Disclaimer : I don't own anything you'll recognise.
A/N Thanks to all of you ! Your reviews are really encouraging me !
Chapter Five
"BLANG" the sound of wood meeting wood echoed thorough the cave. Harry smiled at his friend.
"Good move"
"Yours was too" answered Thers.
They were standing in the middle of the first cave, face to face, only separated by their sticks of wood they were fighting with and which were crossed for the moment between them. Each of them tried to pushed with more strength to make the other fall. Suddenly Harry had a small smile he suddenly sat on his feet, sweeping the ground with his right leg, causing Thers to fall on his back. Harry immediately jumped on him an pinned his arms on the ground, blocking the other boy.
"I won"
The sound of a knife scratching wood was heard. They turned to Raia who had been watching the fight.
"Ten to one for Harry" she announced, grinning.
"No need to rub it in my face Rai" mumbled Thers.
"Rub what in whose face?" asked Veradis who had just entered the cave.
"Nothing" answered quickly Thers before his friend could open their mouth.
Harry and Raia exchanged a glance smirking to each other.
"Where is Yrs? Asked Thers, obviously trying to change the subject of the conversation.
"Last time I checked, he was heading for the water room." Replied Veradis seating next to Raia. "Why?"
"I think we should start to put our plans into action."
"I agree" said Harry. "We had spied on them for days We know their base as well as ours, along with their habits"
"Yes, my feet still ache from that watching, in particular in the Wolves case. Why did they have to put their damn base in trees!!!" complained Raia, half-heartedly."
"Because theyre intelligent?" said Yrs who had just entered and hear Raias last comment.
"Or completely crazy" added Veradis. "I mean, living in trees present quite a lot of advantages, but it also have a few drawbacks"
"Yes, but, not everyone could have a base as we have."
Harry scanned the room, smiling. The place had underwent great changes since the first days The first cave was now a training place. On the far left, their was some stables for the horses. On the walls, holes had been dug to place the weapons: spears, knives, wood sticks, primitive bows, as long as the horse trappings and a stock of wood for the fire who was placed on the right side of the cave. The middle was where they trained in body fight and in fighting with knives or sticks. Torches had been placed all around the cave to lightened it in the best way possible. The second cave, smaller was were they slept. The girls were on one side, the boys on the other. In this cave too, weapons had been placed on shelves dug in the walls. At night, a warm fire was also lit in this cave. During the month, they had made a blanket for each of them with pelts from the animals who had come to be killed. The last cave, the one with the spring was the only one without weapon. They put their healing herbs and potions there along with their food. The spring allowed them to take relaxing baths after training, preventing them from aches the next day They had increased their defences. The two paths ending in the first and the third caves was extremely well-hidden, you could only find them if you knew where they were. A lot of traps had been set of them too to stop possible intruders. The security on the passage which lead to the crater had been enforced. On the edge of the crater they had put plants that as soon as you touched them without saying a word to deactivate them would start to scream. It was a very effective system. Of course they had made it only sensitive to humans, humans disguised or transformed. The agreement with the animals had proved to be extremely helpful. They had given them invaluable information. For the past month, they had been training, exploring the area, spying on the other team, planning and so forth. They too had changed. They all had long hair now and decided not to cut it and put it in a braid for the girl or a low ponytail for the boys. They had agreed on a sign to recognise each other. They had made necklace for themselves, a leather ribbon with a little stone on it. They had different stones: Raia had a small ruby, Yrs had an emerald, Veradis a diamond, Thers a golds nugget, and Harry a strange stone he had found one day, walking around the lake. It had the colour of an amethyst, but it was clearer and had gold sparks in it. After having given it a closer look, Harry had noticed that the centre was creamy colour. He had found two stones, one quite small which had used for his necklace, the other, bigger, that he was keeping carefully. He didnt know why, he just know he had to keep this stone, that it was really important. Besides that, a month in the forest had let its prints Thers had a huge scar on his right leg, where he had been hit by a hog. Luckily for him, Raia appeared to be quite a good healer. The same hog had charged Yrs, giving him a scar on his arm. Yrs was also attacked by a water snake as he was washing himself. This encounter had let a few scars on his chest and back, as welle as on Harrys chest as he had come to help Yrs. Raia had ending with a scar on her right cheek after an encounter with bats, while she was exploring some cave. Veradis had discovered at her expenses, that badger didnt like at all to be woken when they were deep in sleep. Three parallel scars remained on her back in reminder. They had lost some weight, but this loss had been replaced by the gain of muscles. They had trained non stop. They worked on their battle skills by fighting each other and helping each other to perform new movements, techniques but also on their endurance, agility and strength. Harry, helped by Raia and Yrs had elaborated a circuit. It started from the cave. You then had to ran down to the lake, swim cross it. Once you reached the other edge, you have to climb up to the edge of the crater. At the top, he had asked Raia to make the stones create a path in which you had to use your balance, your agility. You had to jump over holes, walk on a twenty-centimetres path, and so forth. Once this part was other, you had to climb down the volcanoes, ending in the forest around it. There Yrs had helped him. On one of the tree he had made a liana grow, allowing the youth to climb in the tree. A path had been created in the trees. Lianas ran through them, creating bridges between them. Sometimes they had to walk on them, other times, they had to jump from lianas to lianas, hoping the liana they grabbed wont cracked under their weight. They had to lift themselves on branches, jump, roll After this they were back to their starting point, they had then to run to a nearby canyon and cross it. There everything could happen from falling stones, flying spears or arrows, quicksand everything, it changed all the time Once the canyon had been crossed they had to climb up the volcano, climb down in the crater and run to the cave. They did the circuit once a day, timing themselves. During the whole thing, the one who was doing it was being watched by his or her friends who were here to prevent him from being seriously injured. This circuit had earned them most of their scars. But it had made them tougher, stronger, more enduring.
All in all they were quite different from the teenagers they were a month before.
"Harry?"
Harry came back to reality.
"What?"
"Where you listening to me?" asked Veradis, a frown on her face.
"Well" Harry didnt know what to say, he hadnt the slightest idea about what they had been talking about.
"Apparently not But anyway yes or no?" she continued.
"Yes or no to what?"
"Your answer: yes or no?"
Harrys mind was fuming, trying to find what to answer. He saw Yrs mouthing a no as well as Thers and Raia mouthing a yes.
"Am I obliged to answer this?" he asked, doing a puppy face to Veradis.
She nodded, smirking.
"Well" He bit his low lips, Thers and Yrs were desperately shaking their heads mouthing no, on the other hand, Raia was still nodding widely. "Can I be neutral?"
"No you cant, Its yes or no, no escape" replied Veradis.
"Sorry but Ive learned not to answer something if I dont know what it is about"
Veradis sighed exasperatedly
"Harry"
"What? Its true"
"Answer The Question."
"Which question?"
"The question I asked you."
"Which was?"
"Could you, the boys, take care of the food while Raia and me are going to train?" Then she realised what she had said. "Not fair, you tricked me"
"Well, now I can answer you Yes."
The girls smiled widely while the boys were shooting him dirty look, apparently quite displeased by his answer.
"Thank you Harry, we owe you one" said Raia.
The two girls left quickly to go training.
"Thank you Harry" repeated Yrs sarcastically, "thanks to you, we have to prepare the meal O joy!"
"Eh! Now they owe us a favour Think of the advantages! Plus we wont have a lot to do" said Harry defensively.
Yrs and Thers look at him, thoughtfully.
"If you put it like that, alright."
Harry smiled.
"Good, now I think we should get rid of this chore as quick as possible."
"Indeed. Shall we start, my fellow comrades?" asked Thers
"We shall, my dear Thers" answered Harry
The three boys headed for the third cave, took some food which they brought back to the first cave and started to prepare the lunch.
o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o ?**?o?**?o
"Well, it was good" said Raia, putting her plate now empty on the floor. Indeed they had made plates with wood and silverware with bones.
"I second this comments" added Veradis.
"The mens superiority is demonstrated once again" announced Thers, smiling.
Raia snorted.
"Well, youll have the occasion to demonstrate this so-called superiority by cleaning this." Said Veradis, pointing to the plates.
"You dont mean it, do you?" asked Thers
"Oh, I mean it!" answered Veradis
"Thats not fair! We have cooked, the least you could do is clean the plates!"
"Who said we were fair? No go, we have to plan our attack."
The boys got up, gathered the plates, and cleaned them quickly.
Once they were done, they met the girls in the first cave. They looking to the map. During the months, they had created a big map of the area. After, Harry had cast a spell on it to made her zoom on one area when she was asked to. It was very helpful. They had each a smaller copy. They had made it on animals skins. For now, the girls had made the map zoomed on the Wolves base.
"Here is their bases said Yrs. Six meters up in a centenary oak, surrounded by soporific flowers, as well Redalar, who start to shout as soon as you touch them without saying the deactivating word. They made bridges from this first base to nearby trees with lianas and branches. One of them, Wald, can manipulate the plants and had made several nets which will catch anybody stranger of the Wolves. We cant sabotage the bridges as one of them, Xeis, has the power to strengthen anything, the lianas are unbreakable. They had convinced beavers to help them, along with hogs. The beavers helped them built their bases and the hogs guard the area. There are always someone guarding their totem. They keep it in the main base. They switch guards every two hours. No particular training."
"Good sum up." Said Harry. "Now here is the plan: were going to .." They planned their attack for the two following hours, imagining escapes plans, retreats plans, trying to figure all the things which could go wrong and how to solve these problems.
"Well" said finally Thers "I think were done Now anything new about the other teams?"
"Well" started Yrs, "the hawks reported that the Foxes are planning an attack on the Bears today. The Bears had tried to attack the Wolves but failed miserably The eagles reported that the Wolves are planning an attack on the Foxes, then on us. None of them knew our base. May I had were the only one to train."
"Good" Harry clapped his hand. "Now, team, training!" This was meet by groans from everyone.
They came back at dusk, bruised, their bodies aching but also happy. They were progressing a lot. They ate a bit then went to sleep, the following was the D-Day.
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Harry was the first one to wake up. He looked at the sky. It was dawn. The sky was colourful: red, pink, blue, purple, yellow, orange The sight was mesmerising. He was startled by a voice
"Beautiful isnt it?"
He turned and saw Thers.
"It is"
"Ready for today?"
"As ready as I can be."
"Good, I think we should wake the others. I take care of the girls you take care of Yrs."
"No, Not Yrs, last time I woke him, I ended in the opposite wall, tying to it with nettles. Please."
"Its your turn, I woke him yesterday." Answered Thers.
"Oh! Alright"
"Youd better make out your will"
"Shut up and wish me good luck"
"I hope youll come back alive."
Harry threw his friend a dirty look before approaching a sleepy Yrs. He shook the boys a few times to no avail. Meanwhile Thers had woken Veradis and Raia and they were watching the attempts of their friend to wake Yrs. Finally, being fed up with it, Harry went to the spring in the next cave and came back with a bowl full of cold water. He then dumped it on Yrs. As soon as he was hit by the water, Yrs yelled and jumped. Despite that Harry knew what was coming he found himself lying on the floor, tied with roots he knew were covered with tiny itching darts.
Veradis, Raia and Thers were rolling on the floor, laughing. The glare Harry sent them only made double of laughter.
"Oh stop laughing, its not funny." Snapped Harry, while Yrs was taking the roots away and giving an herb to counteract the effects of the roots.
"Sorry Harry, but your look was priceless."
Harry only grumbled.
They ate a bit, then prepared themselves for the attack. It took them half an hour to have everything ready. They climbed on their horses and headed towards the Wolves base. They wore leather pants and a sleeveless vest. As the weather was quite hot, they didnt wore a wool shirt. Each of them had a bow and a quiver attached to his or her back, along with a knife in sheath fixed at the belt and an other in one his or her boot. Yrs was carrying a big purse made of leather, and two others, smaller. Harry had several long ropes fixed on Sheitans back. They had used lianas to twist them. Raia was carrying three long spears. It wasnt fight spears, they were bigger. Thers had a big bowl under his right arm, filled with honey, and a bundle fixed to his back and finally Veradis was carrying other ropes, smaller.
While riding, they met the wolves pack. The leader of the pack whose name was Arrow, stopped between Veradis and Harry. The five teenagers bowed to the wolf who saluted them. Then he started to talk with Veradis. Again, Harry felt this weird buzz in his head. It was upsetting him; each time Veradis was speaking to animals he felt it He didnt know what it meant but had promised himself to ask Odyeus about it as soon as they would come back to the camp.
After a few minutes, Veradis bowed again , followed by the wolf. Harry and the other bowed too. Before leaving, the wolf looked at Harry straight in the eyes. Harry felt himself being judge by this stare but didnt move. The wolf seemed to be pleased, he bowed again and left.
"What did he say?" asked Raia.
"Well I asked him if he would agree to distract the hogs to allow us to accessed the base. He agreed. His pack will take the hogs away from the oak, made them chase the pack and fell in traps were going to make."
"Perfect. Have you told them where well put the traps?" asked Thers.
"Of course!"
"Great, now we should hurry."
They climbed off their horses, let them in a glade. They had trained them to obeyed to a few sounds and not to escape. They immediately started to set up the traps: they dug a few holes in the grounds, but prepare nets and so forth. Each times, they were careful to make sure that the animals wouldnt risk anything.
It took them an hour to prepare this. Then they approached the oak. Veradis whistled. At this moment, a few wolves arrived and started to annoyed the hogs. First the animals didnt move, but as the wolves continued to taunt them, then couldnt stand it anymore, they charged them and chased them. As soon as they were out of view, the five friends gathered. They had to cross the soporific flower and the Redalar. Yrs took the two small purses. In the first was blue herbs
"Eat them, they will counteract the soporific effect." He said firmly.
Trusting their friend, they all took some of the herbs and ate them.
"The effect will wore off in two hours" announced Yrs.
Then he took the other purse in which there was a green powder.
"Let me go first, Ill deactivate the Redalar."
"You sure?" asked Raia, a bit worried.
"Absolutely."
"Well, Lets go!" said Harry.
They walked across the plants which remained silent. They arrived near the oak and hid themselves.
"Part one finished, now part two. Veradis, you explained the situation to them?" asked Harry.
"Alright. Yrs, give me them, Thers, pass me the honey, Ill need eat to make my deal this them."
Yrs handed her the big purse."
Trying to forget the buzz in his head, Harry continued.
"Raia, Yrs prepare the arrows and the light ropes, along with the spears, Thers, prepare the purses and the totems transport."
They nodded and started their tasks.
"Alright Harry, they agreed."
"Perfect, Im going to sent them as close as I can, warn them."
"Ive already done it"
"Great, well, pass me them."
Veradis gave Harry the purse. He took four purses from Thers and put some of the things that were in the big one in the smaller ones. Once he was done he fixed each of them to an arrow. He banded his bow and shot one arrow. During the past month he had trained and had become an excellent archer, even if he was still no match for Raia. Consequently he hit the spot he was aiming for. He shot three more arrows each one reaching its target
"Good shots", said Raia, appreciative.
"Thank you, Are you finished?"
"Nearly,.Done!"
"Good" now we have to wait for our little friend to weakened these lianas."
They sat on the ground, and waited. In fact, the purses, Harry had shot were filled with termites. The bugs had agreed to help them if they were rewarded by food. The five friends would let the bowl of honey here for them. They would weaken the bridges, allowing the Lynx to cut them. The Wolves had put defences against humans, but not against animals. Moreover these termites were an particularly voracious specie. Indeed after one hour and a half, Veradis received an answer from the little being.
"Theyre done, on little shock and these bridges will fall."
"Perfect, I think four of them are about to leave to go hunting."
He looked around him.
Five minutes later, Xeis, Uraios, Wald and Ilin left their base, waving to Ilin who was in the oak.
"Juste on time. Ready Raia?"
"Yes!"
Harry, fixed firmly his quiver on his back, put one big rope on his shoulder along with five light ones. Raia did the same, but took only three light ropes, a big one, a spear and what Thers had been preparing. Yrs took a spear too along with a light rope. Veradis and Thers only took a light rope each.
"Lets the show begin." Said Harry.
They separated. Harry climbed in the closest tree he could find without being spotted. Meanwhile, Raia, Thers, Yrs and Veradis positioned themselves under the bridge, leaning on the oak, being careful to remain hidden. They fixed a stone at one end of a light rope and at the same moment, threw them over the bridge. When the rope touched the bridge, it was enough to make it break. It didnt make a lot of noise as Raia, Yrs, Veradis and Thers prevent them from hitting the oaks trunk. Cernos who was guarding the totem apparently didnt heard it. Still as silent as possible Raia started to climbed up the oak. The broken bridge had created a sort of ladder. Once she reached the base, which was a big hut, built across the branches, she remained as silent as a cat and leaned against one wall. She sensed the presence of a stone in the hut and smiled. She closed her eyes and sent her mind towards the stone. She stayed like that for a few minutes, before breaking her trance. She now knew where Cernos was situated. The hut had four entries. She chose the western one, knowing it was the one closer to Cernos so she might be able to silence him before he could alert his comrades. She burst in the hut and jump on him. Startled at first he quickly retaliated. He threw a punch, aiming her head. But with her training, Raia had no problems to knock him out. She blocked his fist with one hand, fell on her feet, swept the floor under his feet with her right leg, making him fall on his face. She jump on his back and twisted his arm in his back, paralysing him. She immediately gave him a light punch on his temple, rendering him in conscious. She stood up. Planting a spear in the floor and attaching an end of the big rope to it. Then she fixed on the light rope, and fixed the light rope on an arrow. She banded her bow and shot it towards her friends who was waiting on the grounds. Yrs picked up the arrow. Plant the spear, and pulled the rope. Until he reached the big rope. He fixed it to the spear. Once he was done, Raia took the bundle Thers had given her It was a pelt with a little rope made of twisted leather. Four hole had been made in the pelt. She took the Wolves totem, put it in the pelt, closed it with the leather rope and fixed it on the big rope. Then she pushed it a little and watched it sliding slowly, ending in Yrss hand. As she was watching Yrs, Veradis and Thers going back to fatch the horses, she didnt see Cernos getting up and pulling a whistle to his lips. When she saw him, it was too late. A loud and shrill sound echoed in the wood.
"Shit" yelled Raia. She jumped on Cernos and in a few seconds he was on the floor. She used her last ropes to tie him.
Suddenly she heard the whistling of an arrow and two seconds later an arrow with a light rope was planting in a wall. She saw went outside and saw Harry in a tree, seven metres away. Understanding what he was doing, she took the rope and pulled it until she grabbed the biggest rope they had took for this mission. This rope could support the weight of a human. She knotted firmly at one branch, being careful that the rope was really tight.
Wonderful she thought I wasnt looking forwards playing the tightrope walker.
She started to walk on the rope. A few seconds after, she heard sharp whistling. She noticed some were longer than the other. Thats bad, they can communicate, I bet that Harry and I will have a little committee waiting for us As she had reached the middle, she heard horses coming closer and closer.
Uh Uh, the cavalry is coming She accelerated a bit. As she was two metres away from Harry, two riders arrived. She recognised Xeis and Ilin.
Ilin immediately took a rope with two stones on it and threw it towards the rope . As soon as this touched the rope, it started to move, making Raia loose her balance. As she was about to fall she heard Harry yelling.
"JUMP"
She jumped and was caught by the wrist by Harry.
He pulled her up. They looked at each other.
"Thank you, Harry"
"No need, but wed better hurry, I dont think theyre very happy to see us."
"Me too, but Uraios and Wald must be waiting for us."
"I know, Ive heard the whistling. Take that."
He handed her two ropes that she immediately fixed to two arrows.
" We might need them."
She nodded.
Then they looked around and started to jump from branch to branch. Heading towards the place they had agreed to meet if the things would have turned bad as they did. Thers, Veradis and Yrs would be there, waiting for them during fifteen minutes, after they would come back to the volcano, leaving their horses there. That was the reason why Harry and Raia had been chosen, they were the most agile of the five. Suddenly after two minutes, they stopped. Before them were Wald and Uraios, twenty metres away. They spotted them and headed towards them. Harry and Raia looked around and swore. The only available way was the one they were using. Sighing they each took one of the arrows with a rope and shot it to a very big pine.. They fixed their end on a branch, then climbed higher in the tree where they were. Uraios and Wald were five meters away. Then they stopped. Knowing that Raia and Harry were blocked. They hadnt noticed their ropes yet.
Harry and Raia nodded to each other and jumped. They grabbed their ropes and at the same pull out their knives and cut it They passed above Uraioss and Walds heads. Then harry heard a small crack He looked up and saw that the arrow were breaking.
"Jump Raia!" he yelled.
They jumped at the time, fell, but Raia managed to grab a branch and Harry grabbed Raia. They climbed on the branch.
"You had repeated yourself."
"I know, but could we continue this conversation later, theyre coming, and dont seemed pleased to see us" cut Harry.
"Alright! Lets go!"
They resumed their race in the trees, this time, chased by two angry boys.
"Is it still far?" asked Raia, while jumping, grabbing and landing on an other.
"No, I think an hundred meters. "
"In the trees?"
"Yes."
Suddenly they stopped again. They had reached a glade. They were cornered: they were about eleven metres high in a tree with two boys right behind them and probably the two girls coming with their horses.
"Shit!" said Harry.
"I was going to say it" said Raia
"How far?"
"More than fifty."
"Alright, plan B"
"Not that one!"
"Lets go!"
They took their last rope, who was ten metres long, tied on end to a branch, and the other to their belts.
They looked at each other.
"Happy to have known you." Said Raia.
Harry chuckled. At this moment, they heard Uraios and Wald coming.
"GO!" shouted Harry.
They jumped.
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They fell and two meters before hitting the grounds they were stopped by the rope.
"Were alive!" exclaimed Raia.
"Of course we are" replied Harry. He heard a crack. But were not going to remained in this state if we dont cut these ropes!"
They cut the ropes and fell on the grounds. They got up immediately and started to run, hearing horses coming their way.
"I hate running" said Raia
"Run"
"I mean it, I loathe running"
"Great, but for now run."
"Did you listen: I Hate Running"
"Marvellous but I dont think it was the right moment to tell me this." Replied Harry as he heard the horses coming closer.
Suddenly he felt an arrow passed at his right side.
He turned and saw Xeis banding her bow, eighty metres away.
"Shes crazy!" shouted Raia
"I know! Well I think were arrived." Harry whistled sharply. Immediately he heard an horse neighed.
Two seconds later Sheitan arrived. Harry jumped on his back, handed a hand to Raia and pulled her on the horses back. They sped to the glade where the others were waiting.
"Go!" yelled Harry as Raia whistle and jump on her mare.
The five friends made their horses accelerate, galloping at full speed between the treed, dodging them sometimes jumping above a trunk. Finally they managed to distance them, but continued to gallop to be sure and didnt come straight to their base. Veradis called the squirrel once they slowed and asked them to look around and tell them if the Wolves were still chasing hem. The little animals came back a few minutes later, telling the five teenagers that they had given up. They were relieved at this and headed towards their base. The trip was uneventful and silent. Once they reached the crater, they climbed off and took care of their horses. After, the boys cleaned their equipment and the cave, hid the Wolves totem with their own while the girls went to the thermal spring. After having relaxed a bit, they washed themselves and left the place to the boys. They relaxed while the girls were preparing the meal.
They ate and discuss the mission before going to sleep, knowing that the next day they would start to plan the next one: the Foxes.
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Well What do you think of it ? Like it ? Hate it ? Let me know…
A/N Thanks to all of you ! Your reviews are really encouraging me !
Chapter Five
"BLANG" the sound of wood meeting wood echoed thorough the cave. Harry smiled at his friend.
"Good move"
"Yours was too" answered Thers.
They were standing in the middle of the first cave, face to face, only separated by their sticks of wood they were fighting with and which were crossed for the moment between them. Each of them tried to pushed with more strength to make the other fall. Suddenly Harry had a small smile he suddenly sat on his feet, sweeping the ground with his right leg, causing Thers to fall on his back. Harry immediately jumped on him an pinned his arms on the ground, blocking the other boy.
"I won"
The sound of a knife scratching wood was heard. They turned to Raia who had been watching the fight.
"Ten to one for Harry" she announced, grinning.
"No need to rub it in my face Rai" mumbled Thers.
"Rub what in whose face?" asked Veradis who had just entered the cave.
"Nothing" answered quickly Thers before his friend could open their mouth.
Harry and Raia exchanged a glance smirking to each other.
"Where is Yrs? Asked Thers, obviously trying to change the subject of the conversation.
"Last time I checked, he was heading for the water room." Replied Veradis seating next to Raia. "Why?"
"I think we should start to put our plans into action."
"I agree" said Harry. "We had spied on them for days We know their base as well as ours, along with their habits"
"Yes, my feet still ache from that watching, in particular in the Wolves case. Why did they have to put their damn base in trees!!!" complained Raia, half-heartedly."
"Because theyre intelligent?" said Yrs who had just entered and hear Raias last comment.
"Or completely crazy" added Veradis. "I mean, living in trees present quite a lot of advantages, but it also have a few drawbacks"
"Yes, but, not everyone could have a base as we have."
Harry scanned the room, smiling. The place had underwent great changes since the first days The first cave was now a training place. On the far left, their was some stables for the horses. On the walls, holes had been dug to place the weapons: spears, knives, wood sticks, primitive bows, as long as the horse trappings and a stock of wood for the fire who was placed on the right side of the cave. The middle was where they trained in body fight and in fighting with knives or sticks. Torches had been placed all around the cave to lightened it in the best way possible. The second cave, smaller was were they slept. The girls were on one side, the boys on the other. In this cave too, weapons had been placed on shelves dug in the walls. At night, a warm fire was also lit in this cave. During the month, they had made a blanket for each of them with pelts from the animals who had come to be killed. The last cave, the one with the spring was the only one without weapon. They put their healing herbs and potions there along with their food. The spring allowed them to take relaxing baths after training, preventing them from aches the next day They had increased their defences. The two paths ending in the first and the third caves was extremely well-hidden, you could only find them if you knew where they were. A lot of traps had been set of them too to stop possible intruders. The security on the passage which lead to the crater had been enforced. On the edge of the crater they had put plants that as soon as you touched them without saying a word to deactivate them would start to scream. It was a very effective system. Of course they had made it only sensitive to humans, humans disguised or transformed. The agreement with the animals had proved to be extremely helpful. They had given them invaluable information. For the past month, they had been training, exploring the area, spying on the other team, planning and so forth. They too had changed. They all had long hair now and decided not to cut it and put it in a braid for the girl or a low ponytail for the boys. They had agreed on a sign to recognise each other. They had made necklace for themselves, a leather ribbon with a little stone on it. They had different stones: Raia had a small ruby, Yrs had an emerald, Veradis a diamond, Thers a golds nugget, and Harry a strange stone he had found one day, walking around the lake. It had the colour of an amethyst, but it was clearer and had gold sparks in it. After having given it a closer look, Harry had noticed that the centre was creamy colour. He had found two stones, one quite small which had used for his necklace, the other, bigger, that he was keeping carefully. He didnt know why, he just know he had to keep this stone, that it was really important. Besides that, a month in the forest had let its prints Thers had a huge scar on his right leg, where he had been hit by a hog. Luckily for him, Raia appeared to be quite a good healer. The same hog had charged Yrs, giving him a scar on his arm. Yrs was also attacked by a water snake as he was washing himself. This encounter had let a few scars on his chest and back, as welle as on Harrys chest as he had come to help Yrs. Raia had ending with a scar on her right cheek after an encounter with bats, while she was exploring some cave. Veradis had discovered at her expenses, that badger didnt like at all to be woken when they were deep in sleep. Three parallel scars remained on her back in reminder. They had lost some weight, but this loss had been replaced by the gain of muscles. They had trained non stop. They worked on their battle skills by fighting each other and helping each other to perform new movements, techniques but also on their endurance, agility and strength. Harry, helped by Raia and Yrs had elaborated a circuit. It started from the cave. You then had to ran down to the lake, swim cross it. Once you reached the other edge, you have to climb up to the edge of the crater. At the top, he had asked Raia to make the stones create a path in which you had to use your balance, your agility. You had to jump over holes, walk on a twenty-centimetres path, and so forth. Once this part was other, you had to climb down the volcanoes, ending in the forest around it. There Yrs had helped him. On one of the tree he had made a liana grow, allowing the youth to climb in the tree. A path had been created in the trees. Lianas ran through them, creating bridges between them. Sometimes they had to walk on them, other times, they had to jump from lianas to lianas, hoping the liana they grabbed wont cracked under their weight. They had to lift themselves on branches, jump, roll After this they were back to their starting point, they had then to run to a nearby canyon and cross it. There everything could happen from falling stones, flying spears or arrows, quicksand everything, it changed all the time Once the canyon had been crossed they had to climb up the volcano, climb down in the crater and run to the cave. They did the circuit once a day, timing themselves. During the whole thing, the one who was doing it was being watched by his or her friends who were here to prevent him from being seriously injured. This circuit had earned them most of their scars. But it had made them tougher, stronger, more enduring.
All in all they were quite different from the teenagers they were a month before.
"Harry?"
Harry came back to reality.
"What?"
"Where you listening to me?" asked Veradis, a frown on her face.
"Well" Harry didnt know what to say, he hadnt the slightest idea about what they had been talking about.
"Apparently not But anyway yes or no?" she continued.
"Yes or no to what?"
"Your answer: yes or no?"
Harrys mind was fuming, trying to find what to answer. He saw Yrs mouthing a no as well as Thers and Raia mouthing a yes.
"Am I obliged to answer this?" he asked, doing a puppy face to Veradis.
She nodded, smirking.
"Well" He bit his low lips, Thers and Yrs were desperately shaking their heads mouthing no, on the other hand, Raia was still nodding widely. "Can I be neutral?"
"No you cant, Its yes or no, no escape" replied Veradis.
"Sorry but Ive learned not to answer something if I dont know what it is about"
Veradis sighed exasperatedly
"Harry"
"What? Its true"
"Answer The Question."
"Which question?"
"The question I asked you."
"Which was?"
"Could you, the boys, take care of the food while Raia and me are going to train?" Then she realised what she had said. "Not fair, you tricked me"
"Well, now I can answer you Yes."
The girls smiled widely while the boys were shooting him dirty look, apparently quite displeased by his answer.
"Thank you Harry, we owe you one" said Raia.
The two girls left quickly to go training.
"Thank you Harry" repeated Yrs sarcastically, "thanks to you, we have to prepare the meal O joy!"
"Eh! Now they owe us a favour Think of the advantages! Plus we wont have a lot to do" said Harry defensively.
Yrs and Thers look at him, thoughtfully.
"If you put it like that, alright."
Harry smiled.
"Good, now I think we should get rid of this chore as quick as possible."
"Indeed. Shall we start, my fellow comrades?" asked Thers
"We shall, my dear Thers" answered Harry
The three boys headed for the third cave, took some food which they brought back to the first cave and started to prepare the lunch.
o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o?**?o ?**?o?**?o
"Well, it was good" said Raia, putting her plate now empty on the floor. Indeed they had made plates with wood and silverware with bones.
"I second this comments" added Veradis.
"The mens superiority is demonstrated once again" announced Thers, smiling.
Raia snorted.
"Well, youll have the occasion to demonstrate this so-called superiority by cleaning this." Said Veradis, pointing to the plates.
"You dont mean it, do you?" asked Thers
"Oh, I mean it!" answered Veradis
"Thats not fair! We have cooked, the least you could do is clean the plates!"
"Who said we were fair? No go, we have to plan our attack."
The boys got up, gathered the plates, and cleaned them quickly.
Once they were done, they met the girls in the first cave. They looking to the map. During the months, they had created a big map of the area. After, Harry had cast a spell on it to made her zoom on one area when she was asked to. It was very helpful. They had each a smaller copy. They had made it on animals skins. For now, the girls had made the map zoomed on the Wolves base.
"Here is their bases said Yrs. Six meters up in a centenary oak, surrounded by soporific flowers, as well Redalar, who start to shout as soon as you touch them without saying the deactivating word. They made bridges from this first base to nearby trees with lianas and branches. One of them, Wald, can manipulate the plants and had made several nets which will catch anybody stranger of the Wolves. We cant sabotage the bridges as one of them, Xeis, has the power to strengthen anything, the lianas are unbreakable. They had convinced beavers to help them, along with hogs. The beavers helped them built their bases and the hogs guard the area. There are always someone guarding their totem. They keep it in the main base. They switch guards every two hours. No particular training."
"Good sum up." Said Harry. "Now here is the plan: were going to .." They planned their attack for the two following hours, imagining escapes plans, retreats plans, trying to figure all the things which could go wrong and how to solve these problems.
"Well" said finally Thers "I think were done Now anything new about the other teams?"
"Well" started Yrs, "the hawks reported that the Foxes are planning an attack on the Bears today. The Bears had tried to attack the Wolves but failed miserably The eagles reported that the Wolves are planning an attack on the Foxes, then on us. None of them knew our base. May I had were the only one to train."
"Good" Harry clapped his hand. "Now, team, training!" This was meet by groans from everyone.
They came back at dusk, bruised, their bodies aching but also happy. They were progressing a lot. They ate a bit then went to sleep, the following was the D-Day.
o**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**o o**oo**oo**oo**o
Harry was the first one to wake up. He looked at the sky. It was dawn. The sky was colourful: red, pink, blue, purple, yellow, orange The sight was mesmerising. He was startled by a voice
"Beautiful isnt it?"
He turned and saw Thers.
"It is"
"Ready for today?"
"As ready as I can be."
"Good, I think we should wake the others. I take care of the girls you take care of Yrs."
"No, Not Yrs, last time I woke him, I ended in the opposite wall, tying to it with nettles. Please."
"Its your turn, I woke him yesterday." Answered Thers.
"Oh! Alright"
"Youd better make out your will"
"Shut up and wish me good luck"
"I hope youll come back alive."
Harry threw his friend a dirty look before approaching a sleepy Yrs. He shook the boys a few times to no avail. Meanwhile Thers had woken Veradis and Raia and they were watching the attempts of their friend to wake Yrs. Finally, being fed up with it, Harry went to the spring in the next cave and came back with a bowl full of cold water. He then dumped it on Yrs. As soon as he was hit by the water, Yrs yelled and jumped. Despite that Harry knew what was coming he found himself lying on the floor, tied with roots he knew were covered with tiny itching darts.
Veradis, Raia and Thers were rolling on the floor, laughing. The glare Harry sent them only made double of laughter.
"Oh stop laughing, its not funny." Snapped Harry, while Yrs was taking the roots away and giving an herb to counteract the effects of the roots.
"Sorry Harry, but your look was priceless."
Harry only grumbled.
They ate a bit, then prepared themselves for the attack. It took them half an hour to have everything ready. They climbed on their horses and headed towards the Wolves base. They wore leather pants and a sleeveless vest. As the weather was quite hot, they didnt wore a wool shirt. Each of them had a bow and a quiver attached to his or her back, along with a knife in sheath fixed at the belt and an other in one his or her boot. Yrs was carrying a big purse made of leather, and two others, smaller. Harry had several long ropes fixed on Sheitans back. They had used lianas to twist them. Raia was carrying three long spears. It wasnt fight spears, they were bigger. Thers had a big bowl under his right arm, filled with honey, and a bundle fixed to his back and finally Veradis was carrying other ropes, smaller.
While riding, they met the wolves pack. The leader of the pack whose name was Arrow, stopped between Veradis and Harry. The five teenagers bowed to the wolf who saluted them. Then he started to talk with Veradis. Again, Harry felt this weird buzz in his head. It was upsetting him; each time Veradis was speaking to animals he felt it He didnt know what it meant but had promised himself to ask Odyeus about it as soon as they would come back to the camp.
After a few minutes, Veradis bowed again , followed by the wolf. Harry and the other bowed too. Before leaving, the wolf looked at Harry straight in the eyes. Harry felt himself being judge by this stare but didnt move. The wolf seemed to be pleased, he bowed again and left.
"What did he say?" asked Raia.
"Well I asked him if he would agree to distract the hogs to allow us to accessed the base. He agreed. His pack will take the hogs away from the oak, made them chase the pack and fell in traps were going to make."
"Perfect. Have you told them where well put the traps?" asked Thers.
"Of course!"
"Great, now we should hurry."
They climbed off their horses, let them in a glade. They had trained them to obeyed to a few sounds and not to escape. They immediately started to set up the traps: they dug a few holes in the grounds, but prepare nets and so forth. Each times, they were careful to make sure that the animals wouldnt risk anything.
It took them an hour to prepare this. Then they approached the oak. Veradis whistled. At this moment, a few wolves arrived and started to annoyed the hogs. First the animals didnt move, but as the wolves continued to taunt them, then couldnt stand it anymore, they charged them and chased them. As soon as they were out of view, the five friends gathered. They had to cross the soporific flower and the Redalar. Yrs took the two small purses. In the first was blue herbs
"Eat them, they will counteract the soporific effect." He said firmly.
Trusting their friend, they all took some of the herbs and ate them.
"The effect will wore off in two hours" announced Yrs.
Then he took the other purse in which there was a green powder.
"Let me go first, Ill deactivate the Redalar."
"You sure?" asked Raia, a bit worried.
"Absolutely."
"Well, Lets go!" said Harry.
They walked across the plants which remained silent. They arrived near the oak and hid themselves.
"Part one finished, now part two. Veradis, you explained the situation to them?" asked Harry.
"Alright. Yrs, give me them, Thers, pass me the honey, Ill need eat to make my deal this them."
Yrs handed her the big purse."
Trying to forget the buzz in his head, Harry continued.
"Raia, Yrs prepare the arrows and the light ropes, along with the spears, Thers, prepare the purses and the totems transport."
They nodded and started their tasks.
"Alright Harry, they agreed."
"Perfect, Im going to sent them as close as I can, warn them."
"Ive already done it"
"Great, well, pass me them."
Veradis gave Harry the purse. He took four purses from Thers and put some of the things that were in the big one in the smaller ones. Once he was done he fixed each of them to an arrow. He banded his bow and shot one arrow. During the past month he had trained and had become an excellent archer, even if he was still no match for Raia. Consequently he hit the spot he was aiming for. He shot three more arrows each one reaching its target
"Good shots", said Raia, appreciative.
"Thank you, Are you finished?"
"Nearly,.Done!"
"Good" now we have to wait for our little friend to weakened these lianas."
They sat on the ground, and waited. In fact, the purses, Harry had shot were filled with termites. The bugs had agreed to help them if they were rewarded by food. The five friends would let the bowl of honey here for them. They would weaken the bridges, allowing the Lynx to cut them. The Wolves had put defences against humans, but not against animals. Moreover these termites were an particularly voracious specie. Indeed after one hour and a half, Veradis received an answer from the little being.
"Theyre done, on little shock and these bridges will fall."
"Perfect, I think four of them are about to leave to go hunting."
He looked around him.
Five minutes later, Xeis, Uraios, Wald and Ilin left their base, waving to Ilin who was in the oak.
"Juste on time. Ready Raia?"
"Yes!"
Harry, fixed firmly his quiver on his back, put one big rope on his shoulder along with five light ones. Raia did the same, but took only three light ropes, a big one, a spear and what Thers had been preparing. Yrs took a spear too along with a light rope. Veradis and Thers only took a light rope each.
"Lets the show begin." Said Harry.
They separated. Harry climbed in the closest tree he could find without being spotted. Meanwhile, Raia, Thers, Yrs and Veradis positioned themselves under the bridge, leaning on the oak, being careful to remain hidden. They fixed a stone at one end of a light rope and at the same moment, threw them over the bridge. When the rope touched the bridge, it was enough to make it break. It didnt make a lot of noise as Raia, Yrs, Veradis and Thers prevent them from hitting the oaks trunk. Cernos who was guarding the totem apparently didnt heard it. Still as silent as possible Raia started to climbed up the oak. The broken bridge had created a sort of ladder. Once she reached the base, which was a big hut, built across the branches, she remained as silent as a cat and leaned against one wall. She sensed the presence of a stone in the hut and smiled. She closed her eyes and sent her mind towards the stone. She stayed like that for a few minutes, before breaking her trance. She now knew where Cernos was situated. The hut had four entries. She chose the western one, knowing it was the one closer to Cernos so she might be able to silence him before he could alert his comrades. She burst in the hut and jump on him. Startled at first he quickly retaliated. He threw a punch, aiming her head. But with her training, Raia had no problems to knock him out. She blocked his fist with one hand, fell on her feet, swept the floor under his feet with her right leg, making him fall on his face. She jump on his back and twisted his arm in his back, paralysing him. She immediately gave him a light punch on his temple, rendering him in conscious. She stood up. Planting a spear in the floor and attaching an end of the big rope to it. Then she fixed on the light rope, and fixed the light rope on an arrow. She banded her bow and shot it towards her friends who was waiting on the grounds. Yrs picked up the arrow. Plant the spear, and pulled the rope. Until he reached the big rope. He fixed it to the spear. Once he was done, Raia took the bundle Thers had given her It was a pelt with a little rope made of twisted leather. Four hole had been made in the pelt. She took the Wolves totem, put it in the pelt, closed it with the leather rope and fixed it on the big rope. Then she pushed it a little and watched it sliding slowly, ending in Yrss hand. As she was watching Yrs, Veradis and Thers going back to fatch the horses, she didnt see Cernos getting up and pulling a whistle to his lips. When she saw him, it was too late. A loud and shrill sound echoed in the wood.
"Shit" yelled Raia. She jumped on Cernos and in a few seconds he was on the floor. She used her last ropes to tie him.
Suddenly she heard the whistling of an arrow and two seconds later an arrow with a light rope was planting in a wall. She saw went outside and saw Harry in a tree, seven metres away. Understanding what he was doing, she took the rope and pulled it until she grabbed the biggest rope they had took for this mission. This rope could support the weight of a human. She knotted firmly at one branch, being careful that the rope was really tight.
Wonderful she thought I wasnt looking forwards playing the tightrope walker.
She started to walk on the rope. A few seconds after, she heard sharp whistling. She noticed some were longer than the other. Thats bad, they can communicate, I bet that Harry and I will have a little committee waiting for us As she had reached the middle, she heard horses coming closer and closer.
Uh Uh, the cavalry is coming She accelerated a bit. As she was two metres away from Harry, two riders arrived. She recognised Xeis and Ilin.
Ilin immediately took a rope with two stones on it and threw it towards the rope . As soon as this touched the rope, it started to move, making Raia loose her balance. As she was about to fall she heard Harry yelling.
"JUMP"
She jumped and was caught by the wrist by Harry.
He pulled her up. They looked at each other.
"Thank you, Harry"
"No need, but wed better hurry, I dont think theyre very happy to see us."
"Me too, but Uraios and Wald must be waiting for us."
"I know, Ive heard the whistling. Take that."
He handed her two ropes that she immediately fixed to two arrows.
" We might need them."
She nodded.
Then they looked around and started to jump from branch to branch. Heading towards the place they had agreed to meet if the things would have turned bad as they did. Thers, Veradis and Yrs would be there, waiting for them during fifteen minutes, after they would come back to the volcano, leaving their horses there. That was the reason why Harry and Raia had been chosen, they were the most agile of the five. Suddenly after two minutes, they stopped. Before them were Wald and Uraios, twenty metres away. They spotted them and headed towards them. Harry and Raia looked around and swore. The only available way was the one they were using. Sighing they each took one of the arrows with a rope and shot it to a very big pine.. They fixed their end on a branch, then climbed higher in the tree where they were. Uraios and Wald were five meters away. Then they stopped. Knowing that Raia and Harry were blocked. They hadnt noticed their ropes yet.
Harry and Raia nodded to each other and jumped. They grabbed their ropes and at the same pull out their knives and cut it They passed above Uraioss and Walds heads. Then harry heard a small crack He looked up and saw that the arrow were breaking.
"Jump Raia!" he yelled.
They jumped at the time, fell, but Raia managed to grab a branch and Harry grabbed Raia. They climbed on the branch.
"You had repeated yourself."
"I know, but could we continue this conversation later, theyre coming, and dont seemed pleased to see us" cut Harry.
"Alright! Lets go!"
They resumed their race in the trees, this time, chased by two angry boys.
"Is it still far?" asked Raia, while jumping, grabbing and landing on an other.
"No, I think an hundred meters. "
"In the trees?"
"Yes."
Suddenly they stopped again. They had reached a glade. They were cornered: they were about eleven metres high in a tree with two boys right behind them and probably the two girls coming with their horses.
"Shit!" said Harry.
"I was going to say it" said Raia
"How far?"
"More than fifty."
"Alright, plan B"
"Not that one!"
"Lets go!"
They took their last rope, who was ten metres long, tied on end to a branch, and the other to their belts.
They looked at each other.
"Happy to have known you." Said Raia.
Harry chuckled. At this moment, they heard Uraios and Wald coming.
"GO!" shouted Harry.
They jumped.
o**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**oo**o o**oo**oo**oo**o
They fell and two meters before hitting the grounds they were stopped by the rope.
"Were alive!" exclaimed Raia.
"Of course we are" replied Harry. He heard a crack. But were not going to remained in this state if we dont cut these ropes!"
They cut the ropes and fell on the grounds. They got up immediately and started to run, hearing horses coming their way.
"I hate running" said Raia
"Run"
"I mean it, I loathe running"
"Great, but for now run."
"Did you listen: I Hate Running"
"Marvellous but I dont think it was the right moment to tell me this." Replied Harry as he heard the horses coming closer.
Suddenly he felt an arrow passed at his right side.
He turned and saw Xeis banding her bow, eighty metres away.
"Shes crazy!" shouted Raia
"I know! Well I think were arrived." Harry whistled sharply. Immediately he heard an horse neighed.
Two seconds later Sheitan arrived. Harry jumped on his back, handed a hand to Raia and pulled her on the horses back. They sped to the glade where the others were waiting.
"Go!" yelled Harry as Raia whistle and jump on her mare.
The five friends made their horses accelerate, galloping at full speed between the treed, dodging them sometimes jumping above a trunk. Finally they managed to distance them, but continued to gallop to be sure and didnt come straight to their base. Veradis called the squirrel once they slowed and asked them to look around and tell them if the Wolves were still chasing hem. The little animals came back a few minutes later, telling the five teenagers that they had given up. They were relieved at this and headed towards their base. The trip was uneventful and silent. Once they reached the crater, they climbed off and took care of their horses. After, the boys cleaned their equipment and the cave, hid the Wolves totem with their own while the girls went to the thermal spring. After having relaxed a bit, they washed themselves and left the place to the boys. They relaxed while the girls were preparing the meal.
They ate and discuss the mission before going to sleep, knowing that the next day they would start to plan the next one: the Foxes.
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Well What do you think of it ? Like it ? Hate it ? Let me know…