Walking Between Dreams

Chapter 33

Wind ripped through the trees without mercy, it sent shivers down to my spine as the coldness met my bones. Lolos and I trudged through the dark woods while the sun was giving its last light on the horizon. Most animals hid from our loud, untrained steps, but some curious souls watched us from the greenery.

We trailed up an enormous hill littered with rocks as a strange sense of danger sat in the back of my head, putting me on edge. The hair on my arms stood on end once we reached the top of the hill and overlooked an unforgiving, somber mountain range that snaked across the land as far as the eye can see. Nothing except for a fortress of rocks overlooked the forest below that turned into large oak trees.

"We need to go now," I directed gravely, my words being cut off by the wind.

Behind us trees were being crushed by something giant, so I pushed Lolos ahead of me and ran towards the mountains. The snapping of branches became louder the faster we ran for our lives, low huffs of air echoed after. We scurried down the hill to a little meadow that was surrounded by the sturdy oaks with the bright leaves fluttering in the air flow, however to be cut off by wyverns with their mounts.

"Look at we have here," cooed a women with long blonde hair on a sky blue wyvern, longs iron teeth peaked out of her mouth.

Lolos demanded while ignoring the immediate danger, "Where are we?"

"We maybe took a wrong turn somewhere and started to head west instead of east. This might be Morath," I said truthfully and shook my head, Lolos quickly turned pale.

I paced around the clearing examining my surroundings to find an escape. There were three wyverns in front and two behind us, we were trapped.

I drawled cautiously, "Where is the rest of you? Aren't there thirteen of you?"

"Trust me you do not want to meet the rest of us." purred the blonde witch with a cocky smile, "Your friend would be dead and maybe you."

The moment I turned my back to the witch anger boiled inside me, I pulled my blades out, each singing against the sheath. Dark blood was drawn from the muzzle of the wyvern that sent out a cry of pain causing the blonde witch throw a dagger at me. It nicked my shoulder making me to falter with my next strike, allowing time for the wyvern to punt me a meter.

Dirt clouds appeared when I tumbled across the cold ground and Lolos gave a warning scream. He drew his arrows and pierced a few of the wyverns in their joints, missing only once. I struggled to stand, holding my shoulder as the cut bled profusely, and grabbed one of my swords. I rushed forward without a second thought to Lolos' aid when the two wyverns from the back lunged forward, my steps reverberated in the growing night. When I was close to the sky blue wyvern I slashed at the blonde witch and placed a deep cut on her leg.

An inhuman cry erupted from her throat just to have the steed of the witch crushed me with it's long talons digging into my back. Pain shot to every limb while I bit my tongue. I thrashed under the great weight of the wyvern trying to help Lolos as the rest of the wyverns crouched to leap at him; however, I could not loosen the beast's grip on me.

Lolos made the string taut on his bow, it groaned as it was pulled back, and he released a true arrow at the blonde witch.

"Lolos!" I screeched as loud as I could when Manon appeared behind him, a look of disgust etched on her unforgiving features.

At that very moment the world slowed down as an ancient blade swiped across Lolos' neck, his head hit the ground quietly. Then, everything became silent.

I stabbed my dagger from the Mirkwoods through the wyvern's scales and into it's flesh, I discarded it once I scrambled of out of it's grasp. Mud splattered across my face as I dived to Lolos' limp body, my mind was blank. My heart stopped as I pushed back Lolos' brown hair and looked into his gray, lifeless eyes. It hit me harshly that Keme will never know what happened to her son nor will he see his little niece again, Cido. Tears slide down my cheeks as I stroked Lolos' hair and I thought how Dedas, Urel, Tadras, and Lailni will never know what happened to their loving family member.

The scene of Lolos' dropping dead replayed in my mind endlessly as the witches circled me, watching my foreign reaction. His flower crown laid half a meter away covered in thick blood and rocky mud.

"What have I done?" I sobbed while cradling Lolos' head, "Not again, not again."

All was left was an eternal pain in my chest, heavy breathes escaped from me as tears did not cease. The crushing weight of guilt held me to the ground. I did not fight back as all hope was lost. Lolos was gone and it was entirely my fault. All anger was replaced with unending mourning for my friend.

One of the witches tried to pry Lolos' head from my hands, but I spat in her face and held firmly. Subsequently, the blonde witch approached me without an arrow in her and dragged me up to my feet. I could only stare at the ground and followed her lead to her wyvern without struggle. She pulled me up into the saddle and collected my weapons, looking closely at my dagger.

Frigid air framed my body once the wyvern took for the skies, the wind rattled my bones and rushed past my ears. I went completely numb as the air passed by us and the closer we got to Morath.