Jamil
Looking for a job? That is just great. It is a well known fact that there is dignity in labour but please, in all you do, never accept a job that requires you to be a go-between in a fight, especially if you don't know what the fight was all about. Getting back to the tree with Blaire in tow, i just knew it was going to be a very long night. Ulo took one look at my train and turned around, immediately starting to walk away. Behind me, Blaire started to slink away as well but I managed to stop her in time. "Come on!" I pulled her along as I raced after Ulo. "Hey! Wait up buddy!" There was no way he hadn't heard but of course, my buddy chose to ignore me. I decided not to take offense. Of course, I had little other choices but let's not go there, yes? "Let me go, Jamil. He obviously doesn't want to talk. Perhaps, he would be in a better mood tomorrow. I will speak to him then." Behind me, Blaire was throwing a fit of her own. I wondered for the umpteenth time what I had done to deserve this fate. Knowing her, if I let her go now, she would never apologize and they would go back to being awkward around each other. They also consider themselves as best friends but their relationship has always been strained at best. Being direct opposites of each other, Blaire often managed to get on Ulo's wrong side after which they would then become awkward around each other for a couple of days till they came to an uncomfortable settlement. Every once in a while, like tonight, I, the legendary peacemaker would step in and help get their acts straight. I tried to keep it minimal though because each attempt was always like stepping between two raging lions. "Ulo! Come on, wait up." I called, dragging Blaire after me which earned a cry and a punch. Who knew Blaire could punch that hard? Finally, after several curses, cries and bruises, we caught up to Ulo who threw a cold look our way. "What is she doing here?" He asked coldly. I knew Ulo enough to know that he was hiding his hurt under his anger. Unlike Blaire who simply cried out her hurt, Ulo kept it bottled in and turned aggressive instead. "I should go." Blaire gasped as she tried to flee once more but again, I pulled her back. That sounded easy, right? Well, trust me when I say it was anything but easy. "Will the both of you quit acting like babies and tell me what is going on already?" I groaned, already running out of patience with these two who seemed absolutely determined on frustrating me out of ten years of my life. "Ask her!" Ulo snapped, as he started to run out on us again. This time, I let him go, tired of being the clueless one. Not to mention that Ulo could be a bull when he decided not to talk about something. From his tone though, I had recognized something which was starting to give me a little more insight into what was going on. Ulo did not get mad easily but when he did, it was usually for very good reason. Like his pride or his favorite food lacking an important ingredient. Ulo hardly forgave blows to his pride, however innocently they had been struck. Not very quickly, at least. But, I was Jamil, the righter of all wrongs and the punching bag for all punchers. Which simply means, I was going to put an end to their fight. "Let me go!" Blaire wailed. "Tell me what happened between you two." I demanded, making it evident that I wouldn't be taking no for an answer. She hesitated before giving up as her shoulders slumped and her head drooped. Her voice was so low that I would have missed it if I wasn't a wolf as she informed me about what had happened. "I told him to leave." And that was it. Did I mention Blaire's pride? "Why did you tell him to leave?" I pushed, knowing very well that I wouldn't be getting any more information out of her. She raised her head and gave me a tormented look. I sighed, knowing that look. It meant, you want me to share my worst nightmares with you? Hell no! I sighed, kneading my temple in an attempt to rub out the headache that was starting to build up in its crevices. Knowing Blaire and Ulo, the matter was probably one that could be easily resolved if only they would talk about it but of course not, they had to be difficult to the end. I wondered if it was too late to give up on this mission. I was pretty certain that I had now become just as troubled as the other three. "You know what, let's just run." I broke into a run, half hoping she would turn around but rather surprisingly, she chose to come after me. The moon was beaming even more brilliantly as we ran along. There was something about running, the cold wind slapping you in the face and tousling your hair, the thumping of your feet as they hit the ground, the speeding up of your heart, that just made you forget about all of your troubles. I raised my head to the sky and chuckled as I broke out of the palace gates. "Race you!" I called over to Blaire as I picked up my pace. "Hey! Not fair." She complained but sped up as well. We passed by Ulo who was walking very slowly now and I called out a taunt. That seemed to work as he started to run as well. Either that, or he couldn't afford to be a loser. We had a very impressive name for the loser in games like this. Usually, it would have been Indrik without a doubt but he seemed to be busy these days. I was in the lead which was probably why I saw them first. I skidded to a stop, putting out a hand to stop the others. Oh, yeah! It was definitely going to be a very long night.Luna The first thing I noticed was the door which looked like the trunk of a very wide, though not so tall tree. I hesitated but Indrik was not having any of that as he pulled me in with him. Inside the hut was so cozy, I could barely control the urge to curl up and sleep on the bed. It didn't seem possible but the ground seemed to be covered with living grass that teased at my legs, urging them to get out of their covering and seek refuge in them instead. The bed seemed to be made of plant matter as well. The four bedposts which each grew to be about five feet and bore leaves which grew into each other in a manner reminiscent of the trees in the entry point seemed to have grown directly from the ground. Curious about it, I bent over and took a look at the bed. Like I had suspected, it was also made of grass, like the one on the ground except this one seemed even fluffier. I placed my hand on it and hardly realized when I crept into the bed. Laying down on it, it was like I had die
To say that I was frightened out of my wits would be a very gross understatement. My heart had somehow jumped from its enclosure in my chest and was now making very wild beats in my ears. I struggled to hold my head steady to avoid a very large organ dropping out of it. I wasn't sure a large red blood spurting organ would be a very good sight to see. My hands suddenly seemed to grow a mind of their own as they flailed helplessly, my attempts to keep them at my side failing woefully. My belly was not left out as it tumbled violently like a pit of snakes had been let loose in it, each of which was nice having a field day of biting out huge chunks out of my belly walls. My legs? They seemed to have suddenly had all their bones melted into a tissue puddle as they wobbled under me, threatening to give out under me at any moment. As if the scare by the trees wasn't already good enough, the guardian of the trees decided to pay me a visit as well. That was what he/she looked like at least.
Luna "Who are you?" I asked again, my voice extremely soft. Whoever could speak to trees and order them around was definitely a force to be reckoned with and to be feared. "Sorry about that. He just would not listen to me. You know what children are like, right?" He continued in his voice which now sounded like the sound of a thousand falling leaves. I looked behind me wondering why Indrik was yet to come out. I regretted it instantly. The hut was gone and in its place were even more trees which were keeping us enclosed. I did a 360 degree turn, yet I could not see anything apart from trees around us. My blood seemed to be turning to lead as I turned back to the man. "Where is Indrik?" I asked, scared to know what his response would be. "The boy? He is just fine." He waved his branch arms and a few leaves fell off, swirling as they made their way to the ground. I wasn't sure I believed him but I didn't think I was left with many other choices. "Who are you and what do you wan
Jamil I glared at the group of men that had surrounded us. I could see and count about six men standing before us looking like they had very hostile intentions. I did a quick scan of the environs trying to see if there were any others lurking around but there seemed to be none. Either that, or they were hiding well out of view. "Well, well, look who we have here." A man moved forward. He wasn't very tall but he had the muscular build of one who could take on ten men of my own size. He completed the look with a full beard which extended to his chest area. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" I snarled, my hand flying to my side only to be reminded that I had no sword. It wasn't exactly one of the most important accessories you thought to pack when you were preparing to go for a run. I groaned inaudibly silently cursing myself for being so careless. With what had been going on in the past couple of days, I should have known better than to leave the palace without my sword. No
Jamil After a quick search through the woods that yielded no results, we headed back to the palace with the hearty news. So much for trying to get everyone in a better mood. "Who do you think they were? You think they..." I stopped mid-sentence but the way Ulo looked at me informed me that he had gotten my message. "I don't know." He replied brusquely. I nodded. I wasn't in a very good mood myself. Good work universe. You have successfully ruined a perfectly good mood. Getting back to the palace, we elected to go see the Beta immediately. Sure, it was the dead of night but that kind of threat could not be dismissed easily. For one, the man seemed to have known a lot about us which was unfair considering that we didn't really know all that much about him. He had not only known about Beta Green but he had also known about his son. He hadn't mentioned my name but I had a feeling that he knew exactly who I was. Blaire too. Another suspicion that I had was that he had known we wou
Luna I woke up to see Indrik staring down at me. I blinked, trying to recall how and when I had ended up here. I pulled a blank unable to recall anything after the tree man. I shivered as I recalled the memory which sleep had done little to dampen. "What?" I scowled up at him when he continued to stare at me even with my eyes wide open. That, and the fact that the way he was laying so close to me was causing some un-Luna like reactions in my belly. He smiled down at me in a way that warned that he was about to say something that was pretty silly. "Don't say it." I warned but of course, he was not going to listen. "You haven't even heard what I had to say." He grumbled. "I don't need to hear it before knowing what you are going to say." I scoffed, slapping his arm which was smoothing my hair away. "Well, I'm going to tell you anyway. So, I woke up this morning and the sun was beaming on your face." He pointed an opening in the branches above the bed which I was certain had
Jamil Morning broke with me still asleep which was rather unusual for me. Usually, I was out of bed before the crack of dawn. But today, I probably would have continued sleeping till noon if a knock had not woken me up. I groaned lazily as I stretched my limbs. The knock came again, forcing me out of bed. I stumbled over to the door in nothing other than a black trouser. Opening the door, I was surprised to find Blaire standing there and even more so to find that she looked more of a mess than I probably did, but then again, I couldn't see myself through a second set of eyes. Her chocolate brown hair had become all tangled and messy making me feel sorry for her as I imagined her trying to tackle that forest. Her face did not look much better with red looking eyes and eye bags. Her nose was running and her mouth looked like one of her lip paints had gone rogue and traipsed aimlessly all over her mouth instead of her lips. Her blue gown looked she had wrested it from a couple of deer
UloSometimes, I wondered if my temperament was a curse. Growing up, I had always been the most quiet of my friends, even more quiet than Indrik who had the most right to be quiet amongst all of us. Not so comfortable with people, I found it more comfortable to be in the company of books and weapons. Those did not seem so complicated. With books, I could easily travel into worlds where I had a measure of control. With weapons, I could focus on my weaknesses and home them into strengths. As long as I trained hard and well enough, I was certain to be good enough some day. This was not the same with humans. I could spend an entire year studying humans only to fall flat again as they brought up a side of them that I never knew existed. Books had their own twists and turns as well but at least, those had a resolution. Humans never did. They always seemed to manufacture a thousand more problems for every single one that you manufactured. Hearing Blaire's voice at Jamil's door, I had jumped