The Lost World Of Victa

Chapter 28: Challenges

"Lillian wake up." I feel Zayn shaking me awake.

I open my eyes, sitting up and looking around me. The sun has just started to rise, and Zayn has moved over to his pack and sleeping bag. I open my bag and rummage through it. I grab a pair of grey hiking pants, a black tank top, and some white socks. I stand up and walk away from Zayn, behind a tree, and quickly change, shoving my dirty clothes back into my bag. I lace up my converses around my ankles, put my accessories on, and anxiously finger my necklace as I walk back towards our nearly broken down campsite. He looks back up at me.

"You ready?" he asks.

I grab my sleeping bag and shove it in my bag and nod, "Yeah."

After the campsite is fully cleaned up we start walking. Zayn is leading us southeast and I'm following him, since he seems more comfortable with the landscape.

"Zayn, you're pretty old, right?" I start, trying to make conversation.

He laughs, "I don't really like to think about it, but yes, I am."

"Can you tell me a story? Some adventure you've been on or something you seen?" I ask. "You must've seen so much of the world, right?"

He looks back at me, a far off look in his eyes. His eyes glow for a second, and then he closes them, shaking his head.

"Ok, so once upon a time there was this girl. Her name was Deryn Auberon, and she was a nobody from a small Zoren border town. During this time, there was a draft because of an ongoing war, and this was going to drag either her eleven year old brother or her crippled father into war. She chose to protect them and served in their place," Zayn started as we continued walking.

Something about this story seemed personal to Zayn, like he was bearing a part of his soul to me.

"Deryn was extremely skilled with a bow, and her proficiency caught the eye of the general. He requested her and she was brought to the capital of Zoro to train. While she was brilliant with a bow, she'd never held a sword before. Her sword skills were horrendous," Zayn laughs, a smile on his face.

This girl, Deryn, was important to him.

"I taught her how to wield a sword, and before either of us had realized she'd risen through the ranks of the army to lieutenant general," he reminisces, thinking about a different time.

We keep walking, him leaving the story there, but my mind can't help but wonder. What happened to her afterwards? Did she die? I mean probably, but what happened to her after she became such an important member of the army?

As the trees and leaves pass us by, I speak, "what happened to Deryn?"

He stiffens for a moment, and then sighs, "She died. In the battle that ended the war, she was killed."

I look at him incredulously. There's something he's not telling me. There's more to Deryn's story. What is it?

We continue walking in silence until lunchtime. Zayn sets his bag down on the ground, and pulls out a bag of food. He gestures towards mine, and I rummage through it, finding some of my specialized food. How did he get this?

I quickly eat my food, swing my pack back on my shoulders, and we keep walking.

"You mentioned that you taught Deryn how to use a sword, right?" I say, breaking the silence.

He nods, "Yeah. I've taught a lot of people how to wield one. It's an important skill to have; the ability to protect oneself."

"Teach me."

He raises his eyebrow, "What?"

"Teach me," I repeat. "It's gonna take us two weeks to get back to Warcaster, right? So teach me what you can in that time."