Chapter Three
I started to walk home, keeping my ears alert for any noise. Walking through guard territory was dangerous, especially at night when the dogs were up. I kept my eyes on the ground, making sure there were no dry twigs or leaves in my path. It was well past nine, so hopefully most of the guards would have already returned to the castle. My thoughts traveled to Phil. Was he really trustworthy? Now that he knew where I lived…should I go move in with Carrie and her camp? No, that would probably just bring more danger to them than they already had to deal with. I wanted to know what made Phil different from all the other guards. Why did he care about us Atovas?
I heard rustling. Out of pure instinct, I instantly pulled out my dagger. Spinning around slowly, I scanned my surroundings, trying to see through the thick cover of darkness. The noise came closer, drawing in slowly. I saw something coming at me. Two somethings…no, three. As they came closer I recognized Carrie. Dean and Hazel were behind her.
"Dan." She said, slightly out of breath as she reached me. She grabbed me into a hug. "Where on earth have you been?"
"I…uh..." I hadn't thought about if I should tell them or not. If I did, I'd be called 'stupid' for trusting a guard, and they'd want to use me to lure Phil into a trap. If I didn't, I'd have to lie and make up some stupid excuse for where I was. But they trusted me. They trusted me to tell them the truth. Dean and Hazel came running up. They weren't as fast as Carrie, but those two could put up a fight. I then realized that Carrie's knives were bloody, and Dean had his bow in his hands. Hazel's katana was also a bathed in crimson. All three of them had cuts littering their faces and arms.
"Nevermind me, what happened to you?" I asked, dismayed.
My ears pricked up as a noise erupted from the bushes where the three of them had emerged.
"Run!" Dean yelled. We took off.
"Where to!?" Carrie screamed.
"My place!" I shouted.
"No, not safe anymore." Hazel breathed as we ran.
"Camp! NOW!" Dean said hastily, making a right turn into a bush. We followed. The bushes concealed a sudden drop, leading to their underground camp. We all tumbled in. Finn was there with Louis. His chest was bloody, but was sitting up in his chair. Louise was crouching next to him, rubbing some sort of homemade ointment around his wound. Finn winced in pain.
"You're back." Louise said standing up. "Oh. Hello, Dan."
I nodded at her.
"Dan. Please tell us where you were." Carrie implored whilst she applied a bandage to Dean's head.
There was a rumbling above us, and the ceiling shook slightly. Whoever was chasing us had just passed, thundering by.
"Can you tell me what happened to you guys first?" I asked, attempting to buy some time to think about what I should tell them. Hazel sighed deeply.
"Carrie came over here and told us the guards were at your place, so we got ready to fight. After ten minutes of waiting, we came to your tree. You and all the guards were gone. We started walking around looking for you. A few hours passed. We saw someone walking around. He was wearing brown and green, so we assumed he was one of us. He wasn't. He was a Hious, but he wasn't wearing bright red."
I barely restrained my gasp. Was it Phil they had found?
I asked for a description of him, trying to sound unconcerned.
"Black hair, blue eyes." Finn muttered.
"And surprisingly pale." Dean added. My heart stopped. Did they…hurt him?
"What…what'd you do?" I asked. The fact that I was afraid to hear the answer clearly showed how much I liked Phil, but I wouldn't let my myself dwell on that thought.
"Louise gave him a crack on the head with her bat, but instead of fighting he ran." Hazel explained.
"What a bloody coward," mumbled Louise.
"Yeah well, coward or not, we chased him down. Finn tripped on a sharp rock and got a massive cut, so Louise took him home." Dean said.
"Well what about Ph-" I stopped myself. I can't tell them his name, or that I know him. Not until I know if he's still alive. "iiinnn. What about Finn, will he be alright?"
"With some rest, he'll be fine." Carrie replied.
I sighed in relief. I had played that off fine.
"Oh, good." I forced a small laugh. I started to sweat. I needed to know what happened to Phil. "Did this guard get away?"
"Yeah, unfortunately," said Carrie. "But a few others came."
"And we put up a fight," Hazel interrupted proudly, cleaning off her katana. They all nodded.
"Heck yeah we did!" Dean stood up triumphantly. "But a lot more came, so we had to run." He sat back down.
Yesterday, if this conversation would have come up, I would be right there with them, swearing and spitting at those cowardly guards, but now I just silently nodded, awaiting the next time Phil would visit me. I had some questions for him.
"So where were you that entire time?" Carrie asked suspiciously.
"Oh I..."
'Tell them the truth! They trust you!' My mind yelled.
"I was about to sneak out and return to you guys, but I felt someone hit me over the head, and I blacked out. I woke up a bit later. Apparently, guard tied me up. He was really weak, though. He was easy to take out." I laughed nervously. Would they believe me? They seemed to.
"Ha! Bet you showed him who's boss 'round here!" Dean cheered.
"Uh…yeah." I took a sip of the water Hazel had given me.
"Right well, we'd better be off to bed." Louise said, standing up. "Dan, are you staying overnight?"
"I guess I will."

The next morning I woke up -surprisingly early- and jumped out of the camp into the bright morning sun. I walked to my tree which was actually still standing. Had the guards not found it? Hazel had said it wasn't safe anymore…but everything seemed to be just how I left it. Including Phil's coat and belt on the floor. Better hide that. Should I give him the weapons? I still didn't completely trust him. After tidying up a bit, I went outside to look for some food. This was always dangerous, but I of some good hunting grounds the Hious didn't know about. I walked into the darker part of the forest that eventually led to the shoreline.
I had trapped a rabbit, and had it tied in a sack on my back. I heard a twig snap. Instinctively, I grabbed my dagger and swung around. Silence. Was that just an animal? Suddenly, a rock came flying at my head, just barely missing me. Another rock attacked me from the bushes, hitting my wrist. My dagger flew out of my hand, landing a few feet away from me. I screamed in pain. Blood started to drip down my arm. Who was my assailant? The bush that the rocks came flying from went still. I glanced around. Spotting my dagger, I ran towards it. Unexpectedly, someone jumped out of the bushes and tackled me, landing directly on top. He wasn't wearing a red coat, but instead had a black cloak on.
I received a punch to the nose, and another to my lip. I hit the unknown figure back with equal force. He seemed dazed, but soon recovered and pinned my wrists down. The pain was excruciating. He applied the most pressure to my damaged one, caused by the rock. My wrists burned, but I had lived through much worse. I struggled to fight back, but the man in the cloak was too strong. I kicked hard, shaking him up considerably. His black hood fell off revealing a boy, probably a year or so older than me, with brown hair. He looked surprised that it fell back, but didn't do anything about it, just kept pressing down on my wrists. I felt all the blood leaving them. He pulled off his grip. I lifted up my hand, ready to fight, but they fell back down. There were huge bruises on them that hurt immensely when I attempted to move them. It felt like an unknown force was pinning me to the hard ground, but this man had let go, now fingering my belt. He pulled out an extra pocket knife I kept in it. I could tell some blood was returning to my wrists, so I got ready to launch myself at him, when he grabbed my neck, forcefully pulling me up. He threw me down again. This time I landed on my stomach. I coughed hard as I hit the ground. He grabbed my already bruised and aching wrists and started tying them together, the rope burning my skin. I tried to fight back, but I was too exhausted and pain-wracked to do anything. Would anyone find and save me? I had ventured deep into the forest, where, chances are, no one entered. The unknown figure kicked my side. I started coughing harder, tasting blood in my mouth. Was I going to be taken to the castle? He wasn't a guard, or at least he wasn't wearing red. The birthmark. Why hadn't I looked before? I lifted my head upwards, my eyes searching for him. He was sitting there, looking at me, while sharpening my pocket knife on a small rock making a horrible screeching noise. His right shoulder was covered.
There was a rustling heard in the trees around us.
"Stay there," He commanded. "Although, you really have no choice, do you?" He grinned sadistically. He got up and walked into the forest. I frantically looked around. Where was my dagger? It had fallen out of my hand…I scanned the ground. Ah! There it was, hiding under some dried leaves. I rolled, painfully, over to it. How do I pick it up and use it? I heard a loud 'crack' from behind me, followed by a groan of pain. What was happening? Did my captor fall and hurt himself?
The cloaked man ran back to where I was. He grabbed my arm tightly and pulled me up, his fingernails digging deep in my skin. He then used me as a shield against whatever was coming. Out of the darkness came Phil, his blue eyes blazing. He looked at me and smiled, I instantly felt safer, which was odd considering I'd never felt that way about a guard.
"Charlie!" He shouted. "You little creep!"
Wait…Charlie!? Charlie as in betrayed-Carrie-and-tried-to-kidnap-her-Charlie?!
I heard him whimper behind me. He pushed me down and my body fell on the rough ground with a thud. I groaned. I had fallen close to my dagger. Dangerously close. Charlie ran straight toward Phil, my pocket knife in his hand. Phil moved out of the way, giving him a good a knock on the head with his fist.
"Phil," I whispered. I didn't notice how much my throat had been hurt from Charlie's grasp.
Phil looked over at me, spotted the dagger, and ran up grabbing it. With one swift movement from Phil's hand, Charlie lay dead on the ground.