chapter 46

The sound of rocks sliding against metal brought me back from the dream world. I opened my eyes and sat up. Still wearing my shoes, I stood up and begun to walk over to the washroom door when the sound sent shivers down my spine. It was coming from inside the room. I turned around to see my training partner sitting in the corner of the room, on the opposite side from the bed. He had one leg over the over, his blade resting on his leg as he sharpened it with a flat sided rock.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Waiting, you were late for training today, came to see if you were still alive" he said.

"So, you just let yourself in?" I said.

"We are going to be working together for a while, by the orders of the chieftess... hurry up we are going out into the real world today" he said.

He stood up and walked over to door. His sword sliding against the hard wood flooring, leaving a scratch on the floor. He waited to say something, but the look on my face caused him to walk out the door without saying a word.

"That was my floor" I whispered to myself.

Stepping forward I kneeled down and traced my finger over the scratch. Standing up I walked out the door and stood in front of him.

"What did my floor ever do to you?" I asked.

"It got you out the door, didn't it?" he said.

He waved his hand in a follow me gesture as he walked toward the command building. I followed him as we jogged into the building. We walked into the back room where the chieftess was sitting at her desk, waiting. A feather quill in her hand, a yellow stained paper in front of her, and an ink bottle filled with black squid ink was sitting above the paper on the right-hand side.

"Kristy... Jupiter, good you are here. I have a very important mission for you both today" She said.

Her eyes never left her paper. Her pen was sliding gracefully across the paper, leaving the darkest letters in its place. She lifted her hand and gentle placed the pen back into its holder. It stood up right at a slight angle. She lifted her head and looked me in the eyes.

"I am sending you both on a search and recovery, today. A farmer from the south side of the village took his son out hunting yesterday night, but never returned home. The boys' mother is worried and had asked of you two personals to find her boys" she said.

"Yes, ma'am" Jupiter said.

"What was there last known location?" I asked.

"The women said that they entered the forest from the path at the back of their house, from there they went West... that's all we know" she said.

We turned around to leave as the Chieftess picked up her pen again. We turned around, but before we could take a step she had spoken again.

"Kristy, I believe you will be needing those" she said.

She pointed the back of her pen towards a normal sized crate in the corner, by the door. Sitting apon the crate were shiny steel blades with black hilts. The leather carved and sown to resemble the scales of lizard. The sheaths sitting underneath them. I smiled at her and jogged over to the crate to collect my blades. Strapping them to my back, we jogged out of the building and made our way to the farm house.

"So, they call you Jupiter!" I yelled.

"Only my friends call me that!" he said.

Jogging down the narrow dirt path. It wasn't to long before I started to huff and poof. Jupiter wasn't even fazed by the long jog. I stopped to rest a moment when we arrived at the house. We had our mission and I was prepared to head straight into the woods, but Jupiter walked up to the front door of the small, light wood house. He gentle knocked on the door and waited for it to open. I waited at the bottom of the steps.

"Jupiter? your here?" a young woman asked.

"Hey, Moana... I'm sorry about your husband and son, but if we are to find them, we need to know where they went" he said.

She took a step out of the doorway and looked down at me. Only for a moment I was able to see her brown eyes before she turned back toward him.

"Hunters have been coming back empty handed lately... There are no animals within the boarders any more. Bill took Keven straight down the path, outside the boarder" she said.

"Moana, why would you let them do that?" he asked.

"The village is running out of food, going outside the boarders is the only way for any of the hunters to bring back something" she said.

"We'll find them" he said.

He touched her shoulder and walked down the steps. He went straight past me and headed toward the entrance to the woods. I closed the distance between us and followed him in. He looked as if he was getting emotional about the situation. I kept my mouth closed and continued to follow his lead. It felt like we were walked forever by the time we arrived at the boarder line.

"I didn't know you could stop talking" he said.

"Rude. Why are stopping here?" I asked. 

"They went that way... do you know how I know?" He said.

"The underbrush has been moved and stomped on, and it's the only man-made path in this area... it's not hard to see" I said.

He didn't respond. Turning away from me, he started walking through the bushes. I followed him, but kept my distance.