Silvestrus's Savior

Chapter 5

Emalie and Erin sat silently as Azalea explained her tale. Her father knew he would be slain by the witch; it was inevitable. He went to his only daughter and gave her a task, and told her not to fail. She was to go into the third dimension and find the one who would save them. The prophesied girl was the only one that could see the doorway to Silvestrus. The shock hung thickly in the air. Emalie paled at the news, squeezing Erin's hand. Azalea sat on the log next to her friend, her gaze falling on Erin and Emalie's locked hands.

"How'd you meet Erin?", Azalea asked curiously.

"He saved me from a spot of trouble." Emalie mumbled.

"An Avaithyn came after her. I only arrived just in time.", Erin said, looking at Emalie concerned.

Azalea looked away from them, jealousy spearing through her. She stood and placed her palm on a tree. Looking back, she said,

"I'll be back in the morning, be ready to leave."

Her body melted into the tree as she shrunk. Inside was her home, small and warm. Her bed was made from a small pile of moss. There were shiny bobbles she loved to search for in the raccabee caves. The raccabees were fuzzy little creatures that bounced between the third and fifth dimension and stole things. Silvestrus was in the fifth dimension. The third dimension was were Emalie was from. The fourth dimension was uncharted territory. Azalea laid her head on the lump of moss she used for a pillow. The whole different dimensions thing confused her.

She ran through her day in her head. Her mind focused on the moment when Erin held Emalie's hand. How are they together already? Emalie's only been here for a day, and Erin has been around us forever, but never chose one of the girls here, Azalea thought. She tried shaking the thought away as she looked around her room. She stood and walked to the far wall. A small but ornate key hung on a hook. Her father had said it would be important when the chosen one arrived. For what, Azalea wasn't sure.

Azalea laid her head on her moss pillow and covered up with her leaf blanket. Her eyes fell shut as she drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 6

Emalie stared after her friend as she dissapeared into the tree. Her jaw dropped open at the sight, her mind floundering to make sense of what she saw. She heard chuckles behind her and looked at Erin. He was laughing at her! "Excuse me, but would you tell me why the heck I'm so very amusing?", Emalie snapped. Erin stopped laughing. "Sorry, it's just that it's been a rough day."

She stood up from the log and looked around. Then she picked up her skirt and walked towards the forest.

"Where do you think you're going? It's too dangerous in there for you to be by yourself.", Erin warned. Emalie rolled her eyes and said,

"I'll be fine. Geez, don't get your knickers in a twist."

She took another step forward and saw a blur of brown rise up in front of her. A cage that seemed to be made of dirt now encircled her. It began to rise into the air, controlled by a pulley. Emalie screamed and yanked at the bars.

"Emalie!", Erin yelled.

He drew his sword and tried to slash away at the rope holding the cage up. The rope was actually a thick tree root. He sawed away at the root when Azalea appeared out of the trees, her eyes wild with fear.

"What happened? I leave you alone for five minutes, and this comes up!"

Azalea jumped into action, pulling herself up the rope-like vines. She pulled her dagger out and stabbed away at the bindings holding Emalie up. Thudding footsteps echoed through the forest. Azalea's eyes widened.

"They're coming! Hurry!", she shouted down to Erin.

"Who's coming? What's going on?" Emalie shouted, hungry for information.

Erin and Azalea hacked away at the roots, more urgently this time. The stomping could be heard throughout the forest. Emalie banged on the bars with her fists. A cry of distress rang through the air beneath her. She looked down to see small, dirty people swarming Erin and Azalea. They moved away from Erin, leaving him on the floor, a bloody lump on his perfect head. A distressed cry escaped her mouth. Azalea was yanked away from the cage, determination in her eyes fading. I'm sorry, she mouthed. The cage Emalie was in dropped suddenly. She yelped as she flew up and down again, landing on the floor of the uncomfortable prison. Her friends were unconscious on the hard forest floor as her cage began to move away from them. She reached between the bars after them, then noticed something in her cage. It was Azalea's knife! Emalie snatched up the knife and went to work sawing on the vines and bars holding her captive.