Chapter Three
Elyan and the Tree Guard
At the appearance of Elyan everyone had jumped to their feet and stood ready for a possible attack. After taking a second to gather their wits about them, Amber stepped forward. Leadership just seemed to come naturally to her. "I'm Amber. Our ship nearly ran out of supplies, if it hadn't been for your island we may have died. If we have violated any of your rules we are most sorry."
"Hey!" Lex protested stepping forward. "We don't have anything to apologize for. It's not like we came here on purpose. They can just deal with us." His comments brought a gasp from Trudy, a "shut up" from May, and several dissaproving looks. Ram smirked and chuckled, drawing a glare from Slade.
Elyan simply shook her head. These strangers survived a boat ride together? The thought seemed incredulous. She turned her attention to the one who called herself Amber. "You have violated no rules, my company and I have seen to that. It was for your own safety, that we have watched over you."
"So someone has been watching us?" Slade asked, stepping forward to stand beside Amber. Elyan merely nodded. "What do you want from us!" Amber held out a hand to calm him.
A snap of Elyan's fingers, brought her friends out of hiding, each of them wore matching tree pendants.The Mall Rats immediately took up a defensive position, putting the younger ones in back of the group. "Easy, easy, now. I said I wasn't going to harm you. This is my company, the Tree Guard." She stepped forward a couple paces and extended her hand to Amber. "I don't want us to get off on the wrong foot, but we must escort you to our main settlement. If you came of your own free will, it would make things easier."
Lex and Ebony both protested the idea at the same time. "How do we know we can even trust them?" Ebony shouted at the same time Lex cried. "Not in a million years would we do that!"
Elyan turned to them and smiled. "First off, if we'd wanted you dead, you would be. From our cover we could have shot you all down, without batting an eye." This brought a wince from many of the large group. "Secondly, you said you landed in need of supplies. From what I can tell, you're refugees, and according to our Code. We must help those in need." She turned back to Amber and extended her hand again. "So will you come with us as guests or prisoners?"
Amber turned to the others, looking at all in turn, she received nods from most of the group. Jay stepped up behind her for support. Turning back she glanced over the Tree Guard and saw that each was armed with a crossbow, so their claim seemed true. Finally she looked to Elyan and nodded slowly. "You seem to speak the truth and being guests is much more preferrable than prisoners. We will accompany you to your settlement." Reaching out, she gripped the offered hand firmly.
Elyan smiled in relief. "Good, you made a wise decision. It's quite a walk, are you all up to it?" Turning to her companions, she pulled out her water bottle and signaled for the others to do the same. "Here," she turned back to Amber and held out her water. "take these. Water was likely in short supply. You must all be thirsty." The Tree Guard approached and each held out a container of water.
Ebony's voice was the first to ring out. "How do we know they haven't poisoned it? They could be trying to drug or kill us."
"Like this." Elyan replied. On her command all the Guard tipped the bottles up and holding them far enough away from their lips to show the flow of water. Each drank a small amount of the clear water. Taking that as enough of a sign, Trudy stepped forward and took a bottle from one and first took a small drink, before holding it for Brady. The others all followed suit. Amber craddled Bray, while Jay gave him some of the water.
"It tastes amazing, like nothing I have ever had before." Salene said, handinga bottle to May.
After taking a drink, May nodded."Yeah, but it may be because we haven't had anything but city water too."
Ruby and Lottie, who were sharing another bottle heartily agreed. "It's even better then some of the purified stuff." Lottie said after a particularly big swallow.
Elyan smiled. "That may be some of it, but we pride ourselves on the springs we get our water from. They are very well-maintained." She turned and spoke to one of her company for a moment. The man nodded. Turning back the the group, she addressed all of them. "The water bottles are yours to keep. We will run across a spring about a mile up the trail if you wish to fill them up again. The entire trek is about three miles so we must get going if we want to make it before sunset."