Arizium

Chapter 26

"What do you mean we're almost out?" Raven squeaked.

"I'm sorry, alright?" Phoenix snapped back "I wasn't paying attention to the stock when I should've, it's my fault."

Unfortunately, their shouting managed to wake up Arro. With an obnoxious yawn and a stretch she sat up, "Do you idiots have any fucking idea how early it is?" She called through half closed eyes, "What the hell is going on, anyway?"

"We're out of Arizium," Raven said accusingly.

"Look I said I'm sorry! What more do you want from me!" Phoenix shouted as Nix came to rest on her shoulder.

"It wouldn't be such a big deal if we could get more, but we can't, Phoenix. We're not at camp, we can't get the dead-drops anymore. What part of that aren't you understanding?!"

"Would you both just shut the fuck up already!" Arro hissed and held her head, "You're going to make my head explode with all your idiocy. What's this about dead-drops?"

Raven merely snorted in response, leaving Phoenix to glare at her sister and reply, "Every moon turn we get a note that tells us of a location where we can pick up a sack of Arizium. They're all pre-picked and everything, so we never actually know where they grow naturally."

"Where do the notes come from?"

"The king, or so they say."

This got Lucius stirring in his bedroll, "What about my father?"

Arro scoffed, "Oh great, you woke up the biggest moron out of all of us."

"Like I said," Phoenix continued, avoiding a potential argument "The notes are signed by king Endrew, but that doesn't mean they're from him."

Lucius rubbed at his eyes, "I have never heard him mention anything about Arizium, much less secret dead-drops."

"Everyone has secrets," Arro snapped.

Raven sighed, "Look, let's just all calm down a minute and think about how we can fix this. It can't be that rare if we get such a heavy supply every moon, maybe we'll stumble upon some while we travel."

"I doubt it," Phoenix said dejectedly and plopped down on the ground.

Silence stretched over them as they thought of some way out of their predicament until Raven announced that she was going to try and find something to eat. Phoenix let her go and laid on her back to watch the dark clouds twirl across the lightening sky as the forest filled with chatter and sleepy mumbling while everyone slowly rose from their slumber. Phoenix heard someone approach and sit next to her, a glance showed that it was Bear.

"I heard," She said simply and twiddled a blade of grass.

Phoenix sighed heavily, "I don't know what to do anymore. Everything seems to be falling apart, anything that could be possibly going wrong is going wrong."

Bear nodded in agreement and thought. "Maybe we could split up," She suggested after a while.

"What?" Phoenix asked with a confused expression and sat up. Splitting up was the last thing she wanted to do.

Bear shrugged, "I don't know, split us into two different groups, or maybe even three. We have such a big group that it might be easier to find that stupid blue flower, or even a town, if we're spread out more."

"How do you suppose we communicate?" Phoenix pointed out the flaw immediately.

Bear didn't have an answer to that, "It was just an idea," She mumbled.

"We can help with that," A new voice piped up. Phoenix looked up to find Amaria fidgeting, "Lucius... Lucius and I have this... thing. We can sort of... speak to each other, like in our minds. Telepathy, in a way I suppose. If we're put into separate groups, we could communicate that way. Relay information back and forth."

Phoenix stared at her, wanting to believe that she was telling the truth, but not trusting her enough. "How far does this telepathy thing stretch?"

Amaria furrowed her brow, "We never really tested that, we only found out about it a couple days ago."

Bear looked at Phoenix hopefully, to which she sighed and stood up, "Alright, get your brother. Let's try this."

Once Amaria, Lucius, Bear, and Phoenix were all together, the leader explained what was going to happen, "I'll take Amaria with me and we'll head north ten-score paces while you two stay here. I'll whisper something to Amaria and she'll relay it to Lucius. After that we'll keep moving back until we reach a mile, then we'll come back and Bear will tell me everything."

Once everyone nodded, Amaria and Phoenix set off to do their part of the bargain. They reached what Phoenix estimated to be a mile and told Amaria one last bit of information before they came back and listened as Bear relayed everything perfectly.

"So it works for about a mile," Bear said cheerfully "Probably even more than that. I think this could work."

Phoenix nodded thoughtfully, "I suppose we can try it for a couple of days, or at least until one group finds a town. What should the groups be, anyway?"

Bear winked smugly, "I've got you covered boss. Group Alpha: You, Arro, Amaria, and Madelina. Group Totally-Awesome: Me, Lucius, Wolf, Lynx and Raven. Any objections?"

"Amaria and Madelina can't be together," Phoenix immediately pointed out "Let's swap Madelina and Raven."

"Done and done. I'll go let everyone know," Bear chirped and called everyone to a meeting to explain.

There were objections from Madelina, and Raven, once she returned from her failed hunt, but in the end they all agreed hesitantly. My family is splitting up Phoenix thought sadly as everyone began to pick up I wish it didn't have to come to this.

(A/N: Splitting up is never a good idea. Phoenix why you so stupid???)

(I totally didn't split them up just because its easier to write with less people involved whaaaaaaat)

(Also sorry for slightly-short chapter. It's 100 words less than usual *shrug*)