Clandestine : Blood in the water

Chapter 05

Washed

Piper Towens

"do you see that" hank said pointing at something a head of us, after walking for hours all night long we were exhausted and drenched in sweat
so tired that rose and kit were silent not the usual bickering, no arguments erupted either
just endless walking in darkness, as we moved forward the air got denser it felt like walking in water,
the trees changed color, it felt like walking in another universe suddenly everything was tinted red the trunks had a reddish hue to them the leaves on the ground turned yellow and red mixed
and natural sunlight beamed a head penetrating a single tree falling on a small clearing we walked closer, it looked like a video game check point i thought
we found a fallen tree what could be so powerful to knock one of those down, beside the tree was another staff like the one hank have "the passed through here" kit exclaimed "we should search the area" hank said
"or maybe we should run" i said as a huge figure appeared from the shadows
muscles and fur the very first thing you notice aside from the two huge horns on its head and its humongous bull face
"what the hell is that"
"who cares" rose said as she gestured with her hand and a fire ball came charging at the creature we held our breath as the fire bounced of its chest
"can we run now" i pleaded kit already running the way we came "dammit"
we ran without a second thought
"a fucking minotaur, in this forest" hank yelled from back of the line
"it's not surprising" i yelled back dodging a tree that appeared in front of me
"half goat half human creatures now half bulls too" jade screamed while throwing fire balls behind her the minotaur charging at us with all its might another tree appeared in front of me kit swerving to dodge and me following trees started to appear in our path as we ran it's like the forest is against us escaping we kept running anyway and the creature following
another tree appeared and kit swerved with it and suddenly stopped i crashed in him and we both fell we came a full circle standing in the clearing with sunlight and the fallen tree again
"why" rose said panting beside me

we looked behind us expecting any second the raging bull to appear it didn't we kept waiting for a while and the thing disappeared
"maybe it knocked itself out" hank said
"i hope so, it would be worse if there is something else that killed it"
"half human half lion maybe" jade snickered
"fuck no" kit said walking to the fallen staff and picking it up
the orb was broken it had blood on it as if someone bashed someone's head with it
"should we continue" i asked
kit gave me the broken staff " i think we should rest i can barely move" he said as he sat on the tree something caught my eye stuck beneath the tree I went around the tree searching for its source
a sleeve of a uniform similar to the one we all wore was stuck i grabbed it at started pulling it torn apart and i fell backwards
i was holding half of a military jacket no tags on it just some blood not enough to indicate a fatal wound but enough to make you worry
i walked back to the group hank constructing the barrier using some new symbols " that's new " kit commented
"I'm doing double protection " he answered
"the other team definitely were here" I said throwing the the sleeve to jade
jade and rose were on the ground lying on their backs, she took the piece of clothing and sat up to look at it

i lied down beside rose, she had her eyes closed, her chest rising and falling rapidly her short hair all messy and wet
she had a cut on her arm probably from bumping into all those trees, i reached out to touch her arm, and her eyes snapped open looking at me
"just doing my job" i said my hands glowing softly as she looked down at her arm the cut starting to heal slowly
she closed her eyes again "thanks" she whispered "we all need some healing, or do you only heal rose" kit said blocking the sunlight
"asshole" rose whispered again
"lie down beside me"
"what"
"you heard me, if you want heal, lie down beside me" "fine" kit protested and i could feel rose holding back a giggle
i put my hand on his chest and summoned my magic my hand started to glow softly
"jade are you okay" i yelled at her she still had the sleeve in her hand
"I'm fine don't worry"