by Pia Philip
“Yeah but you and Max didn’t really try so hard either you know,” Alex shot back before realizing she was defending Giorgio. She mentally shook herself.
“Yeah, I know and it hurt me so much that I couldn’t help you because I didn’t have the power, but for someone like him who could’ve helped you without breaking a sweat,” Sam growled in frustration as he ran his fingers through his dark hair, “I feel so damn useless!”
“Sam you are not useless so stop thinking that,” she reassured him, “Although you didn’t try so hard, you were the one that helped me In the square against that chimera and in the shadows and just now, don’t forget that.”
“You’re my knight in shining amour.”
Sam’s face broke out in a huge grin that spread from one ear to another.
“You know I would die for you, so just try and believe me.”
The sincerity in his voice said it all; she threw her arms around his waist. “I do and I promise to trust you from now on, we’ll be inseparable.”
“And I promise that I will never let you out my sight, I don’t want to get butchered by your mum if you return home pregnant, or with even one scratch on your body” Sam laughed as she gave him a playful shove.
“We’ll no need to worry about that, have you seen her face?” Max’s annoying laughter came from behind them. She hadn’t even noticed him so she didn’t know how long he was listening in.
“Shut up Max, you know she’s pretty but the fact that she doesn’t give you the time of day really bugs you doesn’t it,” Sam shot at him as he squeezed her waist as if to try and protect her from the insults they just knew Max had lined up for her.
“Oh, so you’ve got a thing for our innocent little Alex have you?” He sniggered; Alex didn’t like how he said that. It wasn’t how Max would behave and that was what tipped her off. Something wasn’t right. She tugged at Sam’s arms to get his attention but he didn’t seem to notice so she stepped on his toes.
“What the- Alex” he cried out in pain.
“What? You were ignoring me,” she said in self-defense although she had actually wanted to do that to someone for absolute ages, “Any way, I don’t think that’s the real Max. Max doesn’t act that way, he may not like me very much but he’s not out rightly mean.”
“You’re deluded,” Sam said shaking his head. Max was still laughing at his joke as he walked towards them. Alex looked round anxiously for a way out of there. Rule whatever, always have an escape route, be prepared.
“Shoot! I really do have to start listening to the seven rules or I’m pretty sure we’ll end up dead pretty soon.”
She saw a little track so small that it could easily have been mistaken for a gap in the trees but thankfully she had 20/20 vision plus she worked best under pressure. Crowded around it she could see several pine and oak trees tall think and branchy though to be honest those were the only trees she did know, but she could spot some weeping willows a few meters from them. Instantly Alex started conniving a plan to get them out of there in tact as Max and Sam bickered. She quickly ran the plan through her head making sure everything was accurate although she had created the plan based on guesses. It helped that she thought the forest floor as a football field. That was where her brains really worked. Without warning, she grabbed Sam’s hand and ran for the path, graciously shoving ‘Max’ out the way. From the distance it would seem that we were running into a dead path but straight after entering she turned right and headed towards the willow trees. She could hear the crushing of plants as their pursuers shoved their way through not bothering to mask themselves. They barely made it under the leaves in time as two men presumably brother walked out of the opposite side. Now that she examined the place closer, she found out it was a clearance, in the middle of a haunted forest? Something wasn’t right, before she could think about it. Their pursuers ran out into the clearance and towards the brothers. Grabbing them both by their shirts he shoved them against a tree truck with extreme force and speed she was surprised he didn’t leave any tire marks. The man he had clutched in his hand seemed to be in his early 20’s, although since he was from here, she didn’t know how fast time went or how people change. The thought had never occurred to her before. What if the time here was slower from that back on earth; the human world?. One day here could equivalent nine in the human world, when they go back her mum might be old and grey or worse. Suddenly there was a sudden crack and her focus snapped back to the predator and the prey because that’s what they reminded her of. Like an eagle his hand shot out and gripped the other guy’s throat as he yelled something in their faces that she couldn’t understand. Fear was evident in their eyes as they tried to stammer something out, not that he’d let them
His voice by now was so low it sounded like a hiss. There was a brief pause before you heard a sickening crack. Alex was pretty sure that wasn’t his knuckles or a stick. Brother number one dropped to the floor his neck angled in an unnatural way. She covered her mouth as she saw the bruising that was left on his neck, after only being held for a few minutes they were red, purple and blue bruising’s everywhere. She shook her head in horror. Alex covered her mouth because she thought she was going to be sick. Sam wrapped an arm around her shoulder and squeezed tight.
“Close your eyes Alex, you shouldn’t watch this, “he said as he tried to turn her to face him so that she could no longer see the view in front of her, but she couldn’t stop staring. The other brother was in near tears as he watched his brother’s body go lifeless. Alex felt a wave of sympathy go out to him, watching his brother die in front of him. Fake Max whispered something in his ears that made the man’s face go white as he started talking in a really high-pitched voice. As his body got flung to the floor, the beast snarled at him as he casually walked up to the man on the floor. Alex turned away, she could no longer look. She buried her face into Sam’s t-shirt as she tried to muffle out all the noise. It proved to no avail. She heard it loud and clear, and it sounded worse than the first time. The crack was loud and she knew he had broken the guy’s neck, but the noise didn’t recede, instead, she heard kicking and stomping and shoes connecting to bone. Whoever was attacking the innocent man was obviously a psychopath as he enjoyed hurting others to get the anger out of him. She had always hated those kinds of people. Alex let Sam shield her from the horrific visuals that would’ve broken her. It finally stopped and when it did, they sat there together in each other’s arms. She was shaking from the experience she’d had since the moment she stepped into the forest, and it hit her that they had no idea where the real Max was. She looked up and saw that Sam had come up with the same conclusion. They were on their own for now. Max was dead, injured or still looking for them, right? There was no way he would leave them. She sat there trying to convince herself for what seemed ages. She finally managed to pull herself together and stood up.
“You said you memorized the map right?” she asked as she paced up and down trying to come up with a plan, though without Max they really had no destination. They both came to the same conclusion and grimaced. They were officially lost in probably the most dangerous place they could be.
“Now what!” Alex cried, “We’re lost and soon to be dead without Max.”
“No, we’ll follow your plan,” Sam said calmly. It always impressed her how he could keep his cool during times like these. She always ended up wigging out.
“Excuse me but what plan are you on about?” Alex asked, she was pretty sure that if she had made a plan she would’ve remembered it.
“We’ll go enlist for the army and go to the Academy. That was our plan in the first place so Max will know where to find us,” he explained.
“I’m sorry, but you expect me to run around like an idiot to try and slay a beast that has killed people in the council?” she asked doubtfully at the foolproof of his plan.
“No, I don’t think that there’ll be a Black Midnight Dragon for every city, we’ll see what foul creature awaits us in the next city,” Sam r
eplied, “Now come on, before that creature comes back.”
It turns out that Sam still had the map so after quite a few wrong turns they were finally able to get out of the damned forest. They walked through the city gates and almost instantly there was the sound of a trumpet flare and Alex had a sneaky suspicion that they had just walked straight out of a nightmare and straight into hell.
Every single house was boarded up, stalls hidden or folded down, shops vacated. The city seemed empty, all they could hear was the whistle of the wind yet they knew the place was full of life. Alex grabbed Sam’s hand and ran to an alleyway, carefully hiding behind a bin. She stared carefully at the square, every now and then she would catch a glimpse of color but it would disappear as fast as it had appeared. She kept her eyes preened and blocked out everything as she tried to spot any sign of danger which was how she didn’t notice when Sam tapped her shoulder until he breathed on her neck. Shivers cascaded down her back. She spun round to see what he wanted and saw that he was not alone. Next to him stood three other boys who were eyeing her up and down like they were trying to figure out which to pig to slaughter first.
“Shoot,” she muttered as she slowly stood up.” What do you want? No wait, what’s going on?”
“Don’t you know?” one of them frowned, “It’s the tournament.”
“Oh crap,” Alex cried as her eyes widened in horror, “Are they setting loose a Black Midnight Dragon like in Paeledonia?”
“What! A Black Midnight Dragon in Paeledonia? No wonder you fled,” The same guy said dryly, “I wonder if anyone will make it out alive.”
“We’ll if it’s not a Dragon then what?” Sam asked as he glanced at the square double checking for any sign of danger. There was none.
“We do not know, all we know that it won’t be more than a level six beast,” guy number two explained, “It’s to stop us from being too prepared or chickening out, they want to enlist people that can brave any danger.”
“Hey, they allow girls to enlist too right?” Alex asked as the thought that women’s right had not yet reached here crept into her mind.
“Yes, of course, some of the best soldiers is of a female gender,” guy number one said, “Honestly where do you come from.”
“Danger to your six o’clock,” guy number three said as he took shelter behind a set of stone stairs. Instantly everyone ducked and tried their best to conceal themselves from the predator.
They waited in deep anticipation, no one daring to breathe as they felt the ground start to rumble. Whatever was coming, was big and by the determination set deep into the three boys’ faces she knew it was bound to be dangerous. Alex and Sam had unknowingly walked into a battle field. They had no choice. She hugged the Crolonian tightly to her chest. They had to fight. They had to fight for their survival. For any chance they have of escaping from the nightmare of their life. They just had to.
Chapter 10
It seemed like hours had passed as everyone stood waiting for whatever creature the council threw at them. They heard a low growl not more than a mere 10 feet from their hiding spot. She saw the shadow loom over the corner and everyone instantly took a position in which they had good cover but also a good view of the predator. Alex gave Sam a look and he instantly started making up a strategy and a good escape plan. Once they were sure the creature was away, they all regrouped behind the stairs.
“Look, we don’t really know you or where your strength lies but we do know that we’ll stand a better chance at this with all of us,” The guy who she presumed was the leader spoke, “I’m Zack, this is Lewis and Michael.”
He inclined his head towards the other two.
“I’m Alex, this is Sam,” she replied with an abrupt nod. Sam then took over explaining the strategy he had come up with. Soon Sam and Zack were arguing over a part of the strategy that they disagreed upon due to the high exposure of some kind of thing she had no idea about. She looked up at Lewis who like every other guy in this world seemed to be nearer the 6ft mark, Alex was going to ask him what they were on about when she saw that he looked more confused at what they were saying than she was.
“At least we know who’s good with strategies now,” he muttered under his breath.
Alex almost missed what he was saying. Something had caught her eye in the square. She quickly hit the Crolonian in a far corner where it was shrouded in darkness and she was sure that no one could see it. She slowly inched towards whatever was in the square, still staying under the cover of the shadows that hung from the walls; it was like an invisibility cloak. Sure enough, she could just make an outline of the creature, it had its back to her, so she couldn’t tell what it was but she knew who could.
“Guy’s?” she whispered as she eyed the creature as it started moving across the square, she wasn’t sure where it was headed but it still caused her to start panicking, “Guys! I see it.”
Unfortunately due to her panic, her voice wasn’t as quiet as she had hoped and the creatures head snapped in her direction, they made eye contact and she instantly regretted it. She stumbled back as she tried to hide but like that, she had dropped her cloak, the only thing shielding her. She spun round and stumbled back towards Sam.
“Sam, it saw me, it is coming.”
Alex ran her hand through her wavy hair and glanced at the square. It was no longer there. Her stomach churned with fear, she tried alerting Sam but he gave her a frustrated look before continuing to talk with Zack. Alex checked the square to make sure it wasn’t there, and then it hit her like a boulder. Since it knew where they were and vice versa, it wouldn’t come at us this way and seeing as he had already checked the other side, there was only one other place. They would not be expecting. Alex slowly looked up and her mouth dried up as she saw what no one else had yet to see. She opened her eyes and mouth and screamed. It was barely audible.
She could see the outline of the wings and the tail as it flew exactly over her, covering the sun, for a brief moment her world was black. However, what terrified her out most was that it had a human head, Alex wasn’t sure if it had seen the others yet, but she wasn’t taking the chance, they would be of no use to her if they were speared before they could kill the creature. she spun round and bolted out of the Alleyway, suddenly very grateful for her good thinking of wearing her shorts under the dress because she was now very certain that her dress was flying all over the place as she ran for her life. It wasn’t a very fair fight. The human beast landed in front of her sideways, and lashed at her with its scorpion tail. Alex flattened herself against the cobblestone floor just in time, it speared through the statue behind her. She heard it crumbling to floor. She was already sweating with fear, this was nothing like the chimera from before, and she had known something’s that the chimera could do so it kind of made it an even playing field. Here however she knew nothing about the enemy, she was like a sitting duck. She quickly rolled to one side as it tried to flatten her with its paws. Now that she was up close, Alex saw that it had the body of a red lion with tufts of hair missing from parts of his sides. The exposed skin still seemed fresh which must have meant that he was in a fight earlier. She shuddered at the thought of what may have happened to his enemy. She jumped up, grabbed a handful of hair and she swung herself onto his main body, before running up his spinal cord. Alex estimated that she had less than 10 seconds to do something before he found out how to get her off him. She sprinted up to his head before grabbing his main and abseiling down. Alex took a deep breath as she reached his eye and using all the strength she contained, she aimed and kicked his eyeballs. She bounced of his nose ducking as he raised his paws to his eyes. He gave out a pained roar of some sort mixed with some psychotic scream. It was like running nails down a chalkboard; it made the hairs on the back of her head stand on end. She doubled over as she put her hands over her ears. That was when she saw his tail swing into action. She leapt forward and weaved through his legs as he tried to make Alex-strips of her. What she must’ve looked like, she didn’t want
to think. She finally ran away from him as he struggled to regain sight in his left eye. She looked over at where Sam and Zack where still arguing, Lewis was looking at her with pity as he hid himself like the coward she was certain he was. Alex was just about to give up on help when she remembered Michael. She looked for him, but could not see him anywhere in sight. She was just about turn around when she felt a painful pressure on her side as she got flung sideways. She crashed into the fountain that was positioned in the middle. Seriously? Who puts a fountain in the middle of a place that is normally crowded she growled to herself as she tried to get up. She felt a stab of pain in her right and realized she was bleeding. She groaned as the dark stain spread through her dress quickly like a tea stain. She was losing blood and fast. She looked around for anything to stop the bleeding when she was once again attacked. This time she saw it coming and ducked missing most of the impact, slightly grazing her shoulder. Alex stumbled back into the remainder of the statue from earlier. She clasped her left hand over her wound trying her hardest to subdue the bleeding. She heard a loud crack and shriek that made her insides crawl. She looked up and saw that Michael had a really large stone in his hands as he repeatedly hit the beast with it. The creature gave another shriek of fury before taking flight. She watched it as it flapped its bat like wings until it disappeared into the storm clouds that were now forming. After being certain it was gone, Alex finally let herself crumble to the ground exhausted. However she was no fool, she was pretty certain that it would be back once it had licked its wounds and it would be back with vengeance and if her father’s men had anything to do with it, ten times stronger.
“Are you okay?” Michael asked as he came towards her concern evident in his eyes as he glanced at her wound, “That seems pretty bad.”
“Yeah I’m fine thanks to you,” Alex said gratefully as she tried to straighten herself. Her elbows brushed against her wound and she grimaced in pain. This was not good, she could hardly move without causing herself excruciating pain. Michael saw her face and felt a wave of pity for her. He knelt down beside her and took hold of her ripped and now dark red dress. He slowly lifted it so as the fabric not touch the wound. She held the fabric in place as he inspected the wound. He poked and prodded it trying to figure out how deep it was. Alex had to bite down on her tongue; it was all she could do to stop herself from crying out.
