:Chapter 6: Close Call:

"Ogres!" Cameron cried.

I froze. Did he just say what I thought he said!

The other men drew their swords. But I couldn't move. It was our first day out and already we come across ogres.

"BAH!" someone- or something- screamed into my ear and I exploded. I shrieked loud enough to shatter everyone's eardrums and stumbled to the floor. "P-Please don't eat m-me. . ." I whimpered, tears welling up in my eyes. I couldn't believe I was going die this way.

I heard laughter. Not that of an ogres, but one I knew. . .

Cameron.

I peered over my shoulder and saw Cameron hooting with laughter. "D-Did you see the b-baby!" he managed to choke out in between laughs.

Sir Nicks lowered his sword. "This is no laughing matter. . ."

"Hey, I was just having fun. It was a joke. There are no ogres," Cameron said, straightening up. He took a glance at me and snorted, tossing his blonde hair.

"Young man, if you call one more false alarm, I can assure you that you'll be severely punished," Sir Nicks said, scowling. "Or if it isn't a false alarm, we can hope that the Ogre will go for you first."

Derek knelt down beside me. "Are you alright?"

I was still frozen, still in shock from the previous incident. "So there aren't any ogres?"

He shook his head. "Not that I know of. My father constantly sends a team of trained knights to hunt for ogres. If there were any ogres in the area, we would know."

Suddenly we heard whimpering again. But this time it wasn't from me. Kale stood motionless, his face as while as a flour. "O-Ogres. . ." he stuttered.

Cameron shot him a glare. "Shut up, Kale. Don't try to pull the same prank. That's pathetic."

"N-No. . . th-there's really a-"

The lot turned to where Kale was staring. And sure enough, just about twenty feet away, there was a gang of three of the most hideous creatures I had ever laid eyes upon. Their skin was a shade of greenish gray, with tiny little yellow eyes glowing under clumps of clumpy black hair that randomly sprouted on their scalp.

I couldn't even scream this time.

"EVERYONE PLUG YOR EARS," Sir Nicks cried. He dropped his sword and put his hands over his ears. The others did the same, as did I. Father had told us that ogres were very convincing creatures, and could actually coax humans to walk right into their own deaths.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw someone get off of one of the horses. I looked over and realized it was the old man Derek had given up the horse for earlier.

The old man was talking, though I couldn't hear what he was saying, for I had my hands tightly pressed against my ears. He was headed right towards the ogres, without his sword drawn.

I could feel tears welling up in my eyes but I didn't care. This man was going walking right into a trap!

I looked at around at the other men to see if they were going to do something. And that's when I saw it. Shane was slowly walking towards the ogres too.

I trembled with fear. What was he doing! He was walking closer and closer. . . only about ten feet away from the disgusting monsters.

"STOP SHANE!" I shrieked at the top of my lungs. But it seemed to have no effect on him. The ogre leading him on looked at my brother hungrily, smacking his lips together.

"NO!"

Before I knew what I was doing, I charged after Shane and leapt onto his back. Both of us tumbled to the floor.

"Woah. . . what the-" Shane looked up at me, then at the ogres. His eyes widened.

"RUN!" I heard a voice cry behind me. Suddenly I felt something grab me around the waist so tightly that I couldn't breath. I flailed about, trying to get loose from the grip.

"SSSsstupid SssSsilly little girl."

I heard a gentle slithery voice speak. But it was the strangest thing. I didn't hear it through my ears. I heard it in my head.

"That'sssSss right. . . we know your SsSSSssecret. . . now SssSsstop SssStruggling and come with usssSsss. . ."

Though the words weren't very friendly. . . something about the voice was. . . calming. I stopped my struggle.

"TaSssssSSsty little girl. . ."

I smiled at the creature. Somehow in a matter of seconds he turned from the most disgusting thing in the world to. . . not so bad at all.

I felt something piercing into my arm, right above my elbow, yet at the same time I was numb to it. Whatever was happening, I quite enjoyed it.

Then out of nowhere, the voice stopped and I heard the voices of men around me. The creature let go my waist and I gasped for breath, though I for a moment there I forgot that I wasn't breathing. An excruciating pain enveloped my left arm and I groaned, dropping to the floor.

"We killed off all three of them," I heard someone say.

"Hurry, come to the boys aid!"

"Ahhh. . ." I groaned, as I felt someone wrap something tightly around the wound.

"That was a close call," Sir Nicks said, as he slid his sword into the sheath. He looked down at me. "The young Prince took the head off of your attacker right in time."

He knelt down and examined the wound closely. "You'll be fine. You'll have quite an interesting scar, that's for sure, but there's minimal bleeding. Nothing to worry about."

He patted me on the shoulder. "And you." He pointed at Kale, who was still frozen in the same position he was in when he first spotted the ogres. "Nice call there."

"Is Shane alright!" I asked frantically, looking around for him.

"I'm right here," I heard the familiar voice reply. I sighed with relief.

We spent the next hour venturing into the forest, every one of us constantly on the lookout for ogres.

The sun had been replaced with the moon and a sprinkle of stars was visible in the sky above. I was out of breath and completely sore all over from walking all day, and my arm was still pulsing with pain. I groaned at the thought of having to do this every day. Oh well, that's a small price to pay as long as I get to be with Shane.

Had I not been there, would the men have been able to save Shane in time? I shuddered at the thought of losing him so soon.

"We'll rest here for the night," Sir Nicks announced as his horse came to a stop in the middle of the forest.

I glanced around. There was nothing but trees for miles in every direction.

"John and Henry, you two build a fire. Derek, Cameron, Shane, you help me set up the tent. Kale and Jay, you two feed the horses. . ."

Kale and I headed over to where the horses were stationed. "What do horses eat?" Kale asked, scratching his short brown hair.

I shrugged.

There were a few more moments of awkward silences before Kale spoke up. "I'm sorry about my cousin."

I raised an eyebrow. Who was he talking about? "Your cousin?" I remembered to use a low voice.

"Cameron," he replied apologetically. "He's not always an ass."

I scoffed. "That's hard to imagine." I stared at the horses as they helped themselves to the grass on the floor.

"He lost a brother a few years ago."

I looked up. Kale was staring at the floor, scratching the top of his head. "I'm sorry to hear that," I said softly.

"He would've been around your age by now. How old are you anyway?"

I thought for a moment before answering. "Thirteen," I lied.

"That's about right then. Christian was a great kid."

I nodded. I continued to stare at the horses. "What happened? I mean, how did he. . . you know. . ."

"Well," he started, lowering his voice to almost a whisper. "it was only a few years ago. The kid was near ten at the time, out with a bunch of his little friends. One day he didn't show up for supper. Cameron was the one who searched for him the hardest. He searched out every one of Christian's friends, and questioned them about him, but all they said was that they lost him. They never saw him again. That's why he picks on you. You remind him of Christian."

"Ow!" someone lightly punched my injured arm. It was- who could have guessed- Cameron.

"C'mon, girls, time for bed."

I froze. Girls? Did he know about my disguise? I stared at Cameron in shock, but he was already headed towards the tent. I sighed with relief when I realized that was just one of his insults.

A/N: please review!