I grunted in pain at the impact with the floor, the weight of the deadly beast keeping me down.
I knew this was it, the beast would end me. Then the weight was lifted of me and I turned around only to see it stared me straight in the eyes.
It was cl...
Holding back the smirk that threatened to escape was hard, especially when Jasper seemed to be so deep in thought and really confused.
The other competitors was at the ready and seemed determined to find their ruby and return before everyone else, Jasper were the only one that seemed to think.
I stood before the crowd now, guards and other important people stood at the side, watching everything closely.
"Ready?" I said and my voice seemed to snap Jasper out of his thoughts. His father would probably had been dissapointed in him if he had missed the start.
I had met Jaspers father and I couldn't say I liked him, he didn't seem to be the nice kind but what did i now? Maybe I was wrong.
"Remember find your ruby and return with it without getting catched" I said and everyone straightened.
Biting my lip I tried to hold back a laugh, they looked ridiculous, like they were children and wanted the first piece of cake before everyone else.
As I loved to make life sour to people and give myself a laugh I decided to shock them.
"Go!" I screamed all of a sudden and most of them jumped in surprise. Then my words registered and they began running.
Jasper were one of the first to set off into the forest and I felt a strange feeling of pride, he were reacting fast. Not too fast but faster than others. Why did I fell proud over him though?
Jasper
Everything were a blur as I ran into the forest, people were running at my sides and in different directions which made me feel disoriented.
Ruby's sudden outburst that it was clear to go was certainly not expected and everyone seemed a little faced by it including me.
I felt a little proud though when I were one of the first to skid into action. Had anyone noticed my fast reaction? Hopefully my dad had noticed and would be more merciful to me later.
When everyone around me disappeared and the cracking of twigs and violent rustling of leaves were the only indication on them being in the woods at all I slowed down my sprinting.
Already the forest had set it's marks onto me, I had leaves in my hair and my shoes were dirty.
Altough I were still running I slowed down my pace. Okay...how will I do this now.
How would I find a little heart shaped ruby in this forest? If they were guarded like the captain had said it wouldn't be to hard finding a ruby.
It would be harder, though, to find the right shape. How would I even get close enough to even see the shape?
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After some time of running and I still hadn't seen a sign of human life I stopped in my tracks.
This was clearly not working. I can't run around for hours and hope I find a ruby, hope to find the right ruby at that seemed to be impossible now.
How long had I already been running for? An hour? Two? I didn't know but I needed to get a better plan or this would probably take the whole day.
Dragging a hair trough my sweaty hair I sighed deeply. I would be the last to return, probably without the ruby too and get eliminated.
What if I got lost and they needed to send out seeking patrols after me? No doubt that would be embarrassing, not only for me but my dad too. He would be furious with me.
Then I spotted something red in my vision and looked in that direction. It seemed to be something on the tree. Was it the ruby? Wait, would it really be so easy? Where are the guards that would be guarding it then?
Carefully I made my way to the read spot, I watched my surroundings but I didn't see any sign of human life. Just some birds sitting in one of the trees.
When I reached the red spot I knew it wasn't the ruby but it was almost as fantastic as it. A red cloth cut in a heart shape with an arrow pointing in one direction.
Was the arrow pointing me in the direction where the ruby would be? I didn't remember the captain telling anything about this but then again I didn't listen the first time she explained the test.
Was this helping the others too? Had I been wasting my time running pointlessly around the forest when they just had followed the indications?
Then they would probably already be done, I mentally cursed at myself. Why couldn't u be more careful and listen better? Or at least look up and see the markings?
Following the arrow I soon came across another and followed them from one another. Sometimes I saw red clothes in other shapes and figured it was indeed as I had thought before.
I fastened my pace knowing I had already lost valuable time. Then I caught a glimpse of something red, it was moving.
I stopped and hid behind a tree. Looking around the thick stock I watched tree men clad in the kingdom red color standing posted around a big wooden chest.
No doubt it was a ruby inside waiting to be taken back too the castle. A banner was stuck into the forest floor and a banner fanned in the breeze showing of a heart shaped ruby.
Now I had found the right ruby, the only problem was getting to it without getting caught.
The guards stood in a little glade, it wasn't big but it was open enough to make me visible if I tried to get close. It was no doubt about it, either I fought them and knocked them unconscious or I lured them away long enough to get the ruby and leave without them noticing.
As I doubted I would be able to fight this probably high trained guards my best chance was to lure them away, but how?
