The Power Of Six: Saving Okambria

First Night

They continued to walk until they were all complaining about hunger. The sun was sinking low, dusk taking over. The evening was warm, but all the siblings could focus on was their growling stomachs.

"Christina, we have to stop and eat something!" Katherine told her older sister.

"I agree, let's make camp here for the night," Christina said as she slid off Onyx's back. The others dismounted and split into two teams. Once getting firewood properly staked up and getting it lit with Amy's help, the first team started getting food prepped. The other team got all the tents set up and laid out the sleeping bags in them.

The siblings ate in silence, twitching at any small sound around them. When their ration of food was had for the night, they huddled inside their sleeping bags. Those who had weapons had them lying beside them in case of an emergency. Eventually they all settled and fell asleep.

Christina jolted awake in the middle of the night again, however, suffering from the same nightmare. She rubbed her temples and stuck her head outside of her tent, making sure her siblings were still there. They were, their tents forming a circle around the fire. Christina sighed with relief, zipped her tent back up, and fell into another slumber.

The next morning the fire was nothing more than smoke rising up into the sky. Christina and Katherine were the first ones up. Christina, of course, hadn't slept well after her nightmare and Katherine knew something was up but didn't dare ask. She didn't want her sister thinking that she had read her mind. Katherine instead threw her sister a banana and got one for herself.

"Thanks, Kath," Christina smiled as she caught the banana.

"No problem. Any plans for today?" Katherine asked.

"Not really, I assume we'll just follow the direction of the wind until we reach Howling Hills, maybe let Lisa and Moonlight lead for a while," Christina suggested.

Amy and Lauren crawled out of their tents, and Katherine threw them both a banana each. The sisters smiled as they started to peel their breakfast. Lisa crawled out next, grumbling.

"You have no idea how hard it is to sleep in a sleeping bag with wings," Lisa groaned as she stretched her large, feathery wings.

Katherine smiled kindly as she tossed her a banana. "I'm sure it wasn't as bad as you think."

"Oh, it was. It took me at least thirty minutes to find a comfortable position, then another thirty minutes to fall asleep!" Lisa groaned, taking a bite out of the banana.

"Yikes, I'm glad that it didn't take me nearly that long to fall asleep!" Lauren giggled at her sister.

"I'll put a rock in your sleeping bag, so you'll have trouble falling asleep," Lisa threatened. Lauren hushed, knowing better than to annoy a sleep-deprived Lisa.

"Amy's trying to set me on fire!" Dani screeched as she rushed out of her tent. Amy crawled out after her, grinning mischievously and laughing. Their sisters looked at them, asking for an explanation with their eyes.

"I wasn't trying to make her a human firepit, just waking her up!" Amy said in between bursts of laughter. "She wouldn't wake up when I shook her, so I warmed up her sleeping bag some."

"Some?! I was nearly on fire!" Dani exclaimed.

"Calm down, you two. Dani, come eat a banana so we can start traveling again," Christina chuckled at them. Dani shot Amy a playful glare and took a bite out of her banana. Christina looked at Lisa. "How about you and Moonlight fly up ahead a bit so you can see what's ahead of us?"

"Sure," Lisa smiled, suddenly reenergized. She bounced to her feet and started rubbing her hands down Moonlight's neck, talking to her horse.

"Let's pack up and head," Christina announced as soon as Dani finished off her banana. Lisa came back to her siblings to help pack up the tents and sleeping bags, then they all mounted their horses and started on their journey again, leaving no trace that they'd been there except for the charred logs they used for the fire.

Lisa and Moonlight took off and soared through the blue sky, looking for what lay ahead of them. The trees cleared out into a plain and rolling hills. There was a river running through it, making the land fertile and beautiful.

"There's nothing but rolling hills," Lisa told them as she and Moonlight swooped lower. They glided on the breeze beside her siblings. "Must be Howling Hills... except there's no howling."

"Sounds good, we could use an easy day after yesterday," Christina sighed with relief. Her sisters nodded with the same look of relief on their faces. They walked out of the trees and into the bright sunlight. The plains were pretty with tall grass swaying easily in the wind, shining like gold as the sun shone on it.

The horses all seemed to enjoy the change of scenery, too. They kept their heads up like they wanted to take everything in. Moonlight didn't like staying so low to the ground when he could soar above it and look at everything for a bird's eye view, so he and Lisa arched upwards again. She was getting farther and farther ahead, so Christina looked at her siblings, they all nodded with a grin, and they started running through the hills.

They couldn't think of a time when they'd been happier. The wind was blowing through their hair, their horses smooth and steady. They finally felt free, nothing was keeping them from being in complete control as they galloped along. The horses, except Moonlight who was safe in the sky, suddenly stopped dead in their tracks, however, nearly throwing off their riders.

"Why'd they stop?" Christina questioned, shifting on Onyx so she was balanced again.

"I'm not sure, Piero usually loves when we race," Katherine shrugged. She rubbed her hand along his neck, trying to read him. Her face was confused when she figured it out. "He's scared."

"Of what? There's nothing around here but grass," Dani pointed out.

"You better dismount and get ready for battle!" Lisa exclaimed as she and Moonlight glided down to them.

"Why?" Christina asked as she slid off.

"There's some sort of twisted looking animal pack about to have us surrounded," Lisa informed them, sliding off Moonlight and getting her daggers ready. "They don't look normal."

As soon as all the sisters had their weapons at the ready, forming a circle around their frightened horses, they themselves were surrounded by coyotes made of metal. At first the siblings were puzzled and lost focus on the task at hand. They were quickly put back on track, though, when the coyotes barred their teeth and let out terrifying, deep growls. 

Hey, guys! I really hope you're liking the book so far, it means so much to me! Anywho, I'll let you return to your reading! Stay tuned for tonight's chapter!