Chapter 2

There was a knocking at the door. Four fast, three slow, and another two fast. "Houndour! Houndour, it's me! River!"

Houndour put his Braille book down on the table and grabbed his cane. Usually, he could have walked around without it as long as he was in his own house, but you never know. Houndour found that out the hard way by tripping over a bunch of books and falling down the stairs. "Coming!"

Fumbling at the door, Houndour flung it open and let River in. Normally, he would get his father to open the door for him, but he had made sure that River always knocked in a special sequence when he wanted to visit him so he knew who he was. "What's up?"

"Mom was baking." River replied, closing the door behind him.

"Did she make her famous apple pie?!" Houndour asked excitedly.

"Yup!" River helped Houndour into the kitchen and placed the neatly folded box on the kitchen table. He was surprised when Houndour's father, Mr. Golden, came down from the stairs and almost crashed into him muttering under his breath.

"Arg! And the war is only a few days…Oh! River!" Mr. Golden hesitated for a second before smiling. "Sorry, I was in the middle of something and didn't expect you to come over..."

River grinned back. "That's ok. I only came over to bring some of my mother's baking's with me. Maybe it'll cheer you up!"

Mr. Golden laughed as he started to open the box on the counter. "Thank you River. I'm sure that there won't be much of it left after today."

As Mr. Golden went to the cupboard to get some plates, River talked to Houndour.

"You won't believe what I found today on my archery field!" River told him, since he was the only one that knew about River's archery field. He fished the small metal object from his pocket and then gave it to Houndour to hold.

"What is it? What's it made of?" Houndour asked, flipping it around in his hands.

"I think it's sorta like a metal rock of some sort. Disk-shaped. It looked cool so I picked it up."

Houndour froze. "You…found it?"

"Yup!" River continued, not noticing Houndour freeze. "It was all shiny and I thought that someone else had been in my field, which could potentially be dangerous."

"RIVER! SCOTT! TYLER!" Yelled River's mother from across the street.

"Opps," River took back the queer object away before Houndour could comment about it again. "Gotta go. Mom's calling. Bye Mr. Golden! See ya later Houndour."

Houndour and his family were always the first to get their hands on the deserts since Houndour was River's friend. Then, Scott went over to his friend's house and so did Tyler. Then came the rest of the neighborhood and River's parent's friend's. When River's mother baked, she often over baked and the Tide family ended up with too many deserts.

"Tell your mother that I said 'Thank you for the deserts!'!" Mr. Golden answered from the kitchen, waving. "And that her pie is fabulous!"

"Bye River!" Houndour called as River left their house and shut the door behind him. Then he ran into the kitchen and shouted, "Father! Father! I think River has the last piece that you were looking for!"

Houndour's father stopped stuffing his face with apple pie. "What? What do you mean? Oh, and here's your pie."

Houndour ignored it for the moment. "River has the last piece! Its disk shaped and made of what looks like metal! It's about the size of my palm!"

Mr. Golden's eyes became wider, but he didn't jump to any conclusions. "We'll see if River really has the last piece of the spear that can help us defeat the war. If he doesn't then that's good for him, yet bad for us. If he does, then it's extremely dangerous for him, and he have to get it back soon."

"What do you mean…dangerous?" Houndour asked.

His father closed his eyes and didn't answer. He sighed and looked at his son. "Cross your fingers."

The next day after school, River walked with Houndour back home.

"Are you going to go to your archery spot after?" Houndour asked him when he had reached his house.

River nodded, and then remembered that Houndour couldn't see him. "Yeah, I am. Why?"

"Just…just wondering." Houndour replied, taking out his home key from his pocket. "Has anything weird happened recently?"

"Well, yeah I suppose…"

Houndour dropped his keys.

"-If you count me flunking another French test weird." River raised an eyebrow that Houndour couldn't see. "But otherwise, not…yet?"

Houndour gave a sigh of relief as he felt around for his keys. "Oh ok good."

"What's up man? Is something wrong?" River became suspicious once he grabbed Houndour's keys and gave them to him.

"No, just wondering." Houndour opened his front door and River started to leave when Houndour stopped him once more. "Be careful these next few days, mmkay man? If anything strange happens, contact us." And with that, closed the door before River could ask.

River blinked. Be careful? What's that suppose to mean? He thought, crossing the road to his house.

"Mom! I'm going to the woods!" River yelled, putting his school bag down and taking off his shoes.

"Don't you have homework?" His mother called from the living room.

"No." He lied, running up to his room and grabbing his bow and arrows. The shiny disk object which was still in his pocked seemed not very useful when he had to move around, so he left it behind on his desk.

Leaving his house once more and made his way to his archery spot.

Zing! Zing! Zing! Zing! His arrows flied through the air at a frightening pace as he tried to improve his rapid fire shots so that they were more accurate.

When he went back to collect his arrows, something moved in the bushes and River stopped in his tracks. A humongous wolf came out of the bushes and eyed him.

There are wolves in the woods?!?! River loaded one of his arrows in his bow.

The wolf stared at him for a few seconds and River swore that the wolf was smiling cruelly at him. Unexpectedly, it lunged and River rolled away from its snapping jaws at the last possible second.

Firing one of his arrows at the wolf blindly before running northward, River found it a strange coincidence for Houndour to warn him on the same day. For once, River was glad that he had joined the cross-country team.

Looking back for a few seconds, River swore when he saw the wolf charging after him, but cheered when he found that his arrow had hit the wolf in the back near the leg.

Get to the beach. It wouldn't dare follow me out of the woods would it? River wished. The wolf had come from the south-west part of his archery section which meant that he could either run north towards the beach or east towards unknown territory.

He decided to go north.

"Come on, come on!" River urged himself on, still in the lead.

Gasping as he reached the sandy area, he looked back once more. The wolf was lingering at the edge of the woods, and then disappeared again.

After two minutes of rest, River walked up to the sea side and doused his face with water, washing away the sweat.

River made his way back to the forest entrance, but then decided not to go back in and to take the road back to his house.

"It seems as though you have something of ours."

River whipped around to find himself face to face with a man.

"What?! My bow?" River asked, clutching his bow to his chest.

"The disk shaped object." The man replied, his flaming red hair blowing in the wind as he held out his hand.

River narrowed his eyes. "How do you know about it? And what is it?"

"That information is of no use to a human like you." He sneered, stepping towards River. The instant the man lay his foot on the beach, the sand below him darkened like it had been burnt. "Now give me the sp…object."

"No!" River shouted over the churning waters behind him as he stepped back.

SSSSsssss… The sand beneath the man's feet sizzled as he took another step in River's direction. "Give me the object you idiotic mortal!" Before River could detect a movement, the man had grabbed his wrists and pulled him towards him.

"I know you have it, where is it?" He demanded, his hands burning hot against River's skin.

"Help!" River cried, letting go of his bow and arrows. "Tyler! Scott! Anyone!"

"Give me the sacred object, or I will feed you to my friend over there." He nodded at the wolf, still starting at him will hungry eyes.

"No!"

"Where is it?" The man demanded.

"River! Hey River!"

As if they were never there, the man and the wolf disappeared from sight.

"Tyler!" River said, relieved. "What's up?"

"Mom wants you back home. Scotty also wants you to help him with his homework." Tyler told him.

"Why can't you teach him?"

"Because I actually study for my tests and do my homework on time, kiddo. I got no time for teaching at the moment. Now come on, let's go."