A month ago
Aris pulled the stone from her pocket.
It fit in to the palm of her hand perfectly, the emerald colour glinting in the low light of the fire. It didn't look like much, but sometimes, when there was no birdsong in the trees and the wind had stilled, Aris could swear she heard the stone whispering. As if a voice had become trapped in the jewel.
On occasions, she would awaken suddenly, panting or yelping into the night. She had dreams – the voice from the jewel would lead her somewhere, and she recognised it. Then the dream would turn dark and strange things would happen and she's jolt herself awake in panic. There was never anymore.
She'd woken up with this stone on her first night in the forest – two months ago? More? She'd lost track. She'd found herself in a car park of a nature reserve in the middle of the Scottish Highlands, wearing trousers, a green t-shirt, and a brown jacket a few sizes too big for her. The stone had been in her hand, but Aris had no idea how she had gotten there, and no clue
as to who she was. She'd been barefoot, freezing, and confused. And then the wolf came...
Aris placed the stone apprehensively back into her pocket and took off the jacket. She rubbed her thumb fondly over the name tag. Half of it had been ripped off at some point in her adventure, and the rest was rubbed and smudged beyond legibility. All that remained was 'ARIS'. That was all that was left of her former life – if she ever had one, that is. All that was left of who she was. All memories, personality, years of her life gone, and only a name remained. Not even a full one.
She shouldered the jacket back on, squared her shoulders, set her jaw, and took a deep breath. There was nothing she could do and sulking over the absence of the past wasn't going to help anyone, least of all herself. If she was going to find out about anything, she would have to go get it.
*****
After Aquila teleported the five to the Lost Woods near the Jeger camp, they all set up camp, whilst Aquila vanished.
"Where'd she go?"
They all shrugged.
"We'll camp here for the night." Henrik decided.
"Should I get firewood?" Seraphina asked.
Cora grinned "I shouldn't think so." she said and shot her hands forward.
A burst of blue flame leapt from Furious' snout and created a giant flame in the centre of the clearing.
"Yes, I was about to do that." Cora exclaimed, glaring at Furious.
Henrik smiled and leant against Furious' warm, black scales. He watched Kestrel as she unfolded the instructions to her tent and pulled out the sheet of waterproof fabric.
She scowled at the instructions and unzipped the bag of the poles.
With her tongue sticking out, she put the poles in the tent. After several minutes and numerous glares at the instructions, it sprung open.
Smiling to herself, Kestrel walked to the pile of sheets and poles of Cora's tent and built her tent in seconds as Cora was tending the fire.
Mia, deciding to do hers herself, found herself stuck in between the sheets and poles. She tried to untangle herself, resulting in an even bigger mess.
"Erm, Kestrel?" she asked. It came out as a mumble from within the tent.
Kestrel took a moment to work out where Mia's voice came from and laughed and unwrapped Mia. Mia's face reappeared and her glasses perched, lopsidedly on her nose.
Henrik's head flicked up as he felt a droplet of water land on his lip.
He flicked his fingers and his tent floated upwards, slowly assembling itself. Then it floated down to the grass.
He smirked as the others gaped in awe.
"Right, bed everyone." he ordered beneath a smile and walked into his tent. Furious lay around the tent and fell asleep.
The others followed suit, leaving Kestrel standing in the rain.
It felt nice as the cool drops fell onto her skin. It reminded her of the days that she and Einaris would climb up the highest tree and gaze at the silvery drops falling to the ground. That smell. The smell of dirt in the rain. How she knew it so well.
Kestrel took one last look at the sky, then, she too went to bed.
*****
Morgan said. "By the way, your friend is here."
The way Morgan almost spat the word friend suggested something different. Aris turned to Sara.
Sara stiffened. "Her? Why?"
Morgan shrugged. "What does she have to do anything? She's waiting for you at your roundhouse. Just... ah, don't invite her to stay too long. She has a disturbing effect on the others. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to keep searching for our poor lost friend, Charlie. Nice to meet you, Aris."
Sara stormed back into the palisade, and Aris followed. She was sure she'd never been so glad to enter a village in her life.
As Sara marched up the hill, she cursed in Gaelic. Aris didn't understand all of it, but she got son of a redcap, power-hungry snake, and a few choice suggestions about where Morgan could stick his knife.
"I hate that guy," she muttered in English. "If I had my way—"
"He won't really get elected chieftain, will he?" Aris asked.
"I wish I could be certain. Morgan has a lot of friends, most of them bought. The rest of the campers are afraid of him."
"Afraid of that skinny little guy?"
"Don't underestimate him. Jax's not so bad by herself, but if Morgan shares her power..." Sara shuddered. "Let's go see my other friend. I haven't seen her in a while, that's why I was surprised. She'll want to meet you."
Aris didn't argue. She wanted to meet this mysterious friend, maybe find out something about Sara. Sara led Aris to a small roundhouse on the edge of the tribe. Standing in front was a teenage girl in blue jeans and a denim jacket.
"Hey," Sara called. "I've brought a friend."
The girl turned. Aris had another one of those weird flashes: like this was somebody she should know. The kid was tanned compared with Morgan, with dark eyes and choppy blonde hair, braided with feathers and pulled up with a red polka dot headband. She wore a silver chain necklace, fingerless gloves and a baggy T-shirt with owl designs. At her shoulder, hung a large, mean-looking bow.
For a microsecond when she saw Aris, the girl seemed shocked - panicked, even, like she'd been caught in a searchlight.
"This is Aris," Sara said. "She's a good guy, even if she's terrible at cards. Aris, this is my friend."
The girl regained her composure and held out her hand. "Pleased to meet you," she said. "I'm Aquila Fletcher.
*****
The morning sun lifted over the tall trees of the woods and sent shards of warm light onto the four tents. The early-morning chorus of the birds, like splinters into the frigid air. The trees' tops were sprinkled in dew and the sun's rays bounced off them, causing the trees' leaves to glitter.
The blue fire was smouldering quietly on the ground, tendrils of pale-aqua smoke twisting upwards to the sun. Below it lay the grass, not at all damaged by Furious' flames.
Kestrel's head was the first to pop out of her tent and she beamed at the pale blue sky as Moon's head popped up below hers. She could hear the others still sleeping in the tents and took this as an opportunity to investigate the area.
Clambering up the nearest tree to get a view, she breathed in the crisp morning air, filling her awakening lungs, and letting her head clear. She could see some tents a little further into the forest and a large boulder. 'Presumably, their entrance.' she thought. She slid down the tree's smooth trunk and crept closer to the tents until she came to an old ash tree. Glancing each side of her, she scaled up the mottled surface.
Kestrel peered over the Jeger camp entrance from a quavering branch in the ash tree. Moon was hovering several metres away, gently scanning the area.
A flicker of movement caught the edge of her gaze.
Suddenly, the tree shook violently and threw Kestrel off.
Before she could react, a vine captured her and twisted round her body. It gently placed her on to the ground.
A face peered over her own. It was scratched heavily and concealed its true form. Scruffy long brown hair hung at the girl's side as she inspected Kestrel.
Kestrel squinted, trying to regain her vision.
"Hi. Welcome to the Jeger. I have no-idea what else to say." the girl said. "I'm Aris. This is Tails." the two-tailed wolf swished it's head. "You are?"
"Er, Kestrel. This is Moon." Moon twitched. He too had been ensnared in a vine.
"Cool."
CRACK!
Kestrel snapped her head to where the sound had come from – to her right. Moon sniffed cautiously at the air.
"What was that?" she whispered, treading lightly towards the tree in which it had come from.
Aris chuckled. "Yeah, sorry. They will probably want to tranquilize you. Being a trespasser and all." she answered back, waving her hands out in front. "Should have mentioned that."
Kestrel grunted. "Tranquilizer - wait, can't you just tell them that I don't need to be tranquilized." she panicked.
SNICK!
"Yeah, I probably could but it's a little late for that." Aris replied cheerily.
Kestrel looked into Aris' eyes briefly, her own clouding over rapidly. Her hand was up to her neck, where a feathered dart was poking between her fingers.
"Oh." Kestrel murmured in a deep voice, before collapsing to the leaf-littered floor. Moon whined quietly.
*****
Kestrel awoke to faces peering down at her own, sunlight streaming in twisted spirals as dust danced as if it were a bridge. She turned her head to the side. The flap of a tent waved lazily in the soft breeze and Kestrel could see the long grasses of a meadow beyond. Voices filtered through the air and the heavy scent of cooking made her drowsy and warm.
"Welcome back to the world, Skywalker." Aris said.
"What's going-"
Kestrel was cut short as a loud, resonating boom shook the air.
"That was the horn." A boy next to Aris explained.
"Oh yeah, this is Atti and his soul Topolino. Atti meet Kestrel and Moon." Aris said and Atti waved.
He had dark skin and curly black hair. He smiled at Kestrel warmly. A little, red sprite flicked between his feet, presumably Topolino. At the tip of its tail, it sported a small flame, waving steadily in the breeze.
A glossy blue microraptor sniffed Kestrel's face. Moon sneezed beside her.
"And who's this?!" she giggled as it tickled her nose.
"That's Aryan. I'm Sara." a girl said.
The three looked up to see a girl dangling from the tent-pole, her headscarf rippling in the breeze.
"So," Aris began, "Now we are all introduced. We can go see your friend."
"My friends?" Kestrel asked.
"Yeah, in the other tent." Aris said, already out of their tent. "Come on gang."
"We're not a gang." Sara said, hopping down from the tent-pole and walking after Aris.
Atti followed behind with Kestrel.
*****
"Hey Henrik." Kestrel said, waving a hand over his face.
Henrik shot upright.
"Woah, chill Dragon-Fire." Kestrel exclaimed.
Furious peered over his shoulder.
"Who is this?" Sara asked, making a face.
"OK," Kestrel began, "Henrik and Furious." she pointed to each of them in turn. "Aris and Tails, Atti and Topolino, Sara and Aryan." she introduced each of her new friends to Henrik. "Wait, where are the others?"
Henrik answered, "They hadn't woken up yet." then he muttered, "I should send a message to tell them to go back to Moondoor, it's not safe."
Henrik pulled a sheet of paper from his satchel.
Reached the Jeger. Not safe. Go back to Moondoor.
Henrik.
Sara exchanged a glance with Atti, "If you're from Moondoor, we are supposed to take you prisoner."
Atti shrieked.
"But we won't because you're not trying to take us prisoner and corrupt our minds..." Sara paused, "I hope you're not..." she hesitated, "Besides, that wouldn't make us any better than you."
Henrik scoffed, "You really think that's what Moondoor does?!" he laughed, "If we were trying to do that, we would have done it already."
"Yeah," Kestrel cut in, "At Moondoor, they say that you take us prisoner and corrupt us."
Atti tilted his head, "Maybe both of us are wrong."
Silence.
Aris raised an eyebrow, "Follow me, I'll take you to our cabin, there's room for two more."
"Thank you." Kestrel smiled. "Oh, and do you know someone called Einaris?"
Sara hesitated, the names of all the Jeger running through her mind. "No, sorry."
Must have been kidnapped then, Kestrel thought. We'll have to leave soon then.