Guardians of Plaxas

Chapter the Seventeenth: Ruby

I ride through the night.

So far, the road has been very straight forwards. It's simply an endless line of dirt and dust, with no forks, no nothing.

Just as the sun begins to break the horizon, I lead Petal over to the side of the road, letting her drink from the stream that trickles beside us.

I'm cold and hungry. I haven't eaten since lunch yesterday and I'm wearing nothing but a short-sleeved shirt (on the top).

I tie Petal to a tree, but I don't think that she's going anywhere anyway. As soon as she finishes drinking from the stream she seems to collapse on the ground. I rub her flank, sorry for working her so hard.

My eyes are heavy, but I can't seem to fall asleep. I'm out in the wilderness, away from home, away from my bed.

What if Opal doesn't want to see me? If she doesn't want to be reminded of her past life? What if she's fine with a group of friends and doesn't care for me anymore?

I shake my head, willing these thoughts away, and I slowly drift off to sleep....

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A roar echos in my eardrums, the whoops of people burst into my sleep. I pull myself awake to see a giant magnificent creature flying overhead, blowing a burst of fire from its mouth.

A dragon.

It's rider, a tall lanky human who can't be older than twenty raises a fist in the air, cheering and calling to the midday sun.

The dragon blows another spurt of fire and I can feel its heat as it reaches me, and suddenly I no longer wish I'd brought a sweater.

I watch as the two disappear over the horizon and it occurs to me that they must be coming from the school. The very school that I'm going to right now.

I sit up, all signs of tiredness dispelled from my eyes. I hurry over to Petal and untie her from the tree. She's already awake, having been woken by the dragon, and now she stares at it frightfully.

I swing my legs onto the horse. My butt is already sore from riding yesterday and I wince as I start Petal going again.

The road merges into a forest, a vast difference from the fields I was just riding through. Branches hit my legs as Petal gallops through, and this feels all wrong.

Suddenly we come to a crossroads. I look to the left and to the right, but I have no idea which way to go. The one thing I know about this school is that it's on a peninsula and that's not very helpful if I don't know where the peninsula is.

I take a deep breath and decide to choose the left path, hoping it will lead me out of this strange creepy forest faster.

I've gone only a half a mile down this path when I realize I've made the wrong choice. The trees grow denser here, and less sunlight goes through. I don't think a path to a school would lead someone through here.

But before I can turn around, the trees start shooting at me.