The Fifth Guardian

Chapter 6

ARISTIA"S POV

Cece woke me up this morning telling me I've been burning up. I did wake up not feeling great, I don't understand where this is coming from. I made a visit to a healer, but he can't tell me what's wrong with me. I just know my head is killing and I'm forcing myself to join the hunt. It's basically a game that royals play once a year, they hunt the biggest predator they can find in the forest and win a big prize. Everyone was split into groups, unfortunately I'm stuck with Raynar's group and Mira is with him and he doesn't look happy. I have a feeling this wasn't random, that he's trying to show me what he must endure with this woman to make me feel guilty.

Playing this guilt game with me is not helping. Fortunately, Lady Drea is with us, she was trying to make small talk, but she clearly wanted to focus on hunting. She looks very different from that day when we were all presented for the first time in front of the elder guardians. She was holding a bow and arrow while I'm holding a sword. I'm more comfortable with this, I know it's not ideal for hunting, but I didn't come out here to hunt. I was dragged here against my will so I will not participate.

There are multiple groups that joined so there's a big competition going on. I could see that Lady Mira keeps fidgeting, it seems like this is not her cup of tea.

"Raynar, I'm scared" she was whining, and I was just standing there like, what? You're pretending to be a guardian but now you're scared? Like are you serious?

Raynar ignored her and we just kept following him. He's confident, you can tell he was born to be a leader. He knows what he's doing, and he has the strength and power to back it up.

"Lord Raynar, I think we're going too deep into the forest. Look up ahead, there's this fog but it's broad daylight" Lady Drea said, and this made Raynar make us stop walking. Lady Drea is right, it's odd to have this thick fog when the sun is up high. What kind of forest is this? We suddenly heard an unholy screech pierces the air, so loud that it caused all of us to pause to look for the source of the sound.

An intense sound, like the flapping of wings, grows louder as a shadow is cast on the ground, growing larger and darker and we heard something hitting the ground with an earth-shaking thud, sending shockwaves through us, causing some of us to lose balance and fall to the ground. We then heard a high-pitched squeak, that's when Raynar signaled us to fall back.

We started sprinting back to the castle, but it was a long way to go. All we know is that this creature is big and can fly, I could feel my deep and shallow breaths as I keep running. I felt small branches of trees hitting my face leaving small scratches. We suddenly heard a cracking sound and felt something was coming and when we turned around it was a big tree being thrown at us. Lady Drea fell to the ground, and she was the closest to where the tree landed, and she got injured on her legs and she's unable to stand up. I didnt hesitate and ran towards her.

I had to act fast, or someone would die.

"Let's go, we need to go!" Lady Mira yelled, and I clearly saw her look at Lady Drea who is clearly wounded. She didn't hesitate to leave her there, are you serious! I pulled Lady Dreas arm over my shoulder and started dragging her, she could walk but I could feel her wince in pain.

"I'm sorry Lady Drea but you have to put the pain aside. We need to go" I said, and she nodded. She did a good job focusing on escaping. I looked over Raynar and he kept shooting arrows at whatever is hunting us. We are supposed to be the hunters, but the tables have turned and now we're the prey.

"Why can't you blow it up!" I yelled at him, and he gave me an annoyed look.

"Do you want the whole forest to be on fire?!" He yelled back as he was running backwards and kept checking where we are and where to take cover.