Mark of a Dragon Rider.

Chapter 23

As my eyes shut I can almost swear I see someone marching through the woods towards me and then the sound of someone saying my name reaches my ears but sleep overtakes me. I drift off into the feeling of nothingness that is called sleep. 

*****The Next Morning*****

When I open my eyes the next morning the first thing I notice is the fact that I am still in the tree. Taking a look below I find that there is a slight problem. At least 3 dozen of the king's soldiers have made camp under my tree. I take out the acorn and look at it. The lid is blue. Tapping it three times I open it upside down and a letter drops through. 

The King knows your back. Has sent search parties all over the woods looking for you. We are to be sent along with to over see. To try and give you extra time to get out we are trying to lead them away from the meeting place from last night. Not much success. Stay away from Castle at all costs. ~ Aspen. 

The note reads. Lucky me Aspen has very neat handwriting. It makes me wonder back to what could have lead him to try and kidnap me. The memory is painful to say the least. It was back when I had first gotten my bow and I went hunting alone. Well he almost shot me in the woods but Dad (not Drake) found me in time. 

My dad then had gotten me to safety. Once I was safe he hunted down Aspen and took him to the town jail. We both had found it odd that Aspen didn't even fight. That night we find that Aspen had apparently broken out on his own. Now I know that's not true and that he was forced into this. Many have tried to kidnap me over the years but after Aspen none even came close. 

The rest of what I remember of that night was being snatched from my bed but I came around fast enough to beat the living daylights out of the person that tried to kidnap me. Dad had come running and got me off him. What happened after that I don't know. I don't remember. 

A whistle from below jolts me out of the memory as the soldiers below start off marching through the undergrowth of the woods. They are searching for me. It's daylight so that will make my board less noticeable but not invisible. An idea hit me and I make a small ball out of lightning. 

Once I have the ball I try to make it go invisible. Nothing happens and I grown in frustration. Looks like the old fashioned way it is. Swift as the breeze I go down the tree and turn invisible as I do. There are soldiers staying behind to watch every so often. As long as I stay in the treetops everything should be fine. 

Once I am on the last few branches I take off jumping from branch to branch through the trees in the direction of Owl Eye. I can feel the pull to Blaze and I follow it swiftly. Traveling at this rate it will take about as long as it did by horse. Should be a little less as I am not traveling on the roads. 

"Blaze can you hear me?" I call out in my mind. If she can hear me we can arrange for her to meet up with me and we can go back together. "I am on my way. I will be there soon." Blaze says. My relief is immense and being separated for even this long doesn't go well with my emotions. Stopping on a tree branch I watch the soldiers below me. 

Remembering that in the hilt of my sword there is a hidden chamber I put the acorn in the sword for safekeeping. From there I take the sheath and tap on it four times. This shrinks it down to a harmless looking toy. It's just as deadly as it's full sized version and the down side is I can't pull my sword out of the sheath. 

Quickly I hide the sheath on the inside of my lower leg left leg. Once I'm done with that my movement is a lot easier. I had forgotten all about that little trick. It has it's drawbacks though. I continue to head in the direction I know Blaze is in. Nothing can keep me from her at this point. Then a thought hit me.