Good, Evil, and the Gray Area (FIRST DRAFT)

Chapter 42

I opened my eyes with a start to a ripping, stunningly loud snore. 

"Whaa?" I mumbled, still half asleep. Ava turned and looked at me, her eyes reflecting the light. 

"Must be Achen. If that's really her name," Ava replied. I smiled. At least we both didn't trust her. I looked over at her. Sure enough, her mouth was wide open and the noise was coming directly from it. 

"I never thought such a small body could produce such a big noise!" I exclaimed, laughing a little. Ava laughed too, but soon was back to staring warily at Achen.  

"It must be time to switch watches. Why didn't you wake me up?" I said. Ava shook her head.

"I was nervous about our little friend here, I guess. And I'm not tired. You can go back to sleep." 

"No, Ava, you need your rest! After being knocked out by a pack of angry werewolves, I do believe that you should sleep," I said. I was nervous for her wellbeing. 

She hesitantly complied, curling into a ball and closing her eyes. I smiled, relieved. Then I switched my legs around so I was sitting crosslegged, and stared out of the mouth of the cave.

We had found it while we were running, at about 6:30. It was a perfect place to sleep. The back was a rock, and a tree growing over it gave it a top, and some roots draping down over as an almost-door. Easy to defend, with such a small opening, not too hard to escape from, and easy to keep watch. I was happy with it.

Achen had fallen asleep immediatly after a wholesome supper of dried meat and cheese. I resented her for it, because even though we would've never let her keep watch she should've asked. 

Ava and I had sat by the small  fire. It was way too cold to go without one. The snow on the ground had been inconvienent, making us leave tracks as well. We traveled from tree to tree as much as we could, but mostly just risked the prints and hoped that they wouldn't find us. 

Then, I heard it. The sounding of guns, and the cracking of wizardry. I stood, careful, and looked around. There, flashing lights through the trees. 

"Ava," I whispered. She was already beside me, staring at the lights just as I was. 

"A battle, between the wizards and the werewolves. We have to stop it!" Ava said. 

I paused, and thought. We need to fight for the werewolves. But Ava doesn't want to. Another part of me was saying, just run. Why fight at all? And still another was saying Ugh, god, we have to just stop the fighting. But someone has to rule the world, right? I mean, the humans can't do it on their own. Another voice said, well, we've never let them try, have we. 

I was majorly conflicted, as you can see. Probably more so then I had ever been in my life. I frowned. Sighed. Shook my head. 

"Lee! We have to stop the fighting!" Ava cried as the bangs got louder and we could start to hear the screams of dying men. 

Achen began to stir behind us. "No. We have to fight for the werewolves. They've been doing a good job so far--" Ava stopped me with an angry look. 

"So you want Achen to rule them. You want a monarchy to rule," she looked hurt. 

"No! They're getting rid of the monarchy, remember? They are starting a democracy!" I bit my lip, not sure if they had been telling us the truth. 

"Yeah, 'cause that was true. I'm sure they just were tired of my parents, and that gray woman wanted to be queen instead of Achen. Or me. Both sides are bad. The humans can run themselves!" 

"No," Achen said, "We need to fight with the werewolves, then betray them, and get me my rightful place on the throne!" 

So our entire party was in disagreement. I spoke. "Ava, listen. We can't stop a war by ourselves. It's inevitable. Fighting with the werewolves is at least a start, right?" 

"No. Things have to change. Even though the wizard's plan is flawed, it can be fixed. They can rule. I'm fighting for them."

So I was left with a choice. My best friend, or my gut. If I chose the werewolves, Ava would think I was choosing Achen over her. But I wouldn't be. Would I?

"I'm going with the werewolves, Ava. If you have any sense, you will too." I said. I was angry. Angry at Achen. Angry at this war for tearing us apart. And angry at Ava, for disagreeing with me. But mostly, I was angry with myself, for making what I knew then, when a smug smile appeared on Achen's face and something inside me broke, that I had made the wrong choice.