The Rithean Jewel

Chapter four

Apollo - Arthur, you absolute idiot. 

When I woke up, I was tangled in a mess of limbs. My head was on Lavana's stomach, her piercing digging into the back of my neck. Arthur had his legs up on my chest, and my feet were next to Hyacinth's face. I quickly moved them away, because I did not want to get murdered.

I slowly sat up, taking Arthur's legs off in the process. Milo was by the fire, poking at it with some sticks, while astrid chopped up some fish. Eugh.

I got up and made my way over, rubbing my neck where Lavana's piercing was poking. "Good morning, Apollo!" Astrid exclaimed when she saw me, holding up a fish head. "Do you want some fish?"

I threw up in my mouth, "N-no thanks, Astrid. I'm not very hungry."

It wasn't a lie. Seeing her gutting the fish was enough for me to lose my appetite.

"Ok. Well Milo is over there, uh, i don't know what he's doing, but you can go over with him until everyone wakes up, if you'd like."

I nodded and headed over to the fire, sitting on one of the logs. Milo didn't look up, so I decided to grab a stick and poke at the fire.

Arthur, Lavana, Ingrid and Hyacinth woke up not too long after me. All of them rejected the fish.

Hyacinth gathered us by the fire. "We're going to split into two groups today to collect resources. I will go with Lavana and Milo to collect food. Apollo, Arthur, Ingrid and Astrid, you guys can gather wood. Got it?"

Ingrid didn't seem to agree with him. "Uh, Hyacinth? I don't think your grouping really makes much sense."

He crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Well, you, Lavana and Milo all have shorter distance weapons, whereas Apollo, Arthur, Astrid and I have farther distance weapons."

"I agree with Ingrid. Your is really dumb." Arthur said.

Astrid finally stopped gutting the fish. "I say you go with Arthur and Apollo to gather food, and Ingrid, Milo, Lavana and I get the fire wood."

Milo nodded. "I agree."

"No I don't think that--" Hyacinth started, giving me a glare.

"Let's have a vote then," Lavana said, "All in favor of Hyacinth's grouping?" Nobody raised a hand, "All in favor of Astrid's grouping." Everyone raised a hand this time, except for me, Hyacinth and Astrid.

Arthur looked at me, "Apollo? What do you think?"

I grimaced. I was hoping I didn't have to share my opinion. "Don't we already have enough votes to say Astrid won?"

"Answer the question, Apollo." Hyacinth said, narrowing his eyes at me.

"Uh..." I sighed. "Well, as much as I hate having to collect food with you, I have to say that Astrid's grouping makes more sense."

Hyacinth tightened his jaw and clenched his fists. He looked like he was going to explode. Literally.

"It's settled then." Ingrid said.

"We should go. Unless you guys want to eat fish everyday." Arthur picked up his spear.

Hyacinth didn't really talk, which was good, but was also slightly irritating. Arthur talked.

"You know, this whole quest thing isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be."

I blinked at him. "Are you saying you don't mind being put into the wild to survive with six other strangers to collect pieces of a jewel that you barely know anything about, just because your king said so? Because he said you have 'abilities'?"