Leora - hidden light

Chapter nineteen

I've been walking around for an hour with Laylea and Wyn by my side. Let's face it, I'm totally third wheeling. So far I've collected three different kinds of herbs, one kind of mushroom and one kind of worm. I don't know what the worm is for.

All I can think about is how Adonis left that tent. I didn't find him when I got out of it. He looked uncomfortable. I don't know what kind of impression he got from me and Shelke but it definitely isn't what he thinks.

The forest is so dense and filled with plants that are my height. I dodged several snakes and spiders.

My ears perk up.

ʳᵘˢᵗˡᵉ    ʳᵘˢᵗˡᵉ    ʳᵘˢᵗˡᵉ

Leaves moving around. Familiar smell. Rotten cheese and charcoal. Weird combination.

"WYN WATCH OUT!" I scream on top of my lungs as I lunge towards him, catch him and pull him to the ground before I see a sharp claw trying to snatch him.

Laylea and Wyn finally caught on. We have a Delphir on our hands. I pull DEIMO from the sheath on my back and run toward the creature.
This one is the largest Delphir I've ever fought.

Laylea has taken out two big daggers with a blue glow in them.

It growls and jumps at Wyn. He pulls out his strong rustic, metallic shield and covers himself. Laylea is climbing a tree while I sneak behind it's back and thrust DEIMO into it's stomach.

Wyn recovers and pulls out a huge axe with a sharp behind and throws it at it's eyes. Three of them down, three more to go.

"DON'T TOUCH HIM!!" She shrieks as she makes the small jump from the tree top to the back of the creature.

I take my sword and cut off it's legs one by one by one. It falls on the ground. Laylea runs, aiming for the head. Wyn pulls back the axe for impact and I slice through its brain. Black and slimy. All three of us power together tp hit it one last time and slice its head in half.

"AH!" My forearm stings. It's claws still move after cutting its legs off. A Delphir this big has it's perks, I guess.

"Dice those legs..." Laylea swishes and swirls her sword around, cutting it into thousand pieces.

"Are you guys okay?" I ask the both of them. They give a small nod, clearly still in shock.

"We can be attacked anytime. Next one might worse that this."

We walk back with the few remanants of what we managed to get.

Back at camp, we see several injured. I immediately search for Lucian and don't find him or Mayi.

"They're everywhere," Gervic tells me, almost a whisper, "We have walked into their homes..." The gravity of the situation has finally settled in.

My arm is now bandaged up and having some honey really helped with the sting.

"You guys are so brave. I don't know how you did that." Shelke is by my side, passing me a cup of herbal tea.

"One of ours died today.."  Fiyara says, appearing beside him. She looks like she might cry and my heart feels an ache, wondering if it's Mayi.

"Are Mayi and Lucian okay?" I ask them laying in the bed made of large leaves and blankets.

"Yes they are. They helped bring in the others. They work well together." Shelke says, impressed. While he is impressed, Fiyara just looks down, a little bit of anger in her eyes.

Adonis enters the room in a hurry, his face twisted with worry.

"Leora, are you okay?" It's been almost two days since he'd said a word to me. Not that he has to, we don't have any relation except sharing the same friend group but deep inside me, I want him to speak to me all the time.

Shelke and Fiyara leave the both of us immediately to tend to others, as if Adonis had commanded them. A raven and his owl, Helge fly in. Raven sits on the table and Helge sits on his shoulder.

"What happened out there?" He asks me. His face full of worry and a fresh scar on his temple.

"Now you want to talk?" I ask him. Any time I got a chance, I'd give him a smile but all the time, he turned away. After the night infront of the lake, he never talked to me.

"What? I didn't see any need to talk to you." He says plainly.

"Are we not friends?" I ask him. His face doesn't give away any of his thoughts. His eyes fall from my eyes for a second.

"I don't know."

"You don't know? I'm friends with everyone. Are you special? My speech the other night? That was from heart. You are not special to me. You might be a fighter, a hero to your mother and your people, but not to me. You're just some man." I say angrily, but not raising my voice.

He stays silent, now looking at the ground.

"You don't understand. I can't do this. I can't be -"
He pauses. "I will not be what you want me to be. Okay?" He says, finally looking up.

"So stay away then. Don't barge in, asking me how I'm doing when you don't even care..." My words might hurt him, I don't care. I'm not even his friend.

"I do care." He says in a whisper.

"But you have no plan of showing it." He lowers his head again. Silent treatment again.

"You can leave now, Adonis. You're not whom I thought you were. I was mistaken, I'm sorry." I say blandly. I can't handle any more of this. I don't understand what I feel towards him. I need his help to figure that out. But he doesn't want to. He might not know he feels for me, but he doesn't want to know.

I close my eyes, to rest, just for a bit. I hear shuffling of feet as he leaves. A small sniff and he's gone. And with him, his piny jasmine scent.