Pick Your Path: Book 1

20

" I can deal with this." the half-breed charges, each one of her strikes hitting and bringing down a guard. 

" She should be able to handle them.." you thought, backing toward the window. You leap out of it and land on the ground. You stumble a bit before running. You charge into the undergrowth, tripping over a light grey tail.

" Watch where you're going!" the owner of the tail yelps. " Wait... Aren't you the half-breed we were supposed to rescue?" reddish brown eyes stared into your own. " My sister and I were sent here to recover a (f/a) half-breed. Did you run into a black and dark grey half-breed on your way out?"

" If she's a black and grey wolf-fox, then yes. She was the one who lead me out."

" Where is she right now?"

" She told me to go ahead of her, saying that she'll catch up with me later."

" So she's still in there?!" the grey half breed immediately scrambled towards the prison house.

" W-where are you going?!" you snag the half-breed's hand, " It's way to risky to go in there!"

" To get my sister out!" the half-breed yanked her hand away from you, " I don't care how risky it is!" 

"It's nice to hear that you care about me and your sister, Morphia..." as you're trying to stop the half-breed, a voice rings out behind you two. A black and grey wolf-fox stood behind you, dark crimson eyes shining with amusement " But there's no need to charge into that prison house..."

" Raven!" Morphia runs over to her sister, " I think you're the one that needs to stop throwing yourself into danger.." Raven had a cut on her arm, but other than that she didn't seem to be too terribly injured...

" It's just a cut.." Raven brushes her sister's concern off. She doesn't seemed bothered by the injury, her eyes were fading to a reddish brown. " N-no big deal... W-we should... Get o-out of here... B-before more guards show up..." Raven's attitude took an abrupt change from cold to quiet and slightly nervous.

" Right." the sisters take their animal forms, you follow them as a (f/a) as they bound through the forest.

" The border's just ahead!" you near the White Kingdom border as the sun rose, no patrols or stray soldiers have discovered you yet. Morphia lead the way as Raven trailed in the back of the group. Her cut had healed overnight, which was awfully fast considering how deep it was. All that remained was the dried blood, which made her fur clump together. She did seem a bit worn out though, but that's expected, considering that she took down at least five guards or maybe more.. The three of you cross the border with out a problem and begin to head toward the half-breed kingdom border.

" W-we'll report to Her Highness tomorrow..." Raven suggested, " W-we all need to rest after traveling, nonstop, for the night and possible today too..." 

" Sure, fine by me." Morphia responded, " We should probably stop for breakfast.. I'm hungry."

" T-there is a lake not far from here... W-we could catch fish there..." Raven leads the group over in the direction of the lake. You emerge from the the undergrowth to see an area cleared of any shrubs and undergrowth. The trees formed a rough circle around the pond, leaving a strip of grass in between. Some of the larger trees had branches dipping close to the water.

" I call going to catch fish!!" Morphia bounds off as soon as her paws touch the strip of grass. " You coming?!" She waves her tail for you to follow. She skids to a halt by the lake, lays down, and begins to watch for fish. You walk over to her and sit next to her. Raven trots behind you and settles on a branch above the lake. She then begins to wash the dried blood off her foreleg. Her tail hung off the branch but curled so that it wasn't touching the water. You watch as she produces a flickering black flame and dry her fur. Once dry, she curls her tail around herself. " You never gave us a name.." Morphia speaks, keeping her eyes on the water.

" I'm (Y/n)." 

" (Y/n) have you ever caught fish before?"

" No.."

" Do you want to?"

" I'll give it a try." Morphia takes her human form, collects two sharp sticks, and hands one to you.

" Great. The trick to catching the fish is patience. You need to wait for the fish to come close enough before you snag them." she demonstrated with a bluegill fish. With a quick stab, she pulls the fish out and next to her on the grass. " Want to give it a try?" You aim for another fish and try to grab it. It notices and quickly swims away. You sigh and try again. After a couple of failed attempts, you snag one of the fish. You pull it out excitedly, but instead of landing in the grass next to you, it flies over to where Raven was resting.

" Wah..!" you hear her yelp as the fish landed on her muzzle, " W-wha?! F-fish?!" She swats at the, still flopping, fish with her paw. She catches it and then turns to where you and Morphia sat. With the fish still under her paw, she tipped her head to the side.

" Oops.. Too far.." you give a nervous laugh.

" Relax, I did that to her on my first time fishing too. She won't get angry at you." Morphia assured you. Raven flips the fish back to you with her muzzle before resting her head on her paws. " Hey, Raven, Want to join us?" she shakes her head before shifting herself and tucking he head into her tail.

" She's mad at me..." you mutter.

" No she isn't, she's just like that around new members." Morphia explains, " Let's go back to fishing." the two of you continue to fish and chat for a while. Somewhere towards the end of your conversation, you hear a splash come from behind you. Raven had slid off the branch and was now in the lake. She crouched in a hunting position.

" What's happening?"

" It seem's Raven's found a fish worthy of her attention."

" Isn't she worried about getting her injury wet? It will sting." you see a black shape swimming in the deeper parts of the lake. It was larger that any of the fish you and Morphia caught. As it swam closer to the shore, Raven pounced onto it. It started to thrash, kicking water everywhere. Both went underwater for a second. Only for Raven to resurface, dragging the fish behind her. She pulled the fish out of the water, her fur was completely soaked through and dripping water. She dropped the fish and shook herself. You back away to avoid the spray of water. " Raven, if you're going to do that, do it somewhere far from me and (Y/n)!" Raven looked at her sister before siting down. Her fur, some how after one shake, was starting to dry and fluff up. Where the cut was, you could see that there was no scar and the fur had grown back there.

" We should get going soon.." Raven said quietly, " I-if we're going to reach home by dusk.." the three of you eat you lunch and continue your trek to where the sisters lived.

Trot over to page 35

M-Morphia's trying to teach (Y/n) to fish... H-he/She's pretty good at it, except for the first few tries... (Y/n)'s nice, t-though he/she seems nervous and skittish around me. I-I'm not some terrible monster or ruler... ~ R

( Y/n) seems to like fishing. He/She's enjoying himself/herself. I hope we get to spend more time together. Maybe he/she will even train under me! ~H