The Jade City

Chapter 16: The Mountains, Part IV

Harumi's POV

We started walking again after eating the fried eggs. It wasn't much, but it was all we could muster. Cole's stomach grumbled loudly.

"I already gave you half of my share," I said, "So did Nya."

"My stomach can't help it! I'm not the one complaining!" he justified himself.

"Well, guess what?" Jay offered, "Look at all that grass! A feast wherever, whenever!" He plucked a few blades of grass and stuffed them in his mouth. "Mmm mmm!" Cole gave him a look of disbelief. "What?" Jay put his hands up in the air.

He's losing it, I thought, though a part of me knew he was right. Eating plants could prevent starvation. So I, too, tried it out. It was... edible.

"You're doing it, too?" Cole asked. I shrugged in response.

"Fill up our stomachs before the mountains come!" Jay chanted, "There won't be any yummy grasses there!"

Soon we found ourselves all shoving mouthfuls of the stuff into our mouths. Even Cole. At least it didn't taste bad, not that it was good. Besides, cows ate grass. So why couldn't humans? (And I was dead anyway)

After everyone had their fill, we went on walking for some time, and soon found our path blocked by a girl. Her green eyes were so green they looked unnatural. Even greener than Lloyd's.

"Hello," she said without smiling, "I'm Chrysanthe. Two of your friends have met me already. I came to heal him." She gestured towards Cole.

We looked at one another, slightly baffled. Then, seeing as there was nothing else to be done, Cole stepped forward and held out his arm. Chrysanthe gently put her hands on his lump, and as she began chanting some ancient language, it began visibly shrinking. Cole sucked in his lips and stared at us, Jay watching the healing with intense curiosity. Then she stopped abruptly and Cole's arm dropped to his side. He blinked twice before unraveling the bandages as Chrysanthe somehow pulled a few baskets of food out of thin air and began passing them around. My stomach began growling embarrassingly.

"You are hungry," she said, "But be careful not to eat too much. I do not know how far the nearest town is."

I stared at her stupidity with my mouth slightly open. Then she reached behind her, pulled out a small, dark blue vial of something, and placed it in my hand.

"Keep this," she said, placing it in my hand. "A drop will suffice."

"For what?"

"You'll see. Beware of the Shadow Knight." And she flew off without another word.

"What's it for?" Jay asked.

"Jeez, how much trouble would it have been for her to just tell us?" Nya said.

"I mean, some help is better than no help," Cole added, still staring at his wrist.

"Are you feeling better?" Zane inquired.

"Yeah..."

"Well, um, shall we move on?" I asked, hastily putting the food into my bag. The others nodded and we resumed our walk.

...

"Hey losers, did you miss me?" A voice called out, drawing everyone's attention. I turned around and saw Morro jump off of his Wind dragon, an easy grin on his face. Behind him, Lloyd carefully slid down the side and landed, taking a minute to steady himself.

I beamed and began making my way over to him, but he pushed me back.

"Wait. Shadow Knight check!"