The Last Alive

Chapter 4: Nickie

I ran toward the wolf-men with Kindel close behind me. As we got closer they heard us and the one that was in the lead turned and stared at us. I kept running toward him. His eyes were staring right into mine and, slowly, his lips raised into an ugly smile. I kept running. When I got as close as I wanted to be to them I slowed down then skidded to a stop. Looking over I saw that Kindel was standing a few paces away from me. He returned my look and nodded, which I took as meaning go ahead I'm ready to kick some butt if I have to. I looked back at the wolf-men. The one that had smiled at me was now walking towards us.

"Hello," his voice was raspy and gruff,"We've been looking for you." He looked over at Kindel and then back at me.

"Waryndur, stop it with the act. We don't want to scare them away," it was one of the other wolves. But, unlike his friend, his voice sounded completely normal.

The one that had been walking towards us, Waryndur, stopped walking. The other four wolves walked forward and stood beside him. They all looked different.

The one on the far right was white with gray surrounding his left eye and reaching down his muzzle. The one standing beside him was a reddish brown color. He was smaller and probably younger than the other wolf-men. The one in the middle, the one who had told Waryndur to stop, was a black with shiney gray hairs spread all over the place randomly. The two on the left looked almost exactly the same, both a lighter gray. Except the Waryndur was just one color. The one beside him was slightly younger and had white ears and a white tip on his tail.

"I'm sorry for Waryndur. He steps over the line sometimes. My name is Gindamyr, but you can just call me Gin. And this," he gestured to the other wolf-men around him,"is my little search party. The white one is Saprindale. The young one is Fralinn. The gray and white one is Brimundur and I believe you've already met Waryndur." As he introduced them, each one gave a little bow.

"I believe you are the one we seek," said Saprindal.

Kindel spoke before I could,"What makes you think that?"

"Well, you fit the discription," said Saprindale,"Although she said there were more of you. Six I think. Well, not including the others that we have to pick up on the way."

"Others?" I spoke this time.

"Okay Saprindale, that's enough,"said Gindamyr. Then, turning to me,"You need to come with us."

"I don't think that's going to happen,"I said back.

"It's going to happen whether you like it or not,"growled Waryndur.

All of a sudden Fralinn said,"Look, there are others coming this way!"

We all looked to where he was pointing. And sure enough, four shapes with wings were coming towards us.

Great, Lego couldn't even stay put long enough to figure out whether these guys are trying to hurt us or not. One day that boy is going to do something so stupid that he'll get himself into REAL trouble.

They all landed close but stayed behind me and Kindel. I looked back and glared at Lego. It was completely lost on him though, because he was gaping at the five wolf-men.

"So there are others,"Saprindale said, eyeing the four kids.

Waryndur stepped forward, his lips pulling back into a snarl,"You lied to us. You acted like you had no idea they were here."

He walked toward me, anger gleaming his eyes. He reached out for me but not before Gendamyr grabbed him.

"Remember she said that we were not to lay a hand on them. They must come on their own," he said, letting go of Waryndur.

"Wait, who's this she you keep talking about?" Kindel asked.

I was also starting to wonder who they were talking about. All they said was she, never a name. It was almost like they didn't want us to know her name. I wasn't absolutely sure, though. But I knew one thing, and that was that the she they were talking about was abviously their boss and probably the one who sent them. We had to find out as much about this person as we could.

"You will find who we speak of soon enough," replied Gendamyr,"We need you to come with us right now. We'll explain everything on the way."

I opened my mouth to speak but before I could a familiar voice cut me off:

"They will not be going anywhere with you unless you want to deal with me."

I sighed and turned to look at Ms. Pine...Except it wasn't Ms. Pine. It was her voice but it wasn't her standing off to the side of all of us. Instead, there was an extremely tall, slender, woman standing there. Her hair looked like seaweed and her eyes were the color of the ocean during a storm. She was at least six feet tall. Her figure was thin and hourglass shaped. Her skin was blue. The same blue color as her eyes, except not as dark. She sounded like Ms. Pine but she definitely wasn't the same old porcupine.

I turned away from the blue lady and looked at the wolf-men. They were all staring, dumbfounded. None of them said anything but they were looking at her like they knew who she was. How would they know who she was? I had never seen her before. Maybe she was the women they had mentioned. Why would she be here then? I was giving myself a headache. Everything was so confusing. Nothing made sense. Then Gendamyr broke the silence.

"My lady, I didn't realize you were here. I apologize for being so rude. We will be gone soon but we need to get these children to come with us willingly," he explained.

The lady replied,"They will not be going anywhere with you, at least not without me to accompony them," she turned to me,"Nickie, I'm sure you have many questions. I am sorry that you had to get to know me as the old Ms. Pine but you must understand. I am a queen and a queen should be with her people. She also must help her people and that was why I was with you. This forest is my kingdom, and so I took it upon myself to train you. And keep you safe."

I just stared. This woman was Ms. Pine and she was a queen. But a queen of what?

"What exactly are you queen of?" I asked.

She smiled and said,"I am Lilitine, queen of the nymphs."

"Well, your majesty, can you expalin to me what they are talking about," I asked her.

"They have been sent by another queen. The queen of the elves. You are an elven race that she lost track of. She wants you to go with them so that she can train you and find out what your Gifts are," Lilitine explained.

I turned to the wolf-men,"Is that true?"

"Yes. It is all true," said Saprindale.

I thought through it. We would be better off living somewhere. And we would all like to know who we are. I decided it wouldn't hurt to go with them. We could always fly away if we have to.

"Okay, we'll go with you. But Lilitine has to come with us. And my friend Twitter," I said to Gendamyr.

He nodded,"That can be done."

"Nickie, about Twitter," Lilitine started then hesitated,"You know what, I'll just show you."

She turned around and yelled,"You can shed your disguises and come out of hiding!"

At once all the animals cheered. It was the loudest thing I had ever heard. I covered my ears and looked at the younger ones. They were doing the same. Then, it just stopped. I slowly lowered my hands. Everything was silent. Star came over and grabbed my hand. I looked down and gave her a reassuring  smile. I wasn't sure what was happening but Star didn't need to know that. She would freak out if she knew I wasn't sure about all this.

Then, out of nowhere, the forest exploded with color. The brightest colors in the world flying into the air and noises that I'd never heard any type of animal make erupted out of the trees.

Lilitine smiled at me,"Now you will know the truth."

I had no idea what she meant, but I had a feeling I would soon find out. The leaves in the trees and the bushes started rustling. Then, the most bizarre assortment of creatures burst out the forest. And were running straight at us.