The Guardians of Deities

3

The pale light of the sunrise sat on her face, waking her up. When her eyes finally focused, she knew instantly she didn't sleep there and most certainly didn't know the people laying around her.

Arline was silently panicking, trying not to make a sound for this strangers to wake up. She didn't know what had happened last night, but she decided to leave and not being there when they opened their eyes.

Only a few rays of sunlight escaped from the clouds, making the beginning of the day a light shade of grey. As soon as she took the blanket of her, she felt the chilly morning breeze hugging her entire body. She stood up, without making any noise. Or at least that's what she thought, because the only audible thing was the water moving, some early birds chirping and the wind blowing in between the trees.

When Arline approached the entrance of the woods, after avoiding the entire camping site, she heard someone moving in their sleep but she let out a sigh of relief  when no one stopped her as she was stepping a foot onto the dark alley of trees. But a male raspy voice warned her "I wouldn't do that if I were you girl" it was Zeroun who was yawning and rubbing his eyes "Come back by the ashes, it's cold" he had a sweet tone in his voice, but she didn't move a muscle.

Arline was terrified but gave in. She knew she was in disadvantage, and it was going to be of no use to escape. To her knowledge, they did nothing to her, just picked her up and kept her warm during the night.

Zeroun gave her a side smile when he saw her coming back, after washing his face with the cold lake water, making all of his senses to be spiked up.

"Give them a few minutes" he calmed her as she was looking around at the other two boys. While he was reviving the fire, Calix and Larsin were waking up. It took them a few minutes to realize that the girl they had rescued last night, was up and looking at them with shy eyes.

"Now you look more alive" Calix let out as a poor ice breaker, only earning him a slap at the back of his head from Larsin.

"Excuse him, he doesn't deal with girls very often" Larsin charmingly said while offering her some berries. She took some of them, trying not to be ungrateful, but was skeptical. So he put few of them in his mouth to reassure her there was nothing to fear. She gave him a side smile.

The three of them were silent but were also analyzing everything about her, her moves and looks, her mannerisms. She obviously noticed, they weren't being subtle and she wasn't an idiot.

"I'm Larsin by the way, nice to meet you" he finally introduced himself and got closer to offer her his hand, she took it. She was still silent "The one with no hair is Calix and he is Zeroun" he said while pointing at them.

"I'm Arline" her voice was raspy and her throat was itching "Nice to meet you" she looked down.

"How did you get here?" Zeroun asked her calmly.

"I don't know, exactly" she shook her head, still looking down and playing with her rings.

"What do you mean?" Calix was curious and tilted his head, his voice was deeper and almost sounded violent, but his body language didn't convey that.

"Long story short, I was in a valley, I heard a weird noise, I followed it and ended up almost drowning in the sea" she took a deep breath and lifted her head, making her dark hair bounce on her shoulders.

Calix lifted an eyebrow but chose to believe her, they all did. They stayed silent, except for the growls of their stomaches.

"Changing of subject" Larsin stood up "We need proper food or I'm going to start eating a tree"

"Have you tried fishing? Or hunting a deer?" Arline didn't know why she asked.

"Oh believe me, we tried fishing those bastards" Zeroun said "They're impossible to catch". She didn't say anything else and decided to leave it like that.

⎯

The day passed slowly, she had nothing to do except sitting near the shore. Arline was daydreaming when Calix sat by her side "Do you mind?" he politely asked and she shook her head so he got comfortable.

"Why are you all here?" she asked almost in a whisper. He looked at her and doubted for a second.

"We're looking for something" he decided to say after carefully choosing his words "We need it to get back to our home"

She stayed silent for a second. It hit her that she didn't know where she was in the world or how far away her home was "How close are you to find it?" she tried not to sound as worried as she felt.

"Very close" Larsin stepped in with an optimistic tone on his voice.

"That's what you say, I don't believe you" Calix confessed.

They all giggled. Then they saw Zeroun struggling to try catch fishes again, his friends laughed under their breaths. But decided to join him and give it a try. Arline didn't believe they were going to give her the chance until Zeroun passed her the spear, without looking at her, as if he expected her to take it.

"Wait, seriously?" she frowned in shock. 

"Yes of course, good luck" Zeroun encouraged her and she rolled up her trousers and stepped into the cold water, and decided to create a shade above some of the fish, lifted the spear aiming for the head and took her shot. When she took it out of the water, a shiny, silver hake was hanging at the end of it. She was proud of herself and when she turned around she saw the boys with a look of disbelief in their eyes. She blushed and threw the dead fish in the shore.

"We'll need more, I'm starving" Calix said with a smirk.

The other two nodded their heads while they were applauding her unironically, as if she was their savior sent from heaven to save them from hunger. Any kind of embarrassment in her faded and decided to get back in the water. She spent some more time implementing the same strategy and got to fish five more hakes.

While Arline hunted, Calix prepared the fire and Zeroun and Larsin collected some herbs and berries. It was the closest they could have to a feast. The boys were glad at least one of them was useful to get food. That night they went to sleep warm and with full stomaches.