by Tara Maya, Elle Casey, J L Bryan, Anthea Sharp, Jenna Elizabeth Johnson, Alexia Purdy (epub)
Chase used it to cut the vines from around his wrists, balancing it between his knees and sawing with four quick strokes.
I looked over at Finn and grabbed his attention. Then I pointedly looked at Tony and then back at Finn. Finn looked at Tony, then me, nodding his head. I took this to mean he understood that I wanted us both to grab Tony when it was time to go.
It was almost time. I caught flashes of Jared through the trees as he headed back to Tony, which made me feel a little better. We'd be able to move Tony with us faster if we could trade off carrying him. Between the rest of the guys and me, maybe Tony wouldn't slow us down too much.
I sent one more message out to The Green before I quickly slipped my sock and shoe back on. Luckily, the orcs were too caught up in their bloodlust to pay any attention to what I was doing. I didn't have time to formulate the idea in my head, really, so I hoped The Green knew what I wanted and that I hadn't forgotten to consider any consequences that could backfire on us.
As soon as Jared came through the trees behind Tony, I made my move. Finn was one step ahead of me. We grabbed Tony's very still form and dragged him back into the trees. Our weapons were there, vines wrapped around them. I reached down to retrieve them, the vines dropping off as my hand made contact. I tucked the gun, stick and axe into my waistband; the bow and arrows I slung over my back. Spike's slingshot wasn't there.
One of the orcs saw us and immediately roared. I didn't stick around or even look back to see whether the other orcs paid him any attention; I just took off running next to Finn and Jared who were going as fast as they could, dragging Tony between them.
We made a wide circle around the camp of orcs, hoping to come out on the far side, just as Jared had instructed. Chase and Spike weren't with us, so we had to go that way if we were ever going to hook up with them again.
The sounds of crashing and pursuit reverberated behind us.
"They're coming!" I yelled, panic reaching up into my throat, nearly choking me. The adrenaline was pumping, and I felt like I was going to vomit again. My legs were tired. They didn't want to move as fast as I needed them to.
Finn was huffing and puffing, his face bright red and sweating. He and Jared were trying to get through the trees and brush and over fallen logs as fast as they could. Tony's dead weight was a serious problem; especially it seemed, for Finn.
I could still hear the orcs behind us, but occasionally I'd hear a loud thump and then a roaring that sounded like rage. Hopefully, that meant my plan was working, and with any luck, it would give us more time to get away.
We had finally reached the spot that Jared had designated as our meeting point. We were behind the area where the group of orcs had been sitting and grunting at each other. Chase and Spike weren't there. We stopped for a minute so Finn could catch his breath. Jared wasn't even winded.
After a minute or two, we started running again, heading in the direction Jared told us was towards the last waypoint. I had no reason to doubt him now; without him we'd still be sitting around that fire and Chase probably would have been beaten to death. Jared had redeemed himself in my eyes. Whether he'd needed to, I still wasn't completely certain, but it didn't matter now. We were getting the hell out of there.
The sounds of orc screams grew more distant. Finn shook his head as he jogged along. He tried to talk, but couldn't, too out of breath. "Stop ... for a ... sec ... ," he gasped.
I took over holding Tony for Finn as he bent over to get his breath. I looked at Jared to see how he was faring, but he seemed fine. He was barely out of breath, hardly breaking a sweat. Man, is he in shape or what?
"Why haven't they ... caught us yet?" asked Finn, still gasping for air.
Jared had a confused look on his face. "I have no idea. I expected to have them on our heels the whole way back."
"Back? Back where?" I asked, suddenly suspicious again.
Jared sighed, but it was no use lying. "Back to the final waypoint. I've already been there."
I knew it. "Why didn't you just leave?"
"Because I was worried about you guys." He shrugged his shoulders.
His answer made sense. It's what I would have done - it's what Tony and I did do when we had Becky with us. My throat tightened at the thought of her, bundled up by my feet that one morning. Poor little thing ...
I cleared my throat and continued. "Well, I set up a little plan of action as we were escaping which is probably why they've been slowed down; but they're only delayed. It's not going to keep them away forever."
The light bulb went on for Finn. "Ahh, I see. Okay, then, let's get going."
Jared looked at us, confused. "I don't get it. What's going on?"
"I'll explain later," I said. For some reason I still didn't want him to know. I trusted him, but then again, I didn't. I felt like he was keeping secrets, so I had no regrets about keeping some of my own.
Finn took Tony from me, and he and Jared set off jogging again. I followed behind, the sounds of our pursuers still echoing through the trees behind us.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
We stopped several times so Finn could catch his breath. The trees around us were all green. I wondered how many orcs had come from this area of the forest.
Jared looked around him, shaking his head in what looked like disbelief.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"When I came through here before, all these trees were black. They were all dead. Now everything's green - I don't understand what happened."
"It's because Jay... "
Finn didn't get the rest of his sentence out because I kicked him hard in the shin.
"Gol durn it!" he yelled limping around, nostrils flaring as he kept the pain in. "Jayne, you sure are lucky you're a girl, that's all I got to say right now." He shot a dirty look in my direction and then limped away.
I did my best to plaster an innocent smile on my face.
"What were you going to say?" asked Jared, looking at us suspiciously.
"He was going to say that it's probably green because it rained." I nodded my head to add believability to my story. "It rained, you know, pretty hard. Like, for hours."
"Huh," was all Jared would say. He wasn't buying it, but he knew I wasn't going to fess up. And now Finn wasn't either, thanks to the lump on his shin.
We all heard a moan coming from the area by our feet.
"Tony!" I squealed, bending down to touch his face.
His eyes were open, and he was looking up at us. His hand reached up to touch his head. "I feel like I got hit by a bus."
"You kind of did," I said, "only it was an angry orc with the strength and attitude of a silverback gorilla."
He closed his eyes in pain. "Don't remind me. You mean those things weren't part of a nightmare I was having?"
"No, they're real, all right," said Finn. "Real as the two inch hairs growin' off the end of my granny's chin."
I looked at him aghast. Ew. And I thought orcs were gross.
"Help me up," said Tony as he struggled to get into a sitting position.
Jared and I grabbed him under the arms, helping him stand.
He swayed on his feet a little but soon shrugged off our help. "I'm ready to go. Where are we heading? Did we get to the finish line yet?"
"No, we're on our way to waypoint four."
"Where's everyone else?"
"Hopefully, Chase and Spike are headed this way too. We lost them when we escaped from the orcs."
"Where'd you come from?" Tony asked Jared, his eyes narrowing.
"I followed you guys to the orc camp."
"He's already been to the last waypoint," I explained. Let Tony noodle that one through.
"What's it like? Is Dardennes there?"
Jared sighed. "You'll see."
I didn't like his answer at all. "You know, I'm getting pretty fucking tired of all these secrets, Jared."
He looked at me, a small smile playing on his lips. "Seems like I'm not the only one with secrets, Jayne."
&n
bsp; I raised my eyebrow at him. Touché. "Well fuck you anyway - I don't want to know what's there. If Dardennes is smart, he won't be."
"Jayne!"
"What, Tony? He's been lying and sneaking around this whole time. I don't even know why he came back for us. For all we know he needs us or something. Or he's leading us into something worse."
Tony looked nervously at Jared. "Listen, Jared, she's just tired. She gets kinda cranky when she's tired. Just ignore what she's saying right now." Then he ducked, waiting for the smack he surely deserved.
"Don't talk about me like I'm not here, Tony. And you're just lucky you have a concussion right now, because otherwise I'd smash you one. I'm tired, yes, but I speak the truth. Unlike some people around here." I looked pointedly at Jared.
He shrugged his shoulders and turned around. "What was that sound?"
"Stop trying to change the subject."
"Shhh!"
I frowned, but shut up, listening for whatever he was talking about.
Then through the trees behind Jared walked Chase and Spike.
"Oh, thank the lord!" I exclaimed, running over to them and grabbing them in a three-way hug. Actually, it was me hugging them and them hugging me back, but they didn't hug each other. Guys.
"How did you find us?"
Spike answered with a smile, "It was kind of hard to not hear you, actually."
"You have no idea how happy I am to see you." I couldn't handle losing another friend, I really couldn't.
"We missed you too, Jayne," said Spike, giving me an extra squeeze, his fingers spread out on my back. I put my face in his neck and inhaled deeply. Damn, he smelled good.
I released Spike and then looked up at Chase. "Damn, they sure did a number on your face, didn't they?"
"Don't know; can't see it."
Spike laughed. "Trust me, dude, they did."
I looked in Chase's eyes, truly sorry for the part I'd played in that. "I'm so sorry I caused that to happen."
Chase lifted his hand and gently touched the side of my face. "It wasn't your fault."
The tears came up in my eyes, much as I wanted them to stay hidden.
Chase grabbed me in a bear hug. It was kind of like the orc hug, being as how Chase is so big, only it wasn't like the orc hug because it was warm and soft and kind ... comforting. I didn't want to let go. Apparently, neither did he. After a bit, my body started to heat up, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel pretty damn good.
I was brought back to Earth by someone clearing his throat.
"A-hem, okaaay then. So, where to now?" said Spike, staring at me and Chase.
I stepped back out of Chase's embrace.
He was staring at me, searching my eyes.
I looked away and my gaze landed on Spike. He was also staring at me, not smiling but not mad either - just searching. The close quarters scrutiny from the two of them was making me nervous. I moved away and took a deep breath. Man, is it hot in here or what? I felt like fanning myself.
"To the waypoint," I said, my composure partially back in place.
Jared said nothing; he just walked. We all followed, one at a time. I stayed as close to Tony as I could. He was a little slow, but he was able to go on his own. I took that as a very good sign.
I tried not to think about Spike and Chase as we walked along. Without the immediate threat of orcs on our asses, my brain had time to analyze, over-analyze and over-over analyze what had happened and what could possibly happen. Sometimes I hated having a girl brain. This was one of those times.
Why did that hug with Chase feel so good? Was there more to the hug than just friends? Why did I think Spike was so hot? Was he really that hot or did this forest mess my hot-o-meter all up? If I liked them, would either of them like me back? Could there be any kind of future with either of them - future being anything beyond this forest? Why were they runaways? Were they really criminals, hiding behind nice-guy exteriors? Was it wrong to like two guys at the same time? When was I going to see Spike's tattoos again? Could I think of a way to get him to take his shirt off? What does Chase look like without a shirt on? I wonder how I could find out ...
And on and on it went. Before I knew it, we were entering the clearing of the fourth and final waypoint, deep in the heart of the once Dark Forest.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The obelisk for waypoint four was bigger than the others. It too was made of granite, but its base was much wider and the spike on top was black; it looked like it might be made of onyx. It reflected the lunar rays beaming down on us from the sky above. The moon was huge; I'd never seen it look this big before. I felt like I could actually reach out and touch it.
I turned my attention back to the task at hand. It was time to end this bullshit.
We entered the clearing cautiously. I kept my eyes alternatively on the obelisk and on Jared, preparing myself for him to pull a fast one during the last minute of our test.
As we drew nearer, I could see his flag tied to the iron ring on the side of the obelisk. At least he'd told the truth about that part. We were alone, though - no Dardennes, no Ivar, no commando dwarves. Those bastards better show.
We each went up to the iron ring to tie on our respective flags. I was last. In an act of defiance, I pulled Becky's flag from my pocket and tied it to the ring too. She deserved to be here with us. I looked back at the guys for their reactions and they were all nodding their heads in agreement.
I threw my hands up in disgust. We'd finished but there was nothing and no one here. "Now what?" I didn't know what I had been expecting, but I had kind of hoped that tying the flags would wake me up from this nightmare. But I was still standing here, still fully in it.
Jared pointed to the front of the obelisk.
"What?" I didn't get it. There was nothing there.
"Read the inscription," he said, softly.
Above our heads, inscribed into the stone and readable by moonlight, were these words:
Speak Your Fondest Desire. Enter To Begin The Change.
"What the hell is this, Jared?"
He just shrugged his shoulders, acting like he didn't know.
Asshole. I lost my temper. It was bound to happen sooner or later. I just wasn't prepared for how violent I felt.
"Aaaarrrrhhhh!" The battle cry ripped from my throat, ringing through the clearing like the call of a banshee. I'd never heard a banshee before, but they couldn't possibly get as pissed as I was at that moment.
I ran at Jared and jumped on him, punching and kicking him as hard as I could. All I could think about was Becky's face as she went deeper into the water, Tony lying slumped over and tied to a tree, Chase getting the shit beat out of him as he sat helpless, the two forest creatures whose lives I'd snuffed out with the point of my stick, and a hundred other things that had happened from the time I got to that warehouse in Miami until now ... and stupid Jared sitting there blowing smoke rings on a bench, asking us if we were lost.
Jared didn't fight back; he just moved to protect his more sensitive parts. It didn't stop me from giving him a good raking across the face with my nails and a nice uppercut to the jaw, before the guys converged on us, pulling me off.
Chase held me in a bear hug, me facing out towards the others. I tried to kick him to free myself but he stood still, not moving. I stopped kicking because it wasn't fair that he get hurt. I didn't have a beef with him - just Jared. It pissed me off they weren't as mad as I was. We should all be beating his ass right now.
"No, Jayne. It's not going to happen," said Tony wearily.
I sneered at him. "Back in my head again, eh?"
"Unfortunately."
"Let me go, Chase."
"Promise to settle down?"
"For now."
Chase set me down and let me go, but he kept an annoyingly close eye on me.
"Remind me never to get on your bad side," said Spike, flashing me his teeth. It wasn't exactly a smile, but it wasn't anger either.
"Never lie to me and y
ou don't have to worry about it," I spat back, eyes on Jared.
Tony stood in front of the obelisk, reading the inscription out loud.
"Speak Your Fondest Desire. Enter To Begin The Change ... What does that mean? Do we stand here and say what we want most? What is the change we're going to start?" He looked at Jared. "Do I even want to start something like that? Seems like my life's already changed quite a bit, and I'm really not all that happy about it."
Jared was frustrated, that much was obvious. "Please, be honest with yourselves, all of you. Sure, your lives have changed. But is that such a bad thing? All of you were running from something. I don't know what it was, but it couldn't have been good. So you got into some pretty scary situations; but you made it out - together. You have friends for life here. And you've made some money in the bargain. You have to agree - life is arguably better for you right now."
I looked at him in disgust. "Say that to Becky."
Jared nodded to the obelisk. "Say it to her yourself."
I looked at the granite spire in front of me. What was he saying? Was Becky somehow associated with this? Was she still alive?
I made a move towards Jared, but Chase was too fast for me.
"Nope. You're staying right here with me."
"Chase!"
"Sorry, Jayne. Let him say what he has to say."
Jared sighed. "Just finish the test. That's all I can say. Just finish."
Jared walked up to the obelisk, standing front of it just below the inscription. He looked up to the onyx at the top and said, "I want to go back to my people."
A grinding sound erupted from the granite. All I could think was that some stinking black muck was going to come out and we were going to have to fight the orcs all over again.
But I was wrong.
A portion of the granite swung in to reveal a doorway. Jared stepped into it, turning to look back at us. "See you on the other side," he said, stepping backwards into the blackness. The door swung shut behind him.
