Seeker (Completed)

Stone Seeking

Chapter 17

His eyes widen. A vine extended and wrapped around my arm. Without thinking I grab him, my arm almost ripping out of its socket while I'm at it. Heat courses through my body, probably from the adrenaline. Sh*t! I am tempted to let him drop the fifty feet and that will be one less bad guy to worry about but I don't want to. He gives me a peculiar look. You have to let him go. Eliminate the threat. Let him go NOW! So I do, I let him go. He doesn't even scream, just keeps staring at me as he plummets. His almost black eyes bore into mine.

When he's ten feet from the ground my resolve vanishes and a vine shots from a near by tree, wraps around him and slowly lowers him to the ground. I couldn't do it. You're weak! My mother's voice scolds me and I sigh. Maybe I am. I begin to pull myself back to the top of the waterfall.

God, this blonde guy just won't die already! Justin is kneeling over Zack a while away, Nick is the only one keeping this guy occupied. His eyes widen as he spots me, his face is suddenly furious at the sight of me; his anger fuels him. He grabs Nick, pulls him to his body and holds a blade to his throat. Nick tries to pull the guy's arm away from his neck but it is futile, the blade is pushed in harder and a drop of blood start to form. My throat constricts, the taste of fury slips into my mouth. "Erik, right?" I ask causing his eyes to narrow.

"Maybe." I breathe in deeply, trying to keep my cool.

"Erik, let him go." My voice is strong, dangerous.

"Where's Thorn?" He asks. "What did you do to him?" His voice daring me to say that he's hurt at the bottom of the waterfall. "At the bottom of the chasm - alive - waiting for you."

I can see that his hand is itching to slit Nick's throat. Screw patience, I never really possessed that trait anyways. The blade in Erik's hand heats up, turning a shade of blistering red. "Sh*t!" He exclaims and drops it. Nick gasps for breath as he is released and I pounce on Erik. Revenge is driving me, how dare he threaten Nick! We are rolling, I end up on top - stop having a dirty mind, not on top like that OK ? - I blunder for my dagger, grasp it and plunge it downwards. He clasps my hands, pushing against my force. I put my body wait into it but it's not enough, I'm thrown off him. We're both on our feet, glaring at each other. Nick is by my side in an instant, sword in hand.

This battle is won! I know it...so does Erik. He looks between Nick and me, sighs. He leans back and lets gravity pull him towards the earth at the bottom of waterfall. We'll battle another day. I turn to Nick and pull him into a fierce hug. "Don't you dare scare me like that again! You hear me?" His strong arms encircle me. "When you went over, I thought I'd lost you." He whispers. I feign a hurt expression and dramatically thrust a hand to my chest. "You really thought that a little hundred foot drop would get rid of me? I'm highly insulted!"

Zack is deathly pale, Justin looks as though he's about to go into shock. He keeps mumbling to himself. I get close enough to see blood soaked Zack's top. I stop in my tracks. No, no, no, no, no, no...This is not happening. I lean down and whip off my jumper to apply pressure to control the bleeding. "This is all your fault," Justin looks at me accusingly. Nick shoves him. "Nick don't. He's right." Nick tries to protest but I cut him off. "Listen if we are going to keep Zack alive you're gonna have to listen to me. Justin keep the pressure...Good, now Nick you're gonna stay here and make sure those jack-asses don't come back. I'm gonna find the stone and I'll come back as soon as possible." Nick wants to come with me but I say that I'll be faster alone.

I position my sword and dagger in their places and sprint, right over the edge. I feel free, is this the feeling that birds get? It's absolutely amazing! I'm sure you can guess by now that I go all Tarzan with some vines and BAM, I land on the ground. I look around, where would a stone be hidden. The necklace is not exactly flashing neon signs like: this way to Michael's stone.

There's a cave that's really obvious, it would've been completely concealed by a waterfall but thanks to Justin the waterfall is no more. Well that was easy enough. I grab a branch and it bursts into flames, it makes a nice torch. I head off into the gloom, tragically I got lost, died of starvation and was heard of no more. Jocking, my mind can sometimes wander when I'm alone in a creepy claustrophobic cave. Whoa, alliteration right there, maybe if I ever escape I'll become a poet. Sprawling words across a page that can bring people to tears, make them conjure emotions they never knew existed, get my name plastered onto the hall of...

An inconsiderate fork in the pathway rudely interrupts my thoughts. Well this is just great. Eeny, Meeny, Minny, Moe, I go down the left but my necklace turns cold. It's like an icicle on my skin. Wrong way? I backtrack and go down the right. The necklace warms back to its original temp. mmmmmmmm. Interesting.

The air gets thicker as I travel deeper into the maze and I've learnt that this necklace is actually pretty useful. I find a door...finally! I twist and push but it won't budge. Stupid door. "Open sesame!" Still didn't budge but it was worth a try right? I need to think, if I burn it the smoke will probably kill me so that's a nono, there're no vines to try rip it apart, the only thing that's down here is soil...soil...soil...soil...Ok I think you get it by now that the soil was bugging me. It's all around me, almost ridiculing me, mocking me, daring me. Drama Queen, I know, you don't have to say it. Then it hit me. Sink, I thought at the door. Sink. I try to will the earth to engulf the door. Nothing happens. "God-damn-it SINK!" The tunnels shake dangerously. One word is running through my mind: Sh*t.