Zara told me about the message the next day.
"But the strange thing about this is that it says 'we,' not 'I'," I said. "So does this mean that the Dark is a group of people?"
"Yeah," Zara agreed, "the Dark said that they would be waiting in the Dark Forest and all the rest of the tribes except for the Autumn Tribe, so they must be a group of people."
"We would have to move to the Autumn Tribe then! NOW!" Stone broke into the camp, yelling his head off. "All the other tribes are destroyed. People with masks were in the camp, I saw them, yos!!!"
"That is...not good," Zara said nervously, fingering her bow and arrow.
"We'd better go before they catch up to us! Eve, help me out here." Brooke swung up her staff towards the sky, as if gathering her magic from the frosty, cold sunshine that cast shafts of light on their faces. Then, she plunged the staff downwards, the ominous markings on it flashing with golden light, as if being powered. Suddenly, seven dandelions erupted from the ground.
"Um...is this supposed to be what's happening?" muttered Wind.
"Let her concentrate," Maple snapped.
"Yos, hurry up," Stone grumbled, folding his arms stoutly.
Brooke ignored them, concentrating. The symbols on her staff shone brighter and brighter with a seeping golden light, and while it did so the dandelions all grew bigger and bigger until they were each the size of about half a bed.
"Steady...," I began to mutter, fully engrossed in the magic I was witnessing. "It's getting bigger..."
"Hop on!" Brooke finally urged through gritted teeth, squeezing her eyes into slits.
"I've got the rest," Eve murmured, and patted Brooke on the shoulder gently from her dandelion. I felt the flutter of petals brush my body as I climbed onto the ostentatious, yellow petals of the dandelion as well.
Brooke seemed to collapse, slumping in relief, and clambered onto her own dandelion, gripping her staff tight. "Quick!"
I held my breath as Eve retrieved the sword from its sheath, pulling it out and into full extent. Then, she swung it in a full arc on her dandelion, pointing it straight at the ground.
A millisecond later, an emerald blast appeared from the tip of the silver blade, and shot through the air, smashing onto the ground below. It was as if the earth was some clock, and the mechanical shifts of it, behind the clock's surface, was finally beginning to groan and creak, clicking to life. The surface of the earth rolled forwards, forming lumpy waves of land that carried us away...away...
The dandelions and the earth-waves we surfed on carried us all the way over the ridge, moving quickly and efficiently, and passed a small slip of the dark forests before descending into the lip of the Autumn Tribe.
Instantly, the atmosphere warmed, and the very air itself seemed to sight our relief, causing bright crimson and scarlet leaves to start weaving themselves through the air, falling towards the leaf-encrusted ground. Half-bare trees that shone like amber in the sunshine waved their branches welcomingly.
But something-something-was wrong, and I could sense it.
The air seemed to cackle with tension as I felt eyes boring into our backs.
"Do you feel that?" Everything just seemed...too quiet. Something suspicious was coming in, and quick.
"Yeah," whispered Eve in response to Zara's breathless query. "It just seems as if-"
YOU ARE READING
The True Meaning of A Warrior
FantasiIt's been years since the great war, but the rebuilding of The Dark's damage is still going. Zara and her friend, Eve-best of sisters, have not been prepared for the mystery that unravels everything they've ever known. Stella is one of a kind; a cho...
