"So are we nearly ready to go?" Asked Ryia. "Almost. I just want to see how that kid is doing after that beating they got last week," answered Carac. "Um....you guys go ahead I need to sort out something first," said Thea. "Oh is everythi-,"Carac began to say, but the look he recieved from Ryia ment it was best if he dropped the subject immediately. Nodding her head to answer his question, Thea slowly made her way towards the forest, keeping a careful eye on the five bandits that were watching her from the inn as she walked deeper into the forest.
"Is she ok? I've never seen her like this," asked Carac. "What? Yeah she's great. Why wouldn't she be," replied Ryia with a forced smile. "Hmm okay," mumbled Carac, slightly suspicious of Ryia's answer. "Come on, she's bound to be awake by now. We can go find Thea later," said Ryia as she began to walk to the house they were staying in, hearing Carac let out a frustrated sigh before beginning to follow her back to the house
Thea drew an arrow from its quiver and aimed at where the noise of a stick breaking. "Jesus these bandits are so loud," she thought. Thea returned the arrow to its quiver and placed her bow on her back, drawing her dagger instead. "I guess these abilities or whatever are supposed to help in combat. I want to find out." She threw the dagger on the ground as the first bandit revealed himself from the trees. "Must be awfully scary for a young lady like yourself to be out here all alone," sneered the first bandit as the second one revealed himself from the trees. "It would be a shame if something was to happen don't you think?" he asked as the third bandit emerged from the trees. "The forest is dangerous little lady," he spoke as the final two bandits revealed themselves. "As your about to find out," he spoke, trying to make his voice sound eerie as he charged towards Thea.
Time slowed. The bandits almost frozen in time. Thea kept her attention on keeping time at this speed, just for a few moments. ".....Dagger....," she said weakly. She found her dagger on the forest floor, and made a fatal cut on each bandit except for the one who first revealed itself. Thea made a beeline towards a small tree to give herself cover, as she allowed time to resume.
The bandit looked around. She was right there and suddenly just disappeared. How? Was that even possible? He went to turn around to his companions, not realising he was now alone. All of them were dead. All except for him.
"You shouldn't have come here."
The bandit looked around within the trees, trying to spot who spoke the words. He met his gaze with a pair of eyes beloning to the girl they were pursuing
"You should have run away."
He began to run. Not caring where he went. He just wished to get away. Away from the forest. Away from the girl. Away from his friends. Away from his masters. Away from Krea.
"And now your going to pay."
The arrow sent in his direction granted his final wish as it pierced the back of his skull, as he fell to the ground with a thud.
........
It was now evening. Carac had spent most of the afternoon entertaining the little girl, but Ryia had been quiet. "This is completly stupid you should have been back hours ago," she thought. Thea had told Ryia that she was suspicious of the innkeeper, as she had seen him talking to a bandit leader earlier and they apparently kept watching them. Thea decided to get rid of them but wouldn't allow Ryia to come with her. "Too dangerous. It wouldn't have been as dangerous if you didn't go alone." She let out an angry sigh, as Carac came into the room. The two had begun to get friendly with each other over the small period they had known each other. "So tell me how you and Thea actually met," asked Carac. Ryia laughed to herself before answering his question. "We were kids. I was exploring the forest on my own when I saw her lying on the ground in pain. The genius had broken her ankle and was in too much agony to get back to where she came from. It took nearly six hours but I managed to get her back to her village. Over the course of the six hours we got to know each other and I guess that's what happened. She would sneak out of the orphanage to meet me nearly every night but one day she never came. I went back into the forest for over two months hoping she would come back but I started to believe she abandoned me. And then I just stopped going to the forest all together. That was over two years ago," explained Ryia in a sad tone. "She hasn't told me where she was during those two years and I don't want to know. It's in the past. We both need to move on and just start again I guess." Carac stared at the girl in amazement, noting the similarities in Ryia's story and his own. "Mines the same as yours really. Minus the broken ankle and the fact that we practically ran into each other. She seemed really eager to get out of the forest and I was in such a bad state she wouldn't leave me. We have been travelling together ever since. She talked about you sometimes. All good things don't worry," he assured, recieving a laugh from Ryia. "Im sure. Now we better go see where she is." Carac nodded in agreement and the two of them headed out the door, weapons ready, and headed into the forest.
Run.
She was running again. Running at the same speed she was running at two years ago to get away from hell. She didn't want to run. If anything she wanted to stop and collapse right on the ground. But she couldn't. Because whatever was chasing her wouldn't let her stop. And she wouldn't give it the satisfaction of winning.
Carac had heard the crunching of leaves grow closer and closer to both him and Ryia as they went deeper into the woods. They had there weapons ready just in case whatever that was heading towards them wasn't Thea. Ryia had a throwing knife at the ready and was listening carefully to the sound of the leaves crunching began to glow closer and closer. Ryia and Carac ended up back to back prepared to fight at whatever was coming for them, as it was moving at an abnornally fast speed and was clearly not Thea. The beast revealed itself, standing tall and letting out a blood curdling howl.
It was a werewolf.
..........
Thea continued running from whatever was chasing her, she couldn't use her ability. And she was beginning to slow down. She had to think of something and fast. Just as she was giving up hope, she stumbled into an opening, landing in between a werewolf and her two friends.
Staring at her friends in confusion as to why they were there, she remembered that there was a werewolf in front of them and whatever was chasing her was not to far behind. "Carac take the werewolf. You like dogs right?" Joked Thea as she dodged a swing made by the werewolf. "Not a good time for jokes right now," he replied angrily. "Guys focus on the task at hand please," Ryia anxiously shouted. "Ryia, there's something else coming besides the werewolf. Can you lead it to the opening?" Asked Thea as she dodged another attack made by the werewolf. "Do I have a choice?" Laughed Ryia as she sprinted into the bush.
A yelp of pain caught Thea's attention as she noticed the werewolf looming over a fallen Carac. She ran over to pick up his sword, not entirely sure how she could hit the wolf as it was over twice her height. She threw the sword, aiming for the wolfs head. The dog gave out a yelp of pain before slumping over on the ground dead.
Ryia felt the energy from the forest surrond her as she felt herself getting more powerful. Her eyes glowing a bright red color, she found the beast that was searching for her friend. Catching its attention, she fled back to the opening. Discovering an unconscious Carac and a dead werewolf she looked around for her other friend. Two green eyes met her gaze, as she recognised her friend resting in the bush, signalling for her to hide and keep quiet as the beast chasing her finally emerged. It was a large winged creature made of stone, with its fangs beared and seatching for its prey. It was a gargoyle.
"Seriously!" Thea thought to herself as she lay upon a hollow tree trunk. The only thing she could see was her friends red eyes glowing from within a tree trunk. She knew what was about to happen. Either the gargoyle was going to go straight for Carac and eat him alive or it was going to find Ryia and shred her to pieces. She had to choose. But who?
