Chapter 6

I woke up, feeling the hard cold ground. I sat up, rubbing my head trying to get rid of the throbbing. How did I fall onto the ground? I pushed myself up off the ground, dusting off my pajamas. I sighed. I had to work with Minthe today didn't I? I scrunched my face, unscrunching it the next second attempting to wake my face up. I walked over to the mirror, almost staring in shock of my reflection, I had dark bags under my eyes. I hit my forehead with my palm. This is what I get for getting three hours of sleep.

"Coco.." I mumbled, going into her room

"Yes, Pheobe?" She asked getting ready for her job as the Princess's maid

"... Do you have anything for my eyes?" I asked as Coco turned around in shock

"Your eyes?" she asked, looking at the dark circles under my eyes

"No.. I've never seen this before" she continued, now rubbing them with her purple fingers

"Okay, thanks anyway" I mumbled as I dragged myself back to my room.

"Damn human traits..." I mumbled as I got dressed, making my way outside.

Today would be an interesting day.

I walked out to the field again to relax. In the mornings, we have free time until the afternoon, when we have to patrol over the river. Every month or so the rotations change, so all of the watch-guards get to try watching over every station. The castle actually has a pretty big perimeter for it's size, since most of the land is still trees and untouched grass lands. I took in a breath and thought of the village, and what it would be like to live in it. I was supposed to go down today, but I'm just too tired to do anything. I closed my eyes, the sun heating up my whole body, almost as if I was under a natural bed sheet. I closed my eyes, resting them so maybe the dark circles that sat there would vanish, leaving me with a normal looking face again.
I suddenly felt a tap on my foot which I successfully ignored. The object tapped my boot again, my foot wiggling to shoo it away. The thing hit my foot again, obviously trying to wake me up.

"What?" I grunted as I opened my eyes

"We have work" Achelous spoke.

It had been five hours already? And he was the one who woke me up from my slumber? I let out a grunt as I stood up, rubbing my eyes.

"Fine.. I'm coming" I lugged my way across the field, grunting with every step I took.

We made me way to the meeting point of where Achelous, Minthe and I met to go to work, which meant watch over the station we were assigned. I almost wanted to run towards it, to see Raine again, since she was seriosuly the only one like me around here, but I stood still, facing away from my team members. I'm sure they've noticed my bags by now.

"Hey Pheobe, nice rings" Minthe laughed as I rolled my eyes

"Look, Minthe. I'm not in the best mood, can you please cut it out for today?" I asked rubbing my temples with my eyes closed.

Minthe went silent and Achelous stayed silent. The main guard came towards us, his feet echoing through the forest with every step he took. He stopped in front of Achelous, Minthe and I going to either side of him to form a straight line.

"You will be watching over the river, the same spots as yesterday." He spoke, walking up and down as if we were in some sort of army.

"You may go and get your weapons" He spoke as we ran to the foyer of the castle and into another room, getting our specialized weapons again.

I grabbed my spear, running with the blades in the air to make sure not to stab anyone, standing in the same position I had been before I left. Achelous and Minthe returned a second later, each holding their weapon carefully. Minthe had her double headed axe with the head to the ground at her side, as Achelous and I rested the end of our weapons on the ground, the blades in the air.

"Okay. I'm sure you all know what to do. Move out!" he spoke as we began running off to the same positions as yesterday.

I ran along side Achelous as we both had to go north. I stopped about half the way that he had to run, running directly into the forest by the bridge of where I hung out with Raine. Hopefully she would be there again. I gave my eyes a rub to wake them up, as no one was on the other side; and just as I had suspected, the bridge was gone. I took a breath, kicking a rock into the water. I walked up and down the river, watching for any movement on the other side, which there wasn't. I heard Coco tell another maid that the Nymphs weren't even allowed to come near the river, it was so close to the Kewloens, meaning that was probably why Raine wasn't here yet.

"Hey." Achelous spoke

"Hi" I mumbled stretching out my arms

"Shouldn't you be higher up?" I asked looking at the height differences between us. He was at least one or two heads taller than I was, which somehow made me feel very short.

"No. There is a wider gap between the two sides up there." he gestured his head up the river

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." I spoke as he nodded once

"I'm fine here, you can go help Minthe if you want, it's probably alot narrower down there" I pointed down stream with the head of my spear

"It's fine. I'll be too far from my post if I go down there" he looked into my eyes as I nodded

"Yeah, I know. I have rings under my eyes." I put my hands over my eyes trying to massage them to wake them up

"You look tired" Achelous bluntly stated

"Thanks for noticing. I only got maybe three hours of sleep last night"

"I see."

"Yep. I also wanted to apologize for yesterday, I randomly ran off in the middle of my apology. So I guess I'm apologizing for an apology" I let out a small laugh as I looked up at the sun.

"It's fine" he spoke, also looking up at the sky

It was beginning to set.
I rubbed my eyes again, almost begging that they circles would leave my face alone, which probably didn't work at all. I let out a sigh. This was going to be a long shift.

"Do you know if any Nymphs have actually been caught on our side?" I asked looking at the details of my spear

"Not that I know of" He held his scythe in the air, almost looking for a Nymph to attack.

I hit my head once, exhaling a breath I was holding. Trying to converse with Achelous was harder than attempting to cross the river that ran before me.

"Then whats the point of putting us here to watch over? I heard their peaceful" I mumbled as Achelous just shrugged

"Oh hey. Do you know how old the Princess is?" I asked thinking about last night and how tiny but royal she looked

"Maybe five or six"

"Oh, I see. That's cool she's a Princess at that age" I mentally hit myself for being dragged around by a six year old.

"You sure you don't need to go back up?" I asked eyeing him carefully

"Yeah. I doubt they'll try to get over" He spoke as the sun lowered its self behind the distant mountains

My felt my face heat up at the thought of watching the sunset with Achelous. It was truly a beautiful sunset, even if I couldn't sit down to enjoy it in a large meadow. I stared in an awe at the sun and the different colors that they sky portrayed, almost as if it was shining bright colors to announce it was happy and in a good mood. I closed my eyes as the sun drifted away, taking it's heat with it. I opened them again, smiling. I could see Raine walking towards the bridge; or where it will be in a couple minutes, probably smiling as much as I was. I looked to my left, giving a worried glance to Achelous, who was now missing.. or not next to me. Where did he go? I turned around in a circle to see where he ran off to, but only trees and open grassland surrounded me. Maybe he went back to his post, he might of heard something, I guess. I frowned but slightly shrugged, trying to ignore it. I looked behind me to make sure he was actually gone, he seriously had some good timing skills, but then back forward as the bridge was suddenly there, meaning the sun was now set.
I waved to Raine as I ran onto the bridge to the same spot that I was standing yesterday.

"Hi Raine" I smiled

"Hello Pheobe, beautiful circles" she smiled back, referring to my eyes

"Jee. Thanks. Same goes to you" I glared back as she laughed

"So how was your day?" I asked facing the river again. Good thing my shift had just finished as the sun had set.

"My day was sorta shitty" She looked down sadly at the ground

"Oh.. I'm sorry.. do you mind if I ask what happend?" I looked down at her

"I got into a fight with the Prince, and my friends got mad at me and just as Acis and I were making up my brother came in and hit me. It's kind of dark so you can't see it, but I have a big bruise." She chucked a rock into the river, making a "plop" noise as it landed.

"I'm sorry.. that must of sucked" I patted her back a couple times

"No it's fine. I'll talk to them tomorrow about it" She said, wanting to avoid this topic.

"How about you?"

"Oh, mine was pretty good, compared to most days" I smiled thinking about my conversation with Achelous

"What happend?" Raine asked noticing my smile

"I told the girl who enjoys making fun of me off.. and I uh.. um.. got to watch the... sun set with the guy on my team.." I stuttered, my face going red.

"Was that the guy who I saw you stand next to a bit ago?" She asked looking in that direction again

"Yeah.." I smiled looking at my tomato red face in the water reflection

"You two looked adorable" She smiled

"Thank you.. Though I doubt he likes me" I mumbled sticking my foot out of the side of the bridge

"You never know.." She spoke, looking at the direction of the castle, my eyes following her stare.

The figure walked towards our position, not too slowly, yet not too fast. Almost as if they were pacing each step they took, counting them. The figure stood next to me, his face as blank as ever.

"Raine.. meet Achelous. Achelous.. meet Raine"