Journey

Not Alone

"Well, looks like we are lost Zack. Great going. And the sun is setting. Great, just great," said Raychel. Within the course of an hour, she turned form soft eyes, gentle, and all over Zack to a fiery pissed off succubus. Yea, it wasn't pretty.

"Look, calm down. We aren't totally lost. It's not like we left the province, we would have seen guards"

"So you expect us to walk all around the province in the wild with no beds, shelter, or food until we hit the border!?"

"No, Raychel, until we find someone to get us home! Besides I'd like to see you do a better job."

"Well I would start by hiking in the opposite direction!"

"Zack, Raychel, shut it!" Claira's voice pierced through the air. The sun turned everything golden, and Claira's face was no exception. It would be dark soon, and then we would be in way over our heads.

"Look, guys we should just keep following the river. I'm sure we will find someone or something of use," I said.

"Besides, this is the only lead we have to finding home. We might as well carry on," Claria chimed in.

Raychel looked at Claira and I, then to Zack and the roaring river. In the distance, a loud crack stole all of our attentions, as birds scattered into the sky. The river roared on, and it seemed to get angrier; faster, churning up mud and trees. A minute later a massive tree floated downstream. The thing was huge! The trunk had to be about five feet wide.

"Wow," said Raychel, amazed at the destructive force of nature. The sun was still on the move.

"Come on guys, we need to get moving again. Night will fall soon," I said. Then we all started hiking next to the river, me holding Claira's hand, Raychel and Zack holding up the rear. We followed the river for a while more, Zack and Raychel still fighting over who's fault it was getting in this mess in the first place and me and Claira looking for any signs of life. But we found nothing.

"Its getting dark. What are we going to do, Matti?"

"I think we should continue hiking into the night, my dear."

"But shouldn't we rest?"

"I suppose, but I don't think its safe to stop and rest in the middle of nowhere like this, especially unarmed. Whatever attacked your mother could still be out there."

She squeezed my hand. The lowering sun made the sky darken and faded the golden glow on her face. If only it could always stay like that, shrouded in gold.

"I don't like this. I think we are not alone out here. I might be hearing things but, I think we are being followed"

"You mean being followed by Zack and Raychel?"

She gave me an are-you-kidding-me look and then turned to look on the river and its white rapids.

"No I seriously feel like we are being watched. I mean-," she stopped mid sentence and looked far ahead. Just barely visibly, a dim light could be seen. I stopped dead. The sun finally set and the darkness started to wash over us. Zack and Raychel were still fighting behind us. the forest grew silent.

"Could it really be?"

For a while Claira and I stood there staring and squinting at the light, to get a better view. We didn't even realize when Raychel and Zack caught up to us and stopped fighting.

"Matteo, what are you looking at?"

"What-" I snapped out of my trance to turn and face Raychel. "There's a lig-"

"Look! A light! we're saved!" Damn. Zack beat me to it.

"Don't get your hopes up, Zack. We don't know what that is yet. And I got a bad feeling about this."