Word count. 57,687
Alex sat down on a rock to remove a stone from his shoe. Justyne shaded her eyes and looked into the trees, she had a feeling something was out there watching them, and she had a feeling he was not a friendly someone, not if he was in a book their characters were writing.
Sybil was leaning against a tree, moving her overly long sword in small circles, she seemed lost in her own world for a time, seeming to have forgotten that she was in a book being written by a man who wanted her dead. The truth was though she as missing Sarah and was wondering what she was doing at that moment.
Hanz, who had gone to scout ahead, returned as Alex was putting his boot back on.
“Did you find anything?” Justyne asked eagerly.
Sybil’s head snapped up and she walked over to join the other three. She struggled to sheath her sword as she walked but this was impossible as long as the sheath as at her waist. The sword was not that long, it was just that Sybil was short and so the couple added inches on the blade made it too long for her.
Hanz saw her trouble and helped her sheath, then made his report. “I saw tracks, but they were days old. Whatever they belonged to has been long gone.”
“That is it?” Justyne asked as she looked about again.
“What kind of tracks were they?” Alex asked.
“That was it,” Hanz told Justyne, then said to Alex, “Some kind of beasts, come I will show you.”
The others followed Hanz into the woods where were very quiet, all but for the wind. He led them to a patch of dirt and pointed at three tracks in the loose earth. The tracks were far apart showing that whatever had made them had been big. Also they were shaped funny, they almost looked human, except the human would have been walking on the side of his feet and would have had claws at his toes.
Sybil looked at the tracks for a long while before she said very softly, “Whatever made those, I am not sure I want to meet him.”
The others did not really blame her though they did not know half of her nervousness was because with her over active imagination she had already pictured the beast, and was certain Maddock could make something equal to it.
“We really have nothing to fear,” Hanz said reassuringly. “Like I said, they are days old.”
Justyne said nothing, but she looked over her shoulder, her face was grave.
Alex cast her an uncertain glance and then said, “Shall we continue?”
Hanz nodded his head and took up rear guard while Alex led the way, being as he was the oldest. They moved quietly and quickly, listening to the wind play through the trees. Sybil could not help but smile as the wind ruffled the loose strains of her hair. She shoved down her doubts and reminder herself of Hanz’s words. The tracks were days old!
They had been walking for a few hours when they realized they were all thirsty. They had long since left the brook and so had not had anything to drink for a long while. So, it was a great delight when they heard the sound of a river crashing over rocks. They all ran toward it and were therefore very thirsty by the time they reached it. Eagerly they knelt down and drank.
“Make them fall in!” Jordaan cried gleefully.
“That is too predictable!” Timothy muttered as Maddock glared at the two.
“I know what I am doing!” he grumbled as he turned back to the screen. “You two have to wait for your turns!”
Damrin grinned as he looked at the screen. He wanted to suggest that Maddock have something pop up out of the river and eat them, but instead he held his peace and waited until he could write something.
Sybil rocked back onto her heals once she had drank her fill. No sooner had she done so then she was filled with the unnerving feeling that they were being watched. She quickly scanned the trees, rising to her feet as she did so.
The others noticed her sudden movements and looked up from their drinking. Justyne’s face went grim, she was sensing it too, in fact by then both Hanz and Alex felt it to, someone was out their watching them. Both boys drew their swords and stood up as Sybil moved toward the tree line.
Justyne rose gracefully to her feet and followed the three, sword at the ready. The only one who had not drawn her blade was Sybil, mainly because she had trouble unsheathing it.
A twig snapped off to their left and Hanz turned his head in that direction while he continued moving after Sybil. Another twig snapped, this one on Alex’s left. Hanz was on his right; that meant whoever was on his left was probably not a friend. A third twig snapped, this one was behind Justyne.
Justyne set her teeth, they were surrounded. Yet Sybil did not seem to be noticing any of this, she was still moving toward the tree line, slow and in a daze. Had she seen something that she was pressing on toward, or was something luring her, luring all of them.
A soft crunching alerted Justyne that someone was behind her. The someone was moving stealthily, he knew what he was doing, but did he know that Justyne knew he was there?
Something moved off to Hanz’s right, he caught the faint movement as it ran through the trees. The same thing happened on Alex’s left. Sybil was slowing down, and it was not until the others were right behind her that they realized why. Something was breathing heavily up ahead.
Sybil rested her hand on her hilt and began to draw her sword as the breathing became louder. She pulled up on the sword only to get stuck when she could not get the last few inches out. Alex moved over and pulled it out the rest of the way as the woods filled with soft rustlings, and the breathing came closer and became heavier.
“Are you sure those tracks were days old?” Alex whispered to Hanz as a shadow moved toward them. The breathing was coming from the shadow.
The rustling was growing louder behind Justyne. She was not really concerned with the shadow that was coming at them, but with whatever it was that was behind her. She did not like the idea of being stabbed in the back by some unseen enemy and so was listening so she would know when to turn.
Sybil stood rotted to the ground, her sword at the ready though she was not sure she would be able to use it, as the shadow came closer. The closer it came the more she began to realize it was not a shadow but a beast hiding in the shadows. As he moved toward the sunlight she could make him out better.
His hair was short and rough and a dirty, light brown. His eyes, needless to say, were red. His feet were oddly human, with claws instead of toes. He was about seven feet tall, he stood and walked like a man, those his face was that of a hideous beast. His arms were long and he had claws instead of fingers, and he was looking right into Sybil’s eyes.
Sybil stared back without blinking as Justyne, who was still listening to the things behind her, suddenly spun and knocked an arrow to the ground, one that had been aimed for her back. She gasped at the sight her eyes landed upon, there were twenty men, all dressed like the beast, standing behind her, bows at the ready.
Hanz looked to his left, and then to his right as Alex did the same. They saw they were surrounded as well. Sybil failed to see any of this.
The men, who were all armed with bows that were out and fitted with arrows, and shot, curved swords that were in the sheaths, smiled grimly at their captives. “You shall die this day, or surrender,” the voice that spoke was smooth and cool. It took everyone a moment to realize it was the beast.
An arrow flew past Sybil’s ear, and she was suddenly pulled out of her daze. She looked at all the armed men and then remembered the beast’s words. With a quickly glance at the others she said, “We will fight to the death!”
Suddenly the air filled with arrows as the beast stepped back into the cover of the trees saying, “Your choice.”
Sybil raised her sword and running to join the others knocked aside arrows that were flying in low and fast. They had no shields and so stood back to back and deflected the arrows with their blades. They were doing rather well at first, not one arrow broke their defenses, until the men started to move in closer.
There was nothing the four could do, at first. The men moved in until they were about five feet away. The authors would have attacked them, but if they had done that it would have meant leaving someone’s back unguarded and that could result in that someone’s death.
Half way through the attack Justyne’s eyes moved to the river and she remembered in the house she lived in with Hanz and Sybil, all in their imagination of course, she was an elf who could move water with her bare hands and douse whole armies. She was not sure that it would work in this book, but she figured it was worth a try.
Using one hand to hold the sword and deflect arrows she used her other one to try and pick up the water. At first all her efforts failed and she was about to give up when she saw the water rise. With a sudden grin that confused the men who saw it she shot her hand into the air, drawing up a wave of water. This she dumped on the men in the rear.
They had not been expecting this and began to yell as water covered them. Justyne did not give them time to recover before she had another wave of water hit them. The men nearest them turned and she drew up another wave and doused them as well.
By then the men had laid back long enough to see what was going on. Hanz moved to Justyne’s side, since he too could draw water with his bare hands, and together they drown the army. Those who were not drown, being pulled into the river, were killed by the sword.
The moment Alex and Sybil saw the men were busy watching their comrades being attacked by a right, the two authors rushed them and killed a great many. The remaining men drew their swords, but by then Justyne and Hanz had joined the sword fight, and very soon all the men lay dead.
“That was an interesting battle,” Justyne said as she looked back at the river.
“Can they do that?” Damrin asked as he reread the scene.
“Of course they can,” Jordaan mumbled angrily. He would have hit the key board but then he would have gotten yelled at.
“We about shot Justyne in the back!” Timothy said again.
“Oh shut up!” Maddock growled then turning to Jordaan said, “Set the beast on them!”
Justyne was about to sheath her sword as Hanz moved about the battle field looking at the dead men in the hopes of learning what kind of men they were when they had been alive, when a growl shook the ground. In fact it shook the ground so bad the authors were knocked off their feet.
“What was that?” Hanz asked as he knelt on the wet ground.
“An earthquake?” Alex asked.
“No boy, it was me!” they all turned at the sound of the voice and quickly rose to their feet. The beast stood towering over them and sneering.
Sybil was glad she had not sheathed her sword and Justyne was glad the quake had stopped her from sheathing hers.
“You killed my army, now you will pay!” the beast said as he charged them.
Sybil leaped out of his way as he ran past, swiping at his legs. Her sharp blade met flesh and the beast howled and for all the world sounded something like a wolf. The beast turned on Sybil and the moment his back was fully exposed Hanz ran his sword into his side.
The beast howled again and turned on Hanz, only to find Alex’s sword in his hand. He sung his hand at Alex and though he missed the boy he managed to yank his sword from his hand. Alex tried to grab it back but failed as the beast charged Sybil again, and this time was attacked by both Justyne and Hanz.
He turned to fight them off only to find Alex had run up and was trying to pull his sword out of the beast’s hand. Sybil used this moment to move in and ram her sword into the beast’s foot. The beast kicked at her but missed because that was when Alex yanked his sword free.
Sybil jumped back from the kick which was too wide and missed her. She lost her balance though and tumbled backwards, crashing into Justyne and Hanz. The three fell to the ground, dropping their swords as they did so. Sybil tried to roll off the other two, and they tried to push her off, as the beast stomped toward them.
“Now I will squash you!” he snapped as he raised his foot, he had forgotten about Alex.
Alex had once more run forward and with a thrust ran his sword into the beast’s lower back. The monster howled louder then any of the other times and staggered to his knees. Hanz, Justyne, and Sybil stumbled to their feet and picking up their sword charged.
The beast waited, knelling on the ground, until they were close. Then he leaped up and with a mighty thrust knocked all four backwards. They fell to the ground gasping for breath as the beast moved in to finish them. He sneered at them and said, “This is why I hate weak humans!”
Sybil’s hand went to her belt and she felt a dagger there. Though she wrote about dagger throwing she doubt she could actually do it, but what did she really have to loose. Quickly she pulled the dagger from her belt and with a quick aim she flipped her wrist and sent the dagger flying. The beast however saw the flash of the blade and turning caught it between his hands.
Laughing he turned on Sybil and said, “I will do you first seeing as you tried to kill me again just now, and seeing as you are not very smart, throwing daggers at me!”
Sybil said nothing as the beast moved toward her. He raised his foot but made it not farther before three daggers flew into the back of his neck and dropped him. He crashed ten inches from Sybil were he drew his last breath.
“That was unexpected,” Maddock said as he ran his hand through his hair. “I was not expecting them to use my trick!”
“Oh stop whining and let’s finish this!” Jordaan snapped. He was in a bad mood that was being mad worse.
Hanz slowly stood up and walking over to the beast yanked his dagger out. He turned and looked at the others who had risen as well. Without a word they went to the river and washed their swords, then they moved away from the dead bodies. Once they were far enough away they sat down and rested though they did not fall asleep which turned out to be a good thing.
Once they were rested they stood up and once more continued their walk though they had no idea were they where headed. The sun was setting and they were all very hungry before they deiced to break for camp.
Sybil and Justyne hunted for fire wood and started a blazing fire while Hanz and Alex went out, and armed with shot spears which were really branches sharpened to a point, they caught a couple rabbits. These Justyne, who was the best cook ever, cooked up and that night they had a very good meal.
Once they were done eating they sat back and watched the smoke rise lazily to the starry night sky. They said nothing but there was really nothing to say, and so they did not bother trying to come up with anything.
That night Alex said they should take turns keep watch. Sybil offered to go first so she would not have to worry about falling asleep during one of the later watches. She took up her post at the edge of camp and passed her time trying to convince herself the sounds she heard were typical night noises, or just her imagination.
It was Hanz who came to relieve her later on.
“Did you see anything?” Hanz asked as he sat beside her.
“Nothing but the moon playing tricks on my eyes.”
“Tricks?” Hanz asked warily. “Or the real thing?”
“If you call that monkey from my dreams dancing with a rabbit in a tux the real thing,” Sybil said with a grin.
Hanz looked side ways at her. “Did you fall asleep sister?”
Sybil shook her head and grinned wider, and then about yawned her head off. Hanz smiled and told her to get to sleep, no sooner had she turned to go then he thought he saw a rabbit and monkey dancing. He shook his head and glared up at the sky muttering something about Jordaan.
“I am rather glad we are here,” Sybil’s sleepy words drifting back to him pulled him out of his thoughts. “It is rather fun being in a book.”
Little did she know how soon she would be eating her words. Even then a man lurked in the shadows. He fingered his dagger and muttered, “We shall see Sybil, we shall see if it is still fun!”
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