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sorry for the wait ppl! its the holiday seasn and its always so busy! i kno u guys understand and i love u for it! ^_^

Chapter 21: We Owe You


We’d woken up early that morning. So early in fact that by the time we cleared our site, we’d have just been waking up normally. We had been walking about five miles when I heard the sounds of rustling leaves of trees and bushes. Turns out it was just a herd of deer. They seemed unafraid of our presence and crossed the path into the other part of the woods to continue their lives in peace.

We jogged a little longer and I began to read up on the area. “Deer, birds…boring normal forest stuff. No demons until we hit the plains in about three days,” I said putting the book back into my bag. That was good for picking up speed, but for me that was boring.

“Well good! Just a nice calm forest!” Ashley sighed with relief.

“Eh.” Was all I said. She gave me a look and sped up. “What? Just because I like a little action, you’re gonna leave me?” I laughed.

She stopped and turned to me. “Yes! Now let’s go if you want to catch up!” she answered. I shrugged and followed along with that. The day passed quickly and the smell of sea salt disappeared as we traveled deeper inland.

Camp was set up and we were enjoying some food that the sailors had given us. The moon was not quite full and the invisible night clouds were barely visible illuminated by the moon.

A rustle in the bushes. I stuffed the last of a piece of bread in my mouth and slowly picked my katana lying next to me. I glanced at my friend who was facing the opposite direction. She clenched her fists and her eyes darted back and forth, trying to follow the many sounds that did not sound like deer this time.

Snarls and growls pierced the shield of darkness cast by the absence of the sun. Glowing eyes floated all around us, just out of our sight to see a definite shape. If they came closer to the fire, we could see. Ashley turned up the fire with her magic, broadening our field of vision to see a pack of wolves! “Damn!” I muttered.

“Dyron! You said there was only boring forest stuff in here!” Ashley whispered angrily.

“I know! Wolves are pretty cool; I stand corrected!” I replied with a grin. The joke had no such effect on her.

So instead of retorting, Ashley devised a quick, yet slightly risky, plan. “OK, I’m using the fire to hold them off so you make a run for it. I’ll catch up,” explained Ashley.

“Right!” I whispered unsheathing my sword. As I did so, the pack attacked! I slashed at two on my right, the smell of their dank fur being shaved by my blade filling the air. Another ran straight at me and ran into a stab, though it wasn’t a fatal hit. With that, I snatched as much of our stuff as I could carry, and took off while Ashley carried out the rest of her plan.

Just so you know, Mages can manipulate the element of their choosing, even if they didn’t create it themselves. But they can only control as much as their will allows. Ashley took advantage of this and took control of the fire we’d made leaving only burning wood behind. She swirled the fire above her head then surrounded herself with it. Then with a wide sweep of her arms, the fire was spread around all sides like a shockwave, severely burning, if not killing, the pack of wolves.

This wasn’t the end. The pack leader, a giant, yellow-eyed, shaggy, black beast came lunging out from the darkness. Its jaws were wide open, ready to crush Ashley’s head to bits once the teeth got around it. The wolf was not even three feet from Ashley when Curstan emerged ramming into it broadside with a dagger. “Nathan, GO!!” she shouted yanking the dagger out and appearing by Ashley’s side.

Nathan let out a yell, whipping the wolf into the trunk of a tree with his chain. His chain had a multi-colored aura about it, showing that each ring was being used to strengthen its already tough, metal make-up. Then only the lightning rings glowed bright, showing the face of a very serious Nathaniel. The bluish raw energy sparked, and jumped, crawling up the entire chain. He then began to swing the chain above his head faster and faster until there seemed to be only a blue circle above his head. A final shout escaped his lips as he quickly stuck a finger in the bottom ring and let a lightning bolt fly, the chain yanking back towards him. He caught it and watched the wolf fly into a tree and spasm for a while and it finally lay dead, slowly being surrounded in a pool of its own blood. He wrapped up the chain without a word and joined Curstan who’d gotten Ashley to her feet. She’d fallen when the beast attacked her.

“Ashley!” Curstan breathed hugging her. Ashley managed a smile, though she couldn’t take her eyes off the black, bloody, mass that was the leader of a pack of ravenous wolves. “We’re so glad you’re ok!”

“U-Uh…yeah, I-I’m fine. We just need to catch up to Dyron!” she said still in shock. Her voice was distant and seemed to trail off. Luckily, I hadn’t gone far, maybe a fourth of a mile at best.

“Ok, let’s get the rest of your stuff packed up and out of here!” Nathan said, beginning to gather what was left behind. There was only the tent, pots and pans, and the rocks for our fire, if that matters. She accepted their help gratefully and afterward followed the path in my direction. Ashley and Nathan lit the path as walked in silence.

Up the path, I’d taken a seat on a tree stump with a flashlight to illuminate my perimeters. There was a twist in the path and I could see a faint light slowly begin to grow! As light came around the twist, I saw three dark figures along with it! I waved my flashlight in their direction and shouted, “Hey!! Over here!!” I jumped and down until they arrived and we just stood there hugging in the dead of night. What the hell is wrong with us to be doing such a thing after what just happened? “We owe you!” I managed whisper after a while.

“No. You don’t! Knowing that as our friends, you would have done the same thing is all the payment we need! You don’t owe us one single thing!” Curstan denied. With that, the four of us rested together for the rest of the night.