Chapter 2

No!

Kathy and Ariel walked for close to three hours in the cold, drenching rain. They did not know how far they walked, only that they had been walking all afternoon and still there was no sign of civilization. By this time both had lost their socks, and their feet were covered in mud, leaves and grass. The rain finally started to lighten up. Soon they heard the sounds of metal crashing. Hoping to find someone to help them they ran until there feet gave out. They collapse on the top of a small hill and looked over the lands in front of them to see what was making the noise. There in the middle of the field was a small group of people. Three men. Kathy laughed as she saw that they where fighting with medieval weapons. "Hey, I bet there practicing for the Renaissance Fair!" Kathy said while standing up. She helped Ariel to her feet and they began down the hill. The two stopped dead in their tracks when they saw a second small group of weird-looking men come towards the group of sword fighting men.

These men where different looking, all hunched over and really dirty looking, like trolls. The two groups met and were soon engaged in an all-out battle.
The two girls watched as the groups fought. They noticed that one of the men was off to the side, shooting the other group with arrows. He was fast, really fast, and very accurate; every time he shot an arrow, it struck its target. Kathy and Ariel couldn't believe what they were seeing. There was also a short man fighting with an ax. Despite his size, he was quite good. Then there was a tall man swinging a sword. Left, right, duck- no matter where the troll-like adversaries came from, he was ready for it and was able to counteract their moves. Soon the battle was over, the three men victorious. Kathy and Ariel looked at each other and decided that they probably shouldn't disturb the fighters with their problem of being lost. After all, the last group of people to disturb them were killed in less then five minutes, so the girls slowly turned and walked back up the hill.

They hadn't gotten far when an arrow came form behind them and sank to the ground just a foot from Ariel's side. "Oh, shit. Umm...... I think we should run," Kathy said while staring at the look of terror on Ariel's face. Both girls took off running, although they didn't know where to go. They could hear the men calling after them to stop but there was no way they were going to obey. They hadn't gone too far when they ran into another small group of the weird-looking men. "Geez! Look at them, they're so ugly!" Kathy said. The weird-looking men advanced on the two girls and the girls immediately took off in a different direction from the two approaching groups. They could hear the fighting going on behind them between the two groups. Kathy suddenly collapsed on the ground, moaning, " I can't! I'm too tired! Maybe they'll kill each other?" She suggested hopefully.
"Maybe, but what were those things, and where the hell are we now?!" Ariel said, trying to assess the situation. A few seconds later, Kathy heard the sound of someone running their way. She shot up from where she was sitting and pulled Ariel up with her and began running again. In midstride Ariel fell to her knees. Kathy stopped and looked back towards her friend.

There was one of the weird-looking man not far from them; he was just staring at them with a look of enjoyment on his face. Kathy looked back at her friend and noticed a growing puddle of blood on the ground underneath her. Then Kathy noticed the arrow through Ariel's back and protruding from her chest. Ariel was just sitting there on her knees with a look of pure fear and pain in her eyes. Ariel looked down at the arrow sticking out from her chest. The tip of the arrow was dripping with blood and Ariel could feel her life slipping away. Kathy knelt down beside her friend and tears filled her eyes. "Oh no, Ariel..." Was all Kathy could get out. Ariel just sat there, staring off in the distance. A small trickle of blood began to run out of her mouth. The color left her face and Ariel slowly gasped for air. Kathy looked up to see the weird- looking man standing over them with another arrow notched in his bow.
Kathy prepared herself for the worst as the man took aim. As she sat there next to her friend she thought back on how horribly wrong this was. But her thoughts were interrupted by the cries from the archer and a mind- numbing pain in her side. She opened her eyes to see the archer was lying dead on the ground next to her with an arrow through his neck; the arrow he had shot had missed its original target, her heart, and had instead struck her in the side. Not caring what happened, she looked back over at Ariel, who was now lying on her side on the ground. "Oh Ariel, how could this have happened? I'm so sorry." Kathy said as a tear fell from her eyes.
Ariel looked up at her friend and put her blood soaked hand onto Kathy's, whispering, "It's okay, Kathy. I'm not in any pain anymore. Please just don't let them get you." Ariel said, sounding short of breath. Kathy held her friend's hand close; she couldn't believe this was happening. Rage filled her. Kathy heard the sound of more men running. Before she could think, she grabbed the bow from the dead archer and notched another arrow. There was no way she was going to go without a fight, she thought to herself. "It's not my time, not like this." As soon as she saw the three men running over the hill and towards her she released the arrow. It was a good thing she had a bow of her own back home and knew how to shoot an arrow. She had aimed for the archer she had seen earlier, and the arrow would have hit him, had he not quickly maneuvered. Swiftly she pulled the arrow out of the dead archer's neck and notched it. This time she aimed for the short one. She released the arrow and it too would have hit its target if it weren't for the archer pushing the short man out of the way.

Kathy dropped to her knees and prepared herself once again for the worst. Thinking quickly, she looked down at the arrow still in her side. The arrow wasn't in too deep, so in one quick movement she pulled out the arrow and notched it. What a sight, she thought to herself. She could only imagine what she looked like, holding a single-string bow with a bloodsoaked (her blood, no less) arrow notched in it, struggling to see through her matted hair that had fallen into her eyes. She took two deep breaths and prepared to release the arrow. This time she aimed for the tall man and was hoping that the archer would once again interfere. She released the arrow, and just as she had anticipated, the archer went to move his friend out of the way. Expecting this movement, Kathy had aimed slightly to the right instead of directly at the tall man. She had hit her target.