Okay so I planned on updating this yesterday but I guess laziness won out. Sorry... But it's up now and pretty long. I hope you enjoy it. (((:

Chapter 5

Once we left and headed towards camp the odd realization of our situation hit me. The last time we saw Ido was when we were running from Sethon, and he said he would distract him so we could get away. The memory hit me like a smack in the face;

"I thought you were a story" He raised the sword hilt, the blade point barely lifting from the ground. "Go, I'll keep them away from the grate as long as I can."

"You can hardly hold the sword."

"You forced this new generosity on me, so don't waste it," he said harshly. "Get out of here."

(Goodman 213).

He was going against Sethon, he shouldn't be alive and well. Maybe alive, but certainty not well, at all.
"Eona? Eona?" Ryko was shaking me, I looked at him coming out of my reverie. His face looked panicked.
"Yes?" I asked nonchalantly like nothing was wrong.
He gave a slight sigh then said, "Eona, you stopped dead while we were walking. You froze. What's wrong? And don't tell me nothing because I know that's not the case."

My eyes widened as I remembered. Then I ran, like I never have before. I sprinted back to where I was talking to Ido. I tripped a few times, jumped over some bushes, my dress was getting caught on branches. But I didn't care I had to get back to that tree. I burst through the trees my eyes frantically searching for something that wasn't there. He wasn't there. He was never there, it was an illusion, or someone in disguise. Probably both. My mind was speeding through scenarios that could and will happen because of this. The only way out of this forest was back past the camp. He couldn't have gotten out of this forest without us knowing and he sure as heck couldn't of got back to camp without us knowing. Then I heard a thump, and that panicked me even more, I spun around and ran back towards camp. Listening for the noise, but I bumped into something large and hard, it was Ryko. He grabbed me. I struggled out of his grasp,
"Let-Me-Go!"
"Eona, what's wrong?" He sounded confused at my reaction.
"We have to get back to camp!" I screamed at him.
"Why?"
"It was a trap! We have to get there now!" I said lower than before, so in case someone was listening. Although it wouldn't help me much now. I mean, I screamed at him before. Ryko nodded once understanding my urgency and let me go. He grabbed my wrist and ran back towards camp. I can't believe I didn't see it before! How could I be so blind? Better yet, how could I be so naive? We ran and ran, and it felt like it was taking forever. I just ran and hoped, and prayed, that Sethon's men didn't make it to camp before we did. We ran for a few minutes more, and lights were coming into view. Ryko slowed down as we got closer, but all I wanted to do was burst into camp and make sure everyone was okay. Well truthfully, I wanted to burst into camp and hurt the jerk who tried to kiss me, but I guessed that could wait until later. We crept up in the bushes and peered into camp, everything seemed alright. Ryko made a move to walk into camp, but I stopped him. Something seemed wrong, it was quiet but it was eerily quiet. It wasn't healthy. Then something occurred to me,

"Ryko, how did you find me?"

He looked taken aback but quickly regained his composure, "I knew where you were the whole time. I followed you to make sure you were okay."

He was lying, his voice was slightly night pitched. If he knew where I was the whole time then Lady Dela shouldn't be worried, not at all. And they wouldn't have been calling out to me in the evening, looking for me. "Oh," I said not wanting to give it away that I suspected something, "okay."

He looked at me curiously. Then looked away and when he did I slowly edged away towards the woods more.

"Eona?" He asked noticing I was farther away. "What's wrong now? Dela will be very worried if we don't head in soon."

"Why don't you head in. I think I'll just stay out here for a while, it's a nice night." I said at risk of sounding like a complete airhead.

"What?" He sounded almost annoyed, "We have to go now Eona."

"I don't have to go anywhere." I said, and my tone changed, it was more assertive now.

Then he got frustrated and reached for my arm, I tried to dodge but he was close enough as it is. His grip was iron hard and—wait. That's Ryko's bad hand, the one Ido injured. Then it hit me, this wasn't Ryko. I tried to wrestle out of his grasp, but he held on tighter. He was bruising my arm, and now I was positive this wasn't Ryko. But how? First Ido, now Ryko? How are they disguising themselves?

The better question is, why?

"We're heading in now." He growled, and drug me into camp. Then in the moonlight I could see that he was a Ryko look alike. In the pitch dark you can't tell him from the actual Ryko. Somebody is going through a whole lot of trouble to get me back to camp. Have they found out who I am? As my mind raced through ways out of this I realized I still had my swords. I almost smacked myself at how oblivious I was being. My free hand felt around for the hilt of my sword, and once I found it I slowly drew it out. Careful not to make a sound. Once it was out, I took a deep breath to relax myself. I had to get my energy centered so I could focus, but the energy coursed through my veins, like fire, and I no longer felt tired. I lifted my sword to slash out at him, but he turned sensing something wrong, and at the very last second dodged my blow. I only managed to give him a small cut on the arm. He let go of me and backed away, as did I. His eyes were confused, but full of anger.

"And where did you get that from, little girl?" He asked as he drew out his sword, wasting no time, he then lunged at me. But he was off balance as he struck. I saw this and easily dodged and blocked him with my sword. Our swords met with a clang of metal, and he grunted and reached for his other sword. I grabbed mine, and just managed to make sure his sword didn't hit my head.

He laughed, "Give it up girly." This only made me more determined,

Dragon whips tail.

Kinra's ancient knowledge was in my mind once again. I listened and dropped low to the ground, catching him off guard. Then not hesitating like last time I swung my legs around and his legs were swept from under him. He stumbled a and fell, and I went for his leg. But he cut me off by waving his sword near my neck so I had to block; but I managed to cut him but not as deep as I had wanted. His hand went for his leg as he yelled in pain and I took this as an opportunity to try and finish this up. I brought my sword up around my head and with all the force I could gather. And headed straight for his back. Seeing as he was rolled over on the ground from me forcing him. I hit him and it knocked the wind out of him. But he wasn't down for long, as soon as I tried to get away he grabbed my leg. And dragged me to the ground. As I was trying to crawl out of his grip, I kicked him in the face, I only succeeded in making him even more furious., but it made me feel a bit better. This time he screamed profanities at me and tackled me, so I couldn't try anything, and he reached for my swords. I tried to throw my one sword away from him, but he caught it as I threw and stood over me. I went for my other sword but he stomped on my stomach with his foot. My eyes went wide and I let out a strangled wheeze.

"Now lets see how good you are, hmm?

He reached for my other sword, and said,

"I'm not sure where you learned that, but I do know I'm going to kill you." He smiled evilly, and raised my sword high above his head and aimed straight for my chest.

He brought it down but made the mistake of losing his grip on me to keep me down, and I rolled away from him. He cursed to himself as he tried to pull the sword out of the ground. My body was almost weak with relief but it wasn't over yet. I reached for my other sword, shaking and at that point he was coming at me again with my other sword. Our—well my—swords connected and an overwhelming energy surged between us. We were both launched away from each other and ended up flat on the ground. I coughed and was breathing heavily and I was tempted to just lay there but I knew better. I didn't want to kill him but I decided he left me no other choice. When I managed to get up, I stabbed my sword straight into his chest, not really caring whether I hit his heart or not. He made a sort of strangled sound and dropped my sword. I collapsed onto the ground as I slipped both swords into my belt and turned to run back into the woods. I almost made it when three guys, came walking seemingly out of nowhere, and stared between me and the Ryko imposter. They saw the swords on my belt and slowly made the connection. They lunged at me and I tried to dodge but at this point I really had no energy to struggle and my adrenaline was spent. They grabbed at me and debated on whether or not to kill me.

"She killed him!" A strangely high but rough voice accused.

"But he wants her alive." A more authoritative voice reminded.

"I don't care—"

"Well, I do, and she's coming into camp alive, whether you like it or not."

Then when it was decided my swords were roughly taken away from me and thrown to the ground. I would have screamed, if there was anyone in camp to hear me. I wondered what happened while I was gone? No one was around maybe they got away, either that or I've failed everyone again and they're all dead. I thought as they dragged me on and on. I looked up at the moon. It was already up high in the sky, and under the moonlight I could see the guys that were dragging me. They were being rough on purpose, and anywhere they touched most likely had a bruise. We walked to the middle of camp, where the fire would be if everyone was still here. We passed empty tents, and belongings people probably just left when they realized what was happening. Most of the tents were ripped, objects were strewn around everywhere too. I looked around to see anything familiar, but the tents I wanted to see were the only tents I didn't see... Lady Dela's and Kygo's tent. My brows furrowed, either this meant that they got away, which I could only hope. Or it meant that Sethon has already gotten to them, and the gods only know what would happen if Sethon got to them before I do. Then suddenly they all let go of my arm, and threw me on my knees in front of a tent, in the middle of a clearing. Which used to be where everyone gathered to eat. Then as if on cue,

Sethon stepped out from the abandoned tent I was in front of.

Great, I thought as he came nearer. As I came face to face with the high lord Sethon. No—he didn't deserve to be called a high lord. Sethon gave me a thin smile, that frankly creeped me out. Then my familiar fear of him, crept through me. I was beginning to get a sense of dread, and I almost welcomed it. Dread has been my friend for years now. Then I thought of my dragon, and everyone that needed me. So I mentally shook myself, I was not going to be defeated that easily. Not if I could help it, at least. He killed Lady Julia, and he killed innocent peoples. These things should have scared me but they didn't. Instead my cheeks were heating up with anger, I dared not sit here and stare at the ground. Like the scared lamb they thought I was. I was not one of Sethon's followers, as far as I was concerned Sethon was nothing. So I lifted my head trying not to flinch when I saw the bruises on my arms. Then my eyes traveled until they found his eyes. His eyes were hard, and oddly didn't look malicious. But I knew better than to think he wasn't malicious.

"Now, who do we have here?" He smiled down on me like I was a small toddler. I grimaced at the fact, I was not a small child.

"Her name is Eona, Sir." One of the men said, "I'm not sure who she is but everyone we caught refused to give up any information on her. So—"

"There has to be a reason." Sethon interrupted him, sounding thoughtful. He looked around,

"Where's Ryko?" He smirked, and I knew he meant the imposter Ryko that's dead at the entrance to the camp.

"He's dead, Sir." Another man said glaring at me, I recognized him as the man that wanted me killed on the spot."She," He said it like I was the plague, "Killed him." Then he looked back to me his gaze questioning.

"I see, stand." He ordered, I wasn't sure why but I was feeling oddly confident.

I'll stand when I want to, not under the order of you.

Was what I wanted to say but like anyone in my current situation, I couldn't. Partially because he might kill me, and I—no one—can afford for me to be killed and for fear of him recognizing my voice. So I stayed silent in my awkward position on the dirt staring at him.

He looked at me, not angry, but amused. I looked at the men around him and they looked furious.

"Want me to teach her how to listen?" A man growled coming closer to me with his hand raised.

"No." Sethon said stopping him, "No," he repeated softer, then he turned back to me and held out his hand,

"Would you mind please standing up?" He asked, and his eyes proposed a challenge. I almost laughed at the gesture, it wasn't one of politeness. It was one of pure amusement. I debated whether or not to stand up. I knew his patience would run out eventually, I just didn't know when. And at that moment I decided I didn't care. He chuckled at me,

"Okay then, suite yourself. You can stay there until you decided to talk. Meanwhile I'm sure I can get one of your friends to talk for you." I raised my eyebrows as he snapped his fingers. Then the same men who brought me in, brought a girl out. My eyes widened as I instantly recognized the head of fiery hair before me.

Kyra.

I tried to regain my composure quickly but Sethon had already seen my expression. He knew that I knew this girl and he was going to use her against me. I pitied Kyra, she was so innocent. She shouldn't get hurt because of me.

"Now." He said going to stand next to her. "Tell me why you're so special and she won't get hurt. But I'm warning you now, if you don't' answer I'll make her answer." He smiled to himself, like we were old friends that shared an inside joke, and asked again,

"Who are you?"

"You know who I am." I said quickly and quietly, while trying to sound like I wasn't having an internal meltdown.

His eyes narrowed, "You know that's not what I mean. Now tell me, what I want to know."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, and Kyra please forgive me, I didn't answer.

"Answer me." He growled. I guess he wasn't used to not having things his way. What a spoiled child, I thought as I kept my eyes closed trying to center myself. I needed my dragon, she was the only way I was getting out of this. I tried to relax myself into my mind's eye, but Sethon's slapping me brought me far from relaxed.

"Tell me!" He sounded frustrated, and I realized I'd made him reach his last inch of patience. Then I watched as he slowly realized he was losing his composure, and he spoke more softly.

"I'll hurt her if you don't tell me."

Hm, why did that sound familiar?

I glanced at Kyra hoping she understood. She gave me a look that said she did. She held her head up high as they walked over to her. I closed my eyes trying to center myself as I heard her piercing screams fill my ears. My breaths got quicker and more labored as I listened but I refused to give in. I slipped into my mind sight and searched for my dragon. There she was, sitting there patiently and next to her was the Rat dragon.

"Help me," I thought, "what can I do?"

"Focus", she said, " focus on what you want and it'll all be clear."

I took a deep breath and focused on getting away, focused on defense to help us get awau. But as soon as I did I felt like I was going to be ripped apart. I let out a strangled breath, and cried out suddenly. My dragon screamed and reared towards the problem.

The problem was the other ten energy dragons.

So sorry for the cliffhanger. Maybe you'll review now? Hmm? Aha, just kidding I'll update asap! I promise! I really hope you liked it!