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Trial by Tale

It was the night before the Trial by Tale and the three boys Richard, Cedric and Raven were sleeping in their room. Raven woke up suddenly from the nightmare of his Grandmother dying. Drenched in a cold sweat, Raven wiped his face with the back of his hand when he heard an unusual noise.

Scratching. Raven glanced over at Richard, who was clawing at the walls of their room. How unusual. But Richard had been doing unusual things lately. Perhaps it was time to confront the boy.

Raven went over to Richard's bed and tapped him on the shoulder. He didn't respond. Raven tapped him again. Still nothing. "Richard?" he whispered. Nothing. Raven let out a sigh and headed for the Groom Room to clear his head.

It was time for the Trial to begin! Rose was both excited and horrified for the event. Rose wouldn't be fourth this time. Rose would be eleventh. But Rose would fight to stay in and come out on top like last year.

Rose was disappointed, however. Raven would be going in last. He would never actually admit this out loud, but he wanted to be with Raven through this. At least he would hopefully meet up with Lily, though. Lily would be going in first. And Julie would be going in right after him.

The Trial began and Lily and Maggie entered in together. Rose and his friends cheered for Lily as she went in, telling her she could do it.

Ten minutes later she was returned with her face in her hands and she sobbed. The small group of friends rushed to her to comfort her as Seth and Iggy got ready to go into the Blue Forest.

"It's alright, Lily. It's hard when you're the first one in. Last year I came out before Rose went in. You just need to keep fighting," Julie was rubbing her back.

Between sobs Lily muttered, "I was so stupid—she followed me to the bridge!" she wailed some more while the group tried to comfort her.

Time ticked by and Charlie and Adrian had gone in. Rose was next and he excused himself with Julie to get ready. "We'll meet at the clearing where you and Raven held your ground, alright? And don't get there too early. Keep moving for the fifteen minutes and I'll come and join you. All set?"

"All set. See you soon!"

Julie nodded as Rose and Bard went in together. Rose dashed to the right as Bard yelled out to him, "Hey, pretty boy! You forgot to give me your handkerchief!"

Rose ignored him as the greenery parted for him and closed behind him as he ran. And that was all Rose did for the next fifteen minutes. He just ran around as the plants surrounded him and moved for him. He was undisturbed by others as he did so, which made him curious. Where was everyone?

He didn't bother with the thought for long. He had to go to the clearing to meet up with Julie. He ran into the clearing and his heart sank as he looked at the empty spot where Hawthorn had burned away a chunk of plants. There were small, new plants beginning to grow there, though and Rose smiled at that.

Someone, or something, broke into the clearing behind him and he turned around ready to fight. But instead of getting bombarded with an attack, he was embraced with a hug from Julie. "We can do it now! Together I'm sure we can take on anything the Nevers or the Woods throw at us!"

"Careful, Julie. The Woods and Nevers can hear you, you know." The two of us turned around to see Maggie and Deloris smirking at us. "Rose, I don't think Raven would appreciate you hanging around girls like that," Deloris tsked.

"Back down, Deloris. You're looking at the champion of the Trial by Tale last year. You two don't stand a chance," Julie boasted.

"We might not. But he's also not our fight," Maggie frowned, "We're not supposed to touch him. Not yet. You on the other hand, we can take care of."

Rose stepped in front of Julie, "You'll have to deal with both of us."

Deloris frowned, "Perhaps we should just wait. The tide is about to turn anyway."

Maggie frowned, "But it's so boring. The other four Evers have already been returned. Our plan seems too good. Er, or bad."

"We're not supposed to deal with Rose, Maggie. We've done what we were supposed to. Come on, let's go sit over there and watch. This might be amusing."

Maggie pouted, but sat with Deloris on top of the new plants that were growing. Rose seethed as Maggie planted her wide bottom on top of the poor things.

"Rose, I think we should go. Those two are acting really weird and it's worrying me."

Rose nodded and the two headed away from the clearing with Rose leading the way through the parting plants.

"Cool. Have the plants always done this for you?"

"Most of them have. There are quite a few that don't like me. There's an apple tree back home that really doesn't like me and would drop its apples on me."

Julie giggled a little, "Are you going anywhere in particular?"

"Nope. We could always try the bridge. The Evergirls like to hang out there."

"Rose, we are the only two Evergirls right now. Alexis is coming in after Richard. Until then, we won't be seeing any friendly faces."

"Still, we're moving. And I don't think we will like what the Nevers have planned."

"When have we ever liked what a Never planned?"

"Touché"

Rose and Julie came to the little bridge with no other interruptions, which concerned them both. The Blue Forest should be crawling with Nevers, if what Maggie had said about the other Evers being sent back was true.

Julie nervously glanced around, "Now what?"

"We wait? We're good. We defend."

Julie nodded as an arrow whooshed right beside her head. Her eyes went wide in terror as it thunked into a tree behind her. Another arrow was launched aimed for her forehead, but Rose shoved her to the ground.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Let's go."

Rose grabbed Julie's hand and the two tore through the trees that parted for them. As they ran, the arrows followed them. One skimmed Julie's arm. Another skimmed Rose's neck.

"We can't keep up like this, Rose! They'll get us!"

Rose yelled, "Morgrif!" and turned into a pink rabbit as he continued to hop through the forest at an incredible speed. A periwinkle rabbit quickly followed after him under a root a tree lifted up forming a sanctuary from underneath. The two coward in the back of the small space.

"Are we safe?" Julie whispered.

"I hope so."

The Blue Forest was not looking very appealing to Raven. Two students go in every fifteen minutes. One Ever comes back. So far thirteen Evers had gone in. Ten had come back. The only three still in were Rose, Julie, and Richard. And it was three of them against the thirteen Nevers. And all of them against the Blue Forest.

Mia was going in next. And fifteen minutes later, it would be Raven's turn. "Try to stay in, Mia. We need as many Evers as we can to stay in there."

"Of course I'll stay in, Raven. And I'll be sure to send back a couple of Nevers before your turn." Mia twirled around and got ready to go in the forest with Eustis. The two went in, and Raven waited.

Mia was to find Richard and team up with him. Julie and Rose were hopefully together, and if Mia could, she was supposed to team with them too. When Raven goes in, he was to find them all and they would stand together.

The others that had come back told how they got jumped by a hoard of Nevers. Cedric had told them that Maggie, Deloris, Charlie, and Bard had jumped him. Maggie had magicked a mud pool underneath him and the boys held him down while Deloris stripped him of his handkerchief and he was brought back here. Raven hoped Mia would do well.

Raven hoped in vain, for just them, Mia appeared before them with her suit torn and covered in mud. And she was downright furious. Raven would be on his own.

Mia scrambled over to him, "Do not go east. I was jumped there. I hope you find your boyfriend. You guys are going to need all of the help you can get."

She spat on the ground and sulked away.

Raven was summoned with Hawthorn, who grinned at him. Raven focused on the gateway in front of them.

Professor Sheeks urged the two in and Raven tore through the forest as fast as he could towards Rose's sanctuary. Could he be holding there? Raven tore into the clearing to find it empty. He glanced around and didn't see anyone. Were the Nevers trying to find Rose too?

Raven glanced around until he spied a little songbird. Raven whistled, and the bird whistled back.

Have you been here long?

Yes. I have been here long.

Have you seen a blonde boy? One named Rose?

I have seen a boy with yellow hair. I do not know his name.

Where did he go?

To the little bridge over the little creek.

The bird flew away as Raven thanked her and he ran for the bridge. Rose was not there either. He quickly looked around and found a starling taking a drink from the creek.

Have you seen a blonde boy?

Yes. He was with a girl.

Where did he go?

I would not follow. Someone was chasing them with arrows.

Where did he go?

The three of them went that way. The boy and the girl changed into rabbits, came back, and are hiding underneath that tree.

Thank-you.

Raven hurried over to the tree and crouched down, "Rose, Julie? Are you there?"

Raven listened for anything. "Raven?" it was Julie!

"Julie! I am so glad I found you! Rose is with you?"

"Yes, we've been hiding here."

Raven felt a thud on the back of his head and everything went dark.

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Raven woke up to a splitting headache and initially thought he was dead when he saw Rose's beautiful face. He blinked and glanced around to find his other friends hovering around him.

"What happened?"

Julie bit her lip, "We don't really know. When we heard the thud, Rose turned into a rattle snake and slithered out of the hole. He found you unconscious and bleeding, but the offender had left. He did what he could to heal you, but we decided it would be best to send you back in your condition."

"And what happened to you two? And Richard? Who won?"

"Maggie and Deloris found us. They strangled us until we changed back and gave them our handkerchiefs. We don't really know what happened to Richard. He just came back unconscious and he doesn't remember anything about the Trial."

His friends were pushed aside as Professor Dovey appeared, "Let Raven rest. He needs his sleep. Come along." She ushered everyone out and just as Rose was leaving she grabbed his shoulder, "Not you. I think Raven would heal faster with you by his side."

Raven saw the bridge of Rose's nose go red. Raven smiled; Rose was so cute.