Justin's POV
We continued to follow Phillip to the shore where the other two bodies had fallen. It was a boy and a girl that looked to be around the age of 17 or 18. They both were wet from the water and the boy was helping the girl stand up. Anna, Patrick, nor Jackson had said anything since I told them that they were in Narnia. I think they were trying to process everything. I mean if I were them, I too would be confused, nervous, and just want a minute to process everything I thought to myself as we got closer. The boy looked up at us. He said something to the girl before standing protectively in front of her.
"Hey, are you alright?" I asked the two newcomers as we approached them. The boy had pale skin and brown hair and the girl had fair skin with chocolate eyes that matched the colour of her hair. However, the boy had similar features to Anna. They looked like they could be related.
"Anna?" asked the boy
"Zoran!" cried Anna as she ran to him and he engulfed her in a hug. Anna then turned to the girl, "And Ray! What are you all doing here?" she asked the pair as she hugged Ray
The boy named Zoran laughed, "Well, I have no idea where 'here' is Anna. I was just about to ask you the same thing. I mean, we're certainly not in school anymore," he then turned to the rest of us. "Well if it isn't Jackson Lebelle. How are you doing man? It's been a while," he said as they hugged each other.
"It's good to see you Zoran and you too Ray,"
Zoran then turned towards Patrick and I, "And you're Pat...rick... right? You have homeroom with my sister,"
"Yeah, that's me. It's nice to meet you and Ray. I've heard a little bit about you from Anna in homeroom,"
"All good things I hope," laughed Zoran before he turned to me, "Now..." and then in a flash, his fist was against my face. He had punched my right cheek and I could now taste some blood in my mouth. I stumbled backwards as I gripped my right cheek to prevent him from punching it again.
"Zoran!!!" cried both Ray and Anna. Ray ran up to prevent Zoran from punching me again.
"Ahh! What the fuck!!!" I yelled while standing back upright. To my left, I heard both Jackson and Patrick mumble something along the lines of "Oh shit,". I glared at Zoran who looked like he was ready to punch me again.
"That is what you get for what you did to Anna. I would continue beating the living shit out of you if I wasn't being stopped by my loving girlfriend Ray,"
"I didn't--" but once again before I could explain I was cut off by Anna who had jumped in between myself and Zoran
"STOP IT!!! Both of you!!!" she glared at me and Zoran, "Enough. I don't care about what he did to me or what happened between us. All I care about right now is where the hell are we and why are we here,"
"Wait... you don't know where we are either? Or why?" asked Ray
"Well, kind of. But in reality, we have no idea," said Anna
"Alright. So no one knows what's going on? That's just great now isn't it," said Zoran
"Actually, I do. But please let me explain before you try and beat me up again. I'm not who you all think I am. Just give me a chance to explain all that I know, please. Why don't we all go sit over there by those rocks and have and have a nice discussion," I said as I gestured towards the rocks
"Ok but then you better explain what the fuck is going on," said Zoran
"Language Zoran, please. And no more throwing punches or threats," Ray said as she walked over and sat down on Zoran's lap. Zoran nodded while also rolling his eyes.
Finally, I thought to myself as I took a seat, "Alright so, let me start from the beginning," I said once everyone was seated "First off I'm Captain Justin Alfonso. But you can just call me Justin, Capt. Alfonso, or just Captain. It's up to you. I really don't care. Yes, I do look like, sound like, and have the same name as someone you already know. I'm also assuming he dated Anna since almost all the guys looked like they wanted to beat me up and I've been punched by what I'm now assuming is her brother. Is that correct?" I asked them
"Yes it is, but they won't because it's really none of their business in the first place. So drop it," Anna said while glaring at the boys
"Ok then, moving on... So you all are here because you were chosen. Don't ask who chose you or why, because your guess is as good as mine. My job was to come to collect and find you all before the enemy did. I have to take you to--" I started to say before I was interrupted by Ray
"The enemy? You sound like there's a war going on or something. And you still haven't told us where we are," said Ray
"There is a war going on. Oh and like I told Anna, Patrick, and Jackson you're in Narnia. Now--"
"Did you just say Narnia? I must've heard you wrong because there is no such thing as Narnia,"
"Yes, I did say Narnia. It does exist and I'm not making that up," I paused to look around at the group. The news seemed to finally be sinking in and they were starting to accept that this was all real. I continued talking, "As I was saying I have to take you back to base camp which is a 3-week ride away. We have to move fast because the princess wants you there as soon as possible," I start to get up
"A 3 WEEK RIDE! I CAN'T! HELL NO! There's a hockey tournament this weekend and I need to be there. Also, I'm not walking for 3 weeks! Plus there is no war that I'll be fighting in," exclaimed Patrick
"I didn't say walk, I said ride, Patrick. And I don't know how to get you back home, everything I just told you is all I know. Princess Ariana wouldn't tell me anything else. Something about security reasons. But the faster we get to base camp the sooner we can figure everything out. We also really need to get out of the open. There are other people, who are enemies that will be looking for you to try and kill you," I whistled for Philip and the other horses to come forward.
"Honestly guys, I think that our best bet to finding out anything is to go talk to this Princess Ariana," Anna said as she got up.
The rest of the group nodded and all stood up ready to follow me. "Alright everyone, this is Fleur," I said as I took the reins of the dark brown mare with tiny white hairs all over her body giving her a blue tinge. Her mane was black and her tail was black and a little white too. I took the reins from her and then handed them to Ray.
"This is Winston," Winston was a sandy-coloured stallion with a black mane and tail. He did have white socks above his hooves. I handed the reins to Zoran
"This is Jethro," Jethro had light and dark grey spots all over his pale grey coat. His mane was silvery and he had a white spot that stood out on his nose. Jackson took the reins before I reached for them.
"This is Felicity," the stallion, with irregular white spots all over her chestnut body, trotted right over to Patrick. She had an auburn mane and tail with white socks around her black hooves.
"And finally this is Eliza," I said to Anna who had already walked up to Eliza and was petting her nose. Eliza was a pure black stallion. The original name for her was Midnight but Eliza hated that name and changed it. Anna was the first to mount her horse.
"Well what are the rest of you waiting for?" asked Anna as she turned around to face us.
"Nothing," we all replied simultaneously as we mounted our horses. Most of them were easily able to figure out how to get on. Anna and Zoran though were the only ones who looked like they actually knew how to ride.
"Does everyone know how to ride a horse?" I asked, wanting to know before we started riding. They all kind of nodded in one shape or form.
"I've ridden once before. But it shouldn't be too hard to pick back up," said Patrick as he kicked Felicity to move forward.
Anna then rode up to my side. "Justin, you take the lead since you know where we are going and I'll take the back. I used to ride all the time but then had to stop for certain reasons. So it makes sense for either myself or Zoran to take the rear. Then everyone else falls in the middle," Anna said as she turned Eliza towards the back.
"Alright sounds good," I said. Who the hell put you in charge? Whatever, this is certainly going to be a long ride. I thought to myself as I head to the front of the group. Once I was at the front, I nodded to the group and headed towards the base camp.
It had been an hour since we left the beach (play song 1 but keep reading) and everyone seemed to be doing reasonably well. It was a long way to go but we were making progress. I took a sip of water and it was at that moment when I got the strangest feeling that we were being followed. I stopped drinking and slowly put my water away. "Hey, Philip. Do you feel like we're being followed?" I whispered in his ear
"I was just going to warn you myself, my Lord" He replied. I gave him a pat on the neck before I tried to subtly look around and see if I could see anything out of the ordinary. Just then an arrow shot past me. I turned in the direction it came from to see six men on horses behind us. They were here for the five of them. Shit, this was bound to happen but I wasn't expecting it to happen so early on I thought as I kicked Phillip to go faster.
"Go, go, go!!! Everyone we have to move right now!!!" I shouted behind me, and the chase began. I made Philip go into a gallop. Now let's see who can ride well and who can't. I thought to myself hoping I was only being sarcastic in my head. I went left then right then left again. I was ducking and swerving around everywhere trying to trick them. Their arrows were flying past my head amazingly fast. He must've sent his best men. Damn it! Our only chance is to outride them which hopefully won't be too bad I thought as I jumped over a log. Luckily since there were so many trees, vines, and logs it was easy to distract them. More and more arrows were shot at me, but I didn't want to fight so I didn't shoot back yet. I was more concerned about my new companion's safety. Just then something shot past me and I looked around bewildered. It was Anna and she was riding incredibly fast. She also had two horsemen on her tail who were trying to match her speed. I had to look behind me to check on the others since Anna was no longer in the rear. The other four each had some chasing after them. I gave Anna a questioning look.
"Go help the others!" she shouted at me as she jumped over a big log. Then she grabbed one of the horseman's swords. Eliza seemed to control where to go so Anna could try and fight. Anna looks like she could use some help and I was about to help her. But then she started fighting the two who were chasing her at the same time. She also then grabbed and shot an arrow behind me. It was aimed at a horseman that fell over dead. I hadn't noticed that he was creeping up behind me. I turned Philip around and pulled out my bow.
Was she always this hot? Wait, no... those are your feelings mixing with your clones. But damn, where did she learn to fight like that? And why on earth would my clone break up with her. She's such a badass. What an idiot. I thought to myself as I rode straight to Ray who seemed the most scared. I fought off the rest of the horsemen around Ray and to my surprise Patrick, Jackson, and Zoran seemed to be fighting off the other horsemen on their own. "Ray are you ok?" I asked
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just got startled a little. Please go help Anna!" She shouted at me as she rode past me heading towards Zoran
Just then other three more horsemen dropped dead from shots that Zoran had taken. I saw that Anna was riding straight for the edge of the cliff with the last horseman on her tail. "Anna, watch out!" I yelled at her. She seemed to have heard me because she stopped right at the edge of the cliff. However, the horseman drew back his bow ready to take a shot. But before he could, Zoran took his shot and shot an arrow right through his chest. The impact of the shot caused him to stumble backwards and he and his horse fell off the cliff.
I rode up near the edge of the cliff. Anna was still on Eliza and looked to be completely unharmed. The others came riding up beside me. They also seemed like they were ok. "Are they all dead?" asked Zoran
"Yeah, I think so. I was expecting to be attacked at some point, 'cause as I said, the other team wants you all gone or dead. I just wasn't expecting them to find us that quickly. Oh, nice shot by the way Zoran"
"Thanks. I couldn't let my little sister die, now can I?" Zoran chuckled
"Yeah. Thank Zor—" Anna started to say but then was cut off. The ground beneath Anna began to shake. It all happened so fast that there was barely any time to react. The ground beneath Anna and Eliza then gave way. So she and Eliza dropped about a hundred feet over the cliff. And all of us stood frozen, not knowing what to do.