Aquila

Chapter 2: Separation

      I woke with a start to a violent shaking. My vision and mind were clouded with the tempting choice of more slumber. I reluctantly opened my eyes,however, because the cursed shaking wouldn't seize, I had thought it was a earthquake. I blinked a few times before I noticed Damana's face right in front of mine. Surprised, I quickly moved back away from her.

      "The soldiers are here!" she half whispered.

      I looked around at our makeshift camp and noticed the one person missing. "Where's my sister?" I asked becoming a bit hostile, pushing Damana away.

      "She went hunting with us and hasn't come back yet," the twins explained simultaneously while silently loading up the small Fenghuang in large leather bags. The large beautifully colored tail feathers of the animal makes them look akin to their much larger cousin, the Phoenix, but much more alike to the common peacock.

      "I'm not leaving without her!" I tried to keep my voice down, yet my worry started taking over my actions.

      "And you'll die if you go after her," Lucy beseeched, covering up the remains of the fire with dirt. "You can't go after her right now."

      I weighed my options. I could go with them and hide and that would be much easier, but do they even know where they're going? They may or may not, but I don't want to find out the hard way when we stumble into a Dragon's cave. However, I could stay and hide here. Melissa has to come back to camp at some point right? But what if she doesn't? What if she's lost or captured? As I thought, it seemed the more apparent thought was to search for Melissa, but who knows how far she could have gotten and what was the probability of finding Damana and the others again? I still had a promise to keep for Damana and running around searching for my sister wasn't helping that promise be kept.

      Then in the distance loud barking could be heard; there was maybe one or even two dogs. The barks sent shivers down my spine, making my first option seem pretty damn good. I could hear the dogs coming closer, they weren't coming closer quickly so they couldn't be running, probably on a leash or something.

      'Man, I hate dogs,' I thought. "Fine, lets go, quickly," I spoke, only needing to grab a large duffle bag and Oliver.

      I didn't know how to get all the things on Oliver that Melissa uses to 'tack' him up, so I just threw most of it into my bag, buckled on his saddle, and ushered Oliver along silently.

      The dogs grew steadily louder and louder until they seemed close enough to be right behind us. I absolutely hated dogs, I always have and always will hate those dirty fleabags some people call their pets. So suddenly a bark from one of the dogs got more frantic, it seemed it had found something, someone, or possibly even us.

      "Alusia, come," the mans voice was close, he could most likely see us if the undergrowth wasn't covering us.

      Still after the man had called the pest back, it continued to bark rapidly and before I realized how close the dog was it had grabbed hold of my ankle, sinking its dagger like teeth in, lacerating my ankle, and sending waves of pulsing pain through my leg. I yelled loudly, alerting every soldier within earshot and spooking Oliver who was now taking to the skies in a rush.

      "Over here!" Damana called, she seemed to be the only one to have noticed the attack to my leg or maybe, the only one that cared.

      Before the group had even gotten there, the soldier was on top of me, trying to pin me down. The dog still had a tight hold on my leg; the penetrating teeth causing a gnawing pain that felt as if he was tearing my foot off.

      Damana, Ethan, and the twins had initiated their own battles with weapons while Arthur fought a lean soldier in hand-to-hand combat, yet Lily could not be seen. I fought off the