The Twins • Book One • Rewritten

Chapter 16- They. Are. Mutts.

Author's Note: I hope you like my story! Feel free to voice your opinion, ask any questions and point out any mistakes I make.

August 22nd 2016

Nia's POV

When running through the forest, everything else just drifts away. I revel in the peace it brings. I feel Saber's presence to my left, and I love that he's always by my side. I only hope that he feels the same way towards me.

It's no wonder why Molly has a crush on Saber, because he is perfect, but it's still annoying. If she does something, I don't think I'll be able to control my temper. For her sake, she should keep her feelings to herself. Breaking me out of my thoughts, Saber gently nudged my side and mentally asks,

"Hey, what's wrong? I'm feeling anger coming from you." Saber's concern for me washes over me like a wave, making me feel regretful.

"I'm just being stupid and possessive, don't mind me." I reply.

"I don't mind you being possessive. It's cute, and it lets me know you care for me." Saber tells me, snuggling my side and purring. I purr as well, so happy that I have Saber in my life. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't.

"Why'd we stop? Are you guys okay?" Ivy meows, alerting us to her presence. We embarrassingly leap apart and stop purring as soon as Wolf and Sophia catch up.

"Yeah everything's fine, but we should probably start heading back. It'll be lunch time soon." Saber quickly answers.

"Okay, let's go! I love running!" Ivy exclaims, prancing around energetically. I am about to start moving when I suddenly tense up, smelling the familiar, putrid scent of Darkness.

"Saber, do you smell that?" I question through our connection, strongly hoping I'm just hallucinating or something. However, my hopes are soon crushed,

"Yes. I smell Darkness."

"Let's climb the trees, we can see who the Queen sent after me this time." I suggest. Saber nods in agreement. I roar a command at Ivy, "Climb a tree! Quickly!" I rapidly clamber up a tree, hearing Ivy scramble up after me. I look around to see Sophia climbing as well while Wolf simply hunkers down below a bush, his dark fur causing him to be completely camouflaged under the shadow of the bush. Sophia roars at me as some sort of mythical creature with a lion head,

"What's going on?"

"Saber and I smell Darkness. Now be quiet!" I reply. Ivy looks at me with a confused expression. I'll need to explain this to her later.

Soon after, we see two Dark Hounds come bursting through the undergrowth, completely demolishing any plant life in their path under their huge, powerful paws. They growl lightly and circle around the area we are in, occasionally sniffing the air. Of course the Dark Earth Queen would send Hounds to sniff us out.

I am about to leap down onto the back of one of them when I hear voices, stopping me from moving. A squadron of Dark Warriors catch up to the Hounds, traveling easily through the forest since the Dark Hounds cleared a path for them.

Well, this just got worse.

I try to think of a plan to get out of here while the Dark Warriors argue back and forth about our location below us.

"So? Where are the princesses? I thought you said these dogs could lead them to us." A familiar Dark Warrior questions, his red eyes flashing in anger as he talks down to an unknown female Dark Warrior. She's not wearing armor like the others, which is strange. She also looks similar to the girl I saw in my dream. I almost think it's her, but decide against it. I wonder if they're related.

"Don't call my creations dogs, the Dark Hounds aren't merely 'dogs' and if you think they are, why don't you fight them?" She snaps at the other Dark Warrior. I immediately get confused. I thought a past Queen created the Hounds, but she doesn't look old enough to have done that. Maybe the queens don't age either. The red-eyed Dark Warrior replies confidently,

"I don't fight them because I know I'd win, and those mutts can sometimes be useful."

"Did you just call my Hounds mutts?" The female Dark Warrior asks in a low, dangerous tone, "Do you want to say that again?"

"They. Are. Mutts." He taunts her. She snarls and is about to leap at him when another familiar Dark Warrior steps between them, his orange and yellow hair glowing in the sun, making it look like actual fire.

"Stop arguing. Fighting each other won't help us find the princesses." He states calmly. The red-eyed Warrior turns his rage onto him.

"Who do you think you are to talk down to us like we are children? You are barely out of training, know your place." He sneers at the younger Warrior. The woman interrupts,

"No, he's right. We shouldn't be fighting right now, not when we have a mission. And since my Dark Hounds are never wrong," The red-eyed Dark Warrior snorts at her words, but she just ignores him and continues speaking, "it must mean that the princess are either below us, or..." she looks up directly at us. A smirk shows up on her face, "above us."

"Ivy, follow me!" I roar to her, leaping my way through the trees. I hear her clumsily following behind, trying to keep up. I slow down slightly so she doesn't lose sight of me. Below us, I hear the Dark Hounds crashing through the undergrowth, which is exactly what I wanted to happen.

"Nia, what are you doing?" Saber exclaims through our connection.

"I'm leading the Hounds away, run back to the house and get the others! I'll be fine, they can't climb trees!" I reply quickly, needing to concentrate on leaping between trees. I can feel Saber's frustration and anger at the situation, but I also feel him getting farther away. I internally smile, glad that he's listening to me.

I continue leaping effortlessly from tree branch to tree branch until behind me I hear a yelp followed by sounds of branches crunching and heavy footsteps stopping. My heart skips a beat as I halt in my tracks, not jumping to the next tree. I turn around and frantically look for Ivy, with no success.

Until I look down.

I see her as a leopard crumpled up at the base of a tree with the two Hounds slowly moving towards her. One briefly stops and howls up to the sky, obviously signaling to the Dark Warriors. My heartbeats become erratic due to my fear, and I leap back so I'm perched on a tree branch directly above the Hounds.

With a snarl, I jump down and land on one of the Hounds, digging my claws into its skin. It screeches in pain and tries to buck me off with little success. However, it starts to violently shake its body side to side and my grip loosens, causing me to go flying into the trunk of a tree, my head hitting it especially hard. As my vision starts to go dark, the last face I see is looking down at me with concern shining in his fiery eyes.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Author's Note:
Hi kittens! This chapter got a bit wild didn't it? Hehe, it's only going to get worse from here! *evilly rubs hands together and cackles like a witch* 😈 This is going to be fun. Also, I'm sorry I keep saying this but I want to make sure it is clear, IF YOU HAVE READ THIS BEFORE OR READ THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY THEN DO NOT SPOIL IT! GOOD FOR YOU, YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN BUT OTHERS DON'T SO CHILL YOUR BEANS OKAY? BE PATIENT AND DON'T SPOIL ANYTHING!

Anyway, mini rant over with, this chapter was fun to write. I love causing some drama and making things go wrong in the characters' lives because I am an evil author and I find it fun. I also kinda hate it, but it's also fun. I know, I know, I'm weird. Oh well. Also, for once, I put all of the events that I wanted to happen in the chapter actually into the chapter for once! I was tempted to try and stretch it out and have the chapter end when Ivy falls out of the tree, but I decided not to. This ending is suspenseful enough as it is 😈

Question:
What do you think is going to happen to Ivy and Nia?

~Cat Queen

Word count: 1437