Tide

Swords and Spears

Falon

"I'm sorry Rothatin, I should have realized how far we had gone." My gaze was immediately down.

"It doesn't matter now, you're safe." Rehan looked me hard in the eye. "But I do want to talk to you." My heart skipped a beat.

"Of course." I glanced at Phaedra and she smirked.

She walked away, throwing over her shoulder, "I'll leave you two to talk."

"Ok, Jolono told me what he walked in on you guys doing." My heart raced. "And I'm ok with it as long as you don't do stupid things like running off without sense." He stared me dead in the eye, his voice dropping low. "If she gets in any danger because of you, I swear, I won't be held responsible for my actions."

"I understand, loud and clear." My hands were almost shaking.

"Good. You can go now." Rehan motioned to the clearing where food was being cooked and served. I nodded and walked away, looking for Phaedra. I found her at a table with Jolono and another woman.

"Hey, Falon. I see you survived my father." She smirked again.

"Barely. Your dad can be terrifying." I sat down next to her. "Who's this?" I motioned towards the other woman.

"My name's Selena. I was one rank below Rehan before we crashed. Now I'm the head cook." As she finished, roasted meat, nuts, and berries were set in front of us. "Thank you, Ross," Selena commented before digging into her meat, which I assumed was boar, by the scent of it. I dug in too, wondering how they made the meat so good.

"Hey, Phaedra. Wanna go for a swim?" Jolono was a very fast eater. Phaedra looked up from the three bites she had taken and stared at him.

"Really?" She half shoved, half slapped him. "Let me finish eating." As soon as we did finish eating, we all went to the beach.

"Are you sure we should swim here and not the lagoon?" I looked out at the water. Phaedra and Jolono were already waist-deep.

Jolono called back to me, saying "Come on, or have you forgotten about me taming Athena?"

"Oh yeah, like I trust a one-time occasion when she was on land," I muttered, but I took off my shirt and jumped in anyway. I was searching for Phaedra when I felt something on my tail. I spun around, finding Phaedra laughing. I narrowed my eyes at her, but I smiled, passing my tail back to her. She smoothed out my fur, smiling. She swam up, and I followed. She splashed me and dove underwater again, laughing.

"Not fair! You're twice as fast as me and underwater." I tried to yell to her, but she obviously couldn't hear me, so I dove underwater again and tried to catch her. I felt something on my ears, then scratching on my head. I practically melted but I quickly shook my head. I rose to the surface again, Phaedra following.

"Don't do that, it's not bad, it just... uhh..." I whispered, now extremely red.

"Oh, sorry! I didn't know." Phaedra looked down.

"It's fine. As you said, you didn't know." I grabbed her hand and splashed her back, diving underwater again. Phaedra followed, catching up to me quite easily. She smirked and scratched my ears. Unintentionally, my tail started wagging. Phaedra laughed. My eyes narrowed. Jolono swam up to us, saying "Hey love birds, come on. Let's go back. It's been an hour."

I rose to the surface, not being able to talk underwater. "Already? Wow." I got out of the water and grabbed my towel. After I semi-dried myself, I put my shirt back on. Phaedra was already walking back to the forest, Jolono right on her heels. I ran to catch up to them. There was another smell of fire, which I just guessed to be the cooking fires. I was so wrong.

A hut was on fire, as well as the tree it was on. While half the village was trying to put out the fire, the other half were fighting.

"Phaedra, Jolono, you know the drill. The far side of the island. Go quickly." I quickly swished them away, but Jolono was stubborn.

"No! I want to stay and fight." Jolono tried to push past me but I held him back. A light turned on in my head then.

"Jolono, you can help. Athena. Go find her, then create an ambush. Have her wait in the water, then come back here and aggravate a few people. Run back to Athena and she can get them easily." I whispered.

"Of course! I'll go get her now." Jolono practically jumped up and down at the prospect of seeing Athena again. "Can Phaedra go with me?"

"Sure, I'll go." Phaedra hugged me and ran off with Jolono. Just then, someone came up to me and tried to swing at my head, but I dodged it and landed a blow in between his shoulder blades. He yelled out and swung out again, but this time I wasn't fast enough. He clipped me in the jaw, making me stumble back.

"Falon, here!" Rehan tossed me what looked like a sword. I snatched it out of the air and swung it, cringing as I decapitated the man. A woman stood up after him, braced for a fight. She also had a sword. She rushed me, swiping with quick succession. Everything started moving in slow-motion and my senses went into overdrive. As she made a large upper hand swing, I jumped aside and slashed across her middle. She fell and I realized I had just killed her.

"Falon! Behind you!" Rehan yelled. A spear flew past my head just as I spun around. My eyes round, I realized it was Darek, the man who was supposedly my father. His eyes went wide as well, and he ran to fight another person.

Rehan looked at me, then back to him. "Is it just me, or does he look like you?"

"He said I was his son, although I don't know if I believe him yet." I shrugged and jumped aside as another spear flew past me. I nodded at Rehan and we went back to back, fighting anyone who came our way. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jolono running around, around twenty men running after him. Rehan must have seen him too because he ran toward him, but I stopped him and explained. His eyes were wide as Jolono ran past.

Rehan smirked. "His plan?"

"We'll go with it." I laughed and went back to fighting. Just as a man fell, the clearing froze as a woman ran into the clearing. Her hair was black, and she was covered from head to toe in gleaming armor. She carried two large scythes, swinging them like fan blades. My jaw dropped open. She looked experienced, as she jumped from tree to tree and leaped on top of someone, slicing his neck. The commotion was back, except not of fighting, but about a hundred men running to get away and another hundred cheering. The woman looked up, an eyebrow arched. Only Rehan seemed unaffected. Jolono and Phaedra were back and they were gazing at her with my exact expression. I closed my mouth and glanced at Phaedra. Her face said it all. She was jealous. He smirked and hugged her from behind. The fire was quickly put out now that there was no fighting and everything else went back to check on the injured and, for Rehan, Phaedra, Jolono, and I went to the woman. "Rehan, this is the second time. We have to do something."

"I know, but now, Arya, they know about you." Rehan looked at Arya with skepticism. "You didn't have to run out like that, showoff."

Arya smirked. "You're just mad because you couldn't do it better!" She ran off into the trees.

Rehan sighed. "She will be the death of us. I'm sorry, she is very rambunctious. Anyways, Falon, the man who claimed to be your father we now have as a prisoner, and the Ocean Guardian wish to see you."