Entwined Fates (Editing)

Chapter Six

I concentrated heavily on the little flame fox in front of me, willing it to grow bigger.

"Arithia! Stop!" Eli pleaded. I ignored him, concentrating on the fox.

"Don't make me stop you..." he threatened. I ignored him...again. He let out a sigh, and wrestled me to the ground.

"Eli! I had that!"

"Oh really? If you 'had that', stand up." I tried, but I felt drained. My legs seemed to be made out of logs. Eli sighed.

"You know you'll drain yourself if you work too hard." He pulled me to my feet, and draped one of my arms around his neck."

"Come on, Rhys needs to see us." We both climbed onto Alarn. Well, Eli climbed and he pulled me up. Driana flew behind us. I leaned forwards, resting on my elbows, trying to get some energy back.

"Ari!" Rhys was on the ground, waving at us. "Hurry up, we have a lot of things to talk about." We descended quickly.

"Well, actually, we have one thing to talk about," Rhys admitted. I rolled my eyes.

"You are getting much better with your element. You can fight most of our knights fairly now, and you can conjure up most small living things. Remember when we told you about this?" I nodded.

"The prophecy also stated there was a dragon being held." Right...

"I have to admit, I forgot about that. Are we going to look for it?" Rhys raised an eyebrow at me.

"It won't be that easy. We would be gone for at least a year. We would need much more men, and we don't have an inkling of an idea of where the dragon is."

"Well we can't exactly just let it die, can we?" I said, slightly exasperated.  

"Of course not. I take it that you would go if we went on this mission?" I nodded fervently.

"Who would you want to take?"

"Eli of course, you, and the tracker that trains with us, Dimonte, would be helpful."

"That won't be enough. Never mind though, just tell me if there's anyone else you want to come.  I nodded. An evil smirk appeared on his face. He shot forward, grabbed my waist, and hauled me over his shoulder.

"For now, let's have some fun!" he yelled. He ran towards the lake.

"Oh! Don't you da-" I would have finished the sentence, but he plunged me into the cold lake.

"Don't I what?" he mocked. I narrowed my eyes evilly, and dipped under the water. I grabbed his ankle, dunking him in. He came up sputtering.

"Always keep your guard up," I teased. Arms wrapped around me, and pulled me under again.

"What happened to keeping your guard up?" Eli joked. I pouted at him and crawled out of the water. The sun was still warm enough to dry off my clothes as I sprawled myself across a large, smooth boulder. Rhys took a seat where the grass me the rock, and Eli laid down beside me. Hazy particles drifted in the air, never settling before the wind adjusted their course. A symphony of woodland noises could be heard, now that we weren't screaming, that is. The buzz of insect wings; the rustle of delicate leaves; and various, quiet forms of communication between other strange creatures. The warmth from both the sun and Eli engulfed me in a soft blanket, the sounds of the forest lulling me to sleep.

 ***

Someone must have carried me home, because the next morning, I was tucked into my bed. I was wearing only my underclothes. A blush crossed my face as I realized that someone, most likely Eli, undressed me last night. On cue, the door of my room swung open.