"You sure this is safe..?"
"Of course it is! If it wasn't than Leon wouldn't of been the first one to volenteer to go first!"
"On my behalf, I think it was more of a threat that I should go first then actually volunteering to do so in the first place."
The day had just began with the sun coming up from the horizon, but the heat that was already projecting itself felt like it was midday already. The large trees did little to prevent the sweat that was already building upon the three children's brows. Though the creek, Ai, that sat right by their village offered them a cool refreshing drink, the children furiously continued to work. The rest of the village was either still asleep or just beginning to rise, as they stood in front of a large oak tree, so it was completely silent except for the small chirps of the birds awaking or the whispers that came from the little one's mouths.
The three kids were standing still, each with a red ribbon in their hand that they were wrapping around their right wrists. The tallest of the three had a red and a blue ribbon wrapped around his wrists, while the other two only had one.
"Alright, ladies first.." The tallest one, a male with shaggy brown hair and peircing blue eyes spoke towards the other male, who just scoffed. "Leon, if you would be so kind as to start climbing." Leon, who stood with his arms crossed, had a full head of dirty blonde hair with chocolate eyes that seemed to be burning a hole right at his 'friend'.
"I swear, if I win you are going to be doing my chores for a whole month!" He hissed quietly towards him. "Or going to be shuffling the horse shit out of the stables for the next year or so." He looked carefully at the tree beside him, then back at the boy in front of him. "Before I beat you though, why did we really have to bring Alexandria all the way out here..?"
"Hey! It's Alex to you!" The smallest of them all was standing right in front of the tree with both boys to her sides. She stuck out her tounge briefly at Leon, then looked at the other boy. "Will, could you please tell him to shut the hell up.." She hissed under her breath as she crossed her arms. Will, in return, just picked up his hands in defense.
"I don't know Leon, why did we bring her all the way out here..? She'll probably just forfeit or something like she always does." He smiled when he caught the loud huff that Alex had made and dropped his hands. "Maybe we should just continue without her, since she is, you know, a girl." Leon then looked at Alex briefly then started laughing a little, obviously amused at the face she was making.
"You both are just-Ugh!" Throwing her arms down, she walked over to the tree and grabbed the first branch. "I'll show you who always forfeits." She hissed as she pulled herself up and then positioned herself to sit. Looking at the boys, she caught on to the black hair that seemed to move its way in front of her. Taking the ribbon from her wrist, she abrutley tied her hair up in a high ponytail and began to climb.
The tree was very scratchy and sticky which almost drove Alex back down, until she heard the boys laughing underneath her. 'Probably think that I'll start heading down right now..' she thought bitterly as she grabbed the next branch. A girl can do whatever a guy can do a whole lot better and she would prove it. As she grabbed the branch, she suddenly had a feeling to look down. She couldn't be too far up from how many branches she had grabbed onto, though she was small so she had jumped from branch to branch. As she gripped onto the next branch, she kicked off of the previous one and twisted her body so she sat comfortably on it.
"Ha, and they thought I would forfeit." She spoke proudly, looking down at how far up she had gotten. In that moment, she suddenly felt her arms and feet go to jelly and her breathing hitch. She was almost to the top of the tree, which meant she was a long, long way from the bottom. Grabbing onto the branch that she stood on, she quickly untied the ribbon from her hair and tied it on the branch. "Th-There.." She spoke quickly. All was done. "Now to start climbing down."
'Crunch~'
The moment she turned her body, she suddenly felt a chill down her spine. "Please tell me that my pants where the ones that made that sound.." She whispered as she took a deep breath then looked down. Her eyes widened as she saw that the branch that she was sitting on was beginning to tear away from the tree. "Stay calm. It's okay.."
'Cr-unch'
At that sound, she quickly grabbed the branch above her and felt her feet suddenly dangle below her. "Oh god. This would only happen to me." She spoke as she looked down and saw the branch fall into the other branches then to the ground with a sickening 'crack'.
"Alex!" She heard two voices suddenly yell from beneath her. Both sounded frantic as she then heard a small 'shit' followed by running footsteps that sounded like they were running away from her. Then there was the sound of hoof beats that clicked harshly in the mush underneath her.
"You have got to be kidding me!" She almost yelled as she saw one of the imperial guards trotting beneath her. The silver armour that gleamed in the now rising sun and the white horse that had a black saddle upon it's back. No doubt that it was one of them.
"Pst...Alex. You around..?" This made her heart stop. Ryan..? She smiled as she heard the reins suddenly jingle and the loud 'clunk' that followed them. This could only be her brother who had gone away to join the guard. Though, that had been quite a while ago and she did not want him to see her stuck in a tree.
She suddenly felt her grip loosing around the branch, which could not be any good. From how long she had been holding on, no wonder her arms were aching. Letting go of the branch with her left hand, she quickly wiped it on her torn pants then grabbed the branch once more. Next, she let go with the other hand and quickly wiped it off, only to suddenly let go with her other hand.
She felt a 'swish' then a steel arrow landed right where her hand had previously been. "Ryan!" She yelled as she felt herself being dropped from the sky towards the hard ground.
