Dlefen: A Wielder's Journey

Chapter 16- A tiger, Peter and Steven

Chapter 16

A tiger, Peter and Steven

We woke up to sounds of people. I sleepily stuck my head out, ready to scold anyone who was there, but there was no one. After thinking about it for a while, I realized the sounds were coming from the forest. Plus I could hear metal clanking and people talking. I even caught a flicker of fire in the forest.

The people looking for us were coming, I realized with a jolt and quickly woke up Destiny.

"Wh- what?" she said sleepily, "What's up, Liz? Something wrong?"

"They're coming. We have to hurry. Start packing our things, we need to go," I told her.

She nodded, her eyes suddenly getting alert. I fumbled my way out of the tent and went over to Zaphkiel's tent. I quickly zipped their door open and found an adorable sight.

Emma's head was on Zaphkiel's chest and Zaphkiel had a hand draped over her. I sighed quietly, and shook Zaphkiel's leg. He kicked me in the face and growled lowly before going quiet again.

I rubbed my nose with annoyance, "Zach we have an emergency. I hate to disturb you but the royal guard is coming."

His eyes shot open and he looked at me, "What did you just say? If this is another prank I swear-"

"It's not a prank Zaphkiel," I rose my voice and Emma stirred in her sleep. Zaphkiel finally understood the position they had been sleeping in. First happiness, then worry was portrayed on his face.

"Okay, I get it. I'll wake Emma up myself. You go pack."

I rolled my eyes and zipped their tent door closed again, then went back to our tent. Destiny was almost ready packing both of our stuff. I quickly thanked her and helped finishing up. We set our bags outside and put her tent together. When we were ready, Zaphkiel and Emma were ready as well and we crept into the forest opposite of where the sounds were coming from.

We were quietly making our way away from our chasers when Emma suddenly shrieked and covered her mouth so she wouldn't make any more noise. We all looked at her worriedly and then looked in the direction she was looking at. There was a group of people with approximately fifteen people looking at us with wide eyes.

They were wearing royal guard outfits.

Oh poop.

When I finally gathered my thoughts I jumped into a defensive position and shouted, "RUN!"

All four of us ran in different directions, Destiny to south, Emma to South West, and Zaphkiel to West. I didn't want the others to be caught, so I ran East. And because I had been the one who shouted run, the whole group of fifteen ran after me. Great.

At least the others can run away safely, I thought to myself as I sprinted at full speed in a direction I knew nothing about. The chasers were shouting to other guards to join them until I had about forty people sprinting after me.

Oh poop number two.

I was glad that I had Celestia now, because without her I would be in the jaws of a tiger. Literally. They had a tiger chasing me. What even is this world?

"Hey, you guys!" I shouted at them because the chase was turning pretty boring.

"What?" about three of them answered me while others just kept running normally.

"So are you tired yet? I could do this a week straight you know," I taunted them, secretly knowing that I wouldn't last that long, maybe two days maximum. I just wanted to discourage them. It seemed to be working as four of them fell on the ground with loud thumps. I smiled to myself.

Some of them literally growled at me. I laughed whole-heartedly.

"So, how many of you are searching for us then?" I asked them casually.

"All of the troops dedicated to catching you are here right now," one of them said proudly, but was whacked on the head by another guard.

"Keep your mouth shut, Peter," he grumbled at him.

"Oh," I smiled wickedly and turned to them, running backwards, "Is that so? Nobody is chasing after my friends, then?"

The one named Peter nodded vigorously, earning another whack from his partner.

"Hmm, so what would you do, if I would, you know, disappear for instance?" I asked humming to myself.

"We would all be punished by the queen! But that won't happen, the only way you could disappear right now is invisibility or teleportation, and both are abilities of spirit wielders who are extinct by now," Peter rambled, and his partner once again whacked him, this time more roughly.

"They're extinct?" Peter nodded and other guards sighed, "That's kind of sad," I frowned. Peter nodded again.

I teleported behind him, "It's sad that you think so. Nice talking to you, buddy," I chuckled and turned invisible. Even Celestia snorted in my head.

All of them instantly stopped running and looked around frantically. I just stood there, watching the scene with a smirk.

"PETER YOU BLABBERMOUTH, I KNEW WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TAKEN YOU WITH US!" the same one that had whacked him shouted.

"I'm sorry, Steven. Please don't shout. I didn't know that she was a spirit wielder."

"Quiet you two idiots, she might still be here," an important looking guy said with a gruff voice and looked around. When he looked over me, his eyes zeroed on the ground below me. I looked there and saw that my footsteps could be seen because of the leaves on the ground.

"Got you know, troublemaker," he said and I just couldn't help but wonder how a person's voice could be so gruff as his. When I registered what he said, I panicked a little and randomly teleported.

I somehow teleported so I landed on my back. I sat up, rubbing it tenderly. I looked around to see where I was and to search for danger. I didn't see anyone, so I relaxed and gently laid on my back again.

***

"You're going to catch a cold if you sleep outside on the ground like that," a gentle voice told me, and I sat up, rubbing my eyes.

"Yeah maybe I would. Thanks for waking me up," I answered the voice and sat there, still half asleep.

"Wait a second," I held a finger up to them and thought about my situation.

The leaves rustled.

Some animal stepped on a stick and it broke with a barely audible noise.

I sat on the ground still thinking.

"Is that blueberry pie that I smell?" I turned to the voice to see a short teen girl with an easygoing relaxed smile on her face.

She laughed and helped me stand.

"Yeah. I knew you would come so I made a pie for you. Thank you for not freaking out and running away like all others do," she smiled even bigger and I couldn't help but smile back.

"Uhh, you're welcome, I think? Why would anyone run away?"

"Because they almost always come here to run away from something," I chuckled nervously, "and they seem to think that I was sent by somebody to catch them or something. It's stupid really."

"Wow, I feel sorry for you," she shook her head sadly as if she wanted to say 'don't', "but I don't understand, I mean if you were with bad intentions towards them you wouldn't have that welcoming aura you have," I told her with a small smile. She smiled back at me.

For the first time I looked at her with interest. She had medium length black hair and eyes so colourful I couldn't pinpoint their exact colour.

"You have awesome eyes, uhhh..." I trailed off trying to remember if she had told me her name.

"Zoe, and thank you," she smiled again. Her smile was so genuine and contagious, I felt at ease.

"I'm Elizabeth. Liz for short," we shook hands and she invited me to her house to eat some of that delicious smelling pie.