Long Lost

Chapter Three

(Ty's POV)

     I feel a pounding pain in my head when someone starts shaking me. There's some sort of weight on my chest and underneath my shirt. I groan in pain and I hear a relived sigh from above me. I open my bleary eyes to see Jason kneeling over me. My head gives another throb, and I wince in pain.

     "It's ok, Ty. Quinten's right behind me, and he's gonna make sure you're going to be fine, I promise", I hear Jason splutter. I try to stay awake as dark spots appear in my vision, but I lose the battle. I surrender to the darkness as more footsteps approach me.

(Jason's POV)

As Ty passes out once again, I take his arms and pull him the rest of the way out of the river. His head has a deep gash in the side that is only just starting to stop leaking blood. A bacca and a bowmen run up behind me, with Ssunndee and a medic behind them. The medic pushes to the front and kneels down next to Ty. He grimaces before he starts wrapping Ty's head in gauze. The fabric turns crimson, but seems to have stoped the bleeding.

   "So, mind telling me what happened here?", Quinten asks while glancing at the four of us. No one speaks until Jerome steps forward.

     "Ty and I were sparing in the river. The water was up to our wastes, but the current wasn't that strong. I went underwater and knocked his feet out from underneath him. At the time I thought it would be funny to push him out further, but then the current swept him away. I tried to follow him but he went under and I couldn't find him.......", Jerome mumbles.

   I had never felt so much rage as I did in that moment. I literally saw red. He almost killed Ty! I leap up and tackle Jerome to the ground. I punch him in the face once, twice, before I'm dragged off. He didn't try and defend himself. Mitch and Ssunndee hold me back as Jerome scrambles away from me. He has a black eye and a split lip, and that's when I realize what I just did. I freeze in Ssunndee and Mitch's arms as reality hits me in the face. "Oh Notch! Jerome I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to", I cry. Jerome looks a little taken back on how fast my mood changed, but seems to brush it off.

     "It's ok, Jason. I kinda deserved it. I didn't mean for this to happen", Jerome says.

"That's good that you two made up", Mitch cuts in, "But we need to get Ty back to camp. His blood in the water could attract squids". Squid is a rude nickname that the soldiers have come up for a species called the Piscus. They can breath air and water, but live in the latter. Blood seems to draw them in like ocelots to fish. Since Jerome is the strongest, it's decided that he will carry Ty back to base. The rest of us surround Jerome, Ty, and Quinten as we head back to camp. The sun starts to set, casting eerie shadows on the trees.

As we walk, I hear a snap. I whip around to see something duck into the shadows. Mitch and Ssunndee turn to look too, and that's when the overpowering stench of fish washes over us. "SQUIDS!!! RUN!", Ssunndee shouts. Jerome and Quinten bolt forward, with Ssunndee and I flanking them. Mitch takes up the rear, and I can hear him spinning around to fire arrows. A squid arm reaches for me from the shadows, and I strike it with my flimsy, wooden sword. The arm recoils, but is quickly replaced by more. We slow down to a walk as we battle our way through the swarm of squids. How are there so many?

I hear a shout in the distance, and six people come charging through the trees. It's the rest of Ty's group! Nine more soon follow, and I recognize them as my group. The battle is quickly won, and the squids crawl back to whatever hell hole they came from. Quinten quickly checks everyone over, and besides a cut on Ssunndee's arm, we made it out scotch free. And Ty was unconscious the whole time!