The Quest

Shadows

Readers note: Above is a picture of the stranger. Also if you see any grammar or spelling mistakes, please point them out. Constructive criticism is very helpful. Comment on what you think about the chapter so far, and enjoy.

    After my encounter with those goblins, I'm not taking any more chances. I settle down in a small clearing in the woods, I feed Juno and make a small fire. I cook my beans, put out the fire and slowly drift off to sleep. Dreams, and nightmares fill my head. I wake up, heart pounding, and my skin is cold and clammy. It's around 3 in the morning, I try to fall back to sleep but it doesn't come. I hear someone step on a stick and break it. I get up instantly, two throwing knives are already in my hand. I turn around in a circle, looking for the intruder. I see a shadow of a person behind a tree.

  "Show yourself," I call to them.

A man steps out from behind the tree, he steps closer so I can see him. He's a little taller than me, he has black hair and blue eyes. His skin tone is olive, and he has a crescent/circle on the sleeve of his jacket. He's wearing trousers, and hunting boots.

"I didn't mean to scare you, I'm just passing through. Headed to the ball," the stranger says in a British accent. Interesting, he's heading to the ball too. I could invite him to come along, but I can't take that chance.

"Move along then," I say too sharply, narrowing my eyes at him.

  "Okay, I'll be leaving n..." The rest of his sentence was abruptly cut off by the sound of hooves. I look at him wildly, the goblins have finally caught up to me. I run to Juno and mount him. I look back at the stranger, he's still standing in the same spot I left him in. I can't just leave him. I ride over to him.

"Get on now!" I demand. He doesn't say another word, and jumps on.

"Who are we running from?" He asks.

  "A group of goblins who want to kill me, because I killed a troop of theirs." I say nonchalantly. I turn around to see his expression. He looks astonished, but yet calm. I turn back around, and I pay attention to the path.

  "They're gaining on us!" The stranger yells.

"Take the reins!" I yell back. He reaches around me and takes the reins of Juno. I grab my bow from the pack it's in. I grab an arrow, and notch it. I can almost see the first rider. He comes in range. I pull back the string of my bow, take aim, breath in and out, and I let my arrow fly. It misses, I curse under my breath. I repeat these same steps, and my arrow hits the goblin off his horse. I take the reins back from the  stranger. I pull out my extra throwing knives.

"Do you know how to use these?" I ask him. He nods his head speechless. I give them to him and urge Juno to go faster. We gain speed, I don't hear any hooves behind us. I look behind us and see no one following. I slow Juno down, and we come at a stop. I jump down and check Juno, his hooves have rocks in  them, but I can get them out easily.

"Nice shooting," the stranger says. I look at him, flattered. Heat rushes to my cheeks.

"Your not so bad either," I reply jokingly.

"So, why are you in this dark forest?" He asks.

"The same reason as you. I'm headed to the ball," I reply.

"Can I come along then?" He asks. His question takes me by surprise, I expected him to leave as soon as I told him about the goblins. Would it really be that bad? To let someone come along?

"Come on, it's the least I can do. You saved my life back there. I can be of us." The stranger says convincingly.

"Fine, you can come along, but what's your name?" I ask him.

"It's Alexander. What's yours?"

He inquires.

   "It's Selene." I reply.

"If I'm correct, your name means moon." He asks.

  "You're correct. What does your name mean?" I ask.

"Defender of the men," he replies.

   "That's why, you could throw those knives with accuracy." I say in a realizing voice.

  "Yep, I've trained all my life to protect people. So, how'd you learn to shoot like that?" He asks.

   "My dad taught me most of what I know, but the rest I learned from the kingdom of. Litch." I say in a confident voice.

  "Interesting... I come from the kingdom of Umbra." He says.

  "We're headed to the kingdom of Umbra right now. Why did you leave?" I question him.

  "I was away for a business trip. I realized that I was going to be late for the ball, so here I am." He replies. There's something that Alexander is hiding, but I'll find out later.

"Why are you going to the ball?" I ask.

     "I heard there's exposed be beautiful women there." He replies wiggling his eyebrows at me. I roll my eyes, men are so typical.

  "Hey, you asked." He says jokingly, punching my arm lightly.

   "Owww." I say. It really didn't hurt, I just wanted to mess with him.

"I'm so sorry," he says trying to comfort me. I look at him smiling, he realizes that I'm just joking.

  "Hey you played me!" He accuses me

"I did not!" I joke back.

  We stare at each other for a while, then we burst out laughing. We laugh until tears are streaming own our faces, and our stomachs hurt. This is probably the happiest I've been for a while. It's about noon by now. Me and Alexander walk silently through the forest, making good time. We stop to rest and eat lunch. Alexander grabs his bag, and grabs bread and cheese out. He offers some to me but I decline.

   "Come on. It's my treat." Alexander tries to convince me.

"Fine," I reply. We sit and eat our food silently. I give Juno an apple, and me and Alexander and make small talk. We start asking random questions.

"Your favorite color?" I ask.

"Green, not dark green. Green like the color of your eyes. Yours?"

"It's blue, like the ocean. What's your favorite animal." I ask.

   "A falcon. Yours?"

"Hummingbird. Favorite food?"

    "Cake, I have a thing for sweets." I smile at this.

"This is a tough one, ummm." I think about it and I answer.

"Probably chocolate covered strawberries." I reply.

   "So, your one of those girls. A hopeless romantic." Alexander teases.

"That's not true! I really like fruit and chocolate." I joke back.

   "I was only teasing. What's your favorite book?

"Little red rising hood." I look up and see the smile spreading across his face.

"It's a good book, even though it's a fairy tale." I say defensively.

   "I understand, mine is robin hood. There's just something about him that's noble." Alexander says with passion in his voice.

"There's nothing wrong with that." I say. We continue walking for a while, until it's dusk. Alexander starts a fire, and I sit .on a log, and go over the map. I see that we're not even halfway through the forest. All around me the forest trees rustles, I hear a slight woosh and I turn around.

"Alexander, trying to scare me isn't going to work I know it's you. I turn back around and pay attention to the map. I feel a hand on my shoulder.

"Alexander I told you that you don't scare me." I turn around but it's not Alexander.