Chapter12

AN. Ths chptr is a bt werd so plez tll me wht u thnk.

Aphei was scared. The more she thought about it the more she tried to deny it. Fiscaan was were she wanted him, why was she not happy? Amonsovn was in the forest for her green belt, she would be out in two more days, if she was going to come out, and Aphei would then have protection and someone to help her if something like that happened again. She should be happy, but then again she could not help thinking about the other thing she might have to do.

Amonsovn did not scream but anyone else would have done, the pain was so terrible. Then suddenly it was all gone. She opened her eyes, surprised. She stared. Her leg was still there, attached to her body. Her trouser leg was soaked with her blood but there was no mark of where the creature had been. Then she heard screaming.

'Gods' she thought, 'as if I don't already have enough on my plate as it is.'

She headed towards the sound of the scream. There seemed to be some sort of echo to it, it always seemed to come from a slightly different place than the last. Mostly it was just terrible cries like the ones that had threatened to rip through her when that creature had attached itself to her leg. If it really had that is, well the blood was there and the pain had been real enough. Every now and again she heard words though, mostly cries for help and sometimes screams for the pain to stop.

Amonsovn stumbled and fell. She looked up. She had fallen over a collection of sharp, jagged rocks surrounded a dark cave mouth. The horrible, echoing screams were reverberating from there. She drew Sagiaturiaris and began to advance slowly into the dark, ignoring the slow drip her of hot, sticky blood down her leg and from the numerous small cuts she was gaining. It was very dark but she could make out the jagged cave protrusions from the floor and ceiling of the tunnel like cave. The tunnel was twisting and turning but an eerie green glow seemed to be coming from the other end. It certainly was not daylight.

Amonsovn turned another sharp bend and stepped out into a huge cavern of black rock. It was filled by an enormous lake. She could not tell the source of the green glow but it was thrown around the cave in shards and mists. In the centre of the lake there was a tiny island. On it there seemed to be a huge, hulking, black thing, barley visible in the green light and it was bending over something that was making the screams.

She looked down at the bottomless waters between her and the island. She did not like to think what might be at the bottom of that. She stepped into the shallow edge. The ripples spread out from where she had disturbed the glassy smooth surface. She watched them flow onwards.

'Wait a minute,' she thought, 'that's not right.'

Some of the glinting green ripples were undulating back towards her. Fast. She leapt back from the water just in time as something burst forth where she had been standing a moment ago. She caught a brief glimpse of ferocious fangs, then it slipped back below the surface. The ripples quickly dispersed and there was no sign of the previous disturbance.

'Gods and Goddesses, what next!' Amonsovn thought in astonishment. It was sort of unreal the way these things with teeth kept coming at her. She could see why this was said to be the hardest part of the test. Gishkain the blue stealth gold belt was also said to mark this part of the test. Well she certainly did not want to leave that pitiful thing, what ever it was, on the island with that other thing. Even if it did defeat the thing it would be trapped.

Amonsovn began to walk around the narrow strip between the cave wall and the lake waters. There seemed to be an old, dilapidated boat half in half out of the lake. She went over to it and looked around suspiciously. It seemed a little too convenient. Oh well, she could not see any other to the island besides swimming and she was not about to do that.

Amonsovn gently pushed the boat out into the lake, she had practised this with her old canoe for fishing, and it created no ripples. It still appeared to float alright. Carefully she climbed in and found an old oar at the bottom of the craft. Very convenient. She shrugged and silently slipped the oar into the water and gently propelled herself away from the shore, from safety.

The boat was old and rickety. Gently she pushed against the waters on the other side of the craft. There was a faint cracking noise. She watched in dismay as two, solitary ripples of doom spread away from the side. The two suddenly increased and turned, straight as an arrow back at her. She drew Sagiaturiaris and swung as the ripples burst before her. There was a spray of blood. She had hit something, but no ordinary something, the blood that was now mixing with her own was black, green-black. A single, large, hooked tooth had fallen at her feet. She bent to touch it but then drew her hand back in pain and watched as the tips of her fingers bled, glowing green.

There was a sudden, ear-splitting thud which echoed out through the momentary stillness. The whole boat shivered and cracked. Black water was flooding into a great rent across the bottom of the boat. There was another thud followed quickly by another, there seemed to be more than one of the creatures. As she saw something flash below the boat she thrust Sagiaturiaris through the gap in the bottom. There was a horrible shriek from below. Blood spurted.

'That's also very odd.'

She thought. It was more a shade of purple than green. Thoughtfully she pulled the remainder of her shirt off leaving her in her chest band, soaked in blood, with Sagiaturiaris on her back. She rapped the tattered cloth around her hand and picked up the tooth. The poison quickly devoured the blood but left the cloth untouched. Amonsovn smiled. Quickly her hand darted down into the waves below her in the slowly sinking boat. There was another, long, wailing, shriek and the waters filled with green and purple-black blood. The creature thrashed and writhed. The little craft bucked and in the tumult Amonsovn brought it as close to the shore as she could and leapt.

Amonsovn staggered to her feet. She was tiered and had no idea when she had last slept. The hulking creature on the island was before her and the waters behind her were frothing violently. She still held the fang. She lobbed it at the creature. There was a loud explosion. Amonsovn blacked out.

This was the second day Amonsovn had been in the forest. Aphei hoped she was doing alright. She had been down to tend the Brute yesterday and had numerous cuts and bites for her troubles. The Brute respected Ara, nobody else. She went down to the stables at the back of the military area, it was early in the morning and she was tiered, she would just get the Brute out in the field, deal with his stable and get out of there. She walked around the corner and froze. Leaning nonchalantly against the Brutes stable door was Fiscaan Bandrrok. Aphei yelled out a warning just in time so the Brutes teeth closed with a snap around empty air.

Fiscaan eyed the Brute then turned to Aphei with a rueful smile of thanks. His eyes widened taking her in. She suddenly felt very self-conscious, she was wearing old, dirty trousers and a casual shirt that did not cover enough right then for her self comfort.

"'xc's' me." She mumbled pushing past him. Yes, she was supposed to be flirting with him but she could not bring herself to do it yet. She would wait until Amonsovn had come out of the forest, if she was going to that is. Throwing the rope head collar around the Brutes nose and ears she hid behind the chestnuts gnashing teeth and brought him out to the fields with the minimum bruises. She dashed back into the safety of the stable. Fiscaan was watching her curiously.

'Sht' She thought. She had left the muck fork leaning against the stable wall. Fiscaan passed it to her. Blushing, Aphei took it with a mumbled thanks and then threw herself into the work. She could not get a servant to do this as the Brute was so vicious and anyway, it was Ara's horse, that seemed significant to her. Fiscaan then had a shot at starting a conversation with her.

"I wouldn't have expected to see you down here." he said. She grunted. "It doesn't seem like the sort of thing a lady would do. But everyone does say you and that warrior girl are quite close. She's a funny one isn't she. You know most of the men I know wouldn't mind getting to know her better." Aphei let him burble on, grunting at him only when he asked a question. Then she stormed off in a cloud of embarrassment to get rid of the muck.

She came back, keeping her head down, refusing to blush again. He grabbed her hand as she was leaving

"Aphei," He said putting a cool hand under her chin, making her tilt her head up and look at him, "Aphei, I'm sorry if I scared you the other day. I'm sorry and," He took a deep breath, "I was hoping you would let me take you out somewhere, tonight maybe, and let me make it up to you." Aphei squirmed. "It'll be alright," He assured her, "I promise."

'He has very nice eyes' Aphei found herself thinking. 'What harm can it do? It's what I'm supposed to be doing, isn't it?'

"Alright" she said. "Where?"

"I was thinking of a little favourite of mine, it's a restaurant called The Night Rose. Is that alright?"

"Yes." Aphei smiled, "That would be fine."

Someone was sponging her brow. Amonsovn opened her eyes. There were two dark hazel eyes about an inch from her face framed with light hair. They leapt back in surprise. It was one of the other novices taking his test at the same time as hers. She looked about. She was in a tiny clearing of the forest with a small fire in the middle taking up most of the space with a pot cooking over it. She was lying on her back under her single blanket. It did not look like she had been out for that long, her cloths were still covered in blood, hers and the lake things.

She sat up. The other novice was watching her. He was quite tall, only a little shorter than her, and was quite muscular as befitted his chosen weapon, a battle axe. It was an impressive thing with large double blades well made but with little decoration besides a funny amber stone and a few markings she could not see. She knew where she was. They were quite near the little stream she had found.

"Do you mind if I go and bathe?" She asked. The novice shrugged,

"You can if you want to." He answered. Amonsovn rose stiffly. "I'm Kietaan." He added as an after thought.

"Amonsovn." She said without thinking and walked off, grabbing the few things she had with her, the novice must have found her stuff as they were not far from where she had been. She found the brook and walked down stream a little way. It broadened into a small pool before a large pile up of old fallen branches created a miniature water fall. She slid in to the sun warmed water. From the sun it looked about mid afternoon.

'Only one more day' She thought. 'One more day and I'm a green belt.' She freed most of the blood from the cloths although the lake creature's blood was reluctant to come out and there were faint stains still visible when she had finished. It felt good to be clean after all the blood she had had on her. Her leg was covered by a deep scar. She had no idea why but it looked like it had happened years ago. She also had a lot of minor cuts but that was normal and nothing was serious. She also gave Sagiaturiaris a good clean although the battered sheath and straps had gained more stains.

She spent most of the afternoon in the pool. She was very tiered and may have even slept at one point. She was thankful that it was over. Survival in the forest was second nature to her so the next day would be fine. She would be found the next day in the evening, they probably kept tabs on all the people with the blues, and it would all be over. It was traditional for them to go out partying all night with their very first payment and spend most of it straight away, she could not be bothered to do anything about that. She thought about the test. No one ever spoke of it. The black elites test was only whispered about and no one ever said what they thought actually happened. There was all sorts of talk, men's bodies never being found, terrible nightmares and such like coming to haunt you even after you passed the test, some even said they were more than simple nightmares. Amonsovn really did not care at that point in time. She was just glad she had passed the test.

AN. Nthin mre is happnin 2 amonsovn in the forst now, zats it! Finly I've finshed it! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY! Now PLEZ review. I'm begging u!