Young Writers Society

Jerica pushed herself to her knees in an instant, coming closer so she could look at the woman's paper. A map... not that it was particularly helpful, since there were no landmarks whatsoever on it.

Jerica grabbed the crumpled paper out of her pocket and smoothed it down a bit, though the edges were still all crumpled as she set it on the ground in front of them. "It was in my pocket when I woke up."

With furrowed brows, Evaline stared at the paper the woman put in front of them, and she was right: it truly said to follow the dragon's path.

"This must be some sort of hint," she thought out loud, staring at the map some more. It was covered with multicolored lines, but apparently they had to follow the red line. But... it wasn't a map. Not really. Obviously it showed direction from beginning to end, but she wasn't sure where they were right now, or where they were in reference to the path they were supposed to follow.

There were no landmarks, but there were sketches of stars on the margins of varying sizes. A crescent moon was drawn at the top, as well as a mountain and a flower. It was all very cryptic.

Still, she kept silently studying it. But the more she studied it, the more she thought it was an elaborate prank.

Jerica studied the map in silence. It was clear they needed to follow the red line, but it was anyone's guess where the line started or ended. For all she knew, they were on one of the other paths. Or maybe they were off the map entirely.

She looked down at the now well-trampled ground well below them, then at the last rhino disappearing in the distance. It was so vague. And, also confusing that they'd each gotten half of the hint. Clearly, whoever had them here, had intended for them to meet one another. She nodded after the herd. "Are they making the dragon's path?"

Evaline tore her gaze away from the map and peered out in the distance below the cliff to watch the end of the stampede storm away. Suddenly things were beginning to fall into place. The woman was right.

The stampede was also a hint.

Evaline's mind was quickly putting the pieces together, and she studied the map again. The stampede was running away from the mountains and into the fields, and there was one end of dragon's path that zig-zagged down from the top of the page where the mountain was.

"I think you're right," she said, and she finally seemed to find her strength to stand up. She gestured towards the end of the stampede who was off in the far distance now. "I think that's the start of the path, up here." She pointed at one end of the red line. "Whoever put us here, it seems that they want us to follow the path... for whatever reason."

Jerica also pushed herself to her feet. That made sense. The start of the path -- heading in that direction. But, she still didn't know who had brought her here, or what was waiting for them once they got to the dragon. She nodded slowly, then pointed in the exact opposite direction. "Which means that way gets us further from the ambush."

Evaline narrowed her eyes at the woman. "You want to go the opposite way of the dragon's path?" she asked.

"Well do you want to do exactly what the people who kidnapped us want us to do?" Jerica scoffed, shaking her head. "I'm not in the mood to get shanked tonight."

Evaline wearily looked out in the distance where the rhinos came from. There were more mountains ahead of them, taller and rockier. She sighed.

"There's a lot we don't know," she said. "For instance, I doubt our kidnappers can control a stampede or enjoy giving us a childish map and hints to do their bidding. This seems... I don't know. Intentional, like a scavenger hunt, or a game."

In other words, whoever put them here was toying with them, and Evaline didn't like it. She would rather they come and face her out in the open.

But maybe the woman was right. Maybe it was better to not play their little game... or maybe there would be more consequences. There was a lot she didn't know. She didn't even know where she was, exactly.

"If this is all some elaborate ruse, then it's possible there may be consequences if we don't follow the directions," she added.

"Oh, I have no doubt that someone is enjoying this, and there will be consequences once I figure out who it is," Jerica growled, running her fingers through her hair as she sighed in frustration. The woman had a point. It was risky to go off script and do what they wanted. But, then, she'd never been one to be good at following directions. "It's hard to say what's waiting for us either way."

Well, any of the ways. There was nothing stopping her from going off the paths entirely and trying to see if she could wander until she figured out where she was. But that seemed riskier than staying on the path. They just had to figure out which way to go.

"Maybe it'll piss them off enough they'll come out to the open if we go that way." Jerica nodded down the path towards where the stampede had come from.

It should have been simple. Follow the hints, go down the path, find more hints, and then figure it out from there. Thing was, Evaline had no idea what the purpose of all of this was. What happened if they followed the path? Would they meet their aggressors? Would they return to where they were? What, exactly, was the purpose of all of this? Was it truly beneficial to not follow the directions because the end-goal wasn't in her favor?

Her head ached more than normal, and she bit back a sigh.

"Sure," she said, not caring anymore. They were here now, and they had no hints or answers besides these dingy papers. "We could do that. Maybe we'll run into someone else who knows more. I don't know. At this point, there doesn't seem to be a point in any of this."

Evaline wasn't a fan of using "we" like she was going to travel with her, because she was going to travel with her. Clearly, her paper was connected to hers. They were supposed to use each other, somehow.

But just like everything else, she wasn't sure what for.

Jerica nodded, sighing. They were in a game where neither of them knew the rules. Good thing she was used to making her own rules. "Alright, then."

She crumpled her paper and shoved it back in her pocket, then started walking towards where the stampede had come from, staying along the edge of the cliff so she could look for a good place to go back down to the ground level.

Evaline stared for a second as the woman crumpled her paper, but she didn't follow suit and carefully folded the map along its creases before placing it back in her pocket. Wordlessly, she got up on her feet and followed the woman behind her, careful to not be too close.

She didn't know her too well yet, but for now, they were allies.

Silent, Evaline stared at the path they were heading for: the opposite of the start of the dragon's path, towards the mountains. She could only hope that this was not a trap of some sort.

At least she could be quiet. That was nice. Jerica led the way, making sure she had a vague idea of how near she was behind her, in case the woman tried to tackle her off the cliff. But, otherwise, they walked in silence a while.

Jerica was contemplating what all this meant. But then they came up on a steep, rocky slope that led back to the ground. It was covered in shale, and looked slippery, but manageable. She looked at it for a moment. It’d be hard to try to climb down it carefully.

So instead she jumped forward, bracing herself as the momentum carried her downward swiftly on the unsteady rocks.

Evaline appreciated the mutual silence that followed, but when they came across a rocky slope back to the ground that the woman merely jumped over like an obstacle course, she couldn't help but stare at her.

"Are you expecting me to do that too?" she asked with a weary voice.

It was obvious that she had some kind of strength-wielding power, but she didn't have the energy to ask about it. It was mildly annoying when she flaunted it like Evaline could follow without any problems, though.

Jerica flailed her arms to stay balanced, stumbling a few times before catching a fresh piece of shale to slide down on. She staggered as she got to the bottom, taking several steps before she shook the unsteady feeling off. It was exhilarating. But, mostly, efficient.

"I mean... yeah." Jerica shrugged. What was the girl expecting her to say? They needed to be on this level. And there weren't many options for how to get there. "This is gonna be your best bet, unless you'd like to climb down a cliff."