The Hunting

Chapter 47

A groan fell past my lips as I woke up. Man, I'm exhausted. After the talk with Don last night, I was able to fall asleep, but it wasn't enough. I sat up looking around. It was still dark out. The people that were up were Pietra and my dad, which was a weird combo. I don't think they noticed that I was awake because they were in the middle of a conversation. Pietra looked frustrated as my dad spoke, "Pietra, you have every right to be mad at me. I sincerely apologize for not telling you all sooner."

"I don't know what to do Ryan. I – I'm hurt. Did you not trust us?"

My dad sighed, "No. I trust you, kids, with my life. I was just worried that if I told you, that you wouldn't want to stay. Knowing all of you, you like your independence and freedom. With the Burrow, you'll still have that, but it's nothing like you've experienced before. I was going to tell you kids the night I got kidnapped so that you all could decide what you wanted to do."

"What if we said no, what then?" Pietra replied angrily.

My dad was silent for a while. Just when he was about to respond, Timmy sat up suddenly drawing the attention of them both. While they were distracted, I quickly laid back down. I am just going to pretend I didn't hear that conversation. As I closed my eyes, I continued to think about what I just heard. If the hunters said no, what would have happened? Would he stick with them or leave them to come back to the Burrow? I contemplated this for a while and before I knew it, I fell asleep again.

"Wake up Arden!" I heard Timmy shout.

I opened my eyes, blinking a couple of times to get used to the bright light of day. Letting out a big yawn, I got off of the bedroll. Everyone was doing something. Nate and Don were talking excitedly. Pietra, Calum, Jaiver, and my dad were all picking up. I looked down at Timmy who was looking up at me. "Why didn't anyone wake me up sooner?"

Timmy replied quickly, "Because Don said that you didn't sleep well last night. So everyone agreed to let you sleep a little bit longer."

I smiled down at Timmy and then I looked at Don, who was now laughing at something Nate said. Looking back to Timmy, I spoke, "Thanks for that Timmy! Now, I need to get my things all gathered up."

Timmy nodded and then ran off to join my dad. I let out another yawn as I bent down to start picking up my stuff. While rolling up my bedroll, I heard footsteps behind me. I didn't have to guess who it was because they gently chuckled before speaking, "Heard you had a rough night's sleep, Arden. Are you alright?"

I turned around to see a concerned Jaiver behind me. I gave him a shy smile, "Yeah, I'm alright. I was just wound up after the bear attack is all."

He took the bedroll from me as I finished it. Sanding silently, he watched as I picked the rest of my stuff up. I slung my quiver over my shoulder as I heard my dad holler, "Alright everyone, we're heading out in five! We should reach the Burrow before sundown!"

We walked without stopping the rest of the day. As I looked at the surrounding terrain, I knew exactly where we were at. In about ten minutes, we'll be in sight of the wall. Whoever is on the wall will be able to see us – they'll signal so everyone knows that something is coming. About five minutes after that, we will be able to see the wall and anyone on it. We're coming in from the west side, so it'll take us about twenty more minutes of walking to reach the entrance. By then, everyone in the Burrow will know that we're there and they'll meet us by the gate. The thought of that got my heart beating fast. Am I nervous or excited? I let out a shaky sigh as I tried to gather my composure. I felt a hand slip into mine, it was Nate. He gave it a gentle squeeze as he spoke, "I know you're nervous. I am too."

We continued to hold hands as we walked. As I was freaking out internally, Nate's large hand provided me with some sort of comfort. I guess I was happy to know that he was nervous too. I took a deep breath, squeezed his hand, and let go of it. He looked at me concerned, it was almost like he was asking me if I was okay. I nodded, "I am ready to be home."

I first heard the horns. My eyes widened at the familiar sound. Part of me wanted to run and shout saying "I'm home!" and the other part wanted to run the opposite direction. What is my mother going to think? "Arden and Nate, you lead the way and talk to the people on the wall. The rest of us will wait here. Let them know what happened and then come and grab us. We don't want to scare everyone." My father's words snapped me out of my trance.

Nate grabbed my arm, "Come on Arden let's go!"

"Okay!"

Nate and I didn't share a word as we quickly walked towards the Burrow. I could see it through all the trees. It took us a couple of minutes, but when we finally broke through the tree line, tears were streaming down my face. I laughed as I shouted, "Yes!"

I was so caught up with joy, I didn't realize that the guards on duty had their bows pointed at us. I heard one of them shout, "Stay where you – wait! Arden, Nate is that you?"

I saw the guard stand up and take off his helmet. It was Conner! Nate shouted, "Yeah it's us and we have a big story to tell."

Conner and the other guard, who I recognized as Mason once he took off his helmet. I watched as Conner said something frantically to Mason and the next thing I knew Conner was scaling down the wall with a rope. He ran over to me and picked me up. The tears didn't stop as Conner crushed me with a hug. He put me down and then tackled Nate in a bear hug. Nate laughed as he hugged Conner. Mason shouted from the top of the wall, "Now you two, tell me what's going on! Everyone thought you were dead when you didn't come back from watch duty."

I walked a little closer to the wall so Mason could hear me better, "It's a long story, but I'll tell you this. That night, Nate and I left because we saw a group of people around a fire. We went on a long journey and became friends. We even picked up a couple more along the way. They're waiting for us a little way into the forest as we explain what happened."

Mason was silent for a couple of seconds, "Well... I'm just happy you're alive. I'll run and tell the next group to gather everyone. Have Conner walk you all to the gate."

Without another word, Mason started running along the wall to alert everyone. I turned around and Nate was gone. Conner spoke up before I could ask any questions, "He ran off to get the rest of your friends."

It only took a couple of minutes for Nate and everyone else to come out of the woods. Conner, who was standing next to me spoke, "Nate when you said that you were bringing a group of friends, I wasn't expecting a group that looks half-starved."

"Well, you're no twig either, Mr. Beefy," Don replied sarcastically.

Conner flushed, "I'll have you know I got this way from doing hard, manual labor, and not my eating habits."

"We'll just have to see about that then." Don laughed strutting over to Conner, "My name is Don."

Conner reached out and shook Don's hand, "I'm Conner."

As the rest of the group introduced themselves to Conner, Nate and I looked at each other knowingly. I turned my attention back to the rest of the group. My dad was the last one to introduce himself, "Hello Conner, I'm Ryan. Thanks for taking care of Arden."

Conner raised his eyebrows, "Taking care of Arden?"

I walked over and slung an arm over my dad's shoulder, "Conner, meet my dad."

"What!"