Here's chapter three! I hope you like it! I have thought about doing more than one chapter a week, but I want to get more written in general first.
-owl
Rollan really didn't like traveling by ship, and, yet, there was no other option in this case. At least they were on the GCS Mulop again, captained by Captain Jordan. Rollan was near the bow of the ship, tying knots into ropes. It was raining, which neither Rollan or Essix were thrilled about. The poor bird was quivering on her perch at the top of one of the masts.
Conor and Briggan were helping the first mast with something, somewhere else on the ship. Meilin, well, Rollan didn't know where Meilin was, but he knew that she had decided to keep Jhi in passive state until they docked again, as the panda didn't like the rocking of the boat. Abeke had done the same with Uraza.
Lucette was standing at the most forward point of the ship, leaning against the railing and watching the water with joy clear on her face. Bryer was nowhere to be seen. Tarik was talking with Captain Jordan, and Finn was somewhere below deck.
"Are those whales?" Abeke asked, pointing into the water in front of the ship.
Rollan nodded. "Yeah, they pull the ship."
"You must be used to things like that by now."
He shrugged. "Not necessarily. I know I've been with the Greencloaks for over a year at this point, but I'm still not used to the perks and customs they have."
Abeke nodded thoughtfully. "What was your ceremony like?" she asked finally, after a few minutes of silence.
"Concorba had just started a policy that any child they found on the streets were to be given the Nectar if they hadn't already taken it. I think it was to help reduce the amount of the bonding sickness in the city. Anyway, I had accidentally ran head-first into a member of the militia, and he dragged me to city hall where he handed me off to a Greencloak. She gave me the Nectar, the only animal around was hers, a monkey. Then Essix showed up. What about you?"
Abeke sighed. "I was late to the ceremony. My father was furious. I drank the Nectar and Uraza appeared, then it started to rain. The village was thrilled, our rain dancer had died two years prior, and until that point, no water had fallen inside the walls of the village. A man named Zerif came into the village as well. He said he was part of the Greencloaks, or at least an associate. I didn't quite believe him, then Olvan came and straightened things out."
Rollan hadn't realized that Abeke had almost joined the Conquerors. There was no time to comment on it, though, as the girl was called away and she left him alone with his ropes and knots.
It continued to rain, even as they disembarked the boat at the port in Surtin and got horses from Jon. The older Greencloak seemed happy to see Rollan and Tarik again, and joyfully got all seven of them horses for the journey to the North.
Zig and Flit, the horses that Rollan and Tarik had ridden the last time they were in Eura, and five others were given to the group. Tarik took Zig, and Abeke was given Flit. Finn and Lucette got a pair of large, white horses, and Conor and Meilin were given smaller, speckled horses. Rollan got an ugly looking horse, with a speckled gray coat.
As it turned out, Rollan's horse had been someone's spirit animal. The human had died a while ago, and now the horse was bitter. It kept trying to take a bite out of Rollan's ankles if he let even a little bit of slack into the reins.
The rain had kept coming, not letting up, making Rollan's hair stick to his forehead and soaking his cloak straight through. It was annoyingly heavy now, and Rollan was worried that if he leaned over the side of his horse the weight would drag him to the ground.
"This reminds me of home," Rollan muttered at one point.
Meilin smirked. "Is it too hard for you?" Her black hair was slicked back against her face and neck.
"No. Being cold and wet are some of my finest skills."
"Did you have tutors for that?" she asked sweetly.
Rollan smirked. "No, I taught myself."
She tried to hide it, but there was the faintest hint of a smile on her face. One point for Rollan!
They continued riding for the rest of the day. Finn was in the lead, Lucette talking to him. Tarik was bringing up the rear, Lumeo on his shoulders. Conor and Abeke were riding side by side and chatting, in front of Rollan and Meilin.
It was getting close to evening when a small animal launched itself from the trees around them, directly for Tarik. After a moment, Rollan was able to recognize the animal as a weasel. He didn't like weasels. They were rats, but longer, and snakes, but furrier.
Regardless of the type of animal, or how much Rollan didn't like it, Tarik's horse was spooked. Essix shrieked, drawing Rollan's attention. Now, for whatever reason that they had been bonded so much longer than the other three kids but still weren't too close, both the bird and the boy had an uncanny sense of intuition. Intuition that often told them when something bad was going to happen.
"It's a trap!" Rollan yelled, just as too many Conquerors to count emerged from the trees around them.
What had been, moments ago, a calm though annoying ride through the forest, became a full on brawl. Rollan's horse bucked him off and ran, followed by most of the other horses from the group. Pretty quickly Rollan lost sight of Finn, Abeke, and Meilin.
Conor and Briggan were fighting side by side, like they had been together for years, against a Conqueror and his badger. Tarik and Lumeo were still dealing with the weasel, but now had to contend with two Conquerors as well.
Rollan then heard Conor yell something about a snake before Tarik was down, being protected by Lumeo and Bryer. Of course, with Bryer helping Tarik, Lucette was on her own. Now, Lucette wasn't helpless, but neither was she the most accomplished fighter that the Greencloaks had. In addition to that, her skills were better (obviously) when she was working with Bryer.
Now, however, she was on her own, barely fending off an attacker with her daggers. The tables turned, not in her favor, when a second Conqueror and his spirit animal, a huge brown dog, appeared. Lucette was now fighting against two Conquerors and a spirit animal, without the help of hers, and only two daggers.
The taller man fighting Lucette knocked one of the daggers out of her hand and grabbed her, not letting her avoid a blow from the shorter attacker's sword. Bryer howled, but couldn't leave Tarik, so Rollan did the only thing he could think of: he threw himself into the altercation.
Rollan had never put himself on the line for someone else like this before. Yes, he had helped his side when they were fighting Arax, but this was different. Back in Concorba he would never do something like this. The question was why? Maybe because a tiny part of his brain had begun to see Lucette as a sort of older sister, almost motherly, since he had arrived at Greenhaven?
Using his sword, Rollan stabbed the shorter man before he could swing at Lucette again, which was a good thing because he wouldn't have been surprised if that was going to be a fatal blow had it hit her. Rollan's blow wasn't fatal by any means, rather a somewhat shallow wound to the man's upper arm. In any case, the man's attention turned to Rollan. Swinging again, Rollan struck the man in the same place as before, making him drop his sword as his arm began to gush blood. The dog was about to launch itself at Rollan when Essix swooped down and scratched at the dog's eyes.
With the shorter man and the dog distracted, Rollan was able to come at the taller man, giving Lucette a chance to get out of his grip. She did, and soon it was the two of them against the tall man, and eventually he was driven away.
As the two men who had attacked Lucette ran off, Rollan realized that the clearing was empty of Conquerors. Finn, Meilin, and Abeke were also missing. Tarik was still on the ground, Bryer whining and licking the man's face. Conor and Briggan re-entered the clearing, both panting.
Lucette was checking on Tarik. "It was an Euran Adder," she said finally. "We need to get him the herbal antidote, soon. There's another Greencloak in this area, she should be able to help us."
Rollan shot her a questioning look. "Lucette, none of our horses are here anymore, and I doubt Tarik can walk."
She frowned before turning to Bryer and asking a silent question. The dog nodded. "If we can make a makeshift sled, Bryer could pull him. His breed is good at that sort of thing."
"Don't you need snow for that to work?" Conor asked.
"Typically. But with all the rain, the paths have become mud, so it'll be alright."
With the decision made, the three of them started gathering materials, and in the span of a half hour they had a makeshift sled. Tarik was loaded onto it and Bryer harnessed using some of the vines around them, and they were off.
Lucette led the group, Rollan by her side. Essix flew above them, for once staying quite close to Rollan. Then came Bryer and Tarik, who was looking worse and worse the longer they traveled. Conor and Briggan took up the rear, keeping an eye out for danger.
"Thank you for saving me," Lucette said suddenly, startling Rollan.
He shrugged. "I'm sure you would have managed it."
She shook her head. "No, I don't think I would have been able to. Bryer was helping Tarik and I was essentially in a three on one fight. I know you don't want to be a Greencloak, but that's the type of stuff we do, helping other people who need it."
"Oh." Rollan hadn't thought about it like that before.
The sun had fallen below the horizon by the time they approached a rundown looking outpost, with light coming from the windows.
Lucette knocked on the door. "Lady Evelyn!" she called. "Please, we need your help."
There were a few minutes of silence before the door opened to reveal a tiny woman, clearly much older than Olvan. "Lucile?" she asked.
"It's Lucette," she corrected. "We need help, Tarik got bitten by an Euran Adder. He needs the antidote."
Lady Evelyn scowled as she let them inside. "That's what I said. Now, lay him down over there and stay out of my way."
They unharnessed Bryer and lifted Tarik from the makeshift sled to carry him to the table that Lady Evelyn had pointed out. Once inside, they came across a miniature horse. It was, in Rollan's opinion, barely less ugly than the horse he had been riding previously. It was black and white, about the same size as Bryer.
"Oh, that's Dot, my spirit animal," Lady Evelyn said. "Help yourselves to dinner."
The boys eagerly approached the pot that hung over the fire, finding something that could have either been food or laundry. Lucette, rather, stayed near Tarik, much to the irritation of Lady Evelyn.
"You don't need to hover, Lucy," she said. "Tarin is in good hands."
"Lucette."
The old woman ignored the correction, instead continuing on with her ministrations.
Half an hour later, Evelyn approached the three of them, leaving Tarik asleep on the table. "Tarit will be fine, but you'll have to leave him here as you continue North. I hear that Glengavin has a pretty impressive boar within its walls."
Lucette nodded. "Alright. Can we stay here overnight? Give the other half of our group the chance to meet us here?"
"Of course, Lottie."
Rollan couldn't help but laugh at Lucette's expression when Evelyn used the wrong name again.
