Arizium

Chapter 18

Madelina sat next to the river and whittled at a branch in an attempt to make it perfectly smooth. The last staff she had had broken when they had last ran into people in the forest and she had beaten the brains out of one that she hadn't particularly liked. The twins were sleeping a couple feet away from her.

Watch duty, why do I always get watch duty. She thought and continued to scrape away at the flaws in the long branch. They're bound up anyway, they can't escape. Why must I sacrifice my much needed sleep so Phoenix can "feel better". If she wants to feel better she should do it her damned self.

She accidently cut a nick in the branch and threw it at the ground angrily. Wolf's gone, Lynx is gone, Bear is worried, Phoenix is moody, Raven is closed off as usual. Does no one care about me? Am I just a tool?

She sighed and put her head in her hand. Everything is going downhill, all because of these stupid Vlivians. She kicked a pebble and watched as it splashed into the river where it would probably stay forever. She rubbed her face and thought, maybe I'm making a big deal of nothing. Someone has to do watch duty, and I suppose I am the best fit for it. But why must there be so much damned drama to go with it? She picked up the branch again and found the nick that flawed her perfect staff. She used the nick as a starting point and carved in intricate swirls and symbols, turning the flaw into something beautiful.

She smiled at her handiwork and continued to scrape away the last bit of flaws. The twins stirred in their sleep, but otherwise didn't seem to be awakening any time soon.

Madelina felt alone, so she called out to Filos, her Spectacled Owl companion. He was hunting, as night time was usually his hunting hours, but he flew from the forest as soon as he heard Madelina's call and perched on her shoulder with a small field mouse in his beak.

"Aw Filos, you could've continued to hunt if you wanted. I do not need your company that badly," Filos shook his head in stubborn disagreement and swallowed the mouse.

Madelina snorted and patted his head, "You're right, I think I'd go insane if it weren't for you," She said and went back to carving. Unfortunately, her voice must have been louder than she had thought, because Amaria groaned, sat up, and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Madelina cursed under her breath, the last thing I need is another beast to converse with. She tried to put Amaria back to sleep, but she couldn't concentrate enough to do it.

"Madelina?"

Shit.

"Madelina?" Amaria said again "Is that you?"

Madelina knew denying it was pointless, so she sighed heavily and responded "Yeah. What do you want?"

Amaria hesitated before saying "Are you... are you guarding us?"

Madelina scoffed "I wouldn't call it guarding. I couldn't care less if an arrow pierced your eye. Phoenix wants to make sure you two don't run off, so I get the pleasent duty of watching you. Don't be flattered, I would kill you myself if Lynx hadn't already claimed your head as her's. Besides, I hear Lynx is much better at slow, agonizing, and outright torturous demises."

Amaria glared at her, "Why do you hate me, anyways?"

"Why should I like you?" Madelina retorted and immersed herself in her carvings.

"I could easily have you thrown into a dungeon where you will rot until you are nothing but dust. I would watch your tongue with me, if I was you."

Madelina chuckled, "Ah, fiesty aren't 'cha? Go ahead, try to arrest me. Look, I won't even try to run. Oh wait, that's right, you're kind of bound up aren't 'cha? Hmm, such a shame, better luck next time." She put her finger to her face to imitate a fake tear, and smiled smugly.

Amaria sighed and mumbled, "Phoenix should have picked a better guard."

"What? Am I not good enough for you? I'm appaled! Filos, did you hear that? We're not good enough for her! Wow, I feel like my heart just broke into a million pieces, I don't know what to say. All this time all I ever wanted to do was be friends with you, and then you go do something like that. Geez, so immature," Madelina spewed sarcastically and glared at her.

"Gods, what is your deal anyway?"

"My deal? My 'deal' is that I have to tolerate an annoying brat like you instead of just outright splattering that incompetent brain of yours all over the trees. You put my family in danger by capturing Raven with that dolt brother of yours. The sooner you leave our lives, the better," Madelina replied and scowled.

Amaria retorted, "Look it's not my fault she was trespassing on restricted property, she got the consequence she bloody well deserved. Lucius didn't trust her to be locked up in the dungeon, he had a bad feeling about it, so she came with us. It's a good thing too, if she had stayed the whole castle might have been eviscerated."

"You would do the same if you had the power to get out of a locked room. You have absolutely no right to judge."

"Judgment is a valid human attribute, I have no shame in showing my opinion."

"Judgment is harsh and disgusting and will inevitably get you or someone else killed. I suggest you learn how to keep your mouth shut and your judgements to yourself," Madelina countered.

"I do not take orders from pesants, thank you very much."

Madelina shook her head in astonishment, "I'm honestly suprised no one has killed you yet. Both Filos and I are barely managing to keep ourselves from taking your life. Have there ever been any assassination attempts on you?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"There's got to be someone out there that wants your head on a spike. The question is, why is it taking them so lo-" Madelina was abruptly cut off when a mountain lion sprang from the shadows of the forest and pounced on Amaria.

However, the lion was dead before it even hit the ground. A black fetched arrow protruded directly from it's temple.

Wolf has come back, Madelina immediately thought but then remembered that Wolf's arrows were fetched with white goose feathers, not black ones.

Madelina whirled around to see a person with long maroon hair and a nasty scar standing naught thirty feet away with another arrow already nocked onto their bow string, ready to fly at Madelina in a moments notice.