Young Writers Society

Claudia

I woke up the next morning, not exactly rested, but well enough that I could at least be at the height of my powers. At least that was what I hoped was going to happen. I walked towards Elinia, who was standing by Forlo (no surprises there) and Rillian.

"Hey, Nia, whats the plan now?" I asked her.

"We don't really have a definite one that we're going to put into action that soon," Nia replied.

ELINIA

"Hey, Nia, whats the plan now?" Claudia asked, coming up from behind.

I didn't even turn my head. "We don't really have a definite one that we're going to put into action that soon." I yawned. Wow I should have gotten a bit more sleep last night. I was completely drained. Then again, who can sleep with the knowledge of..well, this.

"We should probably round everybody up and start for Mirage Hills," Forlo said casually.

I nodded. "Okay. Claudia, you can help me pack camp up." I turned to Forlo. "Half an hour sound like enough time?"

"Well, if everybody cooperates it should be plenty. Half an hour and we march."

I grinned and pecked him on the cheek. After last night there really wasn't much point in trying to cover anything up. I grabbed Claudia's arm and pulled her along. I had a certain suspision I needed to ask her about. When we were well away from the others I turned to her. "It was you in the woods last night wasn't it?" I whispered.

"How did you know?" She seemed embarressed.

I shrugged. "I'm a general. Basic deduction. The way you acted when we got back. And...Oh I don't know. It just seemed to fit together. Nevermind being a general and all the basic deduction stuff. It was just a lucky guess." Shale slithered up to me and nudged my shoulder with his head. I patted him thoughtfully. "You want to help too?"

Claudia laughed. "Looks like. And you're not mad about me snooping around are you? I was just going to find you. You had been gone for a while and..."

I cut her off. "I'm not mad. Infact I'm sort of happy about it in some weird sort of a way. Pass me that pot please?" I pointed and a small pot and she grabbed it, handing it to me. "Thanks," I mumbled.

ANGEL

I finally heard people wake up. I got up and got my few things together and went over to help the others.
"Anything you need help with?" I asked, wishing i had gotten a little more sleep. Nia looked over her shoulder at me, her expression became worried.
"Angel, you look terrible, did you go back to sleep after your dream?" I shook me head, looking away.
"I couldn't do it, i couldn't bring myself to fall back asleep." She nodded her head.
"You still should have slept, it's not healthy to skip sleep. you of all people should know that." I nodded, i felt like i was being lectured like a five year old.
"I know."

ELINIA

I sighed. I wasn't really one to talk about lack of sleep, but I would lecture my friends and warriors as I pleased. "I suppose I didn't get much sleep either though. How about we swear that tomorrow night we both actually sleep?" I grinned at her.

She nodded. "Deal. Now, anything you need me to do?"

I looked around. Everybody was packing up this and that and already the camp was almost completely packed. I passed her the pot. "I'm going to stick around here incase anybody needs help. Take Esteel and go grab some berries I guess. I'll probably need them in a bit." Did that sound bossy? I prayed not.

"Where is Esteel?" Angel asked.

"He was putting out the fire a few minutes ago." I scanned the camp for any sign of my new-found drawfy friend. "Oh, there he is." I pointed to the edge of the forest. He was staring at something or other and I didn't bother questioning what it was. "Tell him Nia said to go get some berries. There are a couple more pots down by the fireplace if you want to grab them before they get packed."

She nodded and ran off.

"Esteel's strange," Claudia murmered.

I arched an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Most dwarves won't lead the forest unless it's to help us in battle. He seems to be coming quite willingly."

I hadn't really thought about that before now. "Meh, he just thinks I'm too awesome to leave behind I guess." I winked. Now... what else was there to do before we left? "You know what we need?" I asked.

"What?"

"Horses. Things would be oh so much easier with horses. Diana's got hers, but nobody else does."

ANGEL

I nodded and walked over to esteel.
"Nia asked me to ask you to came help me pick some berries." I thought for a moment. Ya that came out right. He chuckeled.
"Alright then, i know ov a good spot. Follow me." I followed him into the woods, i loved the quiet, undisturbed nature and life in the woods. He plucked a berry off of a bush. "here we are." I smiled.
"Okay let's get picking." We were quiet while we picked. The small sound of berries falling into the pot was the loudest noise. I pushed a branch out of my way, to find out it was a garden snake. I gasped and fell back on my butt. Esteel started laughing.
"tis just a harmless little snake." He picked it up.
"Ya. he spooked me is all." We finished picking berries and headed back for camp.

Diana

I woke up roughly when Akkio stood up, causing my head to fall hard to the ground. I opened one eye with great effort and looked angrily up at the unaware wolf, who began shaking the dirt from his fur.

'Rise and shine!' He was saying. 'Big day ahead of us! Time to go!'

I pushed myself up, grumbling in irritation, and looked around. The bright sun didn't make it very easy on me. All around, people were bustling about, getting everything packed up and ready to go. Rilian was already up and talking to Forlo some ways away. I looked down and shook my head, tossing my yellow hair about, putting it back where it was supposed to be. I then crawled to my feet and began picking my things up. Akkio helped me by grabbing my bow and a couple of stray arrows. I smiled with amusement and took them gently from him.

"Diana...!" Elinia called to me.

I looked over at her, then walked up to her. "Yes Nia?" I asked. "What is it?"

"We'll need to borrow Luvia today," she told me. "To carry supplies."

I smiled half-heartedly. "Sure thing," I replied.

Walking up to Luvia, I stroked her nose. "We need you to help us today," I told her. Nia came up behind me.

The horse gave me a stern look. 'No one said anything about work...' She said stubbornly.

I looked at her firmly. "Luvia, please," I said irritatedly.

Nia looked at me with annoyance. "What did she say?" She demanded.

I looked at her, my face softening slightly. "Nothing," I muttered quickly. "She'll do it; load anything on her that you need to."

---

Lol Luvia may as well be a mule, she's so stubborn xD

FORLO extreme case of writer's block, attempting to break it. Caution: may suck.

Everything was packed, besides the remains of burned out fires, there would be no trace of us once we left. I walked over to where Diana was standing, "Diana, round up a heat of soldiers and head out first, I will follow up with the villagers and more warriors." I ordered, trying not to sound to rough.

"Yes General." she said and scurried off.

We had enough supplies for a week and the trip to Mirage Hills would take us four days with implications. What if we had bad weather? Would our supplies hold out long enough? What if we were attacked? Would our warriors hold out long enough? "You shouldn't think like that." said Nia, suddenly at my side.

"What?" I asked, breaking out of my own head.

Nia smiled, "You should guard your thoughts better Forlo."

"Why?" I chuckled, grabbing her by the waist, "It's so much more interesting to speak with out words. Romantic even."

She raised an eyebrow, Romantic? Aren't you sweet, turning my flaw in genetics beautiful.

"Flaw?" I snorted, What flaw?

Shut up. "Okay people!" she shouted, "Let's get a move on!"

ELINIA

Shut up. "Okay people!" I shouted, "Let's get a move on!" I was trying not to smile. Being held around the waist like this made me delightfully dizzy. Ange and Esteel were back.

Angel cleared her throat and tapped my shoulder. "Umm..where do I put these?" She sounded a little unsure of whether interupting this moment was a good idea or not.

Of course, I would have prefered it if she didn't. I would have loved it if Forlo and I were temporarly the only people in the universe, but we don't always get what we want. "There's a basket on Luvia's back reserved souly for that purpose," I answered, nodding at the horse. She scurried off.

I turned back to Forlo and let myself smile. You're horrible.

He arched an eyebrow. "Horrible?" How so?

Because you are making a plot against my humility. My ego is rising dramatically with all of your compliments. I kissed him on the cheek. "I'm hungry. Where did Luvia go with that basket?"

Claudia

We were heading out which was quite a relief I thought. I didn't like all of this waiting around and doing something was making me feel a little calmer. Which I seriously needed.

As we kept walking I looked around, a little lonely. Everybody had somebody, whether as a good friend or as more. Nia was a good friend of mine, of course, but she had Forlo now and didn't really need anyone else to talk to...

I shook away the thoughts. I had always been alone... why stop now?

"I'm hungry. Where did Luvia go with that basket?" She said. She kissed me on the cheek and went off to find her berries.

"General?" said a voice. I looked behind me and saw Diana, standing behind her was a small crowd of warriors. "We are ready when ever you are."

"Great." I smiled, "I think we are almost set. You can lead out the first set of warriors as soon as possible Di."

I walked off leaving Diana to tend to her troops. She was a born leader, a strong fighter too. I was glad to have her on my side.

ELINIA

I walked around the camp for a moment, searching for the horse. She was there with Akkio, waiting patiently for Diana to return to her. "Hey Luv," I cooed, stroking her nose. "I know I can't understand you, but it's pretty obvious you know what I'm saying." I chuckled. I was talking to a horse. Wow I had to look stupid...then again, I usually did something that looked stupid. I talked to Shale all the time. "Sorry to make you work like this, but you're playing an important role." I walked around to the side and reached into the basket, pulling out a handful of berries.

I ate them quickly and wiped the juice off on the side of my shirt. Not exactly the most attractive thing ever, but oh well. "Okay people! All of you front and center! If it's not packed, it's not coming unless it's an necessity," I shouted above the noise. Diana already had some troups rounded up, which was good.

I waited for them to get into their lines before continuing. "We move to the mirage hills. I want two lines of warriors at back and two in front. Healers, children and messengers are in the center. I need two scouts to go check the area ahead and report back to us within the next fifteen minutes."

Two girls took off quickly. I helped Diana instruct warriors to the front or back, the outter lines consisting of the more advanced fighters and the inner lines consisting of the...less advanced. "Okay, I want the blonde one to come back here," I said, nodding towards a younger warrior who looked a little lost.

Diana nodded and called him over, putting him in position. I sighed and scanned the small crowd for Forlo. Where was he? Rillian was approaching, but there was no sign of my co-general. Ril and Di were probably two of my favourite warriors, definately next in line for position of general if they wanted it. Still no Forlo.

There were suddenly two hands on my shoulders. I looked up to see none other than the great general himself, grinning. I smiled up at him and turned. "I was just looking for you actually."

He arched an eyebrow. "Now why would you go about doing that?"

I laughed. "Mmm...I don't know. You tell me." I winked at him, ignoring the snickers behind me. Let them laugh, they'd all find love one day, too. Then I would have my chance to tease them relentlessly. The scouts would be back any second now and we could keep moving.

Rilian

Rilian walked up to Elinia and Diana, his bow slung over his shoulder. Everything seemed to be ready to go, and Rilian wanted to know how Elinia planned to lead the troops.

Rilian was distracted for a moment as two girls burst into the camp from the forest. Rilian stiffened, his arms swinging up to snatch his bow. Then Rilian recognized them as the scouts Elinia had just sent off. Rilian motioned for them to follow him as he approached the generals.

"Generals," said Rilian quickly. "The scouts have come back."

Elina turned to them quickly, with Forlo at her side. Rilian stepped back to stand alongside Diana. He waited while the scouts gave their report. From the sounds of it, most of their way was clear to the Hills. Forlo nodded and dismissed them. The girls ran to take their place among the ranks. Elinia and Forlo turned to Diana and Rilian.

"Right," said Elinia. "We'll be heading off as soon as you two take your places. Forlo and I'll be leading the group. I want you two to take up the rear, okay?"

Diana nodded. "I'll send Akkio up toward you if anything happens on our side."

"Excellent," replied Elinia. She glanced at Forlo. "I guess we'll be giving the order to move, then?"

"I think so," said Forlo. Elinia smiled at him, nodded toward Rilian and Diana, and moved to take her spot among the ranks. Diana started moving to the back of the troops. Rilian followed her quickly. As they reached their spots, Forlo called out for the troops to begin moving. Rilian strung and arrow onto his bow as the army began to move. He caught Diana grinning at him.

"Nervous?" she asked, smirking. Rilian grinned at her.

"You wish."

*Is very very tempted to join*

LDR, if you can find a way to bring yourself in, join! We really need guys though if you can...

ELINIA

Forlo gave the word to move and we were off. Things would have been easier had our horses not scattered everywhere during the fire, but we would be fine. I eyed one of the scouts and motioned for her to come over. She broke from her line and ran up. There was an uneasy feeling settling with me and I needed some reassurance.

"You're sure there were no Dark Warriors ahead?" I asked, trying to sound casual. I had no idea what was eating at me, but there was something. Something was very, very wrong.

She nodded. "Nothing. We ran into a few dwarves who claimed they had come through last night, but they had past."

Esteel harumphed beside me for a reason I couldn't place. I ignored him and continued. "Last night? Did they say what direction they moved?"

The girl shook her head. "No. To be honest I didn't ask..." She trailed off, averting her gaze to the forest floor. Her cheeks were turning pink.

"It's fine, just remember for next time okay? What's your name again?"

"Tanila. Should I go back?"

I nodded and she turned to go back to her line.

"They went west," Esteel muttered, spitting to the side.

I arched an eyebrow. Something was obviously eating at him, too. Maybe I wasn't going crazy after all. "How do you know that?"

"I know lots of things. Like I know Angel still hasn't given out those necklaces."

I frowned. "Do me a favour and go find her to come over here?" Esteel nodded and ran off to find Angel.

Forlo turned to me. "Necklaces?"

I sighed. "Didn't I tell you this last night? I need you to wear one of them."

"You failed to mention that part, but okay."

I didn't answer, just stared straight ahead. I had a funny feeling we were about to walk ourselves into something that would be difficult to get out of. I didn't know what, but I knew. Something was very wrong here, I could feel it. A shiver ran up my spine and I inched slightly closer to Forlo. Something was very, very wrong indeed.

Angel

I had become incredibly jumpy since that dream. That was going to haunt me for a while. Esteel ran up to me,
"Elinia wants to see you." He looked at the pouch around my shoulder. Had I forgotten something? The necklaces! Right. I ran up to her, handing her a necklace and forlo too. I completely forgot to put one on, i handed the rest of them to her.
"I don't remember who the others are for." I felt my cheeks go flush. I shuddered as the dream floated though my mind again. Why wouldn't it stop, I couldn't kill a living thing if my own life depended on it!