Chapter 10, Scared

*~~Natalie~~*

They were crawling down a tunnel, it had no windows or light of any kind, and even though her eyes had adjusted well enough to see, she wanted light. They had found the tunnel when she had pressed a button and then they had fallen down a hole. Luckily Tegon had gone back to his original form and led them to a small ladder, right below the button. Then they had been able to either climb up or climb into a tunnel in the hole’s wall. Well, they chose the hole and Natalie still didn’t think they should’ve done it. She went first, since she was the first to climb of Tegon’s back, and behind her the Raenton and Tegon were talking about things she didn’t know about. She didn’t know how long time had passed or where in the castle they were. Not that it mattered, she didn’t know where they had been before, either. She wasn’t fond of this place, she didn’t like darkness. And darkness combined with small spaces made her heart think it was in a race. It didn’t help that she was first and had bumped into hard walls, when the tunnel turned. She was almost sure of, that it showed on her forehead.

Another turn to the right.

It had been seven turns. She had counted. She felt something on her leg. Her body reacted and she kicked backwards. A groan and a “hey” followed. In her head she screamed at him for grabbing her. Really, what did he think she’d do?

“Be glad I sit on the other shoulder, girl.” Tegon whispered. They hadn’t dared to talk in a normal voice earlier, either.

Well, sorry.

Her face became warm, and she felt herself starting to like the darksness.

Raenton muttered something. She though she heard the words “kick” and “murderer”.

That was the moment she saw it. The light she had been looking for. It wasn’t much of a light, though. Just a small crack.

“There’s a light not far ahead.” She said.

“Really? Great!” Raenton said with relief. She could almost hear his smile. He was a very good whisperer, it was almost impossible to hear what he said, if he didn’t talk to you. It was even more impossible to hear what he said when he communicated with his mind, he had showed her, but he had said he could only communicate with one mind at a time. He did practice on it, though. It had been an amazing feeling, she hadn’t heard what he had told her, she had felt it.

When they came closer she felt a handle.

“Should I open it?” She asked.

“It’s not like we’ve got any choice.” Raenton said. “I don’t want to crawl back, my knees are hurting.” Natalie didn’t want to crawl back on her sore knees, either, but she wasn’t keen on opening the door. They didn’t know what was behind it. She hesitated but Raenton pushed himself forward (which made her blush), reached the handle and forced it open. It creaked horribly.

As soon as it opened sounds came to her ears, light blinded her and then there were no sound. She felt Raenton push her lightly, so she stepped out. Her eyes hurt. Tegon flew to her shoulder. Her eyes soon got adjusted to the light and she saw unfamiliar people staring at her. In front of her, not many steps away, sat a big, bearded man with intense eyes under his fringe. She wasn’t too scared, though, she felt Tegon’s warmth and knew Raenton was behind her. She felt the confused feelings of the people in the room, and since she didn’t feel any ill feelings towards her, she dared to let her eyes leave the bearded man and look around the room. She saw Miranda and Arabella. Slightly beside them, with a man holding their shoulders tightly, were Wilma and Hannah. Everyone in the room looked at Natalie, Raenton and Tegon like they were ghosts. She and Raenton probably looked the same, she had never, ever, expected this at the end of that tunnel. Sure she hadn’t known what to expect, but still. Why were they everyone in the room in the first place?

“Hey, is that…?” A young woman said. She started to walk towards them with wide eyes, the others’ eyes became wide open, too.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” Miranda said to the woman. “You get away from them!” Miranda took a step forward only to be stopped by Arabella. When did they become so good friends?

“Is that…really Whidra Tegon?” the woman said again, coming closer. Natalie was unsure what to do and looked at Raenton for help. He didn’t look at her, but at the woman. Natalie was confused by the woman’s behavior. “Finally.” She was before them in an instant and as she was standing in front of Natalie. She had a look of desire in her eyes. Raenton had stepped forward, he didn’t make much of a threat, Natalie thought, he wasn’t that tall and his face just didn’t look mean. The woman didn’t come any closer, though, so he must’ve had some effect. The woman stretched for Tegon, but Arabella was there and held her arm. The woman wasn’t in a trance anymore, she looked at Arabella with eyes full of hate. Natalie felt Tegon move slightly on her shoulder.

“Didn’t you hear Leader? Get away from ‘em.” Arabella, on the other hand, did make a threat. She was about the same height as the woman and had a very mean expression. The woman didn’t move, she just smirked at Arabella. Natalie took one step back.

“You’re gonna stop me?” The woman said. “I’m strong, you know.”

“You’re not the only one.” Arabella hissed.

“Stop with your fighting!” a scarred woman said in a loud voice. “Where were we? Yes, we’ll free your friends if you find and give us Whidra Tegon.” Hannah and Wilma didn’t look captured. But they were slouching and they didn’t look at the people in the room, they just stared at…at nothing really.. “It suddenly got a lot easier, didn’t it?” You could hear her smile. Miranda looked very tense, and her face only expressed anger. “Girl.” She turned to Natalie. “You know who you have on your shoulder, don’t you?” Natalie brought her arms up to her chest and looked over at Miranda, she wanted comfort. Raenton wasn’t enough. She wanted someone to say that everything was going to be fine.

“I speak for myself, woman.” Tegon answered coldly. The woman looked surprised.

“Well, then. Would you like to help us, Whidra Tegon?” Her smile was warm, but her voice was fake. Natalie looked at Miranda, she didn’t get an answer, she looked at Arabella, but the girl just stared at Tegon while holding the young woman’s arm. Natalie looked at the bearded man, but quickly turned her eyes away to Raenton, he didn’t look at her.

Look at me.

 Tegon moved on her shoulder.

“I won’t help with anything, woman.” He answered. “You’ve done wrong and will continue doing so, I believe.”

The woman’s smile faded in a second. She looked over at the bearded man. Then rose from her seat, walked over to Arabella and punched her in the stomach. Arabella made a groaning noise and sank to her knees, holding the place where she had been punched. Natalie just stared at the situation before her, she had never seen anyone get punched like that before. She was scared. Suddenly it didn’t feel like real anymore. She felt Raenton gripping her arm. It hurt. Before she knew it none of the seated men and women, except the bearded man, sat in the chairs anymore. Some held down a screaming Miranda. Some held down a groaning Arabella. Some yanked away Raenton and she…Natalie was just standing there. She could, maybe, have fought them, but just as back then her mind went blank and she found herself starting to run towards the door, towards Hannah and Wilma. Before she got there, however, Tegon fell to the floor and so did she. It had all happened too fast.

*~~Tenso~~*

He didn’t like what he saw in the mirror. Not at all. The bearded man’s smile made him uneasy. Tenso couldn’t figure out what the man was thinking. And how had he nullified Arabella’s powers? Next to him Ingya had her already thin lips pressed tightly together. He hadn’t expected this, and was worried for them. Even the mighty dragon had been caught. Of course it was always worrying with a new group, they were inexperienced and didn’t know much. He had thought that meeting Raenton would help them, he wasn’t one of the best, but he could support them and then return to his own group. It didn’t turn out as Tenso had thought, though, and now they were in trouble. It wasn’t unusual for groups to get in trouble, it happened almost all the time, but he knew what troubles, like the one the girls faced, could lead to. He had seen it, experienced it and he would never let it happen again.

“Maybe I should go there.” Ingya said. She eyed the image in the mirror intensively, as if that would help the girls.

“No, there’s still Eleanor and Charlotte.” He didn’t want to send in Ingya, she couldn’t take on that many people all be herself. If only Natalie had reacted.

“Then switch to them.” She turned to him, every time she turned to him (and everyone else) she always had her eyes closed. Except when she were by the Holy Pond. Even though he knew why she did it, he thought she trusted him more than that. “Please.” They hadn’t checked on them for a while, but he didn’t really want to switch. If the worst happened they owned them to watch, bring Eleanor and Charlotte back and tell them. But he wouldn’t let that happen again.

“Don’t switch.” Ingya said beside him. “There isn’t any need to, anymore.”

I'm not good with deadlines

I think I'm going to take away my deadline. That means I won't try as hard to get the chapters out every Thursday. Now you may wonder: what? But she's been late two times now!

Yes, I have. I just couldn't bring myself to write, I didn't have any insperation. It's getting hard to come up with what's going to happen next, but I'll still publish a chapter a week. (except in rare cases...)

Chapter 9, For our country's pride

*~~Miranda~~*

She and Arabella had walked in silence since they parted with Natalie, Raenton and Tegon. Now they were facing a door. It looked really fancy and it was made out of wood. She must say it was a nice contrast to the stonewalls. Arabella went forward and pulled and pushed it.

“Surprise, surprise. It’s locked.” She looked over at Miranda. “Now what? You don’t happen to know how to open it, do ya?”

She didn’t. Neither of their powers had real fighting strength, so they couldn’t force it open. She couldn’t fight at all and Arabella could only fight if there were people around, who she could turn against each other, if Miranda had understood correctly.

“Too bad Natalie’s not here.” Arabella said. “Or Eleanor.”

“Hannah could change the door into something else, don’t forget that.”

“She can’t, at least not yet.”

“And how do you know?

“I practiced with her. We got our powers before you, remember? So technically, I’m your senior.” She smiled teasingly.

“I would never call you that.”

“Wouldn’t want you to.” Arabella laughed a little and Miarnda smiled.

Silence yet again. She didn’t dislike Arbella, at least she didn’t think she did. They could have good conversation and they could fight. Miranda had never met a person whom she could both talk and fight with.

Then there was a dull sound. They turned their heads to the door.

A man stood between the wooden doors and he looked really surprised to see them there. They were surprised, too. Miranda had not expected this, she, and everyone else, thought the building was empty. Thoughts ran through her head. There could be more people here. He could begin to scream that they were here. He could attack them and then more people would hear and come and they would be back to square one. It felt as if her body moved by itself when she took a step forward and covered his mouth. Then she put her hand against his neck. She didn’t think about her actions, she just did them. She could feel the man relax and his eyes got cloudy. She looked over at Arabella. She looked intensively at him, she was very tense. After a while she, still staring at him, she said:

“I’ve changed his memory, he’ll walk away and won’t remember us. You can let him go.”

Miranda let go and watched in wonder as the man walked away. He didn’t have a staff.

“It’s the first time I’ve done that for real.” Arabella said disgustingly.  

They walked through the door and came into another room. It had a high roof and light walls, the floor was a grey stone and to the left were big openings in the wall. The view was nice, and would’ve been even nicer if the wind didn’t make the room so cold. In front of them, though, was another big door. The closer they came the better they could see the carvings in the door’s wood. There were flowers, bears…

“Let’s open it.” Arabella said. “If you don’t want to admire the door more?” Miranda looked angrily at her.

“Open it, then.”

“Think I can by myself? You have to help.”

“How weak.” Not that Miranda could do it herself, either. They pulled the door handle together as hard as they could. She couldn’t understand how the man had been able to open it himself. The door, at least the one they had tried to open, finally began to budge. She gritted her teeth, and then the door opened. The first thing she noticed was the big painting on the opposite wall. The second thing was the bearded man staring at her. The third thing was all the other bearded men and stern women staring at her. There shouldn’t be people here. The building was supposed to be empty. The others…Had they met people, too? She felt her palms getting sweaty, her heart began to beat faster but she controlled herself. Forced her eyes not to look down and said:

“We are Warriors from Amal Ialad. We were sent here to make peace.” The people looked at her. If they were surprised to see them there they didn’t show it. She stared into the bearded man at the table’s end and waited for them to make their move.

“We know.” A woman said. She had dark hair and a scarred face. “We captured you. But we don’t need anyone to come here and make peace. We’re doing fine on our own!”

“I’m surprised you could even get out of the cells.” An older man said with a deep voice, marked by age. “When you consider how easy it was to capture you.”

She tightened her hands and felt her face tense. No, she couldn’t allow herself to get angry now, they didn’t need to know that they could anger her.

“Obviously you do.” Arabella said next to her. “Just look at the south!”

“How rude!” The woman said.

“You’re just little girls!” Another man said. “What could you help us with?”

“Go back! We can handle this ourselves.” A young man said.

More voices wanted to be heard, but still the man at the end of the table said nothing. He just sat there. Leaned back in that big, stupid chair of his. Then he smiled. She felt a chill go through her.

“But can’t you see that you’re destroying each other?” Miranda said with a high voice. More protests came. “All because of a dragon!”

“He isn’t any dragon!” A woman said. “He has lived in our land since it was made! And now those Amessia bastards want to take him!”

“But people are suffering!” How hard could it be to understand? Didn’t they care at all?

“Because of Amessia, yes!” The young man said. “They erased Nairb from the maps!” She felt a something warm on her shoulder. It was Arabella's hand. Miranda looked at her and Arabella looked back. What are you waiting for?

“We may be new, inexperienced and rude, but you need help! You can’t continue like this! We have a reliable source who says that your allies are making a bloodbath in the south!” Miranda said.

“Amessia attacked us! What else would our allies do?! They had to defend themselves!” The young man said again. He did now stand up.

“Sit down!” The scarred woman hissed. “Don’t let your rage get the better of you!”

A young woman rose from her seat and began to walk towards Miranda and Arabella.

“If your country and its allies would be attacked for something as “little” as a dragon, would you not take action? We defend our country’s pride, girl!” Girl? The woman wasn’t that much older!

“Is this all about pride?” Miranda hissed back. “You let people die because of something as stupid as pride? People are dying, suffering because of your pride.”

“You’ve already said that.” The woman said. If eyes could kill.

“But you don’t seem to get it.” Their faces were only centimeters from each other now. They stared into each other’s eyes, no one would back down. Then she felt something cold against her neck. Miranda knew what she had against her neck, she couldn’t believe it was happening, but she didn’t let her eyes leave the woman’s.

“If I killed you...I wonder if Amal Ialad would understand to keep away from us…?” She said in a dangerous, sugar sweet voice. “What would they do…if you never came back…?” A hand touched the woman’s shoulder.

“You think you can get away with pointing a knife at my leader?” Arabella asked.

“Of course not.” The woman answered with a voice that didn’t sound angry or threatening, she withdrew her knife, then went back to her seat.

“I think you all need to calm down, too.” Arabella continued.

The atmosphere lightened up almost instantly. Miranda looked at Arabella, it was very convenient to have her by her side.

“You dare to use your disgusting powers on my people?” A deep, powerful voice said. It was the bearded man at the end of the table. Miranda looked at Arabella, her eyes was open slightly more than usual. She too seemed surprised that the bearded man clearly hadn’t affected by Arabella. “You come here to negotiate and you do this?” Then he lifted his head, looked deeply in Miranda’s eyes and smiled that smiled of his. “I think I can tame you, though.” He made a gesture with one of his hands and the two men that sat closest to them rose and opened the big door behind Miranda and Arabella.

And in came the man from before. Followed by Hannah and Wilma.

Chapter 8, Two bad decisions

*~~Wilma~~*

They had been runnin’ around for quite some time now, the place seemed to not have a single exit. She panted heavily and thought she shouldn’t turn down Arbell’s offer so often. Arbell liked to run and often asked if Wilma wanted to come, but she always turned it down. She didn’t even use excuses anymore. The guy they had just met had said he knew the way out of the building, or whatever it could be called, but they hadn’t come out yet. Actully, he looked pretty frustrated. She didn’t trust him. She wasn’t the only one, she could tell, but Arbell, Natalie and Leader seemed to trust him, so why didn’t she? Well, she had a hard time trustin’ people. He didn’t seem evil, but you could never know. Take Natalie as an example, Wilma had thought she was evil and mean, but it turned out that she just had been scared. She had lost her chance to keep Wilma’s trust by doing what she did, and it seemed like Wilma wasn’t the only one who had formed less good feelings about her. Arbell didn’t seem to like her that much, which was a relief. She wasn’t the only one who had a hard time forgivin’. Natalie had also told them about her pshycic powers, that she hadn’t told them was as bad as runnin’ away like that. A promise should be kept, Leader seemed to think the same thing. Natalie trusted the guy and since she could feel people’s feelings, he couldn’t be bad then, could he?

They continued to run through what felt like endless corridors and sometimes through large halls. They didn’t see a single person. Except their footstpes they didn’t hear a single sound. It must’ve been true as the guy had said, everyone really was out in the war. Right now, though, she just wanted to rest.

“Hey!” she panted. “Can we stop for a little rest?” They stopped without a word and panted as much as she did (though some more than others), she probably said something everyone wanted to say. 

“I guess.” Leader said.

“Hey, Charlotte.” Arbell said. “Can you try to look ‘roud again?” Charlotte stood with her hand on her knees and didn’t look up when she answered.

“I told you already. It’s hard to look when I’m inside a building.”

“Right. You haven’t practiced enough, ‘cause you’re new. But we all are. And we need to get out of here, so it would be very nice if you could try again.”

“Well, I already did not too long ago, I couldn’t see that much then so why would I be able to now?” She and Arbell stared at each other. It was unsual for Arbell to be this  annoyed all the time, all the punches in the face, so to speak, must’ve gotten to her. Arbell looked like she was going to say something back.

“Just drop it.” Wilma said. Arbell gave her a look, but didn’t say anything.

“So. What’s your name?” Eleanor asked the guy as she sat on the floor beside him.

“Raenton.” He answered. It was a good name, made him more attractive to be honest…”What’s yours?”

And so they introduced themselves and their powers again. Raenton said that he could move things and communicate with his mind.

“Would you mind to tell us why you are here, again?” Miranda asked.

“Well, you see, down in the south-east Rurica’s and Amessia’s allies have turned against each other. It’s much worse down there, bloodbaths and executions. A living hell. The dragon of the East is capture. We traced it to Alene, a country that’s allied with Amessia. We had gotten a tip that Gredra Engon was somewhere in the Myly forrest, but before we found it we were attacked. And I was captured by Alene’s army. On the way to Amessia my new “friends” were attacked by a Rurican army. I guess they figured out who I was and put me here. Why did we need to find the dragon, you may wonder? First of all, it’s a dragon. One of this world’s important big four and secondly, he might help us to end the bloodbath and resto…”

“Hah!” Tegon snorted, on Natalie’s shoulder. “He won’t help you with that. That bastard never helps with anything. I’m surprised they found him, I must say.”

“Why?” Raenton asked with a hostile voice. “Dragons are good creatures that help people, right? Then why wou…”

“Because he doesn’t care.” Tegon interrupted with a loud voice.

“Why would they take him, then?  He’s a threat to what they want to achieve! He..”

“What is it that they want, do you think?” Tegon interrupted again. “They want power. A dragon has much power, if you kill it, take out the organs and eat them you will get power! If it’s one thing I don’t like, human, it’s naïve, peaceloving cretures like you.” Raenton was angry, it was easy to see, she guessed that was why Hannah suggested:

“Maybe we should explore the castle instead? Since we can’t get out?”

“And then we may find something!” Arbell added and now she smiled. She must really like Hannah.

“Let’s decide on the groups then.” Wilma said. “I’ll go with Hannah.” She wanted to learn more about her if Arbell liked her. Wilma had always had the expression that Hannah was weird, and since they were probably going to hang out together, it would be good to confirm if she actually was weird or not.

“I’ll go with Tegon.” Raenton said. Natalie would surley go where Tegon went. Wilma didn’t mind, she was still mad about the whole abandonin’ thing. Though ahe must admit that it was pretty cool when Natalie saved them. Even if she almost ran over Charlotte and her.

“I guess I’ll go with Charlotte.” Eleanor said and stood up. That left Miranda and Arbell. Wilma looked over at Arbell. She had her hands on her hips and her head a little bent down, glaring at Miranda. Miranda herself had her arms crossed over her chest, glaring back. Anyone could see they weren’t pleased. It was actually pretty funny.

“Well then, you two,” Leader said and pointed at Wilma and Hannah. “Can continue down this corridor and you two,” She pointed at Eleaor and Charlotte. “Can follow them and then go turn into another direction as soon as possible. And we’ll go back and then do the same as you. Does that sound good?”

No one complained, so they said good-bye and split up. Wilma wondered if it was actually goin’ to go well, especially with Leader and Arbell. Arbell wasn’t that annoyed and angry often, but she knew when to stop. When she didn’t go into her ‘stubborn-mood’.

~~* ~~

They had just said good-bye to Eleanor and Charlotte and was now walking down a narrow corridor. They could barely walk side by side. She liked Hannah, though, she wasn’t boring or stuck-up or all over the place. That was nice. She was fun, too. Wilma understood why Arbell liked her.

“Do you want to go left or right?” Hannah asked.

“Right, I’m not good at using my left hand.” Hannah laughed.

“What does that have to do with anything?” She was truly fun to be with. And not weird!

“Nothing, really.” Wilma answered and laughed, too. They continued to the right in a good mood. “And here I thought you were weird.” She said with a smile. Then it hit her, was that an appropriate question? Hannah didn’t seem to mind, though.

“And here I thought you were an unfriendly control-freak.” Ouch, she was surprised Hannah had seen her like that. She didn’t mind much, though. “What do you think this is?” She had found something on the wall. “It looks like a lightswitch.”

“I dunno, but you shouldn’t touch it.”

“Why not?”

“’Cause it might be dangerous!” Wilma didn’t like mysterious things. “What if we have to run away from a giant, rollin’ rock just like Indiana Jones?” Hannah smiled teasingly.

“Come on, this won’t be like Indiana Jones, this is reality.” And then she pressed it before Wilma could say another thing. Hannah was right, though. This wasn’t like in Indiana Jones, this was reality. And if you fall down into a deep hole in reality you will get more injuries than just a few broken legs.

*~~Charlotte~~*

They had just turned left and were on their own. She could hear Hannah and Wilma talking and laughing, but she and Eleanor were quiet. She didn’t know why Eleanor had wanted to go with her, they didn’t know each other, had they even talked? She was happy that someone had actually wanted to go with her, though.

“Which way do you want to go?” Eleanor asked.

“Left.” She answered simply, it wouldn’t really matter which way they went. They probably wouldn’t find anything of importance.

“So…do you think we’ll find anything?” Eleanor asked.

“No.”

“Oh. Well, I think we will.”

Silence. Charlotte wasn’t good at making small talk, talking at all actually, so she often found herself in awkward silences, like this one.

“Your power…” Eleanor began. “It’s very useful, too bad you can’t use it more yet.” Charlotte felt a hand grab her heart.

“Ah…Um…Sorry.” She said. She didn’t look at the girl beside her.

“I didn’t mean it like that!” She said. “I mean, no one can use their power much. And I can only change one of my arms!”

“Oh…” Was all she could think of to say.

“When we come back home we should go together and prac…” Someone screamed behind them. They were quiet and listened for more. Charlotte could feel herself getting scared, what if that was Hannah and Wilma getting attacked? They were probably hurt now, maybe even dying! 

“That was Hannah and Wilma.” Charlotte said. That would be the only logical option, they shouldn’t be far behind them.

“Don’t say that! Maybe we heard wrong.” Eleanor didn’t believe it and neither did Charlotte.  “But maybe we should go back?” Her voice was shaking.

If they did go back they might find Hannah and Wilma, but if they had been attacked and Charlotte and Eleanor went back, they might be attacked and captured again, too. Then they would be back to where they started, and probably with tougher security. But who would attack them? Shouldn’t everyone be out in the war?

“Do you think we should go back?” Eleanor asked again. “Maybe you can use those eyes of yours and look?” She sounded hopeful. Charlotte had already tried, before, but she had failed.

“It won’t work.” Couldn’t they understand that she was hopeless? She couldn’t.

“At least try! Just because it didn’t work before, doesn’t mean it won’t work now!” She felt encouraged by Eleanor, but she knew it wouldn’t work. She couldn’t become better in such a short period of time.

“…Okay.” She took of her glasses, closed her eyes and her mind left her. She went through the corridor and back to where they had parted from Hannah and Wilma, but she couldn’t go longer. It was as if she had rope attached to her and now the rope had reached its limit. She was forced to go back, everything blurred and then she opened her eyes and said:

“I didn’t see anything.”

“Okay, but I still think we should go back.” Eleanor was turned around and began to walk.

“No. We should continue.” Eleanor stopped  looked at her in disbelief.

“What?”

“We should continue.”

“How can you say that?! Something might have happened to them!”

Charlotte began to walk. She didn’t want to answer, Eleanor would surely think she was too paranoid and wouldn’t talk to her anymore.

“Why are you walking away? Fine, then I’ll go back!” Charlotte felt that hand grab her heart again. She wanted to cry, but she didn’t want to show weakness to someone she barely knew, and it would be better if Eleanor didn’t see her ry. Then she wouldn’t feel guilty. If only Eleanor could understand that if Hannah and Wilma were attacked, it would be better to continue and save them later. Otherwise the same thing could happen to them. But she didn’t say anything. It would probably sound stupid. Much of what she said was stupid.

“I’m only going with you because Miranda said so.” Eleanor said beside her. She didn’t look at Charlotte, and Charlotte hadn’t even noticed she had come back.

She was happy that Eleanor had come back, but she knew she had lost the chance to be friends with her. Maybe that was for the best. Besides, Eleanor would only feel worse and start to worry if Charlotte would tell her what she thought happened. She had seen how worried Eleanor had been in the beginning, especially when Tenso and Ingya had said that they could die, Charlotte didn’t want Eleanor to feel like that again. It was better this way…

Late...

I won't be able to post the next chapter tomorrow (Thank you, school...) if you don't want to read something really, really short or something really, really, bad, that is. I will really try to get it out on Friday, though  :) Or maybe Saturday...

Chapter 7, A guy with bad luck

*~~Hannah~~*

They had woken up not too long ago and she guessed they were in prison cells. They were in the cells two and two, she and Charlotte, the black haired girl and Arbell’s friend, Vera, Welma or something and the leader and Arbell. Hannah and her ‘roommate’ had woken up last, the black haired girl had told them, she had also told them that she and her ‘roommate’ thought Arbell and the leader had woken up first. Otherwise they shouldn’t have been able to talk to each other like they did.

“…you don’t get why I did that?” Arbell’s voice could be heard. “Seriously?!”

“You got a problem with that?” The leader answered. “How can anyone understand that? You just put your hand over my mouth and then stared at me!”

“You stared back, or have you forgotten that? ‘Course I thought you got why!” At least they didn’t scream at each other, though it was only a matter of time.

She sighed, they didn’t know where they were, the only window was near the ceiling and the ceiling was high up. It wouldn’t be of much help to see what was outside, it would just give them something to do for a little while. Maybe they could see if they could escape, but that wasn’t likely. Maybe she should climb up there? After all, her arms and legs free, the people who captured them couldn’t have known they had powers, otherwise they shouldn’t have placed them here, arms and legs free. Hadn’t they seen the powers, though, when they captured them. She knew the black haired girl had turned her arm into something. Anyways, she should change one of the two beds into a ladder and climb up to the window. She stretched out her arm towards the bed. Nothing happened. She tried to concentrate even more. Nothing happened.

“Trying to use your powers?” Her ‘roommate’ asked. Hannah ignored her and tried again. “It won’t work. It didn’t for me.” Hannah turned her head towards her. Charlotte just sat there, leaning against the wall. “Besides, our next door neighbors said they only saw mountains when they looked.”

“Really? Couldn’t you’ve said that to me sooner?” The girl annoyed her.

“You didn’t ask and I thought you understood. Of course they’ve already looked, they woke up before us.” Hannah thought Charlotte fitted here. She was as cold as the weather, but maybe she could help her to see what was outside?

“Could you then help me to see what’s outside?” Yes, they had already looked, but she would like to see for herself, maybe they had missed something.

“Why? You know what’s outside.”

“I would like to look.” She tried not to sound too annoyed. “It’s not like you have something better to do anyway.” Silence. Charlotte looked up at the window.

“If stand on my back, I might get hurt and if you fall, you might get hurt.” She didn’t sound worried even though her words were.

“The leader can heal us.” When she can use her powers again.

Charlotte took her time to answer this time, too.

“I guess you can stand on my back.”

She bent down on all four below the window and Hannah climbed up, carefully.

“Does it hurt?” She asked.

“No.” Good.

She grabbed the bars and she felt their coldness through the gloves. The view was marvelous, just like wallpapers on the internet. She couldn’t look down, but guessed they were high up, too high up to be able to escape through the window. Sure, it would be hard to do so, but she would rather do that then running around looking for an exit, not to mention that the place probably had a lot of guards. Not that she had seen any. She tried to look to the sides, as much as she could, but couldn’t see anything. She climbed down and said:

“I guess there weren’t anything out there.”

“Told you.” She sat down and leaned against the wall again, with her eyes far, far away.

“You looked outside the so-called window, too?” a voice said. “You didn’t see anything, either, right?” The voice probably belonged to Arbell’s friend. The black haired girl spoke clearer.

“…No” She felt stupid for wanting to see if they had missed something. Of course they hadn’t missed something, they had probably looked more than once, too. She didn’t want to admit it, but she should have listened to Charlotte.

“Too bad.”

How would they get out of here now? If they could attract the guards they could maybe, maybe, knock them out and steal the keys, and then run around and hope to find an exit. Then they needed to find a way to get out of the mountains, but she decided to leave those thoughts for later. She didn’t know how to attract the guards, though, if the argument in the cell in front of theirs hadn’t made them come….She couldn’t think of anything else, in movies they always pretended to fight, maybe Arbell and the leader did that? Then when they got out, they would fight the guards and this time they would win. With or without that Natalie. How could she just run away?!

 “OH, YEAH?! I WOULD LIKE TO SEE YOU BEING THE LEADER!” the leader screamed and by doing so, disrupting Hannah’s thoughts.

“I NEVER SAID YOU’RE A BAD LEADER!” Arbell screamed back. “I SAID YOU HAVE A BAD TEMPRAMENT!” They did so not plan pretend to fight. They were probably just screaming things at each other now, out of anger of being captured and brought here, or something. It would have been nicer if they, too, thought of a way out instead of fighting.

“LIKE YOU’RE ONE TO TALK!”

“WOULD YOU PLEASE SHUT UP?” A voice screamed. “It’s bothersome enough to be here, you two don’t need to make it worse!” That voice did not belong to any of the girls, it was too dark. It seemed to come from the left.

“And who the f*uck are you?” Arbell asked.

“The same as you.” He, she assumed it was a he, said angrily.

“The same as us?” Leader said. “Really? You even know who we are?”

“From Amal Ialad. Everyone listening to your damn fight would know.” He was from Amal Ialad, too? She pressed her face at the little opening in the door. She had expected to meet people like them, but not this early on! Oh, she wanted to talk to him, where did he come from? How was his world? How long had he been doing this? Why was he here? Yeah, why was he here? She had thought they had been the only group here, what did his group do here? Did Tenso and Ingya think they couldn’t handle this by themselves, or what?

“Then what’re you doing here?” Arbell asked, she still sounded hostile. “And how do we know you’re not lying?” He sighed.

“My group is in the south to make peace between Amessia’s and Rurica’s allies. The fighting is even worse down there. But why am I here, then? I was captured by Rurican soldiers and was brought here…” Captured? Were they also newbies? She had thought he was experienced, or maybe he was just guy with bad luck. He did sound embarrassed, so she didn’t think he was that new.

Arbell muttered something. It was probably something rude.

“Yeah?” Miranda said, the angry tone was almost gone now. “Well, whatever, do you know a way out of here? And why we haven’t seen any guards?”

“I’m not some kind of old wizard that knows everything, y’know. If I knew of a way out of here, wouldn’t I have escaped already? And the lack of guards? First of all, you have only been here, for what? Not even half a day and secondly, there is a war going on, y’know. Almost everyone is fighting in it. It’s obvious, haven’t you ever experienced a war, or what?”

“We’re new, couldn’t you figure that out from our little fight, you…” Arbell began

“No, we haven’t experienced war.” Miranda said. “Is that so unusual for you? And this is our first world.  Heck, I didn’t know I had powers until a couple of days ago! But thank you, for the information.” At least she knew when to stop, unlike Arbell. Hannah liked Arbell very much, but she could be very, very stubborn. She had experienced that when they had practiced for the first time.

“Whatever.” he said, and so the conversation died down. She went back to her thoughts. That Natalie…where was she, anyway? She doubted the girl would come back, first of all, she had been long gone when Hannah was put to sleep, secondly, they were up in the mountains, far away from anything. At least it felt like that.

“Wilma, what do you think that is?” she heard the black haired girl say. What, were there rats here? Great.

“Where? I don’t see anything.”

“Just over there. It’s white and serpentine thing in the air.”

Hannah became curious and went over to the window, but she couldn’t see anything.

“Serpentine? The words you use…You mean that thing that seems like it’s moving towards us?”

“Yes.”

Hannah saw it, it was indeed like a snake and it moved towards them. Fast. Charlotte came to the window.

“What is that?” she asked. “It looks like an over-grown snake.”

“Hey! Do you see it?” Arbell’s friend asked. She must learn her name soon, she can’t call her ‘Arbell’s friend’ forever.

“What are you guys talkin’ bout?” Arbell asked.

“Is that…a person on its back?” the guy asked.

It had come a great deal closer now, and it was a person on its back. He, or she, had white clothes and dark hair. That was easy to see, it was such a contrast to the white everywhere around him. Or her.

“Seriously, what are you talkin’ about?” Arbell asked again.

“Wait...isn’t that a dragon?” Charlotte asked.

“What? Are you sure?” she asked, she looked closer and it was a dragon! An Asian styled one! Holy…

“Get down!” someone screamed. Hannah and Charlotte ducked, and a moment later loud noises came from Wilma’s and the black haired girl’s cell.

“What happened?!” Miranda screamed. “Are you alright?”

“They’re fine!” a slightly familiar voice said.

“Get me to the door, little one.” an unfamiliar voice said, it sounded really weird.

Some moments later she heard another strange sound, she couldn’t tell what it was.

“Oh my god, is that actually a real…?” Wilma asked someone.

“It is.” The familiar voice said. She heard the sound again and the door to the cell went up. She and Charlotte went out, carefully. In front of them was a little white thing locking up Arbell’s cell. The door went up and the thing flew to the right and landed on Natalie’s shoulder. The thing was a little, white dragon. Hannah stared at it and was so astounded she forgot her feelings towards Natalie.

“So you’ve finally shown up now, huh?” Arbell said. “’Bout time.” But she didn’t.

 They let out the guy, too. He had light blond hair, just like Tenso, and had white clothes just like them. He stared at the dragon like he couldn’t believe his eyes and whispered something.

“Well. Let’s get out of here.” Leader said.