Note:
Innes: "Hey, it took you long enough to update!"
Kestrez: "Shutup you jerk! July is a very busy month for me."
Innes: "What an excuse. And why isn't this chapter from my point of view?"
Kestrez: "You should be happy you're even in it! I hate your character!"
Colm: "Me and Neimi make a better pair anyways."
Neimi: "You mean that Colm?"
Colm: "Ugh! I should keep my mouth shut."
Kestrez: "As if that will ever happen."
Innes: "Well get back to your stupid strory already."
Kestrez: "I'm writing this buddy, I have the power to kill you!"
Neimi: "You aren't going to...kill...anyone...are you?"
Kestrez: "Quick, back to the story!"
Chapter 3 - Not So Safe (at camp 3)
Neimi looked up from polishing her bow. The young girl was sitting under a tree that just so happened to be smack in the middle of camp 3. Almost no one was even outside of their tents, though she guessed that none were sleeping. How could they? With all those crazy monsters running around nearby.
A group of bushes near her rustled, and she shot to her feet, drawing the bow and aiming right at them. A rabbit suddenly shot from it, bounding in the opposite direction.
"You don't have to jump at every sound, Neimi." Colm's snide voice came from behind her.
She jumped, turning to look at her friend. "Colm! I didn't...even hear you...coming." She gasped, eyes widening.
"Don't have another one of your fits." He retaliated, a rather disgusted look on his face.
"I'm...not." Neimi replied, sniffling once before looking away.
"Whatever." Was his reply.
The sound of wings caused both of them to look up. Colm took a step back to try and get a better view, Neimi just stood in place, unsure of what to expect.
"I don't see...oh wait, it's a pegasus." Colm said, actually breathing a sigh of relief.
"Why, though?" Neimi asked just as the winged horse came into view. It landed on one hoof, trotting forward a few paces before stopping right in front of them.
"Tana? Is anything wrong?" Neimi asked, eyes filled with worry.
"Just checking in. Nothing's wrong at camp 2." Tana replied, jumping from Achaeus' back and giving the pegasus a loving pat.
"As you can see." Colm started, spreading his arms. "There's absolutely nothing going on here, totally dull."
Tana smiled, otherwise ignoring him. "May I ask where Innes is?"
"Right behind you. What are you doing here?" An annoyed voice replied. Innes stood a few feet away,arms crossed and bow slung over his shoulder.
"Hey, you're supposed to be on watch!" Colm shouted, his voice carrying rather far throughout the camp.
"Shhh...Colm..." Neimi chided, looking around.
"L'Arachel is still there." Innes shot back, glaring at Tana. "Why are you here?"
Tana put her hand on her hips, returning her brother's glare with her own. "We decided to check up on the other camps. Is that a problem? Get a grip, I know how to fly."
Innes walked towards the small group, stopping in front of Tana. Colm and Neimi stood a ways away.
"Oh, don't argue, it was so nice and quiet here." Neimi complained, eyes pleading with the two siblings to stop.
"I asked Eirika and Ephraim before I left, they both agreed. So, I take it everything's okay here?" Tanaadded quickly, trying to stop Innes from saying more.
Colm caught on, though he could care less if the two argued all night. "Nothing interesting, as I said before."
Neimi shifted her feet. "I'm going to give L'Arachel some company." She said quickly, disappearing in the opposite direction with her bow.
Colm watched her go, then turned back to look at the two siblings, who were still giving each other odd glares.
"I'll just go now, leave you two to your argument." He said, following Neimi.
He found L'Arachel a ways away. The young woman was watching the distant forest with a look of great distaste.
Colm looked around, L'Arachel was alone.
"Where's Neimi?"
"Who?" She asked, turning to look at him. "Your archer friend? How should I know, I'm on look-out. And do tell Innes to get back here, this is quite boring."
Colm stiffened. Where was Neimi? She had gone in this direction, he was sure of it.
"Okay, bye then." He said simply, turning in place and striding away.
"Get Innes!" L'Arachel shouted after him.
Colm flinched. Did she have to be so loud? Selfish little brat. Keen eyes spotting an upright shadow a ways away, he made his way to the outskirts of the camp.
"Neimi?" He whispered, squinting to see who the figure was. It suddenly darted behind a tree, raising something in its hands.
He sighed. She was so jumpy, and a cry-baby. He'd scared her again, and would have to deal with her crying most likely.
"Neimi. It's just me. Colm again." He said, voice rising slightly.
Movement to his left. Was she actually playing with him? He scowled. That girl was so annoying sometimes!
Light. Two red spots out of the corner of his eye. He turned, about to yell...and found a gorgon staring back at him, straight in the eye.
"Oh shit." He mumbled, mind whirling. Eye contact, not a good thing. His mind screamed at him to move, but he suddenly couldn't. He couldn't look away, he felt like he was slowly being drawn into himself, unable to move, breath...darkness started to cloud his vision. Stone. How could he have been so stupid? He couldn't die, not here, not now.
An arrow shot from nowhere, piercing the thing right in the head. It screamed. Well, as much as you could expect a monster's scream to sound like. Another arrow, this one hitting it smack in the right eye. The thing collapsed, disintegrating into dust before it fully hit the ground.
It was quiet for a moment, and then Colm fell backwards, staggering, trying to catch himself.
"Colm!" A female voice screamed from behind him. He heard someone running, then felt a hand on his forehead. He sat back on his heals, still gasping for breath. He blinked once, twice, then tilted his head back to look at Neimi.
"Are you all right? Where'd that...thing come from?" She sobbed, tears streaming down her face. Colm realized that she still had her hand on his head.
"Hey, hands off." He said, trying to compose himself.
"Sor...sorry. Are you...you could have died!" She sniffed, drawing away, and offering him a hand.
For once, he took it, using his legs to push himself up.It still felt like he hadn't moved in days, as if he'd been in the same spot for a very, very long time.
"I was looking for you, Neimi. You weren't with L'Arachel, and I went looking for you." He said, voice gaining its normal tone back.
"I went back to my tent first." She stammered, looking at him with scared eyes, expecting him to yell at her.
Colm thought for a moment, then looked to where the gorgon had fallen. "That was way too close to our camp, and it's scream was loud enough to wake anything sleeping and draw attention to us." He said, drifting off the subject of how he had managed to almost get killed. "We need to go back and tell Innes. Get Tana to tell camp 2."
"Don't forget camp 1." Neimi added.
"Right, let's go now, I don't want to feel like that again." Colm agreed, and he took off at a run back to the camp.
Neimi looked back to the woods, imagining pairs of red eyes all around the border, moving shadows everywhere. She shuttered, turning and running after Colm.
Maybe it wasn't her imagination.