The Final Storm (Part 3)

Held for Ransom

Arianna hissed as she felt the sting of cold water lap against her injured leg. She braced herself against the feeling. Another limping step sent a shiver up her spine. She grit her teeth and clutched the arrow, her eyes searching the undulating waves for the sparkle of an unwary fish.

This had been the first morning without Daemon and Fraylon. And Arianna found she was really missing both of them. Somehow she felt more confident with Daemon by her side. She missed Fraylon’s smile when she limped out of her tent, his exclamation that he had caught fish for breakfast, and his gentle company.

Now she had to fish for her own breakfast, which was not exactly a piece of cake. Of course, she was only fishing for herself now, which made things a lot easier. But standing in cool water with an injured leg wasn’t very fun.

Sprite was somewhere near camp, grazing on flowers and Drake was still asleep in her hair. Arianna was very happy that Drake had come with her. He was so dependable and such a good trooper. She had grown very fond of the little vampire. Sprite even seemed to put up with him.

“Hah!” she suddenly exclaimed, the arrow flying from her hand to impale… a leaf. The fish whirled away, its fins flashing beetle green. Arianna stumbled in the shallow water to catch the arrow before it was whisked downstream.

She snatched it up, almost tripping over herself and splashing water everywhere. Suddenly she had the hair-raising feeling that she was being watched. She froze and slowly turned her head.

Standing there, on the bank, was the largest grizzly bear she had ever seen. She nearly screamed, stumbling back as she reached for her bow.

The bear blinked its beady black eyes, its large wet nose snuffling as it swung its great head in Arianna’s direction. It heaved itself to a standing position, its huge paws dangling in front of its massive body. Arianna screamed soundlessly as she was swallowed by its immense shadow. Shakily, her bow popped into existence and she quickly strung it.

The bear pulled back its black lips to reveal its dagger-like canines. Then it spoke. “I wouldn’t do that, Princess.”

Arianna gaped, dropping her arrow. She staggered backwards.

The bear dropped back to all fours with a splash of water. It sauntered to Arianna until she could feel its warm breath on her face, its eyes focused on her. “You’ve been following us,” it stated, considering. It circled around her, its shaggy fur brushing her body. “I’m impressed.”

Arianna shook her head really hard. “What are y-you talking about?”

The bear chuckled. “You know what I’m talking about. But Princess… did you really think you could take us? You know just two of us almost killed your precious green dragon.”

Arianna nodded her head vigorously. Come on, Drake. She thought, now would be a good time to wake up! “Wait- you didn’t already kill them?”

The bear crinkled its snout. “Not yet. But rest assured, Princess. We’ll have them. Soon. We just got word from our sources in Vulnaire that they’ve been captured. The stupid dragon is swinging in a cage to starve and that Rider that dreams of you all the time….” The bear snickered, is huge claws tracing Arianna’s cheek. She winced, knowing one blow from that paw would kill her. “He’s getting special treatment until we get there… from one of our associates. Nice, hmmm?”

“ARIANNA- THERE’S AN EVIL BUNNY AT THE CAMP!” the grizzly turned to look as Sprite galloped out into the open, mane and tail rippling as she surged through the stream with a tremendous splash, “THIS TIME I’M NOT KIDDING!”

In a split second Arianna took advantage of this distraction and strung her bow with another arrow, pulling back as far as she could before unleashing the arrow into the air.