Aravis and the elf kept running, without having any idea where they were going. It was getting later, and fortunately, Aravis found a river, its water clear enough to drink. She found some berries and edible plantroots too. It was getting darker and darker, so the elf and Aravis decided to get some rest. This evening, Aravis asked some questions about the Bearers of the Crystal again, and this time, the woman was willing to answer. Everyone now knew she was one of them, thanks to the martial artist. The elf decided that in the morning, she would leave. She didn't want to stay anywhere near the capital, as it wasn't safe anymore. Even here, deep in the forest, Rilat was still relatively close.
With the help of this conversation, Aravis found out a little more about those mysterious Bearers of the Crystal. They form a secret organisation, with the task to make people rebellious to their King. But this conversation also made her realise that she wasn't 100% behind the actions of the King. Oska had done several bad things, and suddenly, she didn't know if she wanted to help him with her secret mission. What if she was a bit of a rebel herself?
The next morning, the elf left Aravis. As a Ranger, Aravis knew quite a lot about the forest, yet she had never been in this forest and didn't know the way. She decided to follow the river, downstream, all rivers will eventually lead to the coast, right? She was way more familiar with coastal areas, and as Rilat was at the coast, this seemed like the best idea she could come up with.
Meanwhile, in Rilat, Lek and Donk noticed that Aravis didn't come home last night. Was she on a quest as a spy? Or had something bad happened to her, like it did when she got attacked by the bandits? Donk started to get a little worried. 'Lek! I told you to accompany her! Why did you leave her alone? What was the last place you were still with her?' Donk was furious. Lek told him that he left her alone at the market square, so Donk went asking around. Eventually he found out she ran into the forest after a fight.
Aravis followed the river, sometimes this was difficult due to high rocks at the shore. At a certain moment, the quietness of the woods was disturbed by the sound of a waterfall. The waterfall was huge, and ended in a big lake. Aravis decided to find a better way down than falling off the cliff. After an hour or two, she stood at the little beach at the shore of the lake. It was huge, and walking around it would take ages. She walked around at the beach. It was beautiful here.
On the beach laid some pieces of old wood. There also was a wreck of a little rowing boat, as if it used to be a ferry. Aravis walked over to it, and saw that the oars were no where to be found. Inside the little shipwreck, there was a chest, it was quite big, and in a better state than all the other pieces of wood she had seen here. After Aravis decided that this boat was impossible to use, she came up with the idea to swim across the lake.
While swimming, something shiny at the bottom of the lake caught her eye. She dived to pick it up. It was a rusted piece of metal. She decided to take it with her, and swam back up. As she did this, she saw two corpses, very near to where she picked up the piece of metal. A little frightened of this awful sight, she continued swimming back up. With her head above the water, she was able to look more carefully at the metal. It was a key. It didn't take long before Aravis realised this might as well be the key of the chest she found in the shipwreck!
As fast as she could, she swam back to the beach. She was right. The key fit in the lock and managed to open the chest! Inside, there was a huge, beautiful piece of crystal, together with a note. The note was unreadable due to the damage the water did to it, all she could see was a big spot of green ink. With the crystal still in her hands, she felt strong arms around her, and even if she would try, they hold her too tight.
'Who are you?', a low voice asked from behind her, 'What are you doing with that piece of crystal? Are you one of them?' The word them he said like it tasted like mud. 'No', Aravis answered, 'I found this crystal at the beach, it's not mine!' 'I don't believe a word you're saying', the man said. Now, more people came towards the beach. Aravis could see that they were two soldiers, one holding a man, his nose was broken and his face covered with blood. The other soldier was holding the elf, who didn't look any better than the man. Both soldiers wore a badge with the emblem of King Oska. They were from Rilat.
'Are you one of the missing Crystaldealers?', said the man, as his grip onto Aravis tightened. 'No', answered Aravis with a small voice. As this scene was getting out of hand, a woman walked onto the beach. She wore a cloak and a lot of jewelry. Slowly, she walked towards the man with the broken nose, who was still struggling to get lose, and grabs towards the necklace he was wearing. A shiny piece of crystal appeared from beneath his shirt, as the woman easily broke the rope. She murmured something and the necklace disappeared. 'Noooo!', the man screamed. The mysterious woman walked towards the elf and did the same thing, which ended with the elf crying.
'My name is Nadya', she said to Aravis. Aravis could now inspect the woman better. She had a bit of an accent, and looked kind and pretty, with two different eyecolours, one blue, one dark red, and a tattoo on her face. 'I am a mage from Mun, I found a job in the Kingdom of Oska', she continued. Then she looked at the soldier, who was still holding Aravis tightly. 'Lucas, let go of her!' The soldier immeadiatly did what Nadya asked, he looked a little scared.
'Who are you, and what are you doing here?', Nadya asked Aravis. Aravis couldn't answer, because Lucas screamed: 'Someone is coming from the forest!'
And he was right. Four men and a woman ran towards the beach. The woman is screaming hysterically. 'Kris! Oh, Kris, what happened? Where were you? Kristoff, your nose!! What is happening here?' She just doesn't stop screaming as she ran towards the man with the broken nose and the elf, who were now tied up to a tree. The elf looked like she couldn't handle this anymore, and angrily threw a dagger towards the closest soldier.
The soldier didn't look hurt, but he got mad, very mad.
Not long after, there was a huge fight, with the soldiers on one side, and the rebellious citizens on the other side, together with the two former Bearers of the Crystal. It wasn't hard for Aravis to pick the side of the citizens. Though she should be at the side of the King, supporting the soldiers, she wasn't. She followed her feelings and became a rebel.
As soon as the fight started, Nadya took a step back. She looked at both parties, a little insecure, and ran off into the woods...
