The Atheil Chronicles: A Call to Fire

Chapter 12

Ariana tried for the rest of the day to stop thinking about Ryonen, but her mind kept going back to him. It was stupid, because it was always little things that made her think about him. His arm would brush hers and she would spend the next half hour wondering if he did it on purpose. Or he would offer his hand to her so she wouldn't fall over a branch or to stop her from stumbling, and then she would determinedly stay away from him for a while so she wouldn't have to touch him again. By the time he told her that they were stopping to make camp, there was at least another hour or two before sunset and Ariana was exhausted from constantly trying to keep away from him.
  She settled down on a bed of freshly fallen leaves and flattened down her dress. Ryonen moved around her, not speaking. When he had successfully gotten the fire started, he leaned against a tree a few feet away from her. She watched the dancing flames of fire as they licked the cool night air, but she could see Ryonen watching her out of the corner of her eye. She pulled her cloak around her, trying to busy herself.
Ryonen's soft voice cut through the silence. "When are you going to tell me why you're acting so strange?" He asked.
She started. "I'm-"
Ryonen cut her off. "Don't you dare say that you aren't, because I know that something's wrong."
She turned and looked at him. "How could you know that?"
Ryonen rolled his eyes. "You've stubbornly refused to talk to me all day."
"So." She said, trying to act like it didn't matter. 
"So," he repeated, "it's obvious that something's wrong. Is it about your mom? Why won't you just tell me? I can help, Ariana."
She bit her lip. It was just like Ryonen to think that he could help; he was such a gentle soul, and she felt like he could always make her feel better. However, she didn't dare share her feelings at the moment. She didn't think he would understand why this was hurting her so bad. In fact, it would probably just make things more awkward between them. "Because nothing's wrong." She said, finally. Ryonen gave her an exasperated look before turning away. Ariana felt bad for making him upset, but she figured it was better to make him mad than to admit the truth.
She nibbled on some nuts from the satchel while Ryonen sat across from her, studying his sword. He kept frowning down into his lap but he wouldn't look up at her. After a while, Ariana dusted off her hands and announced that she was going to go bathe in a nearby creek.
Ryonen didn't say much. He handed her a bar of what looked like soap and mumbled something about shampoo. She nodded, and was just about to walk away when Ryonen let out a sigh, looking up at her with a heartbreakingly sad look on his face. "Don't be gone long." He said, turning his attention back down to his sword.
She nodded in response and got up, making her way away from the campsite. After a few minutes, she heard the burbling of the creek and followed the sound until she found it. It had a low bank that was mostly covered in sand colored pebbles and scattered branches from above. The water was split by a few random rocks sticking out of the water, trickling over them, the bigger rocks throwing up water around them where the current was forced to break. Ariana looked around before stripping down, throwing her clothes over the nearest low hanging branch.
She dipped her toe into the water gingerly, determining its temperature before slipping in. The water wasn't too cold, she thought, and almost felt like an indoor lap pool would. She let herself become completely submerged before coming back up to the surface. She rubbed the soap between her hands under water and then brought it up to the surface, the bar foaming up almost immediately as she continued to rub it against her hands. She began to work the dirt out of her hair before using the soap on her body. She did one rinse before deciding to do her hair one more time, letting it sit for a bit before she soaked it again. While it was going to take a little longer to wash, she didn't mind it since it gave her time before she had to go back to Ryonen.
He had seemed so sad earlier. It broke her heart that she was the one causing it, but she knew that ignoring him was the only way to keep herself from becoming more attached to him than she already was. Regardless of if they just remained friends, it would only end up hurting both of them if she let herself feel the way she knew she did. It just wasn't meant to be; she had to keep telling herself that.
Her fingertips were starting to get wrinkly, so she slowly made her way out of the water.  Since she didn't have a towel, she used her cloak to dry herself off, throwing it over a branch afterwards to dry for a bit. With all her clothes back on, she sat down lightly on a large rock jutting out of the ground near the edge of the creek. Just for something to do, she worked her fingers through her wet hair, french braiding it.
Almost immediately after she finished tying off the end of her braid, she heard a faint screeching sound coming from the distance. She stood up, knowing that she should head back to Ryonen. However, when she heard the frantic screeching again, she grabbed her damp cloak and threw it over her shoulders, making her way toward where it was coming from. She knew she should turn back and go get Ryonen, but she wasn't sure she was ready to face his accusing eyes just yet.
Ariana plunged into the trees, weaving her way through them and getting farther and farther away from where Ryonen sat waiting for her. She was just about to head back when she heard the screeching again; this time it sounded much closer. Pushing through some particularly thick brush, she stumbled through it and fell to the ground beside a large tree. She was about to get up when she heard people talking. Panicked, she ducked behind the tree and peeked around the side of its trunk, surveying the situation.
Ten feet away from where she lay hidden, a group of strange creatures sat around a fire. They were about 5 feet tall and their skin was a dark gray color. Even though they were shorter than her, she knew they weren't to be messed with since they were all clearly muscular, with thick sturdy limbs. Their skin looked bristly from afar and Ariana realized that they were covered in fur everywhere except their heads, which reminded her vaguely of what a bats head looked like. All of them were clad in black ragged clothes and their feet were bare, showing off their long, black talons. Their hands were also taloned, and Ariana couldn't help but feel fear rise up inside of her at the sight of the wicked swords strapped to their sides. There were five of them that she could see and they were bickering amongst themselves about something. She noticed a large wire cage sitting on top of a stump behind them, but shifted her attention to what they were saying.
The largest one, a big burly creature with bat-like ears, a crumpled black face, and purple eyes, was speaking. His voice was rough and gravelly, a harshness not only in the sound of his voice but in the inflection of his words. "If we kill it then we can't sell it and get our money's worth."
The others frowned and clicked their tongues angrily. One with blood red eyes and half an ear missing spoke. "Who cares about the money; it's making far too much noise, and it keeps burning us." He kicked at the cage as the creature inside of it let out another screech.
Ariana heard all of them agree, but the large one shushed them. "I told you to leave it alone. It can screech and fight all it wants, but we're still going to sell it."
The smaller creature next to the big purple eyed one started to speak, but the big one hit it across the face, knocking it to the ground. The rest of the creatures got deathly quiet. "I don't care what any of you scum have to say about it. The beast lives." It looked around the group as if daring someone to speak up. "Now, if that's all, then let us go find our food." It smiled and Ariana got a quick glance of its yellow fangs.
The rest of the group snarled, baring their own fangs, and got up and barreled into the trees.
Ariana held her breath, waiting until she couldn't hear them anymore. She sat behind the tree in utter silence, her heart pounding in her chest as she waited for at least five minutes to go by. When she was sure they were far enough away, she stepped into the campsite and gasped.
Inside of the large cage sat a magnificent orange bird.  Ariana stepped toward the cage, mesmerized by the strange creature. Its shape was similar to that of an eagle but it was at least three times as big as one and its feathers were all on fire. She wracked her brain, trying to think of what the creature might be.
As she reached the cage, Ariana leaned in close to the bars and stared into the beast's large blue eyes. Suddenly it hit her. "You're a Phoenix." She said breathlessly.
The phoenix tilted its head at her and blinked a few times. She saw that it had little red gashes on its torso and a wire rope was tied to its foot.
"You poor thing." She said, softly.
The phoenix chirped and stared into her eyes. A great sadness filled her at seeing this beautiful bird caged and abused. She looked around her and then down at the lock on the door to the cage.
"Just give me a minute and I'll get you out of here." She told the phoenix.
She scrambled to find some kind of rock, her eyes scanning the ground frantically for one. She finally spotted a big enough one and picked it up, wrapping her fingers tightly around it before slamming it down on the lock. The phoenix moved to the back of the cage and watched her hit the lock again with the rock.
"Shit." She said, examining the lock. It barely looked damaged. She hit it again, harder, and then froze when she heard the crunch of a branch.
They were coming.
Ariana flinched as she heard more breaking branches. They were much closer this time. She was about to drop the rock and run, but then she looked back at the phoenix. Her eyes glanced over the bloodied gashes on its torso before reaching its kind, sad eyes. She swallowed down her panic and stopped herself; she wasn't going to leave it here like this.
Desperately, she slammed the rock down on the lock and, finally, it broke, falling to pieces on the ground by her foot. She yanked the door of the cage open and untied the wire rope on the phoenix's foot as fast as she could, her fingers fumbling against the strangely cool wire. The phoenix watched her work out the last knot, turning its large eyes to the forest behind her.
Ariana heard the creatures burst through the trees and let out a startled scream. They, too, were startled, dropping the bloody body of the deer that they had been carrying and snarling at her.
She turned back to the phoenix and swung the door of the cage open all the way, urging it to get out. "Come on," She yelled at it, "hurry up and fly away. You're free."
The phoenix jumped out of the cage and landed on the edge of the stump that it was sitting on. It looked at her and she reached out her right hand without really even thinking about what she was doing. The phoenix kept its eyes on her as it lay its head in her hand, letting out a soft coo.
At the sound of the snarling creatures getting closer, the phoenix launched its large body into the air and hovered next to her. Ariana pulled her hand toward her body, feeling it start to blister. The phoenix had burned her.
"Go!" She screamed as the creatures came running at her. The phoenix let out a screech and beat its large wings. Ariana didn't wait to see it fly away, she started running toward the trees at breakneck speed.
The creatures pursuing her began screaming things she couldn't hear. She was putting every bit of energy into running, barely even feeling her feet touch the ground as she pumped her legs harder and harder. She was going to make it, she thought wildly, she was going to make it back to Ryonen and he would help her. She was almost to the trees when she felt something wrap around her leg, jarring her so violently that she twisted in the air. She screamed and fell to the ground, trying desperately to detach the cord that had wrapped itself completely around her calf.
"Don't move." She heard a deep voice say. It almost sounded like a growl.
She looked up slowly. The large beast with the purple eyes stood in front of her. He had blood all over his clothes and he was smiling malevolently.
"Look what we have here, boys. A guest." The other creatures snickered at this.
Ariana didn't say anything as the other four creatures gathered around her. She was too shocked to think, the adrenaline pumping through her before was now starting to dwindle, leaving her feeling utterly exhausted. The red eyed creature came and took up a spot to her right, pawing the ground with his long taloned feet in an impatient sort of way. Ariana could smell the metallic scent of blood on him.
"What should we do with her, boss?" One of them asked.
The large one stared at her with his purple eyes, the color reminding her so much of an orchid that she felt momentarily mesmerized by it. He thought for a second, then he bared his teeth. "Tie her up." He said, turning his back on her.
   Ariana struggled as they advanced on her with ropes and she screamed, kicking the one with red eyes in the face with her heel so hard that it left a gash that immediately started to gush blood.
The purple eyed leader turned around and saw the red eyed one brush green blood from under his eye. He snarled. "Deslich, put our little friend to sleep."
The red eyed creature smiled wickedly. "Gladly." He said, pulling out his sword.
Ariana let out a scream as he hit her across the face with the hilt of his sword. She saw red and then her vision started getting fuzzy, the pain in her head making it hard for her to think straight.
As she felt her consciousness start to fade, her last thought was of Ryonen's beautiful face and how sad he had looked. I'm sorry, she thought weakly, wishing she could tell him one last time.
Somewhere from above her, she heard the Phoenix start to sing, its beautiful music sounding through the fog in her mind and, for a second, just one second, she felt hope fill her heart. Then her head hit the ground and everything went black.