Scorched

Chapter 3

Gwen looked around frantically, searching for a place to hide. Her breath came out in short, panicked gasps. All she could think about was the two men walking towards her. Visions of them dragging her off to be hung for treason flashed through her mind.

The small clearing Gwen and Xander had slept in that night wasn't near any houses she could sneak into as it was on the fringes of the village, and the trees were too thinly spread to properly hide her.

Gwen's breathing was louder than she thought it was, and behind her Xander began to stir. The men were too close now for them not to have seen her. She choked back a sob.

Gwen did the only thing she could think to do.

She left the injured wyvern to be slaughtered. She didn't stop to help Xander.

She ran.

Gwen ran like her life depended on it, which it probably did. She spared one glance over her shoulder before she entered the thin cover of the trees and her eyes locked with the accusing stare of Xander. One guard was pulling the boy roughly to his feet, while the other was trying to find a way to approach the angry wyvern.

Gwen kept running, tears blurring her eyes. She wove around the trees, familiar from the years of playing hide and seek with her brother. No, not her brother, a traitor, she thought viciously.

She ran and ran until she couldn't anymore. She stopped in a fit of coughing and leaned forwards with her hands on her knees. She rested against a tree, looking back the way she came.

There were no signs of pursuit, no cracking branches, no shouts between trees. Nothing.

Gwen cautiously began to make her way back the way she came, ready to run at a moment's notice. The whole way back Gwen didn't spy a single person, which led her to the conclusion that they weren't too concerned with the little brunette chasing a wyvern around.

She reached the clearing she had run from. A whimper of despair escaped her. Boy and wyvern were gone. Not a single sign of struggle broke the serenity of the clearing in the mid-afternoon.

Gwen trudged morosely back to her house. She felt awful about what she had done. She had run to save herself, not a thought spared about saving the broken boy and his wyvern. All she had cared about was not losing her chance to take the trials.

She almost drove herself mad, running through the situation over and over, trying to think of a way she could have reacted and saved them both.

'Some guard you would be' Gwen chided herself. 'Couldn't even protect your friend.'

She barely knew the boy, how could she be expected to care for him? He was the one who stole the wyvern and come crashing out of the sky.

"This wasn't my fault," Gwen muttered under her breath, hoping that if she repeated it enough times she could start to believe it and ease some of the guilt she felt.

Before she knew it Gwen had arrived at her house. She came to an abrupt halt at the door.

What if she ran into Kai? What would she say to him? She knew Kai had held the law in high regard after his accident, but she hadn't thought he would try to have her arrested!

She took a deep breath and pushed open the door, ready for confrontation. The house was empty. She supposed it should be expected that none of her family would be home in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday, but it seemed odd that, after everything that had happened to her, no one was there.

As she was making her way to the kitchen, a thought occurred to Gwen. She still could take the trials, and if she passed she would live in the castle for her training. The same castle where Xander would be held until they decided what to do with a traitor. If she could get into the castle she could have the chance to save him, or at least find out what happened to him.