Chapter 4: Surprise Attack

Zephynn started regretting his decision to allow Janice at his side almost immediately after they had taken the first steps away from the caravan. The girl would not stop talking. She rambled on about her training and skillset. He was sick of listening to her talk, and had stopped listening to her after about five minutes. Zephynn was tempted to stab her and be done with it right then and there. But Zephynn was Zephynn; a young man with enough experience to know that stabbing someone can greatly affect one's mental stability. And Zephynn certainly wished to keep his mental stability as it was, so he kept his cool.

He chose to lead the talkative Janice and her little dragon Theseus northeast in order to avoid the forest that they were headed towards. They now walked along the foot of the mountain range. They were a few miles away from the outer edge of the shoreline when the sun left them. They stopped where they were and pitched camp.

"Don't you think it would be safer if we just found a town?" Janice asked.

"I don't have any money on me," said Zephynn, "We'd be sleeping on the cold hard streets instead of the softer ground."

"Well if you're going think that way, why don't we go into the forest?" Janice asked, Theseus curling up in her lap. Zephynn shook his head.

"You don't want to know what is in that forest," said Zephynn, "Trust me, I know, and I don't want to remember it."

"What happened?" Janice followed up quickly. Zephynn didn't respond.

"Come on, don't do this again," said Janice, "It's not going to do you any good to bottle it up. That's what the boss said to me anyways." Zephynn continued his little silent treatment.

"Fine, be that way," said Janice, "I didn't want to know anyways." She crossed her arms. A few moments passed. Neither of them said anything.

"Come on, please!" Janice pleaded. Zephynn still didn't respond. Theseus snored a little in her lap. Janice's brow furrowed. She petted her little dragon on the back and then lifted him off of her lap. Then she stood up and walked over to Zephynn, proceeding to give him a large smack across the back of his head. Zephynn fell to the ground.

"Tell me what happened!" Janice demanded. Zephynn couldn't contain his emotions. He got up to his feet and turned around to her, tears almost streaming from his eyes.

"You want to know!?" he almost yelled, "I'll tell you! I was in that forest when hundreds of people were killed at the hands of monsters! My sister... friend! Was almost trapped in an eternal sleep by the river that flows through that cursed land! Do I need to list anymore reasons that that forest will not be entered unless dire circumstances arise!?" Janice was startled. Zephynn receded to a sitting position and began to cry from the overwhelming memories. Theseus woke up and stared at them worriedly. He scurried to climb to Janice's shoulder.

"I… I'm sorry…" said Janice, "I didn't mean to…" She couldn't find her words. She had no idea how emotionally scarred he must have been from going into that forest. She sat down with him. He turned away from her.

"Look, I'm sorry," she said, "It's a force of habit. I always want to know things. That's how I was raised." Zephynn kept on crying. Janice gave up for once. She looked to Theseus on her shoulder.

"I've really done it this time haven't I," she said. Theseus snorted. At that moment, the breeze stopped blowing. There was a piercing screech through the night. Zephynn looked up. Janice's heart began to race. Theseus shrank into her shoulder. The screech echoed through the darkness again. Janice reached for the small sword at her side and drew it. Zephynn continued to look around for the cause of the sound. Then, out of the darkness came a group of about twenty Monoeyes heading straight for them.

Zephynn shot up to his feet. His sword was out of its sheath immediately. He blasted three of them with one stroke of his sword. The rest continued to charge at them. Seeing as how his warning strike had failed, Zephynn prepared to swing his sword and take all of them out at once. Then, out of nowhere, Janice ran in front of him.

"Come and get it monsters!" she yelled. Zephynn had no time to react. Janice was suddenly struck by two bolts of purple energy from the oncoming Monoeyes. She was knocked back into Zephynn. Her sword flew into the air and into the forest. Zephynn found her in his arms. He gently laid her on the ground as the Monoeyes surrounded him. He spun Temphoros in his hand and watched as each Monoeye prepared a bolt of purple energy.

He shut his eyes and let his power flow. He let his body draw power from the ring. He transferred that power through his body to his sword hand. The power entered his sword. His eyes opened, glowing from the power he was about to release. He swung his sword horizontally, then vertically, and finally diagonally. Three blades of wind were created. All of the Monoeyes were destroyed by the blast.

Zephynn felt a wave of exhaustion come over him. He had used a bit too much power, more than he was used to anyways. He felt something nip at his leg. Looking down, he saw that it was Theseus. The dragon directed him towards Janice, who was lying on the ground unconscious. Zephynn knelt down by her side and observed the damage done. Her shirt had been torn at the stomach by one of the blows, which had left a nasty bruise. The other one had hit her arm. He waited a few moments for his strength to recover before making an attempt to pick her up. However, he was stopped by another screech.

He turned around and squinted into the night. He stood up, readying Temphoros for anything. As he did this, a red light popped up on the mountainside. Zephynn almost dropped his sword. Another screech rang out. Two more red lights appeared above that red light. He quickly decided that the distance between him and red lights was too small and immediately sheathed Temphoros and picked Janice up. He used his head to motion Theseus onto his shoulder, a motion to which the dragon complied. With that done, he ran into the forest, seeing no other option given the current circumstances.

Zephynn ran for several minutes before stopping to catch his breath. The screeching had become distant by the time he had stopped. He observed Janice's wounds again. Looking at the bruise on her arm, he decided that it was broken, given the swelling that was occurring there. He needed to find someone who could heal her quickly. As soon as his breath returned, he began to walk through the forest again. He shivered in the cold of the night and at the memories of being in this forest, all bad ones. There was one memory however that provided a ray of hope for him, that being the memory of the Temple of Hecate. If he could find it, he could perhaps find a remedy for Janice's wounds.

His thoughts went to why he was helping her. She had been a pain in his side all day. She was turning out to be exactly what he had thought; dead weight. And yet here he was, making an attempt to help her out. Perhaps it was the natural good his previous journey had rubbed off on him. He shook off the memories again.

He tried to get a sense of where he was going using the winds. He released some power from his ring. The winds from the ring blew forward. That meant he was heading east. He continued on in that direction. About an hour later (or so he estimated) he spotted a structure through the trees. He hurriedly walked towards it, emerging into a clearing that hosted a temple. He approached the steps cautiously and slowly walked towards the temple entrance.

As he entered, the books, floating around as they usually did, froze in place to stare at the visitor. Zephynn continued into the temple, expecting that at any moment, Fauna would appear from nowhere and begin asking questions. However, instead of what he expected, he heard a deeper more hearty voice.

"Well then, no need to be shy!" it exclaimed, "Come right on in." Zephynn looked around. Then, as if from nowhere, a man with brown hair, covered by a wide-brimmed pointy hat came walking towards him from the interior of the temple. His eyes were brown and a majority of his attire, from his cloak to his cape, was gray. His collar was high. A book was tucked under his arm.

"You're… um…"

"Well you're Zephynn, son of the West Wind goddess, Phyra," said the man, "I know that much. I don't blame you for not knowing my name. We never really got acquainted after I was turned back…"

"Ah, I remember now," said Zephynn, "Ladon right?" The man nodded.

"Son of Hecate at your service," said Ladon, "Of course, I have other occupations to keep myself busy…"

"I've heard," said Zephynn, "The Dark Alliance's prowess as a mercenary group is known all throughout the realm." Ladon nodded.

"And I am its tactician," said Ladon, "I'm just dropping by here to gather a few books for the library. What brings you here?" Zephynn looked down at the girl in his arms. Theseus mimicked the motion with sadder eyes.

"Oh," said Ladon, his smile fading, "She got hurt?"

"There was a little skirmish," said Zephynn. Ladon's straight face turned to a frown.

"I see…" said Ladon, "Healing isn't my biggest thing, but I can do it. It might be rusty though."

"If it works, it works," said Zephynn. They took Janice to the back of the room and laid her on the bed. Zephynn shook the strange memories of this spot out of his mind. He preferred not to remember them. Ladon put the book he was holding aside and observed Janice's wounds. His expression brightened a little.

"Well, it's not the worst I've seen," said Ladon, "Here we go." He began to mumble a few words under his breath. He reached his hand out over Janice and began to wave it around. He moved it closer to her arm. Red energy flowed from his hand and into her arm. The bruise slowly disappeared. He moved it to her stomach. The same thing happened. He opened his eyes once had finished… and almost fell over.

Zephynn ran to help him but he caught his balance.

"Yes," said Ladon, breathing heavily, "It has definitely been a while since I've used that ability."

"Is she healed?" Zephynn asked.

"I reckon so," said Ladon, "The healing took a lot out of me. Just don't be surprised if she grows a third arm or something."

"You're kidding right?" Zephynn asked.

"Nah," said Ladon, "It can happen. But it's a rare occurrence. Anyways, I have to be going. Feel free to stay as long as you like. Fauna is on vacation right now so Flora has taken charge."

"Flora?" Zephynn asked.

"Another magic spirit," said Ladon, "She's a lot nicer and less hostile to strangers than Fauna. I'm sure you remember…"

"Yep," said Zephynn, "Thank you."

"No problem," said Ladon. He turned to leave but then he paused.

"If... you happen to still be around when she shows up, tell Flora I said hi," he said. Zephynn swore he saw a tinge of blush on Ladon's cheeks.

"O… kay…" said Zephynn. Ladon continued walking. Zephynn watched him go until he seemed to vanish at the temple opening.

A/N: Sorry it's taken so long. I lost any motivation to write due to music and video games… Hopefully I'll be able to get back to a regular writing pattern. I'm not making any promises though. Please leave a review! Thanks for reading! :D