The Minority

Chapter 4- Camp Pariah

The creature stalked round them, as if sizing up his prey.
Then it pounced. Alina actually let out an ear piercing shriek as it almost decapitated her.

Plant vines sprung up from around Alex and attacked the monster. The Orthrus managed to leave a scratch before Alex pulled it away from her. The vines wove tighter and stronger until the beast was immobilized. Then Dylan touched it's fur and said some very strange words until nothing was left of the Orthrus but bones. Before Alina could wrap her mind around what she just witnessed, two more materialized out of nowhere.

"Irsa, get her to camp. Dylan and I are right behind you" she instructed.
"But.."
"Now Irsa!"
Irsa grabbed the princess and took to the sky. They arrived in less than a nanosecond. Either the camp was not as far way as she thought or..
"How did you..?"
"Oh I host Iris. She's the godess of speed and communication.." Irsa made a big rainbow over their heads "... and big beautiful rainbows!"
"Whoa"
"It's cool right? I know. And whenever I want to fly, I sprout these" she indicated the sparkling, iridescent butterfly wings on her back. " Beautiful wings! It's amazing I know" she grabbed Alina again  " Let's go in. Common, I wanna show you everything! You're gonna love it here". Alina highly doubted that but Irsa's upbeat attitude could make her believe death was glamorous.
The camp looked a little bit more lively..just a little bit. It was like a little community on its own.

"Let's get that cut looked at" Irsa said and led her to the med bay.
The kingdom of Apollo was responsible for creating and distributing medical supplies. They were the go to healers and doctors and nurses. Alina even had a personal doctor who hosted Apollo- one of the best in his kingdom. But that privilege didn't extend to this place.

"Most of the healing is dependent on powers... people who host Asclepius, Aceso, Iaso, Panacea...we do not have the science. If one has a disease beyond a healers powers..."
Alina couldn't imagine such a place existed. Irsa made her sit on a hospital bed.
"It's just a cut.."
"Sit tight, I'll go get Jean" she zoomed off.

"Howdy"
Alin turned and found a girl lying on the bed next to her. Alina took a good look at her. The cast on her left leg was not even the most striking thing about her. Her hair was rough and frizzy,she had freckles dusted across her face... two small horns protruded from her hair...she was not pretty...at all.
"It's ok..everyone always stares" the girl gave a small smile.
"No..I wasn't..I didn't  mean.."
"Don't sweat it kid. I'm not exactly eye candy..I know. Sure wish I looked even a little bit like you princess types" she snorted out a laugh.

Irsa came back, a woman and someone that would probably be her daughter, in tow.
"Found'em" she announced.
"Ruby honey, why don't you help our new friend out, I'll attend to Pandora here" Jean instructed the little girl. She couldn't be over ten years old. The little girl opened an old drawer and brought out a small bottle.
"I made it myself" she said with pride " I call it panacea"
"Cure all" Alina said
"Yeah. Plus I'm actually hosting Panacea too." The girl rubbed some of the stuff on her cheek. It didn't even sting. Then she wiped it off with a clean cloth and handed her a small mirror.
"It's like it never even happened" Alina said as she looked at her cheek.

"It's  impressive " Jean said " But even a cure-all can't cure all" she got the cast off Pandora's leg " Keep that in mind young lady, the next time you decide to go head to head with the cows" she said to Pandora.
"Well the cows aren't gonna herd themselves, are they? " she replied cheekily.
"Alex!" Ruby beamed. Alex stood at the door frame with Dylan. They had huge bleeding scratches and some bites. Blood was all over Alex's face. Ruby jumped into her arms and hugged her tight, both girls giggling.
"Hey little cutie" Alex kissed her forehead. The pair let her attend to their wounds.

A boy flew into the room. Alina had only one word to describe him...HOT. Something about him made her want to stare at him forever. He was muscular and handsome..in summary..imagine your dream guy and you have him.
"Thank goodness that cast is off" he sighed in relief. " You're ok. I was worried"
"Don't worry Ralph, I was just as fine as I was when you checked on me  yesterday, and the day before that..and the day before that.." Pandora smirked.  The boy Ralph,  blushed..hard. Alina could see how differently he looked at her...

"Alright everyone it's dinner time" Jean said as she motioned for them to move along " Eat lots of vegetables" she winked.
"Oh dinner time" Pandora's eyes lit up.
"Race you there" Irsa said and they both sped off  with lightning speed, Ralph flying behind them.

"Pandora!" Jean yelled after her uselessly " She just got her cast off...that girl.."
"We'll need to wash up first" Dylan said.
"Is that..blood?" Alina asked
"Don't worry it's not ours.. I think..even if it was , the wounds are healed"
"Common" Alex said " Let's get you out of that chiton" .

Alina looked at the dress. It was no where near white as it once was, the silver belt was missing and it was singed in some places. She didn't think she could survive wearing anything but royal clothes. Even though she wasn't royal anymore..
She followed Alex nonetheless.