Chapter Two

My eyes were still closed. I felt the guard sit next to me. My hand shot down to my belt, my fingers brushing the handle of my knife. Should I attack? Why wasn't this guard yelling to the others, telling them about me? Was he even a guard? He had the uniform on. I peeked my eyes open. There was a lightning bolt on his right shoulder, just next to his collarbone. He was a Hious.
"Look at me," He said. I expected it to be an order, but his tone was filled with care. I turned my eyes to his. They were beautiful, especially up close.
"I'm not going to hurt you. I'm going to help you escape." My eyes went wide. Was this the chief's new trick? Sending in some guards to gain our trust only to betray us in the end? Like Charlie?
"They're going to cut down this tree soon. You can come with me, or stay here. It's your choice," he continued.
"Or I could escape from you, into the forest," I thought, looking away from him. I forced my eyes to turn stone cold, trying to show how unconcerned and emotionless I was.
"Can I please just explain? We can escape somewhere safe, and if you'll please listen, I can show you-" He said, but I interrupted.
"No." I said as firmly as I could. I would never give a guard what they wanted.
"Aren't you curious? Don't you wanna know how I know your name, Dan?"
My brain started to buzz wildly. Carrie and her camp members would be here soon, they'd get me out of this mess...
"Dan. It's really important that we talk."
He stood up and took his belt off. It dropped with a 'clank'. It sounded heavy, considering it had swords and other weapons hanging from it. He then disrobed himself of his bright red coat. Underneath was a dark green shirt and brown pants.
"There." He said, pointing to the floor. "All of my weapons and guard attire. Now I'm just like you."
I looked at his right shoulder. He looked at it too. "That doesn't matter." He shrugged.
"Yes, it does." I spat.
He looked at the floor. "You take my things, and lead me wherever you want. Ask me any questions, and I'll answer, truthfully. Whatever it'll take for you to trust me." He sounded like he was begging. I glanced at him, searching him with my eyes. He seemed desperate. It didn't appear like he had anything hidden on him.
"We'll go to the river." This was a terrible idea, I was breaking all my own rules. But I really was curious. "But." I whipped my knife out and pressed the flat of the blade against his large Adam's apple, effectively cutting off air circulation to his windpipe. "One wrong move, and I'll slit your throat without a second thought."
He nodded and gently covered my hand with his own, pushing the knife away from his throat. He left his hand there for a moment before I blushed and yanked my hand away.

"Should we use the trapdoor under your couch to get there?" He said, raising an eyebrow.
"How did you..?" He pushed the furniture in question aside, revealing a plank of wood.
"After you," he said, gesturing with his hand.
"You can go first." I muttered. He nodded again, stepping down into the darkness. I followed. My mind went to Carrie as soon as the immediate danger vanished. It had to have been ten minutes since she left. Was she okay?
"What's your name?" I asked. It sounded firm like I wanted it to. I can't show him any sign of friendship or emotion.
"Phil." He replied. "Lester." Something in me rang with remembrance.
"And I'm-"
He cut me off. "Dan Howell."
"Uh...right." How did he know that? I would be sure to ask him when we got to the river. I stopped in my tracks, mentally slapping myself. How did I not think of this before? It was just like what happened to Carrie and Charlie. He had taken her to the lake, where guards were waiting for her. This was a trap. How in the world had I fallen for this? Not anymore. Phil noticed I had stopped.
"Is something wrong?"
What should I do? Tell him I know? The best thing would be to kill him. I should never show a guard mercy..but Phil...Phil seemed different. I found myself wanting to trust him. I can't, though. That'd be a mistake. My hand grabbed my dagger. I should. Take him out right now. No mercy.
Phil looked at me with his deep blue eyes. The thought of all the light leaving them scared me. I couldn't do it. My mind went blank.
'NO! You can do anything! He's just a pathetic guard,' I thought. I often argued with myself. 'But what had he done to me?' Ben's face appeared in my brain, followed by Jack's , and a few others I had lost to these men. These red coated men.
"I...uh." I stuttered. Phil looked down from my eyes to my hand, noticing the dagger.
"Dan. I know what happened with Charlie." That shocked me. "And, I'm not like that, we don't have to go to the river, you can ask me everything now."
I wanted to know everything. Should I keep him alive, have him tell me what he knows, then kill him?
"We can't spend all day down here, we'll need oxygen."
Phil nodded in agreement.
"We'll go to the river." If guards were there, I could get away, I could escape like Carrie had. "So you know about Charlie and Carrie?" I finally said while we crawled through the tunnel.
"Oh, Carrie's her name?" Oh (insert swear word here), I had just given away too much information. "She's the pretty one that's super-fast and agile?" Phil asked. I nodded.
She was pretty and I would definitely have a crush on her, if I were interested in girls.
"I heard from some other guards that she was a problem, constantly intercepting captures, so they got Charlie to build up trust with her. Fortunately, she was too fast." Phil said.
"Fortunately? What's that supposed to mean? Didn't you want her to be captured?" I asked, involuntarily glancing down at his birthmark.
"No. I hate what the king forces us to do. Sure, it's nice having a room, and riches, and plenty of food for doing it, but it's not right. I just show up to the captures, and pretend to be doing something."

"Well, why don't you try saving them if you care so much?"
"I have. No one trusted me." Phil said, nonchalantly. I suddenly felt bad. Was Phil really a good guy, wanting to help, but just was misunderstood? Or was this all an act? I definitely had trust issues.
"We should be there soon." I mumbled.
"Would you like me to go out first?"
"Yeah."
After a bit more crawling, we reached the exit. Phil climbed out.
"Do you need a hand?"
"No, I can do it."
"Right." Phil went over and sat on a rock. I joined him once I came out, the dagger still in my hand.
"So." I said turning towards him. "Tell me how you know my name, and why you care so much about the Atova Tribe." It wasn't a question. I was going to get answers from him.
He sighed. "Do you actually not remember me?" He almost looked...hurt.
"I..."
"No, it's fine. We were split apart when the war started. You were three."
"And you were..?"
"Seven." He answered.
"Before the war started, we were friends...or as close of friends as we could be, considering our age. I always cared for you and protected you when your mother couldn't. Being from different tribes didn't matter back then."
"You...you what?"
"Yeah. It was ten years into the war, and our fathers had to go fight. They had stopped being friends, so I never saw you anymore..." His voice trailed off.
I had been friends...with a Hious?! This was news to me. The first friend I could remember was Carrie, shortly followed by Ben, Finn, Jack, Louis, Hazel, and Dean.
"So then how did you know which was my house, and where the trapdoor was?"
"Your mother. She left a note to our family explaining where it all was. She had written 'I owe you one, Phil Lester' on it. I'd been looking for it while on capture missions, but this forest has changed so much, it was all so different."
"Yeah." I agreed. I was trusting Phil? I felt like I could, or I wanted to, at least. This could all be a trick. He could have been childhood friend, who was still planning to capture me.. .and now that he knows where I live, I may have gotten myself in a lot of danger, and not have known.
"Do you think it's gone?" I asked quietly.
"What's gone? Your tree?" I nodded.

"I hope not. They were planning on taking out that entire part of the forest, but it's really big, so maybe they left it."
"Yeah...how long have we been here?" I wondered, looking at the sky. It was growing a soft shade of orange.
"I'm not sure, I should probably be getting back. If the other guards found me I would-"
I stood up. I didn't want to hear what he had to say about that. My mind flew back to Carrie. Had she and her camp friends attacked the guards? Was she and her gang looking for me? I felt anxious. If she was captured it would be my fault. My mind was struck by another idea. Was this Phil's plan? To lure me away from the tree, so that the other guards could get her and her friends? I suddenly felt very icy towards Phil.
"What's wrong now?"
"Tell me. Tell me everything you said was true."
"It is Dan…I wouldn't-"
"SWEAR IT!" I yelled.
"I swear. Every single bit." He looked into my eyes. "Is something the matter?"
Should I tell him? I remembered Carrie's words, 'You can't trust anyone.' I still didn't.
I sighed. I wanted to trust him. So much. It didn't seem possible, though.
This man -this guard- knew where I lived, knew how to get into my home. Knew, it seemed, everything about me. He could easily tell the chief everything. What had I done?
"Dan. Everything is safe with me." He said, as if he had read my mind. "I won't tell anyone."
I still didn't know what to do. I was still clutching my dagger. I could make him forget everything, with one small swish of my weapon. My thoughts were interrupted by a loud horn blowing.
"I have to go." Phil said standing up. "Remember, everything is safe." Then he was gone into the night.