Gift- Book 1

Chapter 32

Leiea feels her face grow pale as everything begins at once. The most horrible noise is the birds she hates so much. Behind the trees the bright colored feathers are visible, diving at Ailpein, Therin, and Sheyric. Ailpein can barely lift his sword, but Therin slashes his machete in the air aimlessly. It mostly hits them in the wings and they fall, screeching and writhing on the ground. The bird corpses appear to be slowly combusting on their own, producing more pillars of smoke besides those coming from the living creatures.

Sheyric manages to pull away from the chaos. He drags himself to Leiea, still frozen with fear and shock, and pulls her a few feet away.

"Where's Ryn and Heron?" He asks, setting her down on a fallen tree. She notices plenty of new scratches and burns on his skin, piling up on the old ones. She shrugs to his question. She didn't hear them run off, but only Hania and Vaeic remains by a different set of trees. Hania aims her bow at the flock and lets the arrow fly. It goes into the chest of one of the birds and it falls with violent spasms.

Leiea reaches over Sheyric's shoulder and touches the rifle on his back. "You know I don't like it, but use it." Her voice is scratchy from the light smoke engulfing the area. She notices the oldest corpses of the birds are withered and blackened by the fire.

He blinks rapidly with conflict but nods. "Cover your ears," he says as he sits next to her and flips the rifle around his neck, aiming it with the experience of a seasoned hunter. She does as he said and the weapon fires. A bird above Ailpein falls at the same time. He continues to shoot as Hania does, and none of their projectile's hit each other.

Eventually, all the birds that were bombarding the two are dead, save for a small one flapping around their heads. It screeches loudly and disappears into the woods before it's touched.

The creatures litter the floor, many of them cut apart or with arrows sticking from them. From Sheyric's shots, fluorescent red blood bubbles from the wounds. All of them smolder steadily, more and more of them shriveling into nothing. Ailpein falls into them, overcome with exhaustion and injuries. Therin starts coughing and walks away, closer to Leiea and Sheyric. Vaeic runs over and stops him in his tracks with a slap across the face.

"Don't you dare complain to me about this. You did it to yourself." Her tone is so firm that his voice when agreeing quivers.

She continues. "But, I was dumb enough to not consider bringing medical supplies, so you two'll have to tough it out as we walk back." Sheyric nods and puts the rifle on his back again as Hania returns. She sits next to Leiea, grasping the bow so tightly that her knuckles are white.

Vaeic inspects the area momentarily and wades into the piles of bird carcasses. She heaves Ailpein up and he has a coughing attack. Blood drips over his mouth.

Leiea looks at Therin's new wounds. He's coated in cuts, very similar to how they are on Sheyric. However, he has more burns than anything, making nearly all his exposed skin raw and red. It's the same case for Ailpein, but something has to be wrong internally as well. She's never heard him cough so violently, and the blood is a bad sign. She worries about him without meaning to.

Vaeic helps Therin in walking and Sheyric assists Ailpein. They walk behind the girls still sitting in the log. Hania sighs.

"I have no idea what they were thinking," She says with a soft laugh. "Come on." She stands and hops over the log. Leiea follows, purposefully slower to avoid being with the others, especially with Ryn not there. Her last glimpse of the area is all the grass smoldering. The crumbled, ashy birds form gray hills.

Sheyric, Vaeic, and Hania take turns helping Therin and Ailpein, and Leiea stays back, ignoring any signs to catch up. A few times, one of them loses consciousness and they have to stop, the first time being right after exiting the warm autumn of the deciduous trees. Still, Leiea can tell that no one in the group really cares about their pain.

Ryn nor Heron ever make themselves present, worrying Sheyric to no end. On the stops they have to make for medical concerns, he excuses himself to search further for them. They don't show up, so it's decided the two went right back to the encampment, or are still on their way there.

Almost to the end of the forest, Hania slows down and walks with Leiea, which she welcomes after walking for hours and growing bored. "The boys are pretty beaten up," she states, "I doubt they'll heal enough to get back on the road with us."

Leiea nods solemnly, but on the inside, ecstatic. Therin gone will mean a much happier Sheyric, she thinks, And I'll be much more social and ambitious if Ailpein isn't watching my every move.

Deep in thought, Leiea nearly crashes into Vaeic. The group stands still, appearing to be inspecting the ground.

Sheyric looks up and gazes at her, his face pale and bleary eyed. He opens his mouth to talk but nothing comes out. Vaeic sticks her arm out and pushes her ahead.

She sees it instantly and her hands grow clammy and cold. In a patch of frosted debris from the pine trees, the old emerald lays. The metal chain is gone and the bordering is dented. Even the gem itself shows harm, with hairline cracks and dirt smudged on.

The disbelief and fright passes Leiea, replaced by anger. She whirls around and slams Sheyric into a tree and pinning him by the shoulders. Therin- he was being supported by Sheyric- falls with a grunt. Vaeic and Hania lash out with similar gasps and scoldings. However, Hania's is giving more directions to beat him up.

"YOU SET THIS UP!" Leiea screams. He groans and knocks off her grip like it was that of a toddler. Vaeic rushes forward behind and catch's her midair, spitting at him. He furrows his brow and sets his jaw. Leiea's never seen his eyes so fiery and confused at the same time.

"Do you remember when we got rid of some of our valuables while riding back here?" His calm tone is staggering. Without waiting for a response, he continues.

"You know perfectly well that I'm not one to crush and throw out gemstones of all things. I put it back into that appropriate place in my stores, while still in the caravan. Riding for the first few days, I kept that box with the emerald in it. When we got rid of all that, the emerald went with it. I hope you're happy that you finally got that explanation." He scowls and walks ahead of them with long strides, not looking at the group or the emerald. They watch as he quietly goes beyond their sight in the woods.

Vaeic snorts. "So much for a trustworthy and loyal leader," She pushes Leiea off and stands Therin up. Hania helps Ailpein with rigid motions. Leiea lets them walk off again. Although she hates the emerald so much, the mystery of this appearance at this time is too intriguing.

Tentatively, she approaches that gem and flips in over. The back of it doesn't even look like a beautiful jewel, but some kind of dirty insect nest. She picks it up by the metal border and lodges it into the hollowed knot in the center of a tree. Although eerie, she likes the way it sticks out in the brown trunk. It's unlikely the team will return anyways.