Chapter 4

Jason

Something flew out of the bushes at her as time seemed to stand still.

I pushed myself forward in a lunge and tackled her to the ground.

She shrieked in suprise as an arrow cut across her side, one that was aimed to kill.

We toppled to the ground with her beneath me. It wasn't a very graceful landing and probably hurt her a bit but it was better than letting her get shot in the stomach and getting a fatal wound.

"Jason look out!" Jake yelled from his hiding spot and swung his sword, causing a arc of lighting to shoot towards the direction the arrow came from.

I quickly stood and pulled the girl to her feet, she stumbled but I held her up to make sure she didn't fall. It was obvious she was disoriented and I only hoped she hadn't hit her head when I tackled her.

The ones who attacked, scurried out of the brush.

Bone imps.

The little green skin colored goblins, rushed out of the way of Jakes attack, they were dressed in the skin and bones of their victims and prey, both human and animal alike.

They had yellow eyes that seemed to glow in the dark, with mangled hair on some of their heads. Most were bald. Their long pointed ears even had holes or peircings and they only stood about a foot tall.

They may not be very menacing alone but in big enough groups, they were deadly, they killed and ate anything they could get, they carried spears, bows, and blades made of either bone or small weapons they took from any human victims.

One of them crouched down and hissed at us before throwing its small spear in our direction.

Jake quickly countered the attack and cut it in half.

I reached for my sword on my belt. When I felt nothing I mentally scolded myself remembering how I had destroyed and discarded my blade.

I noticed the girl lose balance and lean against me before nearly collapsing.

Catching her I threw my arm under her arm and held her arm, she tried to speak but nothing came out except a strangled groan, she had her hand over the cut on her side.

Glancing over at the arrow that had grazed her, now stuck in the archway, I could see a black substance on the tip of the arrow.

Poison.

"Dammit Jake we need to get out of here!" Swiftly pulling the girl up I threw her over my shoulder, she didn't even struggle and I could tell she had fainted, the poison must be very potent.

"Don't get hit by their arrows or spears they are laced with poison!" I looked around to see even more bone imps coming out of hiding, I also noticed some of the bones scattered around the place. How didn't I notice them before.

I ran towards the entrance we had come from a few arrows flew past me and Jake ran after me.

A group of imps jumped out in front of us blocking the path we were running on and I had to stop dead in my tracks.

Jake turned and sent another arc of lighting towards the ones who had been chasing us.

I looked around and saw an old round rusted shield in the ground, half burried in the dirt. Dashing to the side I quickly grabbed the old shield and blocked a few arrows that were sent my way before throwing the damned thing like a saucer at a few of the imps in our way.

One of them had jumped out of the way and two were hit by the metal object that easly dwarfed them in size. I ran past and flew through the outter village wall. Jake was quickly on my heels.

Jake jumped on his horse and turned his side towards me. I handed him the girl and ducked as a spear was thrown over my head.

I looked back at a swarm of angry imps chasing us. Jumping on my horse I took off to follow Jake who had a head start. We rode through the forest towards town.

We easily outran the small creatures who were after our heads. Looking over at Jake, he glanced at me and I grinned.

"What?" He looked at me skeptically.

Smiling I looked back the way we came. "That was fun!"

"Fun?! You called that fun?! We could've gotten hurt or died! We walked into a nest full of bone imps! Are you insane!" The look on his face was priceless.

"Aw come on wheres your sense of adventure? We made it out ok!" I couldn't help but laugh at his reaction.

"Besides we haven't done anything like that for years! Live a little will ya!"

Jake sighed and shook his head."You always were wild."

"But don't forget about her Jason." He tipped his head down to ackowledge the girl he had in his arm.

I looked down at her, most of her face was covered by the hood of her cloak but I could see some of her hair that spilled out from underneath. Her hair was white as snow.

This took me back a bit, I wonder if it was just because of the dark that her hair maybe just seemed white.

That nagging feeling was back and I couldn't help but keep glancing over at her.

We rode in silence the rest of the way. As we approached the town we came across the group of soldiers, our supposed 'back up' and headed back to the castle with them as our escort.

Passing through the castle walls gates we were greeted by the king.

"Your back, what news do you have. Who's this?" The king walked up to us noticing the girl.

Jumping off the horse I handed the reigns to one of the guards then took the girl from Jake, I put one arm around her shoulders and the other under her knees.

I can feel her burning up with a fever.

"We need a doctor or a healer, you have one on the castle right? Shes been poisoned."

"Of course, guards bring a healer at once! Come lets take her to the medical ward." He ushered us inside after Jake had stepped down from his horse.

As we walked down the hall, I could feel her unsteady breathing, and just how small she really was.

Now that we were in a well lit area I could see that her hair really was white, and she was very pale, I couldn't tell if it was because she was sick or if that was normaly how she looked.

I also couldn't help but notice how perfectly she fit into my arms, I'm about 6ft tall, and judging by her standing earlier, shes only about 5'4.

Mentally groaning I shook my head to get those thoughts out, I'm here being a complete freak while this girl is dying in my arms.

My chest tighted at the thought, the girl was young, too young to die. She was probably only a few years younger than me and I'm only 21.

I turned into the medical ward, pushing past the wooden doors. There was about six hospital beds set up on either side of the room, only two were occupied by a sick guard and a guard with a broken leg. This place wasn't used very offten so it was very open and quiet.

Walking over I placed her on one of the beds just as a few nurses came in along with a healer.

The girls hand slipped off the edge of the bed and a necklace fell to the floor out of her grasp.

Before the nurses had a chance to push me away, I knelt down and grabbed it then stepped away to inspect it.

It was a small silver chain necklace with a strange black crystal hanging off of it. Something felt off about this necklace.

The closer I inspected the crystal the worse this feeling got. I paid no mind to the nurses or healer who were quickly at work trying to get the girl back in stable condition.

Jake and his father walked up beside me. The king only looked at the young girl with concern written all over his face while Jake looked over at me and the necklace.

"Dude, whats with that scowl on your face, and whats in your hand?" He tilted his head to get a better look.

"Its her's she dropped it when I set her down, something feels off. The more I look at this gem and her, the more this all feels wrong. Like she shouldn't be here." Looking up at the girl, the nurses blocked most of my view but Jake followed my line of sight with a look of confusion.

"Well now are you boys going to explain to me whats going on and what happend?" The kings words snapped me out of my daze.

"Of course father, lets go talk somewhere more private while we wait on her." Jake walked out with his father, I hesitantly followed after them.

As we got to the kings study, we sat down and Jake explained everything that had happened and what we saw.

None of us knew what was going on, who the girl was or where she came from. And there was a chance she might not wake up, depending on how lethal the poison was.

"And you two saw no one else in those ruins? Just the girl?" He sat back as he looked at both of us from across the table.

"No one, if there was anyone they'd have been killed already and the imps wouldn't have been hiding. We were right in the middle of their nest."

I sighed and played with the girls necklace in my hand.

This was all very concerning in many ways, this girl could be a threat not only to Leosa but the entire continent.

The fact she could appear right in the capital of leosa without any warning and no idea of where she came from was also very concerning.

"What if she was Elven?" Jake suggested.

I had a gut feeling this girl meant danger, and Elven didn't suit her in my mind, she was otherworldly, not to mention none of the Elven species have been known for having white hair, blonde yes, scarlet red or even green? Yes. But never white or any dark colors like brown or black.

I felt stupid making a assumption based off a gut feeling and because of someones hair color but I knew I had to be right about this.

"Shes not Elven and definitely not Dwarven." They both looked at me.

"Elves have light hair color but not like that, and Dwarves? Well you know why she's not a dwarf..."

"Hmm, we will have to get a better look I did not see much while the nurses were tending to the girl." Jake's father stood up from his seat.

"We will hope that she recovers and wakes up soon, then we can question her." As soon as he finished speaking, the healer walked in through the doors of the study and bowed.

"Your highness, I bring news of the girl you brought in..."

My heart stopped for a moment as I waited for her to say what she came here for.

"Go on" the king spoke.

"She is in stable condition, the poison was not lethal enough to kill her, shes still rendered unconsious but her body seems to be able to fight off the poison seemingly well, she will live and wake up by the morning." The healer bowed her head then left the study.

I let out a breath that I didn't even know I was holding onto. 'She will live' I repeated in my head.

Although I'm a very caring person, I don't think I've ever cared this much about a stranger. This girl did strange things to me and I knew absolutely nothing about her.

"Well thats great news! Lets all get some rest, it is very late and has been a very eventful day." Jake's father spoke as he walked around the table towards the doors." In the morning we shall continue our discussion and figure out our next action I bid you both goodnight.

Both me and Jake quickly stood up and left the room, stopping outside the door Jake turned towards me.

"Try to get some rest we can't both be stressing over this when there's nothing else for us to do..." he grabbed my shoulder and turned to walk down the hall.

"Don't worry about me I'll be fine I'm not the one with a strange girl in my home!" I chuckled as he waved me off.

Sighing I turned the opposite direction and started walking towards the guest rooms.

I looked down at the necklace I held in my hand. Two days left before I left back for my kingdom, I had a feeling this problem wasn't going to be solved in such a short time.

I let my mind wonder as I walked, I didn't even try to distract myself from the dark thoughts that came to mind. 'Violence, bloodshed, betrayal'.

Holding my head and closing my eyes I tried to ignore the voice in my head. Before I knew it I had stopped outside of the infirmary.

Looking at the doors I couldn't help but be curious, so I opened them and looked inside.

A nurse walked past me and out of the room. The curtains were drawn closed for the other patients leaving me alone with the girl who lay asleep in the hospital bed.

She was still fast asleep, I knew coming here was pointless while she was in this state, yet I was unconsiously drawn to her, whoever and whatever this girl was, I knew our fates would be entwined.

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