Eden

by Janelle Stalder

  “I understand, Father. I will stay focused as best I can, and stomach what I see below me.”

  “Even if it is your friends down there dying?” he asked. Her heart dropped. She turned toward the fire. “No matter what happens, Elisa, you cannot come down from where you sit. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes, Father.”

  Now she was on her way to the witch. He had continued on to tell her about the villages, which led to her finding Logan and Felix before she left. He also made sure to explain the type of spot she needed to find, which sounded like it was going to be harder than she had first thought.

  The spot had to be high enough so that she could have a clear view of the whole field, but not so high that her arrows wouldn’t fly straight in the wind. It had to be a spot that was well covered, so that the northern army wouldn’t be able to see her, or make out her location. Her arrows would have to appear to come from thin air. It couldn’t be too covered, though, at the risk of her arrows being slowed down by the brush. The tree itself had to be easy enough for her to climb quickly, as she’d have to get up there as soon as they arrived, and without anyone seeing her, but not so easy that foot soldiers would be able to climb up after her if she did happen to be discovered.

  Elisa wasn’t sure exactly how she was supposed to find a place like that, but if she remembered the field correctly, there would be plenty of trees to choose from. Her father also stressed that the tree not be too close to where the northern army would enter. It had to be in the trees, but still close to their side of the battle. That would limit her options significantly, but judging from the map he had showed her, she still had plenty to choose from.

  Thankfully, her father had notified the guards that she would be leaving the city after dark, so she didn’t have to sneak across the field like she had the other night she had visited the cabin. She knew they’d be up there watching her progress carefully, ready to protect her should the situation call for it. As she neared the edge of the forest, she heard footsteps behind her, and turned to see something she hadn’t expected.

  As they walked toward the tavern, Aiden couldn’t help but feel bad about leaving Elisa alone again. She always seemed to be absent during the evenings. No one really knew what she did with herself exactly. Logan seemed to be regaining his spirits slowly, trying his best to put on a brave face. Aiden could only imagine the conflict rising inside him at that moment. It was unimaginable to think that your family was in immediate danger, and there was nothing you could do about it. Wolf tried to keep the mood light, joking around with them about the women they’d each take home that night. Aiden had yet to sleep with a girl, finding himself painfully awkward around them when put in those situations. He hadn’t told the others that, knowing they’d never leave him alone if he did.

  “How about one with a big butt, eh, Logan? You always like the curvy girls,” Wolf said playfully.

  Aiden laughed, trying to keep his mood as positive as he could for Logan’s sake. His thoughts were focused on all the other people that had already died, and about poor Felix, who sat alone in his room, certainly crying for his loved ones. They had been talking about them only moments before he found out that they were now all gone.

  The tavern was just around the corner. As they turned, the three of them came to a sudden halt in front of Captain Turk.

  “Good evening,” he said in his deep voice. The three of them greeted him together. “Off to get a drink, were you?”

  “Yes, sir,” Wolf answered. “Logan here needs a good drink, after hearing the news about his village.”

  The Captain slowly nodded his head. “I see my daughter has already come to talk to you. Did she not tell you the other news?”

  They all looked confusedly at one another, and Logan shrugged his shoulders.

  “I don’t think so?” Wolf answered.

  The Captain sighed. “Figures,” he muttered. “That girl is one of the most stubborn creatures I’ve ever met,” he said, almost to himself. Aiden saw Wolf nod in agreement beside him. He tried to hold back his smile. “I’ve sent her to see the witch, and ask Diana to send her to the emerald fields this evening.”

  “How is that possible?” Logan asked.

  “The witch has a way. Don’t ask me to elaborate, because I don’t know. I need her to find a position in the trees there, before the battle takes place. I instructed her to tell the lot of you, so you could go with her. I don’t need her in a place like that at night, all alone.”

  “She never said a word to us about it,” Aiden said, shocked that she would want to go somewhere like that alone. Wolf didn’t look surprised at all, Aiden noted.

  “Don’t worry, sir. We’ll catch up with her,” Wolf said firmly.

  The three of them headed back toward the city gates in a hurry.

  “Why does she do things like this?” Wolf muttered angrily to himself. He was clearly annoyed with her, although Aiden guessed he was also a bit concerned.

  “Aw, this is just how she is,” Logan said lightly. “She always thinks she can handle any situation by herself. It would have killed her to ask us to come along. She would have seen it as asking us for help, which she would probably rather die than do.” Aiden smiled, thinking he was probably 100 percent right. Elisa was stubborn like that.

  “I almost wanted to curse in front of the Captain right now,” Wolf continued, seeming to ignore them. “I should have known something was up. I could tell she was hiding something.”

  Logan looked over at Aiden and rolled his eyes, smiling. “They just drive each other nuts, don’t they?” he remarked, laughing. Aiden laughed back, but inside he felt a sudden pang of jealousy. They hated each other, didn’t they? Every time he saw them together they were at each other’s throats. Elisa couldn’t stand him, Aiden told himself. He tried to push the feelings away, focusing on reaching her before something happened.

  As they came to the gates, they saw Felix standing there.

  “Hey,” Aiden called out. He was happy to see him already out of his room. Felix’s face looked red, probably from crying, but he wore a weak smile on his face.

  “I was just going to come looking for you guys,” he said as they approached. “The guards said they saw you head toward the tavern.”

  “We were, until the Captain told us we needed to go on a little trip with Elisa,” Aiden explained.

  “She’s already gotten a head start, so we have to keep going,” Wolf said, moving past Felix in a hurry. “You coming?”

  Felix looked at Aiden, who just shrugged his shoulders. He fell in beside them, heading out of the gates, without even knowing where they were headed. She hadn’t gotten very far—they could see her still in the field. Wolf instructed them to run, so they all hurried across the field, reaching her just as she made it to the forest’s edge.

  “What are you all doing here?” she asked, her voice betraying her annoyance. Her father had told her to bring them, afraid that it could be dangerous for her to be so far from home in the middle of the night. She knew she didn’t need them, though. She was skilled enough to defend herself.

  “You were supposed to bring us,” Wolf said accusingly. This made her defence rise to its fullest. She hated when he used that tone of voice with her. It was like he was talking down to her, like he was in charge. No one was in charge of her, but her. She straightened herself up and walked over to him defiantly.

  “I don’t need you here,” she spat back, keeping her body close to his, so he wouldn’t think she was intimidated. She saw the other boys stand back hesitantly, none of them wanting to get in the middle of things.

  “Yes, you do, and even if you think you don’t, your Captain gave you an order! How dare you just disregard his instructions!”

  “Oh, you’re one to talk, like you listen to instructions that are given to you! Nothing bad is going to happen. I don’t need you all here.” She turned to look at the others, seeing the nervous faces on poor Aiden and Felix. Logan was used to their bickering.
“No offence to you guys, of course.” They smiled slightly, if not somewhat strained.

  “Just because you can use a bow and arrow, doesn’t mean you’re invincible. If a man who is much stronger than you came up and grabbed you, you’d be helpless.” Wolf’s eyes, she noticed, burned with anger. Elisa didn’t know what it was—the idea that he was being left out of something or the fact that he couldn’t control her like he did most women.

  “That’s not true,” she started, but stopped as the breath got squeezed out of her. Wolf held her in a tight embrace, crushing her to his body. Her arms were pinned to her sides. As she tried to wiggle her way out, she realized quickly it was useless. It killed her to admit it, but he was right. Her bow and arrow were only inches away on her back, but she had no way to get to them.

  “Okay, okay,” she gasped, finding it hard to breathe. All the muscles in his arms were flexed as he held her in his embrace.. “I said okay, Wolf! I get your point. You win.” As the last two words came out, he released his hold, and she fell with a thud to the ground. Her ribs were sore, and it took her a minute to regain her normal breathing. Aiden walked over to help her up, reaching a hand down toward her. At least one of them has manners, she thought bitterly.

  “Thanks,” she said, smiling. Rubbing her ribcage, she looked over resentfully at Wolf. “Did you have to do that so hard?”

  “How else would you learn?” he said, smirking. She hated it when he smirked; it made her want to walk over and slap it right off his face. He always thought he knew everything, and it killed her to have given in this time.

  “Well, if you’re all coming, then let’s go. We don’t have all night,” she said, turning around to head into the forest.

  Elisa led the way, since she was the only who had been to the cabin before. Aiden obviously had been there, but the others didn’t know that, and he wouldn’t have been able to remember his way anyway. Certainly not in the dark like this. She crouched along the forest floor, putting her hand up to halt the others behind her. Wolf was close behind—she could hear his breathing as if it were right in her ear.

  “Could you stop that for one minute,” she hissed.

  “Stop what?” he whispered.

  “Breathing!” She heard him suck in his breath and hold it. She smiled triumphantly in the dark, and then focused on hearing the sounds in the forest. The others weren’t used to things like this, not like she was. As an archer, she would often spend her time in the forest, training amongst the trees and animals. It was much harder to hit a moving target with a bow, than it was to just hit a target board. Suddenly, Wolf let out all his breath in one whoosh.

  “Are you trying to kill me, Elisa?” he cried out softly. She smiled to herself, motioning with her hand for them to move on. They all made their way through the forest in good time. Elisa could see the river that was close to Diana’s property not far away. As she reached the clearing, she held up her hand for them to stop again. There were no animals drinking by the water, but Elisa knew that Aziz’s beasts often kept to the shadows, waiting for unsuspecting animals to come and drink before attacking. She looked carefully into the darkness that surrounded the small clearing, trying to make out any shapes hidden there. They had yellow eyes, the beasts, but they didn’t quite glow in the dark like most animals’, making them harder to spot.

  Everything looked clear, but they’d have to move fast just to be sure. Elisa turned her head back to speak to them, knocking her forehead into Wolf’s. They both cried out, Elisa falling over, holding her head in pain, and Wolf rubbing his with a smile on his face. Aiden and Logan started to laugh.

  “What the hell are you doing?” she spat out.

  Wolf started to laugh. “I didn’t expect you to turn so suddenly.”

  “Why were you so close?”

  He shrugged casually. “I wanted to see what you were looking for.”

  “Are you all right?” Aiden asked, still laughing at her.

  Elisa tried to hold onto her anger, but as she looked back at Aiden, she couldn’t help but start laughing. It really was a stupid move on their part, and it was quite funny. Even Felix started to laugh from somewhere behind Aiden in the dark. Wolf walked over and reached down, grabbing her hand and pulling her up in one fluid motion.

  “Sorry about that,” he said, chuckling.

  “All right, all right,” she said, trying to get them to calm down. “If the beasts didn’t know we were here before, they do now, so we’d better hurry. Be careful through this clearing: they wait in the dark for other animals to enter it, so it is quite possible they’ll attack us as we cross the water.”

  This speech sobered them up quickly. They all prepared themselves to run, waiting for her signal. She crouched over to the edge again, looking around the clearing to see if anything had changed. She didn’t see anything at first, and was about to turn and tell them to go, but then she saw him. It was only a slight movement of its ear, but it was all she needed to make out his position. The beast lay on his stomach on the far side of the river, keeping his body rounded, to make it look almost like a rock. Other animals would most likely mistake it for this, without realizing its true nature before it was too late. Elisa saw him, though—he wouldn’t outsmart her. She held up her hand and placed her finger to her lips, telling them to be quiet.

  Slowly, she lowered herself down on the ground, flattening her stomach on the forest floor. She pulled out an arrow from her bag, extra slowly, so she didn’t alert the beast. As far as he was concerned, his disguise was working. She counted on his not breaking it, at the risk of showing himself to them. She lay the bow horizontally on the ground, keeping her face only inches above it. Taking the arrow, she pulled it back to her chest, and then she waited patiently. The beast would become curious as to why they were taking so long and would most likely open its eyes to look their way. She couldn’t see them at the moment, so he must have been keeping them shut to hide himself. She would need to see them, though, if she was going to judge where his head was amongst the furry mass of his body.

  It didn’t take long for the stupid thing to give in. She saw the yellow of his eye gleam only slightly in the dark, but it was enough. Elisa let the arrow go in one smooth motion, and it wisped through the air, sinking deep into the animal’s skull. She smiled slightly to herself, getting back up on her feet. She looked back at the boys.

  “All right, we’re good to go,” she said, leading the way into the clearing. All four guys looked stunned as they followed her out. She smiled again to herself. They were close to the cabin now—their journey was almost over.

  The arrow flew through the sky effortlessly, finding the target within seconds. Aiden’s jaw dropped when he realized what she was shooting at. None of them had even seen the beast before she killed it. As she lay on the ground, they had all looked at one another confusedly, but now it all made sense. As they followed her into the clearing, each one of them looked at her with admiration. If they weren’t all in love with her before, they were now, thought Aiden. Elisa was literally the most beautiful, skilled woman he had ever laid eyes on.

  The last part of their journey through the woods didn’t take long. Aiden had recognized where they were when he saw the small river. It wasn’t much farther, if memory served him right. As they neared the clearing where the cabin was, he could see tiny dots of light from the front window. It had been only two weeks or so since the last time he saw Diana, but it already seemed like ages. He was actually excited to see her again.

  As they entered the clearing, they saw Diana standing outside the house.

  “Welcome.” She smiled, her white-blonde hair glowing in the moonlight. She was so beautiful, thought Aiden, in a much different way than Elisa. Elisa was fit, and her face had all the right angles, framed by her beautiful golden hair. Diana, on the other hand, had a softness about her. Her face was rounder, pale like her hair, and her eyes were kinder, not as calculating as Elisa’s. She had a sense of mysticism about her.

  Aiden wa
lked up to her first, probably surprising the others, except Elisa.

  “Diana,” he greeted her, embracing her affectionately. Even though she didn’t look much older than him—maybe only by ten years—he still had the affection of a son for her. She wrapped her arms around him, giving him a slight squeeze. When they pulled apart, she wore a huge smile on her pink lips.

  “It feels like forever,” she said softly.

  “I know,” he answered, smiling back.

  When he turned back, he saw the confused looks on Wolf’s and Logan’s faces. It hadn’t dawned on him until then that no one would have expected him to know her. He quickly looked at Elisa, whose face had the same anxious look as his did.

  “This is Diana,” he said lightly, trying to avoid the inevitable questions.

  “Logan,” he introduced himself, bowing in front of her.

  “I’m Felix.”

  “My father’s stories were right about you, Diana. You’re breathtaking,” Wolf said, bowing before her. Elisa rolled her eyes at Aiden, making him chuckle.

  “Your father was always a bit of an exaggerator when he told stories,” she answered, smiling. “I am pleased to have you here, but I’m afraid I do not know the reason for this pleasure.”

  “My father has sent us,” said Elisa, stepping up. “We need to go to the emerald fields tonight, and he wishes for you to send us there by way of magic. He realizes that you are hesitant to use it on us, but during these times we need all the advantages we can get.”

  Diana stood still, staring up at the two moons, which sat full in the sky. “I can’t do it for long,” she said at last. Aiden, who had been afraid she might refuse, let out a sigh of relief. . “Whatever it is you plan to do there, you’ll have only an hour’s time. Then you must come back.”

  “An hour should be plenty,” said Wolf.

  Diana smiled at them all, opening the door behind her and motioning them in. “I hope you all have strong stomachs.” Her smile widened.