What Lies Beyond the Ocean

Chapter 6

Pounding rain hit us as we exited the tunnel. The smell of nature made me feel nostalgic. I remember being 3 years old in my garden with Casa planting the tomatoes. The smell of pine trees greeted my nostrils, and since then, I have felt at home with nature. I glanced up at the sky. It was less grey but still pretty severe looking. I looked over at Feralo. He was smaller in the daylight, and he had a petite bone structure. He was almost as tall as me, but not quite. His hair was very frizzy, blonde, and quite curly. He had bright blue eyes that were huge, which made him look a bit younger than 13. He also had dirt, scars, and bruises all over him. He was fragile, and he needed food. I then looked over at Alyard, who looked alarmingly pale. His eyes seemed more clouded, I guess you could say, and drowsy. They weren't their normal deep, chestnut brown either. They were lighter, as light as dry dirt. Alyard also seemed a lot thinner, and I grew very concerned, even concerned about Feralo, even if I've only known him for only less a day. Feralo made eye contact with me.

"We should find shelter," he said. "Alyard needs rest and food."
"You do too, Feralo." I pointed out.
"We all do," piped in Alyard, his voice and scratchy. I put my finger to his lip, signalling him not to talk.
"You're not feeling well at all, Alyard," I said gently. "Rest. Feralo and I will take care of you,"
Alyard obeyed and remained silent.
I looked up at Feralo, who was pushing his blonde locks out of his face.
"Where would we find shelter?"
.I decided to sit next to Alyard as well.
He shook his head. The rain stopped; all that remained was the sprinkling from the light grey clouds hovering over us. Mist from the earlier rain shower evaporated in the air. I raised an eyebrow and looked at him. Alyard leaned forward a bit, but I pushed him back against the tree trunk.

Alyard and I needed to head to Mileno, I mean Férto, somehow. That's another problem; how should I explain to Alyard that we needed to head to Férto instead of Mileno? That's colossal of an issue. I should "lie" to him again, but I've already lied enough and look where it got us, with a 13-year-old boy suffering malnutrition, another issue in the way that needs to be tended to. I sighed as the trees soughed. I got up to my feet.

"What's wrong?" Alyard asked with a feeble voice. I didn't want him to grow worried, so I rubbed his shoulder told him, "I need to go walk in the woods to get something off my mind. Stay here and rest; you must do so. Feralo will tend to your requests,"

"I want to go with you,"

"Alyard, you need to rest, and that's a demand."

"You are turning into Prince Scott?" he snorted.

"No," I laughed. I brushed his hair out his face and got up.

Feralo gazed at me, begging to go. I shook my head, and he nodded, obeying my orders. I smiled and then walked into the misty woods. The trees were ginormous, and the sun peered out of the remaining grey clouds. My boots got drenched in the mud after only a few moments, but that didn't stop me. I believed it was coming close to when I finally told Alyard the truth, not the partial truth, the whole truth. The time would be after he got somewhat better, though. Feralo, I could tell the truth too, but I didn't fully trust him yet. I didn't want to drag an agog 13-year-old boy all the way from Nilopoia to Zalfa, a completely different country.

I snapped back into reality, looking down to see I've taken an arrow to my thigh. I let out a small squeal of pain and slowly slink down to the ground. It wasn't very deep in my thigh, but it was still harrowing. I gingerly took the back of the arrow and slipped it out of my thigh, gushes of blood welling out of my leg. I threw the arrow to the ground and rose back up, trying to regain my balance. Who was that? At first, I thought it was Feralo and assumed he got mad that he didn't get to walk with me. It certainly wasn't Alyard, who was too weak and caring to shoot an arrow at somebody, even if he was a hunter. I jumped as I heard a branch snapped in the distance. I twirled around nervously and saw a girl looking back at me. She had sleek, thick, orange hair, with copper eyes and the palest of skin. She had a mask covering her mouth and had a black uniform. I was nonplussed to realize that she could be an assassin, not any ordinary assassin, but a Jilonab assassin. I screamed in perturbation and sprinted away from her as fast as my feet could carry me. I dodged more arrows and jumped over the roots of trees. I eventually (hopefully) lost her and was finally back to Feralo and Alyard. The sky shook with thunder as it had for the past few days. I was out of breath.