Mountains [Vikklan]

Chapter 8- Arrival [Vikk]

I hug Landon.

"I'll see you soon, 'kay?"

He nods, and turns away, mounting his horse. Bee is riding Dog, so they can get back to the camp as quickly as possible with the potion for Ali.

The rest of us will head to the village on foot. Speedy and Sidearms have decided they'll stay with me at the village, but Lizzie and Kara will come back to look after their camp.

The sun is low in the sky, fresh morning dew still coats the grass around us. There is the sound of pounding hooves as Bee and Landon set off in the opposite direction. They quickly disappear into the trees.

I look back to our small party of people. The girls are still dressed in their back leather armour, with iron swords at their sides and bows on their backs. Speedy and Sidearms have armour too, but theirs is just plain brown, like mine.

Kara and Lizzie are talking quietly together. I walk over to them, and Kara looks up.

"Are we ready to go?"

"I think so."

She takes a tiny compass out of her pocket and glances at it quickly.

"Lets go."

The girls take the lead, and I walk on my own behind Speedy and Sidearms. The atmosphere is tense. Nobody wants to come across a monster, here in the dark forest.

I'm going to see Lachlan again.

I don't really know how I feel about that. I'm afraid that he'll just ignore me, now that he has Preston. But now, there's so much that rests on him remembering me. Lizzie says when the time comes, we'll figure it out. All I need to do is get back to him, and then everything will fall into place. Hopefully.

After walking for a few hours, we finally reach the plains. Thigh-high grass covers the fields, with tiny scatterings of flowers here and there, and occasionally a lonely tree.

A light breeze passes through the air, lifting my hair up from my face. And then I see it. There in the distance, the small village, brown roofs grouped together. There's also a clock tower, which I hadn't noticed before. In the afternoon sun, it seems very welcoming, very homely.

We draw closer, to the front gate. I spot a single guard there, leaning against a pole.

Just as the grass starts to thin out, Kara turns, face pale.

"I'm not going any further. He- He's right there. Boys, you go in alone. Lizzie and I will head back. Good luck, Vikk."

And, just like that, the girls run off.

Sidearms stares back at them for a second, but then turns to us.

"Okay. Lets go."

The guard sees us, and draws his sword as we get closer. I recognise him as Pete, but he obviously doesn't remember me.

"Who are you?!"

He shouts.

"Its okay, we're from here. We went to the mountains before anyone else woke up."

I quickly reassure him, hands held up. His eyes widen slightly.

"You woke up before Choco?"

Speedy nods.

"Well, we did. Vikk only arrived a few days ago."

Pete shrugs, and holds out an arm for us to go through the gate.

"Well, you'd better go introduce yourselves to Choco. "He's sort of our make-shift mayor, because he woke up first. Well, we thought he did. Anyway, welcome to the village!"

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