Warrior's Rise (4 page)

Darien rolled his eyes and shared a look with Lucy, who stifled a giggle. Who was this guy, anyway? With a sigh, he followed after him as silently as possible. After what seemed an eternity of dull, quiet marching into the great unknown, Logan waved them all down and demanded that they stay silent and still. Darien obeyed, but commando crawled over to where Logan was peering through some underbrush. “Dude, what the crap are we doing?” he hissed. “Other than getting cold and wet?” The ground was still sodden from the night’s rainfall and Lucy was shivering.

“Be quiet!” Logan snapped. He pulled out a pair of binoculars. “This is a good spot. We’ll wait here.”

Darien looked over at Lucy, who was huddled next to him with her arms wrapped around herself in an attempt to keep warm. “Hey, Luce, come here, okay?” He sat up behind a tree and held his arm out. “You should have brought a warmer sweater.”

Her teeth were chattering as she went into Darien’s arms and snuggled close to his body. “I really didn’t think we were going to be trekking through the fog-laden forest,” she muttered. “Besides, we were being yelled at with a megaphone. I was still half asleep. My brain wasn’t functioning.”

Logan glanced over at them and rolled his eyes. “Oh, very romantic,” he mocked, “but do you think you could stop trying to get your game on and help me watch the clearing?”

“Why?” Darien asked with a scowl. “You seem to have it all under control. Besides, I left my poison dart gun and my night vision goggles in my other pair of pants.” Lucy giggled and pressed closer to him, causing waves of warmth and tiny electrical currents to course along his spine. He tightened his arms around her.

Logan gave a fierce glower, but said nothing and turned back to looking through his binoculars.

“So, is this what we would do if we were scouting for a troll?” Doug whispered to Logan.

Logan sighed and opened his mouth to respond, but Colt nodded his head as he leaned against a boulder and threw some trail mix into his mouth. “Trolls are big and mean. No doubt you’d have to use this technique. Blend in with your surroundings. Wait for it to wander through your path. Lure it to you. Right, Counselor Logan?”

Logan blinked rapidly, as if his brain was having a hard time processing the information, then he waved his hand and shook his head. “Sure… Oh! Everyone shut up! Look, one’s coming into the clearing! I knew this would be a good spot.”

“A troll?” Dough whispered in excitement, scrambling over to Logan.

Logan rolled his eyes. “No, not a troll! A deer! Shut
up!
You’ll scare it away!”

Aki’s eyes widened in alarm and she peered through the brush.

“It’s a buck too,” Logan continued. “Look at that set of antlers. How would you like that head hanging in your cafeteria? What kind of trophy would that be? You’d be eating venison stew for a month.”

Aki shot a glance over at Darien, then yanked Colt’s bag of trail mix out of his hand.

Darien gave Logan a leery look and his heart picked up pace as he saw the man slowly prepare his rifle. “Uh oh,” he whispered.

“See, now this is how you prove you’re not a freak,” Logan said. “I’ll even let you guys have some of the credit, even though I’m the one that shot it.” He took aim.

Suddenly, Aki let out a shrieking holler and jumped to her feet. She waved her arms wildly while swinging something like a mace in her hand. “Run, Mr. Deer!” she shouted. “Run for your life!”

The deer, as well as probably every other living thing in the near vicinity, took off running. Darien winced as Logan shoved to his feet with a furious, black glower. “What is
wrong
with you?” he shouted, advancing on Aki. “That was a perfect shot! You just—” He let out a yell as Aki turned her rage on him and started to beat him over the head with whatever weapon she had in her hand.

“You evil man!” she shouted. “How
dare
you try to murder a poor, innocent animal! You ought to be chained naked out in the snow while bad people poor cold water on you!” She flogged him some more until he stumbled backward in an attempt to ward off her blows, and landed on his butt. “Or maybe you’d rather have scientists put chemicals in your eyes!” She landed one more blow to the top of his head for good measure right before she started to wheeze and gasp.

Darien watched Colt practically sprint through the forest and he turned his attention to Logan, who still had his arms covering his head. He reluctantly let Lucy go and sighed. “I told you not to shoot it.” He bent to pick up the weapon Aki had been wielding from where she’d dropped it.

Logan slowly lowered his arms and looked up at everyone in bewilderment. “What the—?”

Lucy sighed and held her hand out to him. “Aki’s parents are members of PETA. She’s a huge animal rights activist.”

Logan ignored Lucy’s attempt at niceness and got to his feet without her assistance. “Well, that’s just marvelous,” he grumbled. He rubbed at his head. “What was she beating me with anyway? A rock?”

Darien held it up with a smile that he couldn’t help. “Looks like a sock,” he stated. He opened it up and looked inside. “With trail mix in it.”

Logan blinked. “What kind of a weirdo keeps trail mix in a sock?”

“I think she put the trail mix in it with the sole purpose of beating you with it,” Darien said.

Logan rolled his eyes and snatched his rifle off the ground. “Fantastic.” He said nothing else and started to head back through the forest and toward camp.

Darien exchanged a look with the others and they all stifled laughter.

Chapter Four

Logan had never had a more torturous week. It rained for two straight days and any activities he had attempted to plan had only ended in disaster. He’d tried to go on an overnight camp out the day it hadn’t been raining, but the degenerate kids had about as much skill for outdoor survival as he did for needle point. Four Eyes had actually taken the lantern inside one of the tents, set it too close, and melted one entire side. Another one of them, the big, scary one, had decided that igniting a camp fire with a whole bottle of lighter fluid was the best way to go. This was
after
the Japanese girl had decided to befriend a skunk that resulted in half of the group getting sprayed, including Logan. The whole incident had almost ruined Logan towards the activity for life, and that was saying a lot since camping was one of his all-time favorite things to do.

He’d also attempted to take them rafting along the river, but three of them had fallen out, Four Eyes had smacked Pigtails in the back of the head with a paddle and the Japanese girl kept jumping out in an attempt to find fish, or frogs, or any other living creature. Logan didn’t even know how many times he’d had to haul her back in. The whole ordeal had almost given him a panic attack, and he wasn’t one to let stress rule his life, but all he could think about the entire excursion was that one or more of them was going to drown, he’d be arrested…
again
…and convicted for involuntary manslaughter and negligence. He didn’t even think Izzie would be able to get him out of that one.

Lucky for him, the days it had been raining Willow had scheduled some kind of camp-wide freak bonanza in the cafeteria. That had kept the kids busy for awhile and had given him some peace. Too bad his cabin still leaked… Oh yeah, and his heater had stopped working. That was a fun little addendum to an already hellish week.

Now he found himself attempting to lead his bedraggled posse on a hike that had Japanese girl puffing on an inhaler the nurse had given her while Four Eyes and Big, Scary Dude rattled on and on…and on about
Star Wars
. They were actually having a debate about it. Who did that? Who had heated discussions about science fiction? It wasn’t real, thus the term
fiction
. So what reason was there to have in depth debates about the strategy of Han and Chewy when they did whatever to the whoever before Luke blew up the Death Star? Or why Episodes four, five and six were so much better than one, two and three? He sighed, cursing the judge who had sentenced him to this fate.

“Hey, Darien, I bet you don’t know what a Valkyrie is,” Pigtails said in a teasing tone.

Darien chuckled. “Gimme a break, Luce. Of course I know what a Valkyrie is. They were Odin’s handmaidens in Norse mythology. They carried the souls of the slain warriors to Valhalla. Come on, give me a hard one.”

Logan rolled his eyes. Great, now they were quizzing one another on mythology… For fun. Who were these kids? What planet had they migrated from?

“Okay, fine, tell me who the chief god of the druids was.”

“Baal,” Darien replied without hesitation. “Lucy, I think I’ve known you long enough to remember all of the mythology trivia you rattle off.”

She giggled. “So, you
do
pay attention when I talk.”

Fairy myth? Gimme a break.
Logan gritted his teeth and tried to keep his mind on the trail and the trees.

“In my
Rare Myths and Legends
book there’s a story about a particular tribe of fairies called Avari. They were forest dwelling fairies and were allies with a race of dragon warriors called Alveda d’Kai. It was said that Alveda d’Kai were often very aggressive, both men and women, dominant in nature and fiercely protective of those they loved. They also possessed amazing stealth, speed and healing powers. It was said that the Avari royals were often encouraged to marry Alveda d’Kai warriors because the union produced strong, resilient, yet compassionate and considerate offspring.”

“Why, because the fairies were compassionate?” Big Scary asked.

“Yes,” Pigtails replied. “The Avari as a people tended to be very easy-going and kind. The Alveda d’Kai were their opposites and their complements.”

“So what happened to them?” Darien asked.

“Well, it was said that the Avari had an enemy tribe called the Supporo. A constant war raged between the two, which was why the Alvdea d’Kai were so necessary. The Avari were not a warrior race. They would have been wiped out without the help of the dragon warriors. However, the Supporo figured out some way to beat the Alveda d’Kai and exterminated the entire race, leaving the Avari helpless. It was said that their people scattered about the world and have been forced to remain in hiding ever since.”

“Dang, that’s depressing,” Big Scary commented.

“Yeah, but I love it anyway,” Pigtails said. “I always thought that the Alveda d’Kai sounded sexy.” She giggled. “I wish they hadn’t gone extinct. I would have loved to track one down and marry him.”

Logan couldn’t take it anymore. He whirled to face the group. “Oh, for crying out loud!” he shouted. “It’s not real!” They all blinked at him in surprise. He snorted. “You all talk about these stupid myths like they’re fact! What is the matter with you people? What space ship did you beam down from because you surely aren’t from
this
planet!”

Big Scary raised an eyebrow. “Dang, dude, chill.”

“No!” Logan shouted. “This is ridiculous! Do you all expect to exist in the world the way you are now? You think life is going to be forgiving? Let me tell you something, life is
not
forgiving! It takes everything you have and more just to succeed when you’re halfway normal. You freaks don’t stand a chance!” He slashed the air with his hands. “I don’t even know why places like this exist to enable you. You should be learning how to live in the real world, not have your stupid childish fantasies validated.”

“Come on, this is what we like to do,” Darien interrupted. “We shouldn’t have to catch crap for that.”

“What you like is stupid!” Logan cried. “I mean, come on.” He pointed to Four Eyes. “George Lucas may be a multi-billionaire, but
Star Wars
is
not real.
” He pointed to Big Scary. “And what is up with you anyway? Your hair looks like you stuck your finger in a light socket, and you wear makeup. You really expect to be a respected member of the community in that circus clown getup?”

Darien scowled and stepped forward. “Hey—”

Logan ignored him and pointed to the Japanese girl. “And you like to crack people over the head just because some people on this planet actually like to eat meat and hunt fresh game! I can understand not liking animal testing. I get that, but
attacking
people just because they want some deer jerky is a little over the top, I think.”