At first glance I counted ten, but then I noticed the masses of shadows behind them, getting closer and closer. My breath caught in my throat, my feet glued to the floor, refusing to move. I could hear someone shouting, my name was said but I couldn’t concentrate on what they were saying.
Someone grabbed my arm tightly and I shook my head, trying to clear my eyesight so I could see who it was. My vision focused on Andor’s face, he locked eye contact with me and for once I could read him like a book. His eyes scanned over me, wide open in panic. His lips were parted as if he wanted to say something but didn’t know how. I noticed dark bags under his eyes, he hadn’t been sleeping and he was frowning at me. He shook his head, a pained expression crossing his face before he covered it with his usual unreadable expression.
“Sayer,” He glanced behind me, “Take Cozae and Morgana back into the forest.” He shoved me backwards forcefully into someone’s arms. I frowned, what was Andor doing? Why did Cozae and I have to go back into the forest?
“Morgana, come on,” Sayer pulled me away but I refused to move, struggling in his grip. “Don’t make me carry you…”
“Don’t make me step on your foot,” I hissed back, “I’m good at stepping on people’s feet.”
“Well I’m good at carrying people into forests,” He growled, “Morgana, stop making things so difficult!” He grabbed Cozae’s arm and began to drag her with me. Cozae came willingly, even beginning to run ahead of Sayer back to the forest.
“But what about Andor, Ryan and Jayden?” I cried, trying to push past Sayer to get back to them.
Sayer groaned, “Morgana, they’ll be fine.” His tone was hard and I could tell instantly he didn’t believe a word he said.
“I’m not leaving them!” I argued, trying to pull my wrist from his grip.
“And if you stay you’ll get in their way! They’ll have to protect you!” Sayer retorted, shaking me, urging me to see reason. Tears formed in my eyes, blurring my vision once more as I stared at Sayer.
He sighed, shaking his head, “Please, Morgana, just come.” I gave in, letting him pull me towards the forest as I watched Andor, Ryan and Jayden become smaller and smaller in the distance.
Sayer tugged me into the forest and let me go once he was certain I wasn’t going to run back to the fight. Cozae plodded on in front and when I actually bothered to listen, I could hear her cussing under her breath. I sighed, walking slowly behind Sayer, kicking the leaves on the floor.
I tried not to think of Andor, Ryan and Jayden, but I couldn’t help it. They were outnumbered and the chances were they weren’t going to survive. Though I know it was selfish of me, I just hoped Ryan and Andor came back okay, even if Jayden didn’t. Andor was also our only help of saving Ariadne and without him, she would surely die.
But then another problem came to mind. Andor was a Thariel. Thariels were attacking them. Andor wouldn’t side with them, would he? If he did, there was no chance Ryan and Jayden would live. It made sense for him to team with the Thariels as well. He obviously didn’t like Jayden and whenever I said Ryan’s name, he tensed up, giving me the idea he hated Ryan too.
Putting thoughts of Andor, Ryan and Jayden out of my mind, I turned to look at Sayer. He seemed to be fiddling with his stone, tossing it up in the air and levitating it there. His stone kept turning white and an orb kept appearing in the air before quickly disappearing. Each time it did he would swear or kick a passing tree. At first I took no notice of him, just thinking he was frustrated with something, but that was before I realised the orb was actually a calling orb. Sayer was calling someone and they weren’t answering.
With every rejection, frustration boiled hotter and hotter inside him, still he would not quit. He was very persistent to talk to this person. Going through the people he knew, I doubted he would be this enthusiastic about calling Ianthe, Zane or Melissa, I just couldn’t see it happening. He had to be trying to contact Dwynwen, which sucked, as she wouldn’t answer me either. She must have been having one hell of a tantrum, or she was generally mad at us. I hoped it wasn’t the latter.
“Sayer, she’s not answering, leave her be,” I said softly, prying his stone from his grip. He stared stonily ahead, refusing to answer me. Glancing around, I noticed Cozae was gone. Again. That girl had one hell of a talent for disappearing; I’d give her that. “Sayer, Cozae’s gone, again."
Sayer groaned, “Bloody witch can’t keep still. Come on, we better find her.” I was about to argue how it didn’t really matter where she went when Sayer rushed off. I ran to keep up with him, trying my best to keep my breathing steady, and failing miserably. Sayer kept sending me amused glances while he ran at a constant, fast pace, not even breaking a sweat. Show off.
All of a sudden, he pulled me to a stop, grabbing me around the waist and tugging me behind a tree. I opened my mouth to speak but he quickly put his hand over my mouth. I fidgeted, trying to remove his hand.
“There’s someone there,” He whispered in my ear, making me go limp. There was someone there? Who? Was it Cozae? No, if it was why would we be hiding? Surely it wasn’t another Thariel?
Sayer removed his hand from my mouth and glanced slowly around the tree before hiding again. Thariels, he mouthed to me. I nodded, passing him his stone back.
He fiddled with it in his hand, making it turn a dim red to yellow to green and then a bright blue. He settled on blue and tightened his grip around it. His eyes went to my stone in my pocket and he nodded me to use it. I held it in the palm of my hand, watching it flicker different colours before stopping on purple. Sayer frowned, mouthing to me, Why’s it purple? I shrugged; this really wasn’t the time to explain things to him.
A small, slithering line of water began to trickle along the floor and past the tree. I slowly edged round the tree, watching the water head closer and closer towards the Thariels. Suddenly it rose into a hurricane of water, engulfing the Thariel in it. I heard the Thariel give a surprised shout before being silenced by the water. Slowly the water drained into the earth below, leaving the Thariel stone still, lying on the floor.
The second Thariel spun around, looking at the floor at her dead partner. Her gaze snapped up and found me. I frowned, I recognized her. She smirked at me, tossing her stone in the air and catching it before summoning her darkness.
“Hello Hunter, so we meet again, and this time Andor’s not going to get in my way with his stupid orders,” She edged closer towards me and I frowned. What did she mean Andor getting in the way? Had we met before? My mind flashed back to the first time I met Andor, when he had saved me from the Thariels. Saved me from the girl who was chocking me to death. Fern. The girl in front of me was Fern. She laughed, “Remember me now?”
“Go towards her, keep her talking, I need to find out if there are others,” Sayer whispered under his breath. I nodded my head slightly, letting him know I had heard him, before he disappeared in under a second. Knowing I was actually alone now terrified me. The first time the Thariels attacked me Andor was there. Another time Ryan stood by me, but this time, I was alone. No one was there to help or save me. If I mucked up, I was dead.
I walked out of my hiding place, trying to control my expression like Andor did so Fern didn’t know how scared I was. I held me stone tightly in my right hand, it’s bright purple glow giving me some comfort.
"Where's your 'gang' or is little Hunter all alone?" Fern snickered, her heels clicking as she walked around her companions dead body.
"They're close by," I lied, trying to panic her.
Instead, though, she took it in her stride replying, "As long as one of those hot boys are with you I'm fine, that way I can have some fun," she laughed, winking at me. I cringed; I could just imagine her idea of 'fun'.
I heard a shout from behind me and immediately recognize the voice. Sayer was in trouble. I turned back to Fern just in time to see her lunge at me with a knife. I screamed, ducking out of the way and twirling around to see her stumbling and thrashing her knife around. Clutching my stone painfully tight, I summoned fire and as she began to lunge at me again, a strip of fire separated her from me. She screamed as the fire spluttered onto her skin, burning her.
"You bitch! I am going to make you pay for that," she screeched at me, making her way through the fire, ignoring the heat on her skin. I gulped backing away as the tip of her knife came closer to my face. My eyes widened and suddenly a gust of wind whipped her knife from her grip, making it spin through the air and stab into a tree. Fern's gaze followed it in frustration and she grabbed her stone from her pocket. A dark mist began to creep up my legs and I tried to move but ended up tripping and falling over, my stone tumbling out of my grip.
Fern loomed over me, an evil smirk appearing on her face as she pulled out a second knife, placing it by my neck. How many knives did she carry? I whimpered as the cold blade touched my bare skin. Fern pushed it closer so it scratched me; I bit my lip, willing myself not to scream.
The blade dug Ito my skin and I could feel something wet trickling down my neck. I gasped as she began to press harder, glee filling her eyes as she did so. I had to stop her, I couldn't die like this. I kicked her legs making her yelp in surprise and fall over. The knife fell from her grip and I snatched it, scrambling to my feet. She began to get to her feet and I realized I had to stop her. Knock her out, hit her, do something. If she got up she was probably going to attack me again.
Summoning earth, I made some vines wrap around her wrists, stopping her from moving. She kicked out and hissed at me, giving me a death glare. Looking around, I noticed a fairly big sized rock. An idea came to me and I scooped the rock up and walked over to Fern. Kneeling down by her side I smiled slyly at her.
"Night, night," I teased before banging the rock on her head hard. She winced, struggling against the vines as blood poured from her head. I didn't want to kill her, just knock her out and stop her from following me. Eventually she stopped moving, lying on the ground stone still. Just to be certain she wasn't dead, I checked her pulse. There was one, she wasn't dead.
I got up, grabbed Fern's knife and my stone before making my way towards the shouting. My hand went up to my neck and when I brought it back down it was covered in blood. I winced, a dizzy feeling coming over me. I felt the world moving underneath my feet and leaned back against a tree, recovering my breath.
Images of Fern collapsing and me hitting her went round and round my head. That wasn't like me. I didn't harm people on purpose. What was I becoming? Some sort of monster? My breathing became steady once more and at the sound of another shout, I set off again.
Pushing my way through the bushes I tried to find the source of the sound, but it seemed to becoming from all directions. I began to stumble as more blood drained from my neck. I collapsed back against a tree again, panting. Grabbing Fern's knife, I began to cut the bottom of my shorts until I had a strip separate from them. I pressed it up against my wounded neck, tying it loosely under my neck. This somewhat helped the bleeding and I was able to set off again.
The shouting was getting louder and I could hear the clash of knives as I crouched behind a bush. I could see through the gaps three pairs of legs, the pair in the middle being Sayer. He was cornered by two others who were edging slowly towards him. I bit my lip, I had to help him. The sun reflected off something to my left and I glanced at it quickly. It was round and blue... Sayer had dropped his stone. I cursed under my breath, clutching my stone tightly.
I summoned earth and slowly a vine creped towards one of the pairs of feet. They began to wind up the persons legs, smiling to myself as I watched them struggle to move.
"What the hell have you done?" I heard a man hiss.
Sayer chuckled, "I have done nothing, those are not my vines..."
I heard the man swear before lunging at Sayer and falling flat on his face. He lifted his head slightly and locked eye contact with me. I gulped, falling back on my hands.
"What do we have here? Hiding are we?" He sneered at me. Sayer glanced around and peered over the bushes to see me. I smiled sheepishly and he sighed.
"What happened to the Thariel?" He asked, offering a hand to help me up. I took his hand and he pulled me up.
"Fern's knocked out," I said.
Sayer frowned, "How?"
"I can do something you know," I rolled my eyes, staring at the man on the ground. I noticed his hands were rather hairy as we're his legs. He must have been a werewolf. I glanced at the other man who flashed me a smile with fangs. Vampire.
"I was just telling these Roquaries there is no need for a fight, we are just passing through," Sayer said calmly.
"That's lies," spat the werewolf, "No Dusarla just passes through."
"Lay off, will you? Maybe they are just passing through," the Vampire retorted, giving his companion a cold glare. "Sorry about him, he tends to get angry at the smallest of things."
Sayer nodded, "We'll just be on our way then." Sayer scooped his stone up and began to walk around the werewolf. I slowly released him from my vines and he stumbled to his feet, giving me a death glare.
Sayer gestured for me to follow and we slowly edged away from the Roquaries. I followed Sayer through the forest, watching him use his stone to try to call Dwynwen again. I sighed, watching as it levitated in the air, glowed a bright white before turning a dim grey and falling back into the palm of his hand.
He didn't curse this time, or kick anything, he just stared at it regretfully, as if it was his fault she wasn't answering. I didn't get why Dwynwen wasn't replying to us, okay, I kind of got why she was ignoring me, I had betrayed her and ran off with a Thariel, but why Sayer? She couldn't hold a grudge against him for kissing Jasmine, that was hypocritical of her; she was constantly flirting with Cashel.
Eventually Sayer gave up, slipping the stone in his pocket and trudging along staring at the ground. I wanted to comfort him some how but I didn't know what to say, so I kept silent.
Sayer stopped suddenly, turning around staring at the bushes behind us. I glanced over my shoulder to see a small head peek over the bushes. Immediately I locked my gaze on the big, bright pink pair of eyes staring at me.
"Cozae, what are you doing?" I asked, walking towards her. She shuffled back away from me as if I was some sort of monster. I pushed my way through the bushes and grabbed her by the arm. I gasped as my neck began to throb and dropped Cozae, raisin my hand to my neck. I pressed my hand against the fabric, wincing as the pain shot through me.
“You’re hurt...” Cozae whispered. I shook my head slightly then froze as another jolt of pain went through me. I stumbled back as my vision blurred from how much blood I’d lost. Sayer caught me quickly before I hit the ground. He gently moved the fabric from my neck and stared down at my cut.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” I chocked out, clenching my bloody hand into a fist, trying to ignore the pain.
“Well it looks pretty bad…” Sayer muttered. He pulled me up on my feet and held me so I didn’t fall back again, “Andor’s going to kill me…”
“He won’t,” I replied, my voice barely above a whisper. I watched my blood drip onto the floor, staining the grass. I felt the hot liquid run further down my neck.
“You know, I think you might be right about him,” Sayer said quietly. I gave him a confused look before he continued, “He has changed, sort of, at least when he looks at you he has.” I frowned, trying to figure out what he was saying. “Anyway, we need to heal this cut of yours before we continue.”
“I can heal it,” Cozae said, her head cocked to the side, looking thoughtfully at my neck which sort of creped me out.
Sayer frowned, “Yeah, um, actually, I think I’ll just take her to the Roquaries clan near by.”
“You don’t think I can heal her,” Cozae sighed, “Can’t you just give me a chance? Come on, I portalised you here without killing you, I’m not going to kill her.” I could feel myself fading into blackness; feel myself letting go of the world.
“Sayer,” I managed to splutter out, “Just let her.” Sayer stared down at me as if I was going crazy while Cozae folded her arms and raised her head as if to say ‘In your face’. Sayer eventually gave in and nodded for Cozae to heal me.
She edged closer towards me, her hand outstretched. I closed my eyes slightly, not too much that I couldn’t see her, but enough so she was blurry. She touched my neck gently and a spark of pain ran down my spine making me cringe. Cozae’s hand suddenly became red hot on my skin, making me clench my hands into fists, trying to ignore the burning.
I could feel my cut slowly closing and my skin tingled as Cozae’s hand became cooler. She slowly removed her hand from my neck and backed away from me. I glanced up at Sayer who was still frowning. He touched my neck gently and nodded.
“She healed you,” He told me, letting go of my arms slowly; ready to catch me if I fell again.
“I’m fine,” I said, waving away his hands. As I spoke I stumble back again and Sayer caught me again easily.
He chuckled, “Yeah, so fine.”
“Shut up,” I laughed, slapping his hand gently, “My balance sucks, okay?”
“I’d have to agree with you on that,” Sayer shook his head, letting me go once more, “Going to fall again?”
I stuck my tongue out at him, “You wish, you enjoy all this don’t you?”
“All what?"
“All this teasing and stuff,” I replied. Sayer looked at me blankly and I pushed him. “You are so annoying!”
He snorted, “Catching on finally are we?”
“Can we move now?” Cozae groaned, shoving past me. I glanced at Sayer and he shrugged, holding back a laugh.
“Split personality,” I whispered to him.
He nodded, “Crazy witch, with her disappearing acts and pink eyes.”
“I heard that!” Cozae called back to us. Sayer snorted and I elbowed him, trying to shut him up.
We continued walking until we reached a clearing in the forest. Sayer sat down on a rock, telling us we were probably far away from the Thariels by now. My thoughts went back to Andor, Ryan and Jayden and where they were at this time. Were they hurt? Were they still fighting? Were they alive?
The thought of them being dead scared me. They couldn’t be dead, I couldn’t think like that. I had to have some hope. Sayer didn’t seem bothered by the fact they were fighting; he was quietly humming to himself. Cozae seemed to be drawing something in the dirt with a branch she had snapped off a tree. I watched her for sometime until I got too confused with what her object was meant to be to be bothered to continue watching.
I began to pace back and forth, trying to keep my thoughts off Jayden, Ryan and especially Andor. Jayden dying I could cope with fine, yes, I would be a bit upset but nothing I couldn’t get over. If Ryan died I’d probably shut down, hide somewhere for a few weeks but eventually I’d get over him. With Andor, however, I didn’t know what I’d do if he died. The thought of him dying terrified me. He had saved my life many times, hurt me, ignored me and now apparently cared for me again. I didn’t get why he couldn’t just act one way towards me. Either hate me or like me, not both, that just confused me.
I glanced over at Sayer when I realised he was no longer humming. Not to my surprise, he was trying to contact Dwynwen once again. I sighed and sat down on the rock beside him, watching him levitate his rock and catching it.
“Sayer, she’s not going to answer you, no matter how many times you bug her,” I said softly.
He looked at me, his eyes full of pain, “Isn’t it worth a try?”
“You’ve tried, now you should give in, leave her be,” I replied.
Sayer sighed, “If we’re attacking Tharielon, we’ll need everyone’s help we can get. A few of us won’t be able to get past Tharielon’s defenses, even with Andor’s help.”
I nodded, trying to think of some way to improve our chances of saving Ariadne. We needs more people to help us and Dwynwen definitely didn’t seem willing. But she wasn’t the only one we could ask for help…
“Call Ianthe,” I said to Sayer. He didn’t move, just stared at me as if I had said nothing at all. “Call Ianthe,” I repeated. He blinked once then frowned. “Sayer, just call him!”
“Why?” Sayer whined.
“Because we need all the help we can get, you just told me!” I cried in frustration.
“Yeah, but not Ianthe’s help, he’ll just make it worse,” Sayer said, folding his arms.
“Fine, I’ll call him,” I replied, getting up ad grabbing my rock.
“Morgana! Seriously, don’t call him! I can’t stand him!” Sayer begged me.
“Sayer, this is Ariadne’s life we’re talking about, not just your views on Ianthe,” I retorted. Sayer said nothing, just glared at me.
I tossed my rock in the air and levitated it there. Focusing, my rock turned from a dim purple to bright white and an orb began to shine off it. The orb began to swirl and in a few minutes, Ianthe appeared, staring at me in confusion.
“What?” He asked, running a hand through his blonde hair.
“Could I ask for a favour?” I said, crossing my fingers behind my back.
“I technically work for you, you don’t need to ask for a favour,” He replied, winking at me.
I ignored the wink; not letting him put me off, “Well, you’re a lot more willing to help than Sayer.” Behind me I heard Sayer give an exasperated shout.
Ianthe chuckled, “Sayer is a one minded guy who only focuses on himself.”
“Is Melissa and Zane there with you?” I asked.
Ianthe nodded, “You bet, want their help too?”
“Yes, now’s the question on how to get you here…” I frowned.
Sayer cleared his throat and I turned around to stare at him questioningly. He pointed at Cozae who was now making flowers fly around in the air. I smiled; of course Cozae could portalise them here!
“Cozae!” I called, she glanced up in confusion. “I need your help once more, sorry.” Cozae got up and hesitantly walked towards me. “I need you to portalise them here,” I said, pointing at Ianthe.
“Why should I?” She asked.
Sayer laughed, “Because if you don’t we’ll leave you here to die.” I sent him a warning look but he just shrugged as if he had said nothing wrong.
Cozae sighed, “Fine.” She closed her eyes and suddenly a gust of wind began to howl around us. A bright light appeared in the middle of us, glowing bright yellows, pinks and purples. It grew bigger and bigger until it was larger than me. I backed away from it, squinting as an image began to form.
Ianthe began to blur into the middle of the portal, his face etched with shock. Melissa was behind him, waving her hands around in some outrageous gestures while Zane stood quietly by her side, nodding as she spoke. The portal stopped moving and Cozae clicked her fingers.
“They can come through now,” she told me, walking back to pile of flowers to begin levitating them again.
I gestured for Ianthe to step through but all he did was stare at me. I gestured once more and he folded his arms, shaking his head. I looked past him at Zane and gestured for him to come through. All he did was push his glasses further up his nose before gaping at me. I sighed.
“Come on! It’s not going to kill you!” I cried.
“They’re all too scared,” Sayer chuckled.
Ianthe sent him a death glare, “We are not! We are just worried for our safety and-“
“Scared,” Sayer cut in.
Ianthe growled, “Fine then.” He stormed through the portal, shuddering once as he did before emerging next to me, “Now shut up, Sayer.”
Sayer shrugged, as if he had done nothing wrong. I shook my head, not bothering to tell Ianthe and Sayer to stop arguing, it wouldn’t do much. Melissa came through next, leaving Zane nervously on the other side, staring at us with big eyes.
“Come on Zane, it’s fine, trust me,” Melissa called to him. Zane nodded, slowly stepping forward towards the portal.
“Could he walk any slower?” I heard Ianthe mutter under his breath. I sent him a glare and he rolled his eyes, “It’s true!”
Zane eventually wondered through the portal, with a lot of encouragement from Melissa and with a click of her fingers, Cozae shut the portal. Sayer jumped up off the rock and looked around; trying to figure out which direction we should head in. I looked back the way we came, thinking of Jayden, Ryan and Andor.
“I want to go back,” I said.
“And get killed,” Sayer retorted.
“We can’t just leave them!” I cried.
“Yes, we can.” Sayer argued, “And we will. There’s no point going back, you’ll just get lost. Now come on, we need to go this way. If they live, they’ll find us.”
“And if they don’t?”
“Well, they’ll be dead, so it won’t really matter.”