Battle of Lies

Chapter XXVII

Rodalya flew overhead. Who knew flying could feel so... so amazing. Every so often a "monster" would attack and Rodalya would have to land and help her friends. It was odd. Having friends, that is. She never had anyone who had cared about her who weren't her dragons. Silus had been the first to actually care about her, but now she wasn't even sure he ever did. For all she knew, he could've been using her from the very beginning.

"How could you do this to me?" she whispered in her head.

No one replied of course because no one could hear her, except Ielio, but he could care less about what she said.

A half hour passed. The land dwellers, that was Rodalya's name for those who couldn't fly, hadn't needed her since the last monster that was just a chicken with a lot of determination. She was growing tired. Ielio was beginning to complain about a growing pain in his wings.

Land if you must, Rodalya said. Ielio grunted in thanks and landed near the land dwellers.

"What's wrong?" Nym asked Rodalya.

"Oh, nothing. Ielio was just getting tired, so I figured walking would be good for me."

Nym nodded and turned back to the untrodden path they were following.

Omsya and Leon sidled up next to Rodalya.

"Are you alright?" Omsya asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Rodalya replied with sadness in her voice.

"I know you're not. Wanna talk about it?" Leon asked.

Rodalya looked at him. Who knew Leon, the goof of the group, could be sensitive? It was almost as if he were more than just a few jokes. She knew anything she said would just sound like a twig snap to him and he would be reading captions in order to understand, but she couldn't help but want to be a friend to him. Someone who she could trust. Someone who she wanted to be friends with. Someone she could stay up all night talking to. She had wished Silus, her first friend, to be that, but she didn't need Silus because now she had Omsya and Leon.

"Maybe when this is all over," Rodalya smiled.

Her two friends nodded and the group trenched along. They would never know the pain awaiting them in the Land of Outcasts. And they would never recover.

Hours passed. They had reached the edge of the Infected Zone and with minimum casualties. Nadine had just fallen over a boulder that was actually a burnbi, a bearlike creature, and had gotten a scratch from the fall and Nym just tripped over his own feet.

Clearly he hasn't gotten used to walking, Rodalya had thought.

"I never thought I'd come back here," Leon and Omsya said at the same time. Rodalya couldn't help but notice how they blushed when they realized that they had spoken at the same time.

Jordyn smiled and Rodalya could tell that she had noticed too.

"Beyond this point is a danger many of us have never seen. Omsya and Leon are the only ones who have traveled through this awful place. They will lead us into the land and to the abandoned fort. There we will meet up with the others," Jordyn said, after a few moments of waiting just inches from the border.

"Others?" Leon asked, "Are there aliens waiting for us to help us or abduct us?" There was the Leon Rodalya had just met days before, not the one who acted like he cared about her.

"One might call them aliens. After all, they haven't been seen by humans for years," Chase answered, just as Jordyn opened her mouth to answer.

"I have sent an overn ahead of us. The other elves, titans and dragons know we are going to fight. They will be coming to help."

"What's an overn?" Rodalya asked.

"It's a bird-like creature." Once again Chase answered for Jordyn. Rodalya laughed as Jordyn's face turned a light shade of red in anger.

"What?" Jordyn asked, her face returning to its normal palish color.

"Oh, nothing," Rodalya quickly answered.

"Anyway, we should get going."

"Well then let's go." Nym said with anguish.

Jordyn rolled her eyes and stepped across the border into the Land of Outcasts.

"Here we go." Rodalya whispered. No one knew of what would be waiting for them in the waste land they called the Land of Outcasts. No one knew the outcome of the battle before it had even begun. No one... no one but Nix Morte.