A/N: The newly revised chapter 2 of Oracle Chronicles! I like this one better than the other one.
ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΪΫ
Chapter 2
Kiyhua tried his best to ignore the pain in his side. The goblin's cutlass had struck him harder than he had thought it had, and it hurt every time he took an intake of breath. But he knew that he could not turn back now. He remembered very clearly that his parents had told him to stay put and to not go anywhere. He would be in so much trouble if they caught him now. In addition, he wanted to stay with Yiehua until Yiehua got better. But unfortunately for Kiyhua, when he put his mind on something, nothing was going to change it.
If I leave now, then my parents will probably be too relieved to see me when I get back to be angry, Kiyhua mused to himself silently. And Yiehua will be better … I know it. It's his job to get better … Mine to get rid of the goblins that did this to us!
His backpack was getting heavier by the second and he felt like falling asleep in the middle of the path. His sight was getting cloudier and he was feeling drowsier by the minute. But the caravan was just in sight! All he had to do was jump in and get out of town before anyone noticed that he was gone—not that they would care. They'd care about the caravan, but not him. Kiyhua, sniggering at that thought, made his way to the caravan. But just before he reached it, his knees gave out and he collapsed to the ground. He prepared himself for the feeling of hitting the hard ground—
—only to feel two large furry hands grab him right before he fell, and another hand around his waist and shoulders. Kiyhua shook his head clear of the dizziness and muttered softly, "Thanks."
That was when he suddenly became attentive. Someone had just saved him from hitting the ground. Someone with large furry brown and white hands. And that person with the large hands had a friend with normal-looking hands … There were only two people that fit that criteria.
"Naruti! Cody! Get your hands off me!" Kiyhua ordered, slipping out of their grips. He tripped backwards and fell on the ground in a sitting position. "Wh-what are you guys doing here?"
Naruti and Cody both put their hands on their hips and both answered simultaneously with a smirk, "Hanging around."
"Yeah, but why here!" Kiyhua spat out.
Suddenly, he heard a sardonic and arrogant laugh behind him. An exasperated chill ran up his spine as he turned to face Laura. She smirked at him arrogantly.
"You set them up for this, didn't you, bucket head?" Kiyhua snapped.
"I sure did," Laura answered, crossing her arms. "They were too happy to agree. You're not going to steal this caravan. And if you do go out, which I just might let you do, then the three of us are to accompany you."
Kiyhua snorted and turned away from her. "Says who?"
"Well, for one thing, you're injured," Cody said, poking Kiyhua in the back gently. However, it sent the selkie falling to the ground, trying his best not to wake up the entire town with a pain-filled shriek of pain. "See? Now, imagine what a goblin could do to you."
"And second of all, do you think we're stupid enough to send you off with a caravan by yourself?" Laura continued. "You'd probably drive off to who-knows-where and let the rest of us die off from the miasma!"
After finally getting over his pain, Kiyhua stood up and glared down at Laura. "Hey! I'm not going to leave everyone else to die from the miasma! Nuh-uh! If I was going to do that, then I'd bring my family with me!"
"Oh, you would?" Laura asked, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrows.
"Of course I would!" Kiyhua shouted back. "Oh, wait, I forgot. You think I'm heartless."
"Okay you two, enough," Naruti interrupted. "If we're going to do this, then we better do it now."
Cody agreed with Naruti, then he turned to Laura and asked, "Hey, I've been wondering … Why'd you ask Naruti and me to come along with you anyway?"
Laura turned to face him. "Simple. Balance."
The other three just stared at her blankly. Even Naruti, the wise one. "Say what?"
The lilty sighed and shook her head. "I'm a lilty, and I'm the best suited for melee combat and close-distance attacks. Cody is a clavat and he's pretty much useful for any type of fighting—magic, long-distance, or close-distance. Naruti, the yuke, is wise in the ways of the world and magic. And, as much as I hate to admit it, Kiyhua, the useless selkie, may not be so useless because he's fast and good at long-distance attacks, such as the selkie's focus attacks."
When Laura finished talking, she crossed her arms and sized up her future teammates' expressions. Cody didn't seem to care too much about what she said. Kiyhua looked peeved.
"Laura," Naruti said.
"Yeah?" Laura asked, a smug look on her face.
"You talk too much."
Kiyhua blurt into laughter at this statement. He was starting to get really obnoxious. But when Laura raised her spear to strike him upside the head, Kiyhua rolled out of the way, then slapped his hand over his mouth to avoid screaming out in pain. He had accidentally landed right on his wound. After a few seconds, Kiyhua managed to choke down the scream that threatened to escape.
Laura laughed arrogantly. "Serves you right!" she said. "Now come on! We better get out of the town before anyone sees us!"
Cody and Naruti nodded briskly. Cody took his and Naruti's backpacks and stuffed them in the back of the caravan. Laura grabbed the crystal chalice from its place on the podium and put it in the back of the caravan. Naruti helped Kiyhua get back up to his feet, but he emotionlessly refused her help. He did let her help him into the caravan, however. Laura took her place at the reigns, and Naruti and Cody sat in the back. Kiyhua went to sleep inside the caravan.
"Well, it's time to hit the road!" Laura said to her teammates in a no-nonsense voice. To herself, she muttered, "Finally! My dream come true!"
The four hijackers quickly left Oracle as quietly as they could, unaware of the consequences their actions would have a few hours later when Yuri, Ishaow, and Yadin awoke to find the caravan and the chalice missing …
∞∞∞
"Kiyhua is such an idiot," Joseph grumbled angrily, pacing in front of the town's crystal. He couldn't see a thing in the dark, so he occasionally bumped into his friends, who growled every time he did so. Joseph ignored them, muttering to himself, "Now our town is doomed! What'll we do? We can't send out another caravan, because our spare chalice is cracked and we don't have another caravan!"
"Hey, don't worry so much!" Rayon said when Joseph bumped into him again. He had been silent while Joseph worried, but felt that it was his duty to calm his worried friend down. "Laura is with him! And you know that she won't let that idiotic selkie ruin our town!"
"So are Cody and Naruti," Miri pointed out. "I think they're more responsible than the crazy selkie."
Rayon gave Miri an exasperated look. "Right. The three of them are with him. They won't let him mess up our town!"
"You worry too much, Joseph," Ken agreed.
"Yeah, but still …"
"But still nothing," Jason interrupted. "They'll be fine, Joseph. I'm sure that they know what they're doing. Even Kiyhua."
Miri simply scoffed and crossed her arms, turning away from Jason. Joseph sighed and sat down at the foot of the crystal. Rayon patted Joseph's back reassuringly but awkwardly. Ken just closed his eyes and tilted his head down. Jason sighed at his friends' attitudes toward Kiyhua. Sure, the arrogant selkie wasn't at the top of Jason's list of friends, but Jason felt that Kiyhua didn't mean to be such a hassle. Jason actually thought that Kiyhua was afraid. The lilty didn't know what Kiyhua would be afraid of, but he probably had a reason to act the way he did. He wished that the others would give Kiyhua a chance, too. But Joseph and Rayon didn't see him as a person, Tatiana and Ami were terrified of him, and Miri simply hated him. Ken didn't really seem to care about Kiyhua, but Ken didn't really care about anything.
"Man, it's cold tonight," Joseph murmured, hugging his legs to his chest in an attempt to get warm.
"What's a little cold?" Miri retorted arrogantly. "A caravanner can handle this."
"In case you haven't noticed, we're not caravanners yet," Joseph snapped back.
Jason sighed once more as Joseph and Miri squabbled. He, along with his four friends, had been awake for at least an hour. He and the others had been awake since Yuri, Ishaow, and Yadin stormed to Joseph's house, reporting that the caravan and the chalice were gone. A door-to-door search confirmed that Kiyhua, Laura, Cody, and Naruti were the only villagers who were not where they were supposed to be, sound asleep at home.
"Man, Jason, I kind of envy Tatiana and Ami right now," Rayon whispered to him. "I mean, they're fast asleep and they don't have to listen to Miri and Joseph argue."
Jason nodded in agreement. "I wish we could all get back to sleep."
"Well, I think—"
"Children?" Joseph's grandfather's voice pierced the tense atmosphere and silenced Joseph and Miri, who ceased their arguing. The elder limped towards the five caravanners-to-be and inquired, "What brings all of you up at this hour? It's nearly midnight! You should all be asleep."
"We can't sleep while the chalice and caravan are gone!" Joseph retorted.
"They woke me up and dragged me here," Ken replied emotionlessly.
"The town is doomed," Joseph moaned, ignoring Ken.
"Yeah, that selkie has no idea what he's doing," Miri agreed. "And I'm sure that Laura, the clavat, and the yuke are pretty much lost, too."
Rayon struck Miri with an agitated glare once Miri mentioned Laura's name. How dare she badmouth his love!
The elder coughed. "Now, now, Miri, we do not go around questioning other warriors' skills. I'm sure that they'll be back. But for now, you should all be asleep. We'll settle matters tomorrow."
"Yeah, can we go to sleep?" Jason retorted.
"Fine, fine," Joseph responded, sighing. "We'll talk in the morning guys, is that okay with you all?"
"Yeah," they all answered in unison.
"Besides, we may be able to involve Tatiana and Ami in the discussion," Jason pointed out.
The others mumbled in agreement sleepily. Their prominent thoughts were no longer on their missing caravan, but rather, sleep.
∞∞∞
As Joseph, Rayon, Jason, Miri, and Ken shuffled back to their houses to sleep for the night, another group of villagers went to the giant crystal to sort out their thoughts of the four hijackers' departure.
"Man, Kiyhua, why must you be so troublesome?" Xiuhua asked the sky, hitting his head on the crystal rhythmically. "You're such a pain in the butt."
Xiuhua sighed and leaned back on the crystal. Today had been a busy day for him and the last thing he wanted was to hear about Kiyhua's disappearance. Oracle hated the selkie family already. What good would that hopeless brother of his accomplish by taking off with the caravan? Xiuhua wanted to beat some sense into Kiyhua. But that would be impossible, unless he ran after the caravan or something.
"What are you doing here?" a deep, rough, feminine voice demanded of him.
The teenage selkie quickly turned around to see who had spoken to him, and relaxed when he saw that Alyssa and Gale were standing behind him. He would prefer to face them. He'd choose to deal with them over his siblings, his parents, or the elder's family. Or Kelith.
"Well? Aren't you going to answer us?" Gale asked, crossing his arms.
"Why? You already know why I'm here," Xiuhua retorted, closing his eyes and smashing his head against the crystal once more.
Alyssa raised an eyebrow. "If you keep doing that, you're going to get brain damage."
"Wow, I didn't know you cared," Xiuhua replied sarcastically.
"Stop acting like that," Gale said, sitting down on the steps of the crystal stand. "It's why everyone hates you so much."
"Funny, I thought everyone hated me for existing," Xiuhua snapped back. "But … I guess it's a start."
Gale and Alyssa stared at each other. Xiuhua was being irrational, and they expected that. But he was also admitting how he felt. That was something that neither of them had expected. Maybe … maybe Xiuhua wasn't just a selkie. Alyssa and Gale never considered the fact that Xiuhua and his family might be affected by how the town behaved towards them. Maybe it was their fault too…?
Yes, that must be it, Gale thought, feeling a stab of guilt. I can't really say that I've treated any of them like people … Even before they started to cause trouble, I didn't like them much.
Okay, so I was wrong about selkies, Alyssa vented to herself. But I sure as heck am not going to admit it first!
Silence reigned over the three teenagers.
"Look … It's not really a good idea to argue while our younger brothers and sister are out there doing who-knows-what," Gale finally spoke up. "Let's just … Well, I don't know, try to act more civil towards each other."
Alyssa groaned. "I'll try."
"Wow … There's hope for you two," Xiuhua answered.
Gale and Alyssa had fake smiles plastered across their faces as they inwardly thought, This is going to be a disaster!
Xiuhua's smile was also fake, too, as his thoughts said, This sucks! I have to be civil to them?
∞∞∞
While their friends and family worried about them, Kiyhua, Laura, Cody, and Naruti were making good time. They had gotten away from Oracle and Alfitaria as fast as they could. They had hit a crossroad an hour ago, and headed right to collect myrrh at Tida.
Laura was the only one of the four caravanners to be awake. She was completely tired, and she had a hard time keeping her eyes open. It was well past midnight and she felt like falling asleep at the reins. But she knew that she couldn't stop now. If Oracle sent out a search party to look for them, no doubt that they would be caught. And she had a feeling that all of Oracle knew that they were gone. Yuri, Ishaow, and Yadin liked to get up early and leave town in the middle of the night.
She thought about the strange team of warriors that she assembled. She knew that the fact that there was one member of each tribe was pure coincidence. Yes, Laura had lied to Cody, Naruti, and Kiyhua. The reason she took them along was not for balance—she simply couldn't think of anyone else.
Truth be told, Laura had great doubt about Cody's fighting skills. She had never seen in fight, as she always saw him working on his family's farm, or talking about magic with Naruti. But Laura knew that Cody was a better fighter than Tatiana and Ami, who probably weren't even fighters at all. Laura had thought about asking Joseph, but that thought lasted only for a second. Joseph was the elder's grandson, and he would never agree to Laura's crazy scheme. Even worse, he would tell his father and grandfather about it.
Naruti was a definite shoo-in because there were no other yukes in Oracle, and none of the other probable caravanners had magic skills that could match up to Naruti's. If Kiyhua hadn't had the idea to take the caravan, and if the new caravan had been assembled, Laura had no doubt that Naruti would make it. Although Naruti was only able to cast basic spells—Fire, Thunder, Blizzard, Gravity, Clear, Stop, Slow, Haste, and Cure—she was a fast learner and Laura knew that she would be able to learn the advanced levels of these spells fast. The yuke was also learning Holy and Life, two spells which would definitely come in handy in the future.
Kiyhua who had also been named as eligible for the caravan, was quite an enigma. Laura had never seen Kiyhua fight, but seeing how he and Yiehua couldn't even take down five or six goblins by themselves, Laura was staring to doubt his skills. But there wasn't any possible way of changing his mind. If there was one thing Laura knew about selkies, it was that they were persistent. Besides, selkies, were swift, tricky, agile, and skilled at the focus attack. Laura knew that those skills would be useful sometime. Also, if things got really bad, she could always use Kiyhua as a shield. That thought made her smile less. She didn't like Kiyhua, but she did have morals, darn it! She hoped that nothing Kiyhua said or did would make her that mad.
And as for herself, well, Laura liked to think of herself as the best fighter in Oracle. She trained every day, along with her brothers, and took pride in her skills. Although she was somewhat of a show-off in her skills, she wouldn't try to make someone look stupid in public like that no-good Miri. She was proud of her heritage, unlike Ken who never cared about anything. And she took more pride in her skill than Jason, who was always nonchalant about his strength. The only one Laura felt as if she could compare herself to was Rayon. But he always acted like jelly whenever he was around her. And it annoyed her. Besides, he was Joseph's best friend. Laura didn't know where his loyalty lay: to her, or to Joseph. Probably Joseph.
Letting out a big yawn, Laura rubbed her eyes and stared up the hill that the papaopamus had stopped at. They had to go up it. Up the hill lay the old miasma-infested town of Tida, their first destination.
∞∞∞
Morning came by rather quickly in Kiyhua's opinion. The first thing that he felt was the sun's rays piercing his eyes. He rolled over and covered his eyes with his left hand and tried to sit up. Much to his delight, his chest and stomach no longer ached with pain,
"Ha, I knew it was nothing!" Kiyhua muttered to himself victoriously. "It was only a small stab wound. I knew that it'd pass."
"Morning, selkie," a cocky feminine voice said. Kiyhua cocked his head backwards and saw Laura standing there with her hands on her hips. "I'm sure you had a good sleep, huh?"
"Shut up, lilty." Kiyhua forced himself off the ground, although he wanted to stay on the ground and go back to sleep, and got into a standing position. The pain subsided. "And I'm guessing that you stayed awake all night, hm? All you lilties are the same."
The liltian warrior grabbed her spear and arched it over her head. "Look here, I've got my spear and I'm not afraid to use it! So watch your mouth when you're around me and me alone."
The selkie just scoffed and crossed his arms, retorting smugly, "Well, I'm not around you and you alone right now. The clavat and the yuke are also on this caravan, are they not?"
Once she realized that he was right, Laura responded simply by saying, "Well, they're asleep this very moment, so they don't count. Now listen up! I've never liked you and the bad name that you've been giving Oracle. And no one here's going to tell me how to deal with you. So you better start shaping up or else."
Kiyhua just tossed his head back with a scoff and leaned against the caravan wall, his left foot propped on the wall. After a short silence, he said, "All right, Miss All-Mighty Lilty. And can you use your mightiness and superior intellect to my puny, selkie mind to tell me where the heck we are?"
Laura ignored the selkie's sarcasm. "I knew it too well. You are clueless. We are at Tida, you bonehead, and we're collecting our first myrrh drop. After all, we can't let Oracle end up like this dump."
"Careful, I've heard of some caravanners being haunted by spirits of Tida." Both Kiyhua and Laura jumped, then drilled their glares on Naruti, who was now awake. Naruti continued as if Kiyhua and Laura weren't glaring at her. "I think that since Tida is a fallen city and none were able to escape, there would be many lost spirits."
"I'm not afraid of spirits!" Kiyhua answered arrogantly, glaring at the yuke who dared to question his courage.
"Neither am I," Laura added, standing up straight, also indignant that the pathetic yuke had the gall to imply that she, the great Laura, lacked bravery.
"Good, then I guess we're ready to go," Cody said. He was wearing the same friendly smile he always wore when they were back home. "So … We got a plan before tackling Tida?"
"Of course. I've got a few strategies, but I'll have to wait to see what we're facing before I can decide which is appropriate," Laura answered, grabbing her spear and putting on her gauntlets. "I'll fill you in on my strategic codes, so listen up. I'm only going to say them once."
Cody and Naruti nodded, smiling confidently and getting their equipment. But Kiyhua just scoffed and said, "Go ahead with your little … strategic plans. I'm just taking everything by myself head-on."
"Fine." Laura shrugged, and then put on a malicious smirk. "But I'm not going to explain to your family why you're dead when we get back to Oracle."
As Laura, Cody, and Naruti talked about battle strategies for Tida, Kiyhua took his racket in his hands and held it tight as he muttered, "They don't know the first thing about me … Who are they to judge? Those good-for-nothings … I'll show them that I'm not useless!"
ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΪΫ
A/N: So … How was it? Good? Bad? Okay? Tell me!