Riders of Elysium

Chapter Nine

----Third Person----

"I know that was hard for you," A shadow whispered to Azariah.

"She was going to help," Azariah snapped, "She was on our side."

Another said, "How could you know that? She was loyal to Kugen, even when she knew the truth."

"She was scared of Kugen," Azariah said, "She hates him as much as the next person. She wanted to help those girls before I told her they were her sisters."

"Suni couldn't have been trusted," said the first shadow.

Azariah turned and yelled, "Her name was Rayna."

The shadows dissipated. He looked down at the river to where ripples from Rayna's fall could still be vaguely seen.

"Come on, Rayna, you're a fighter, you've got to be okay," Azariah prayed as he followed the river to the shallows.

He became aware of a figure in the shallows of the river. It was nearly shallow enough for someone to lie down in and still be able to breathe without floating. But not quite.

Racing towards that figure, he recognized Rayna's golden hair and blue green eyes. They were open, but she wasn't awake. Her mouth and nose were barely above water, and every time the river had the slightest ripple, she breathed in water.

But she was still breathing.

No one should've been able to survive that fall, and certainly not have floated this far downstream without drowning.

Azariah dragged her out of the river to the bank, then into the woods. He made a small camp fire, since this was a dragon school camping ground. He hoped that would stop anyone from looking for him here.

He laid Rayna down on the grassy forest floor and started to talk to her, despite her being unconscious.

"Come on, Rayna. You're a fighter. You've got to wake up," Azariah said, "Come on. Please."

She didn't respond. Her chest rose and fell slowly as she tried to breathe.

"Please, don't you dare die," Azariah continued, "You've got to be okay. Come on, Rayna, you've got to be okay."

Rayna started coughing up water, a lot of it, and then started gasping for breath.

"Azariah, I swear I'm going to kill you if you ever do that again," she mumbled.

He hugged her, "I'm so glad you're alive."

She croaked, "Can't. Breathe."

"Oh, sorry," he smiled, "Can I borrow your bow? The rogues took mine."

"Sure," She unclipped her bow and sheath of arrows from her back, and pulled herself into a sitting position.

Azariah grabbed the bow and arrows, "I'll be back soon."

As he went hunting, he cried a little with joy. Rayna was alive. The rogues wouldn't be hunting her anymore. No doubt they'd inform Kugen. She'd be free.

She also probably wanted to kill him for not preventing her near death.

He came back with a couple of bunnies and a large bird of some sort and dropped them on the grassy floor.

"Um, Rayna, where are you?" He asked. Her head popped out of the ground, which he realized was actually a pile of logs.

She'd dragged a few logs into one place and dug out a small hollow beneath them so that they could hide even better.