. : Dakota : .
"You what?!" I said, disbelieving.
"I'm not going to repeat myself again," Melody sighed, clearly annoyed.
But not as annoyed as I was with her right now.
"So let me get this straight," I continued, doing my best to tramp down my anger. "You lost the book that we gave you. Might've found the Earth's Chosen, and then lost him too."
The look she gave me could've melted glass.
"Yes," she said through gritted teeth. "That's pretty much what happened."
I glanced around again, making sure no one was paying attention to us. We were in the back room of the inn, having gone to find a place where we could speak without any eavesdroppers. But at the rate things were going, I was probably going to break something soon.
Unbelievable, I thought. She really is more stupid than I thought. All she had to do was keep track of one book, and she failed. And now I have to figure out another plan to account for that. Once this was all over I was going to make her pay. I was going to make all of them pay.
Catching a glance from Sora, I quickly hid my expression. I had a habit of 'looking like I wanted to murder someone,' as she told it. So she warned me whenever I seemed out of it, lest my plan be foiled.
Except that she was just a tool too. The lioness didn't even know an inkling of my true intentions. I guess all you had to do was feed someone a sob story, and, real or not, they would do anything to help you. Nevermind the fact that she probably didn't even have the guts to help me anyway.
Judging from the looks Melody gave me, she was disgusted with the both of us. Oh well. I had to dirty my hands to see my plan through. Sora and I both knew that we were just using each other to meet our own goals. It was a mutual agreement, one that was bound to fall apart sooner or later.
But not before my plan was complete.
With a jolt, I realized Ash was talking. I had to pay attention if I was going to get more information.
"So we'll get it back. We have to keep looking for the Earth's Chosen, that's top priority right now," Ash said. "If we have time later, we can look for the book. I'm not sure how important it is right now, but if it's telling the truth, we can't let it slip. Find the Chosen first."
I made my voice as monotone as possible, though I wanted to strangle each and every one of the people in this room with my bare hands. That book was key to my plan. I needed it back.
"Do you have a plan for that?"
Ash considered for a moment and I forced my fingers to stop twitching. He needed to hurry up if he wanted to keep his life.
"Yeah," He responded slowly. "There's going to be an upcoming festival and competition. The whole tribe will come together, they do it every year. We should be able to find him there."
Sora raised a skeptical question. "How are we going to get in? We're obviously not Serpentine."
Nodding, Ash replied, "I've thought about that. We're going to enter the competition. It's open to any tribe. The goal is basically to prove that the Serpentine are great and powerful and all that pride stuff. Every year, a Serpentine has won the competition. We're going to win it this time."
"Why?" Melody asked.
Can she not figure it out herself, I thought angrily. Grow up.
Sora sent me another look. Calm down.
"The prize for winning the competition is a meeting with the Serpentine leader with your choice to whom you invite. The maximum number who can attend with the winner is five, so that's clear. One of us has to win the competition and invite the others. Then we ask if the Serpentine know where the Earth's Chosen is," Ash explained.
"It won't be as easy as it looks," Sora added. "I've seen the competitions. It's intense and they change the goal each year. No one knows how the competition will be carried out until the day of."
"So basically," Melody said, "We need to prepare as much as possible until the competition while looking for the thief and Chosen if possible."
I nodded, eager to be out of here. To carry out my plan. "Alright, it's settled. We can train on our own and win the competition. When is it?"
Ash dug a slip of paper out of his pocket. "It starts in three days. That gives us about less than half a month until the Predators attack again. The competition is due to last for about two to four days."
"Close, but we'll make it in time," Sora said, flipping her hair over her shoulder with a smug smile. "Easy."
Yeah. Easy.
Except I wasn't going to be training.
No, I was going to be laying out my plan. Leave training to the others, they can do the hard work.
I had more important things to be doing than training for a lousy competition.
I had revenge to carry out.
. : Melody : .
Running a frustrated hand through my messy braid, I sighed and leaned against the inn wall.
It was my fault. Again.
I glanced up into the sky, forming a training plan in my head.
It's always my fault that something messes up.
It wouldn't happen again on my watch, not if I could help it.
I was going to fix the problems I had caused. If I couldn't win the competition, then I'd help one of my teammates to win. I'd even help Dakota or Sora if either of them had a chance of winning.
For a second I considered searching the town instead of training, but I had almost no chance of finding the thief or Chosen. The tournament would be a more reliable way of finding information.
So how was I going to train? I had three days to kill.
I ticked off the things I was best at: fighting, surviving in general, hand-to-hand combat, endurance...? Definitely not cooking. Yeah, not on my life.
So what should I do?
Something crazy and reckless and likely to get me endangered?
Why not? Sounds like something I'd do.
I mused aloud. "Hmm, so what can I do in three days time that'll probably nearly kill me? Without actually killing me..."
"I never thought you'd be the type to do something that stupid."
Jerking my head up, I saw Ash leaning against the opposite wall with a small smirk on his face. My face flamed when I remembered how he'd saved me from the bandits. Ash must've been thinking something along the same lines because he coughed awkwardly and glanced to the side.
"So what're you doing for training?" He asked, sounding completely normal even though he looked a bit uncomfortable.
I shrugged, embarrassed that he'd overheard me talking to myself. "I was planning on finding the hardest task possible to complete in three days."
Ash chuckled. "Typical."
Huffing, I rolled my eyes. "What're you doing, genius?"
"Oh, just you know," Ash replied nonchalantly. "Doing this and that."
I raised my eyebrows. "Wow. That was so informative."
He shot me a cheeky grin. "I know. It's a secret."
I looked down, pulling my hood over my face to hide my blush. "Well, I'll be around. It is solo training, so I guess I see you in a few days at the competition."
Ash muttered something I almost didn't catch as I walked away.
"What was that?" I asked, curious.
He waved away the question. "Nothing. Good luck with your training."
I murmured a quick, 'you too,' pondering what I'd heard. He'd said it so quietly that I'd had to strain to hear it.
'I might see you sooner than you think.'
What did he mean by that?
Alright let's see, I thought to myself as I strolled through the town. What should I do?
I happened to see a vendor's booth up ahead manned by an elderly couple. The sign said that they were selling maps for places in and around the Serpentine's territory.
Perfect.
It seemed like sales were going too well for the two, as they were sitting aimlessly as the crows drifted by. When I stepped up to their stall, they jerked up.
"Why hello there," the woman said. "What would you like to buy?"
I pondered for a moment.
"Can you tell me where the most dangerous location around here is? If you could provide me with a map of the area that'd be great too," I asked, giving no preamble to my question. The faster I was on my way, the better.
The man stammered, caught off guard. "W-well there are a few locations. Most are far off from the town, you see."
His wife cut in, clearly more experienced at this type of thing. "If you want to know where the most dangerous in terms of mere survival, then I would recommend the Raven's Claw."
"The Raven's Claw," I repeated. "What kind of place is it?"
The man grew nervous and ducked under the cloth leading to the back of the stall, muttering to himself.
"You must pardon my husband," the woman said, smiling ruefully. "He's had some...unpleasant experiences in that stretch of the forest."
"Really...Could you tell me more about it?" I mused.
"Absolutely," she replied, handing me a map of the forest. "You can also take this map for free. No one buys from that stock much. It's no trouble."
I thanked her, then waited for her to proceed.
"Now...how do I start this?" the woman said slowly. "The Raven's Claw seems normal when you first get there, but it's haunted by these beasts. At night, there's a pack of vicious wolves that prowl in the woods. Their howls are rumored to be heard from leagues away. And if someone's unlucky enough to lose their way and into the wolves' territory...well, no one will ever find them again."
Wolves...that was interesting. I might be able to do something here.
"Countless Serpentine have tried to eliminate the beasts, but all have disappeared. After the first few attempts, the tribe became too frightened to travel through the woods, even in daylight. No one enters that forest for fear that the wolves will hunt them. People say that there's a curse on those woods, that the Earth is angry with us."
Right, the Serpentine were really superstitious.
I glanced at the map in my hand. The elderly woman must've sensed what I was about to do because she gave me a cautious warning.
"You'd best stay away from that place," she warned. "You youngsters mustn't go there, no matter what they tell you. It's too dangerous for a young pup like you."
With a reassuring smile on my face, I faced the old woman. "Thank you for your help and advice. If these wolves are really as dangerous as you say, shouldn't someone take care of them?"
Worry crinkled at the corners of her eyes. "It's too dangerous in a group, much less going alone!"
I nodded in assent, catching sight of a shadow out of the corner of my eye. "You're right."
She breathed a sigh of relief.
Placing a coin on her desk, I grinned.
"But who says I'm going alone?"
(Side Note: So yeah, we're already on chapter forty-two. Can you believe it? I started writing this book back in...August last year. Wow. It's been a long time since I published my first chapter in January. We've come a long way, but there's still a long way to go! Here's a sketch of Melody! I didn't draw the braid cause I couldn't fit it on the page, but I hope this looks about accurate.)