Twilight to Destiny- Quest of Legacies

Chapter 37

"Did you add the branches yet?" Tobi asked, dusting her hands off and looking at Artemis, who was cupping his hands around the fire and blowing to fuel it.

"Yeah, but I need more twigs." He stood up. "Could you get me some? I need to see why Jered is taking so long."

"Of course," she muttered, treading back into the woods and picking up spare pieces of dead branches lying around nearby. Patience and Hassa gaped continuously at the amount of work everyone was doing.

I'm so bored, Patience commented.

"Why don't you go find some trout in the river?" Artemis suggested, tossing in the sticks that Tobi handed him to the fire.

Sure. Come on, Hassa!

"Whatever," he grumbled, half-heartedly following her.

Mmm... she murmured. I feel like snarfing down some carp, don't you think?

Hassa shrugged. "I'm not a fish eater, dragon, but I would like some squirrel right now."

Patience wrinkled her nose. Eww... squirrels taste like sandpaper.

' "We all have different tastes. Wait what, you eat squirrels???"

True. She agreed, ignoring the last bit he said. They stopped in front of the river as Patience stared with googly eyes. Oh boy! She cried excitedly.

"Oh hush, will you?" Hassa shushed her. "You could attract crocodiles." He kept his head low.

Well, I'm a dragon so I can kick their butts if I wanted to! She then demonstrated her power with the scrape of her claws on the stones enclosing the freshwater, and grinned back at him. She cut deep, splitting the rock in half.

"Cute..." he murmured under his breath. Hassa smiled and shook his head.

***

Aspen carefully walked over to the deer and lay a hand on his chest to see if it was still alive. "We got her!" he spoke with a sparkle to his voice.

"Nice!" Valor held up her hand and Aspen slapped it with a warm smile. He picked it up with absolutely no struggle and dropped it on his back.

"Let's go."

They walked back to see Vale focusing on paving the rock with his dagger with a pile of other weapons sitting next to him, trying really hard not to glance at Aspen and Valor. A sleek, clean sword was perched on his lap, enfolded in a maroon colored cloth that covered the frame and tip.

"Hey, Vale!" Valor greeted cheerfully. "Do you need any help?" He swayed his head from side to side silently and resumed his work. "Er- you sure?"

He nodded, for they could only hear the raw scratching that the dagger created on the pale stone.

Valor eyes him skeptically. "Okay... How about we grill the meat, Aspen?"

"Why not?" he agreed. He set down the deer and carved out the shank, stomach, and back areas of the animal, thus handing the pieces to Valor who flipped out her pocket knife and started cutting them into cubed pieces.

"Tobi?!" Valor called out.

"YEAH?!" a voice replied out in the distance.

"Could you find me a thick, sharp stick so I can spear the meat?"

"SURE!" Two minutes later, a stick came hurtling at them and landed right in front of Aspen's feet.

"Thanks!" She bent down to pick up the stick and tossed the bits of meat up, then threw the stick which sliced into the food perfectly.