Entwined Fates (Editing)

Chapter One

My feet fell on the ground soundlessly. I dashed from my hiding place towards the thick trunk of a redwood tree, and pressed my back against it, hoping to evade the man chasing me through the brush. My eyes flew around wildly, looking for another trunk large enough to hide my body. There, I thought. A stand of elms that would provide me the cover I need to get away. But I moved a second too late. The man ran out, and tackled me to the ground. We rolled a down the slight slope of the hill, before I managed to squirm out of his restricting arms. I ran towards a large, old pine, whose needles have long died and fell to the ground, but I could hear the man gaining on me steadily. Stupid short legs. Truth be told, my legs long in comparison to the rest of my frame, but I had a rather small build. The pine slowly became larger and larger, and I prepared myself to jump.

3...

2...

1...

I took off with a strong push of my legs, and latched onto the lowest branch, which was quite a ways off the forest floor. I swung my legs on, but my attacker had already grabbed one of them. With one strong pull, I tumbled towards the forest floor. Landing a kick to his side, he dropped my leg, but quickly recovered. A kick to the back of my knees and an elbow to the stomach, and I was kneeling on the ground. He grabbed my ponytail, forcing my head back, and a dagger to my throat. I groaned.

"Fine. You win this time." He grinned and let go of me abruptly, causing me to stumble slightly.

"Thank you very much, Ari."

"It's not fair Eli, you won last time, and the time before that."

"But you won the three times before that. Besides, I couldn't even beat you until about a year ago."

"That's cause you finally had your growth spurt." He smiled cheekily at me.

"Let's go back. I haven't trained for about a week now, plus I have a beginners combat class to teach." He smiled wickedly, and tossed me over his shoulder as he ran back towards royal lands. I squirmed, trying to get out of his grasp, but there was no way I could get him to let me go without kneeing him hard in the face.

"Eli, I swear if you don't put me down this second, I will break your face." He reluctantly put me down, probably realizing I wouldn't hesitate to do it after a fair warning. I crossed my arms and frowned at him.

"Don't frown, it's not a good look on you." He used his thumb to smooth the skin between my eyebrows gently. I rolled my eyes and we silently moved through the forest. The thick canopy of leaves gave a hazy feel to the atmosphere. Small scrawny bushes reached towards the sky, and moss crept along the crevices in the bark of giant redwood trees. Wood nymphs flitted between trees, faeries flew from flower to flower, causing harmless mischief. We finally broke from the shady coolness of the forest into the blazing sunlight, and trudged back to royal lands. Eli and I made our way to the training grounds, following the cobblestone path that was familiar to our feet. I dodged a flying bubble of water.

"Drake!?"

"Umm... Oopsies?"

"Oopsies is right." I glared playfully at the small boy in front of me.

"If you and your friends are going to play, go to the training grounds. Don't do it where there's so much people, someone could get hurt." He nodded sheepishly, and ran off between the rows of houses, disappearing from sight.

***
I spread my arms and let the wind whip my hair off my back. Grassy plains stretched as far as the eye could see, undisturbed except for the occasional clump of aspen trees and a towering cliff on the far right. Eli tossed me my staff from where he stored them earlier, and I skilfully grabbed it. The golden gem, surrounded by dark mahogany, shone proudly in the sun, as I raised it above my head. In the corner of my eye, I could see my friend doing the same, his shaggy hair ustling around his emerald eyes.