Oh my gosh, this chapter took forever for me to get it right. I would sit down, ready to add on to what I had written but end up erasing it all and start over! But here it is, finally, please enjoy!


The Second Summer

Perhaps it was just me, or perhaps not. But bandits don't seem to take kindly to strangers who stumble onto their campgrounds. By strangers, of course, I mean Kel, Faleron, Neal, Prosper, Owen, Seaver and I.

It was supposed to be a simple mission, go out and map the surrounding area while looking for food and water.

Yeah, sure, simple.

I thought Lord Wyldon knew us better than that.

I guess not.

So as I have said before, our little band of merry men, and Kel, set out on our assigned mission only to stumble onto a group of bandits camp. We tried to get away as quietly as we could but, of course we didn't. A hungry looking dog barked the alarm.

We ran.

Don't be so critical. How were we supposed to know that there were a bunch of hollow bellied, blood thirsty bandits in an area that was supposed to be bandit free? Well we weren't so get over it. We ended up with our backs to a cliff, which was something of a good thing, the badits couldn't sneak up on us from behind, but there was one other thing.

We were trapped.

I froze, not sure what to do, but luckily Kel has a cool head in battle. She saved our skins by taking command after Faleron resigned his leadership of the group. I trust Kel, in all honesty I do, but I truly believed we were going to die that day. Especially after I got an arrow through my shoulder. When was that? Before or after we climbed the cliff by way of an old goat trail?

The only thing I really remember was a green light, searing pain mixed with soothing cold, combined with a jumble of images that I still can't make sense of to this day. The next thing I remember, I was on a cot back at our base camp with my friends huddled around me. "Merric? How are you?" Kel asked, "Please. This is nothing." I whispered hoarsely, "You should come visit Hollyrose during the summer." I told her. She smiled, and my heart skipped a beat, "Maybe I will." Was the last thing I hear before I went back to sleep.


So I have a couple of confessions, 1) I was horribly lazy with this chapter so if it seems dull and uninteresting, I apologize.

2) This would be an excellent time to point out that I have a SERIOUS soft spot for red heads; Merric, Leeland, Shaun White. yeah.

Please review, constructive criticism welcomed.

God Bless,

Alyss M.