Dragon Twins (Pending rewrite)

Chapter 27

Rebecca

REBECCA WALKED through the forest. She'd been walking for two or three days now. Surely someone must have noticed that she'd be missing.

But no one came.

She remembered going to sleep in her own bed at the castle, and then waking up on the cold dirt in the middle of what she assumed was the Gerald Forest. The most plausible explanation she could think of was sleepwalking. But wouldn't she have passed by guards?

The other day she happened upon the Algante River, which proved that she was in the Gerald Forest. The only forest the Algante flows through is the Gerald.

That afternoon, as she was walking along the Algante, she came across a random cabin in the woods. She almost hadn't seen it. If it weren't from the smoke coming out of a chimney, she would've missed it completely.

The building was obscured in vines. Thick, green vines crawled up every inch of the cabin, making it look unnatural.

Rebecca tapped gently into her well of magic. With this, she was able to detect if other magic users had been here.

Sure enough, she saw faint golden lines leading from the opposite side of the cabin, to the cabin itself. The lines near the cabin were the thickest and most visible, meaning someone was inside.

Staying in the shadows of the trees, Rebecca made her way around the cabin to the front. As she was moving, an arrow slammed into the tree of where she had just been a second ago.

"That was a warning shot."

~~~

"That was a warning shot," Calvin told the intruder, "The next one goes into your chest."

A slim figure came out from behind a tree with her hands up.

"Marcus?"

Calvin kept an arrow knocked on the bow, but he lowered the point to the ground.

"Who are you?" he asked. The girl walked slowly towards him. Her blonde hair swung gently behind her.

When she was a couple feet in front of him, Calvin lifted up the bow and aimed at her.

"Who are you?!"

She lifted up her hands. "My name is Rebecca. And you are?"

"My name is Corben, and this is my cabin," he lied. "What are you doing on my property?" On closer inspection, he noticed that her feet were bare, and her clothes looked rugged. She also had on a nightgown.

"Would you believe me if I said I'm lost and I don't know where I am?" He wouldn't, and he knew she knew that he wouldn't.

Suddenly, he heard the slight creaking of a branch. He would've dismissed it as the wind, if it were windy out. He drew back on the bow and fired.

Only to have the arrow be caught by a clawed hand.

Aldi grumbled something unintelligible as she jumped gracefully from the tree. Calvin couldn't help but stare at her bare chest.

"Aldi I-"

"Kiara!" Rebecca said at the same time. "Why are you here?"

Aldi's nostrils flared as she shot herself towards Rebecca, knocking the girl to the ground. Aldi bared her teeth in Rebecca's face, growling slightly.

Calvin took a step back. "Aldi?"

Rebecca stared levelly at Aldi. "I thought that you might be here."

Slowly, Aldi shifted back to her human form. Calvin looked away, but still listened to what they were discussing.

"What do you want from me Rebecca?"

"What do you mean? I haven't done anything to you."

Calvin assumed Aldi punched the ground next to Rebecca's head from the loud thump that sounded.

"Why didn't you tell me about the tiara?"

"So you figured it out?"

Calvin turned slightly to see the two girls in a staring match. Aldi, not fully shifted into a human, had a clawed hand wrapped gently around Rebecca's throat.

"I'll give you one sentence to convince me not to end you right now."

"The tiara has been magicked, and I'm the only one who can figure out what the curse is."

Aldi took a slow breath and gently released Rebecca. She held out a fully formed human hand.

"You and I have some discussing to do."

Rebecca smiled coyly, "You might want to get a shirt on. I think your friends' eyes are going to roll out."