Then an idea came to him, and he wondered how he had not noticed it before.
"Emma," he said, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "Your necklace."
"Your watch," she said, her eyes widening. "Of course! I bet they don't have any arrows in there, to take out one person. They'll try close combat, bet you anything."
Noah nodded. "Julia, Opa, we'll drop you in when you're ready." He and his sister stood back to back, a few feet apart.
They touched their individual dragons gingerly, cradling them with their forefingers and thumbs. The dragons seemed to become more alert, as though they were ready. Together, the Gondars said, "Transform."
~Dedicated to my best buddy Leaf~
💥 Ashley 💥