Tina laid there, comfortable, trying her best to ignore what was poking her in the center of her back. She frowned, shifting. She cracked open an eye to see the wood’s lightening up with the morning rays. She shifted on to her right side and yelped as a spot in her back gave a sharp pain. She rolled halfway onto her left and pulled out her arm before she reached under her, pulling out a sharp pointed rock out. She glared at it. She brought her arm back over her head and tossed it past her feet.
Her thoughts turned back to the night before - a team of ninja basically kidnapped her - it was a strange vivid dream. She had wanted to go, but it would have been on her terms, not someone’s else. Her internal musing were cut short when a loud yelp echoed through the clearing. She blinked. What the hell?
Tina sat up and looked past her feet to see that weird ass ninja leader. He glared at her, rubbing the side of his leg. She glanced at the clearing. The only other woman let out a snort as she had watched what happened and smirked at Tina, saying, “Nice shot, sweetheart.” If Tina remembered, her name was Kikyo.
“If she does that again,” a deep voice rang out across the clearing from Kikyo, “I will be more than happy to knock her out.” Tina turned her attention to the speaker and blinked as his name drifted to the surface of her mind - Abasi.
“It’s not her fault that Ralph wasn’t aware,” another male voice rain down from above. Tina’s eyes drifted upward to see the third male ninja sitting in the tree, a leg kicking the air below the branch, in a lazy motion, “Ralph is our captain for this mission. He should have been expecting something like this.”
“Fuck you, Waya,” Ralph snapped back.
Tina rolled her eyes. So, it wasn’t a dream, she concluded. She laid back down, wanting nothing more than go back to sleep, but her bladder protested. She sighed. Apparently, it was time to get up. She groaned as she shifted around and unzipped her bag before she brought her legs up out of the bag. She shivered in the early morning light, feeling the chilly morning air against her bare legs. She slipped her bare feet into her hiking boots. She slowly stood up, shaking her legs to readjust her sleeping shorts. She glanced at Ralph before her eyes darted around to the other ninjas. Ralph yawned widely as he started to get up. Kikyo slowly stood up and went to the edge of the clearing before she stopped, obviously waiting for Tina. Waya cracked his neck. The sound echoed loudly. Abasi glared up at his teammate with annoyed look. Tina shook her head. This team was something else. She turned to her bag and pulled out the jeans pants she wore the day before and the package of baby wipes.
“I’m going to get ready,” She announced, “May I take my weapons? This forest is dangerous and I promise not to attack any of you.” She looked at Ralph.
He studied her for a long moment before he said, “If you try to attack us again, you lose permissions on keeping your weapons until we get to the Estate and your wrists will be tied together.”
“I understand,” Tina nodded, meeting his eyes.
Ralph nodded and gestured to her weapons. She went over to them and grabbed her bow and quiver and the Rapier before she returned to her bag and grabbed the pair of blue jeans and the baby wipes. She stood up and walked over to the edge of the campsite, stopping when Ralph’s voice rang through the clearing.
“That’s a good idea, anyway. Kikyo, you going with her?” He yawned.
“No course not, baka,” Kikyo grumbled, “I’m going to stand here and look pretty.”
“Well,” Waya smirked down at Kikyo, “You obviously need some more beauty sleep, Kiki.”
Kikyo raised a fist up at Waya and flipped him off as Ralph went on, “Alright, lovebirds, we got a job to do. We need to keep moving. It will take us another 7 days to get the Estate by foot. However, once we pass the barrier, I will be able to get us a pair of horses to help make the journey faster.” Tina froze at that news. Horses? Why horses? Her heart thumped loudly in her ears. Her blood ran cold in her veins. That memory tried to rise to surface, but she shoved it back down, deep. “According to Lady Freya, we need to be there by the end of the month.”
Blinking, Tina spoke in an even tone, “Do you realize that is in two days?” She turned her head, watching his reaction. She pushed her fear of the fact she would have to travel by horse away.
“What’s in two days?” He asked before he twisted his upper body to increase some flexibility or whatever the shit that Ninjas do as a morning stretch. Abasi stood up, pulling an arm across his body. Waya pushed off of the branch, landing in a crunch before he straightened up.
“The end of the month,” Tina explained. Ralph’s mouth parted and his eyes widened with surprise. “I’ll be right back.” She walked a few feet into the woods, away from Ralph’s eyes. God, she really had to pee. A series of cursed leaving Ralph’s mouth as she walked away, Kikyo trailing after her. Tina snorted softly and grinned in amusement. At least, she got something amusing out of this screwed up situation.
Tina and Kikyo returned to the campsite a few minutes later, both feeling refreshed. Tina wore her blue jeans, holding her sleeping shorts in a free hand. She held her bow and quiver in one hand while her rapier hang on her back. She, silently question how long it would take to reach the Estate and she knew she needed to conserve her clean clothes. She would probably change her pants the following day or the day after that, depending on what she had to walk through. She might be able to stretch for a fourth day.
Tina looked up once she entered the campsite and spotted Ralph had packed up his stuff. The trio of men had moved, quickly, onto making sure there was no evidence of their campfire. She knelt beside her bag and shoved her sleeping shorts into it before she shut the main pocket and clasped it shut. She folded in her sleeping bag closed and rolled it into a tight roll. She attached it to the hiking bag and twisted it around before she arched her back toward the bag. She slipped the straps over her bare arms and shifted them up onto her shoulders. She rolled her shoulders, adjusting the straps before she jerked them, tightening the shoulder straps up against her back. She pushed upwards with her legs into a standing position.
She felt the quiver bit into her back, but she ignored it. She shifted her rapier along her waist. She practiced drawing the bow out of the quiver a couple times from over her shoulder. She nodded to herself. She glanced at Ralph.
“Ready to go, sweetie,” he asked, standing beside what used to be the fire pit.
“Yeah,” Tina replied. She glanced around their campsite. There was no sign of them being there. This was not the first mission these four had worked together on or they were trained to have this routine.
Ralph led the way, heading deeper into the woods. Tina, uneasy, followed him. Kikyo fell into line beside the red head, on her right while Waya went to Tina’ left. She didn’t need to look over her shoulder to know that Abasi brought up the rear. She usually never went this deep into the woods behind her house. Her grandma warned her not to go too deep into the woods, hinting at there were different creatures living in the forest. She remembered the one time she ran into one of those creatures.
She didn’t remember how long ago it was, now, but she did remembered it was a year or two before she had ‘retire’ her adventure gear, maybe it was month or so before she started to date her ex…she had met someone who lived in the woods, to her utter surprise. She wondered if she would run into her Forest friend this time. That would be nice, to have someone to actually to talk to and trusted more than she did with these annoying ninja she was traveling with. Assuming he was alive and lived in the forest, still.
8 Years ago
Tina crept closer and closer to the tree her grandmother had marked as the line, telling her that she must not go pass the line whenever she was out in the woods. The older woman had claimed it was not safe for her to go further than that. Tina eyed each tree, looking for the mark. It was not long before she found it.
Tina’s gut tightened with anticipation or worry. She didn’t know which. She wanted to know why her grandmother had insisted for her not go further than that line of trees. She stood by a tree that was marked with an X. She looked to her right and spotted several more trees with an X marking their bark. She turned her head to the left and saw the same thing. She nodded to herself. One more step and she would be crossing the line. One more step and she would be furthest into the woods she had ever gone.
Beyond the line, the forest seemed wondrous…unexplored…almost magical, despite the darken shadows that the trees and rocks cast upon the ground. Tina didn’t fight the smile that crossed her face as she picked up her foot and placed it beyond the line. Holding her breath, she moved her weight to the foot before she picked her other foot and set it down, next its partner. She let her breath out. She did it. She knew what her family’s reaction would be. Her grandmother would be so disappointed in her while her mother would just shake her head in half amusement and half outrage. Her younger sister, Natasha, would cheer for her doing something so brave.
Tina sucked in a breath and walked forward. Her eyes roamed the new section of the forest. She didn’t know how far she drifted from her grandma’s ‘safe’ zone of the forest, but she felt the hair on her arms and the nape of her neck raise a few minutes later. She stopped on a large rock and slowly reached over her shoulder for her bow and an arrow from her quiver. She pulled both objects in front of her. Her left hand grabbed the middle of the wooden portion of the bow and notched an arrow to the string. She slowly raised the bow, but she didn’t pulled the string back.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Tina turned in a circle. Her eyes darted from tree base to tree base, tree limb to tree limb, and tried to peer through the dark shadows that the trees casted in the late evening light. She mentally cursed as she didn’t see anything at first. However, it just took one glanced out of the corner of her eye to see the figure sitting a few feet away from her. The figure almost blended into the tree behind him, like he was wearing cameo of some kind.
The figure was maybe 2 and half feet, sitting down The figure was covered head to toe with colored greenery, but the majority of the figure’s face was not covered, a trail of blood could be seen the side of the figure’s face, a leg stretched out in a weird angle, an arm laid on the figure’s lap as fingers covered in dark red liquid, and the green eyes blazed with a dark emotion. Whoever it was glared at her with enough hatred that Tina almost thought better of trying to help the figure. However, her mom and grandma raised her better than that.
“Need help, sweetheart,” she asked, still looking at the figure through the corner of her eye. At first, the figure didn’t response until she turned her head, looking at the figure straight on, “Yes, I can see you.” She stepped toward the figure, sliding off the rock. She kept her distance. She didn’t want to be attack by the figure because she simply approached too fast and the figure thought her to be a threat.
“How?” The figure let out a low voice that singled the figure as a male. She cocked her head to the side. The male went on, “How can you see me?”
“Focus,” Tina replied, “May I help you and take care of your injuries?”
“What can a human do something good?” The figure growled. His eyes narrowed, staring at her with a hated look. His body tensed, waiting.
Tina raised an eyebrow at that question, “This human can do something good like take care of your injuries before you attract something more dangerous then little ol’me.” She held the arrow next to the bow and crossed her arms over her chest. She looked down at the figure in annoyance, “Like a hungry wolf.”
“Or the Akunma No Usagi behind you,” the male suggested. A smirk flickered across his lips. Tina immediately spun on her heel and brought up her bow, an arrow held in one hand. She paused, staring at the creature standing less than a dozen yards away from her.
The creature stood nearly the same height as Tina at the shoulder if they stood on the same ground level. Its head gave the Akunma No Usagi, as the mysterious male called it, another foot of height. Tina frowned, watching as one of the long ears twitched. She blinked, stating, “A Rabbit?”
“A non-talking demon Rabbit,” the injured figure corrected, “They are known to be highly territorial. My people have been trying to get rid of them for years, now. We still haven’t been able to find the Warren or it’s mother.” He paused. “Oh, yeah, did I mention that Rabbit did this to me?”
The Rabbit let out a roar and thundered at Tina. She stung the arrow and pulled on the string, hard. She aimed, held her breath, summoned her spiritual energy before she released the arrow and her breath.
The arrow soared through the air and stuck the creature in its left eye. The Akunma No Usagi ran another yard before its body fell to the ground. Tina watched as the Usagi skidded three more yards before coming to a stop at Tina’s feet. She eyed the Usagi with a critical eye. She didn’t think she would run into a creature like this one.
So, this is what her grandmother said about the woods being unsafe past that line of trees, Tina mused silently. She turned to face the male.
“Not bad shot,” the male commented.
“Thanks,” Tina replied with a small grin, “Now, do you want my help or just are you gonna sit looking pathetic?”
Tina blinked, pulling herself out of the memory. She wondered what happened to Endir, briefly. She tried not to sigh or feel guilty. She had lost contact with her forest friend after she started dating that asshole. She had no one blame but herself when it came to losing contact with her friends and family. She peered ahead. She allowed it to happen, instead of fighting it. She wondered if Endir would remember her or not.
The forest was quiet. It was comforting. She didn’t want to deal with the business of life, right now. Closing her eyes as she stopped walking, she tilted her head back, enjoying the silence when she felt something hard drop onto her forehead before it bounced. She frowned. Another drop hit her, bouncing off her head. She slowly opened her eyes. There was nothing above her. However, this time, she saw an acorn drop from a branch and bounced off her head. She let out a low growl in annoyance. A soft chuckle echoed softly. She almost missed it when Ralph spoke, “What’s wrong, toots?”
Tina looked forward to Ralph and replied, “I think a squirrel is upset. She keeps throwing acorns at me.” She knew that would tick off the person hiding in the trees. She bent her knees as she lend forward slightly and this time, Ralph yelped in pain as three acorns hit him on the head. She smirked in amusement. However, her amusement disappeared when Ralph spun, something silver caught the sunlight before it whistled through the air. A loud thump echoed through the silence. She looked at Ralph, remembering the dangerous fact. He was a ninja. The rest of the team slipped into their attack mood, keeping their formation around her.
Ralph’s eyes narrowed in anger as he glared at the tree above Tina before his eyes roam over the nearby trees. His lips twisted into a dark scowl. He emitted a dark aura. His shoulders tensed. His fingers already curled around the hilt of a throwing knife. He waited.
Tina’s gaze went over to Kikyo. The female ninja had her back toward Tina, facing the trees. Her shoulders were tensed, ready to spring into attack. One of her arms held up, out of Tina’s sight, but the red head knew the woman had a kunai.
The captive turned her head to the left to see Waya. He tilted his head back, looking through the tree branches. Tina’s eyes darted down to his hands. He held a kunai in one hand and the other hand out of her sight.
She half turned to see Abasi. He didn’t have his back to her. He watched her with a pair of emotionless eyes. She knew he was not going to let her out of his sight. He didn’t have anything in his hands. He probably didn’t need to. He probably has skills to pin her in place or powerful enough to overcome her.
Tina refused to move. Her shoulders tensed. Her hands curled. Her breath picked up. Her lips parted as her mouth suddenly too dry. She had forgot that her guides were really her kidnappers and they were trained assassins. Ralph’s eyes resembled glaciers as he scanned the branches.
She didn’t dare look up toward the trees. She knew her forest friend had dodged it. He was talented, as far as she remembered, to be brought down by a ninja, but she knew he would attack back. However, she knew she should do something to prevent this situation from accelerating, but she didn’t know what. She didn’t trust the ninja not to attack her if he thought she was a threat to them and their mission. Abasi would no doubt knock her out for an unknown amount of time. She couldn’t allow that to happen. She needed to figure out a way to get away from them and it was kind of hard to do that if she knocked out cold. A gut feeling hinted at the chance, one of the ninjas would also strip her of any weapon, preventing the chance of escaping harder if she dared to make an attempt at escaping.
It was not a moment later when her forest friend appeared, leaping out from the tree behind Ralph. Abasi’s voice rang out when Endir appeared. Tina’s eyes jerked up. His short sword gleamed silver in the mid-morning sunlight before he sliced the air. A glimmer of hope shot through her before Ralph spun and blocked the short sword with his throwing knife. That glimmer of hope faded as Ralph did a series of one-hand signs she barely saw before a stream of fire exploded from Ralph’s mouth.
Endir’s eyes widened, and he ducked under the stream of flames. The flames touched the ends of his golden-brown hair. The scent of burnt hair filled the air. His left foot touched the ground beneath him before he twisted around, raised his right leg in an arc before he landed a kick into Ralph’s unprotected side. Ralph brought down his arm, trying to trap Endir’s leg. However, Endir pulled back before Ralph could trap the leg, bouncing back, creating space between himself and Ralph.
“Who are you?” Ralph’s cold voice rang out.
“Endir of the Barrier Forest Village, Son of Bendir, Lord of the Barrier Forest Village,” Endir stated. Tina blinked. She thought this forest was called Glastenbury Forest, after the nearby mountains. She knew Endir lived in a village somewhere in the forest, but she didn’t know what he meant by Barrier Forest. “Who are you?”
“Well,” Ralph started, slowly relaxing. Tina narrowed her eyes. A gut feeling screamed he was still on guard, that Ralph only appeared to be relaxing. “I’m not used to someone not knowing who I am. However, I will indulge you. I am Ralph, son of The Hidden Bark Village, The Fireball Ninja of Hidden Bark Village. This is Lady Kikyo, heiress of the Orion Clan, daughter of Hunter. The gentleman in the back is Abasi of the Nara Clan and this is Waya of the Sherwyn Clan. Now, why did you attack us?”
Endir smirked, “Because I know Tina wouldn’t go with a group of Ninja from Avalon.” Avalon? Tina blinked again, wondering what the hell was going on then met Endir’s eyes. “I will explain later, Tina, however, why are you with them?”
Tina sighed, glancing between the ninja before she opened her mouth, “Apparently, my grandmother from my father’s side wants to visit and she isn’t giving me a choice on the matter, so she hired these guys to make sure I visit.”
“Ah,” Endir nodded, “Is this visit on your terms?” Tina gave him a ‘what-do-you-think’ look. “Guess not.” Endir rolled his shoulders back. “I think that means one thing…”
“I agree,” Ralph stated. Endir and Ralph stared at each other for a long moment before the ninja leader stated, “Abasi, don’t lose our lovely target.”
“Who the hell do you think you are talking to?” Abasi barked out from behind Tina.
The red head woman gulped at the same time Endir leaped forward, swinging his sword toward Ralph. Tina sensed the other sprites of a scouting party jumped at the ninja. Abasi let out a cry of surprise and rage before the clanging sound of metal on metal. Kikyo grunted as two of the female sprites drew her away from Tina. The red head turned her attention to Waya who was forced to engage a trio of sprites. Her attention snapped forward to watch Endir draw Ralph away from her, creating a large opening between Ralph and Kikyo. She watched all of this with wide eyes.
It had been a while since Tina had witnessed a fight in person before and knew if she did get into the middle of this fight, it would not be a good thing for her. Ralph needed her alive and preferable unharmed. She knew he would not have a problem doing her harm if it meant Endir would stop attacking him.
She had a thought. Her heart picked up. Her chest heaved. She could escape. Her eyes darted around, half watching the fight between the fighters and the forest around them. She took a step away from the path as the two groups continued to fight and another one before she crept forward. She glanced toward the forest. It seemed to be calling for her, for freedom. She glanced back at the fighters. She took a deep breath and tightened her bag against her back. She saw the fighters have eyes for each other. She pushed off, breaking out in a spirit, pumping her arms back and forth, darting forward as fast she could. She knew she had to put as much space as she possible could before the fight ended. Depending on the winner, she could be facing a friend or an enemy.
Ralph’s voice echoed off the trees, “She’s getting away!”
Tina cursed, silently, as she tried to keep up her spiriting pace. She was extremely out of shape. She had stopped working out when she dated the asshole. She had stopped doing a lot of things. All for what? A broken heart? An uncertain future? To feel alone? She used to be so much better at a lot of things.
She shook her head, trying to shake those thoughts as she jumped from a rock to a large, downed tree before she darted across it. She saw a stream rush under the tree. She reached the end and leaped. She brought her feet forward and landed. She felt a twinge of pain race up her lower legs. She sucked in a breath. She ignored it. She darted forward.
She didn’t dare look behind her as she kept going. She didn’t want to see if either of the males were following her. She didn’t want to take the chance. Tina tried to keep running as long as she could until she felt like she was going to pass out before she would slow down to a walk and catch her breath. She would wait until she caught her breath before she darted forward. She repeated the cycle until the sun was passed the mid-point of the sky.
Tina clutched the side of her ribs as she tried to catch her breath, continuing forward. She slowed to a stop. Her legs burnt. Her lungs ached. Her mouth felt like she had shallow sand. Her chest heaved. She lend against a tree and glanced behind her. Her eyes darted between the trees and saw nothing. She closed her eyes and sunk to the base of the tree. She couldn’t believe it. She had lost Ralph and his team of ninjas. Tina opened her eyes and looked around. She shrugged off her bag and reached for a bottle of water. She took a deep drag from it. She panted as she looked around.
Nothing looked familiar. She snorted. Of course, it wouldn’t. She never been this deep in the forest before. What was she expecting? A sign showing her the way back home or this way to the White Hall Estate. That would be highly amusing.
Tina glanced back the way she came. She had to get to move on. She didn’t know how far she managed to get away from Ralph, but she needed to keep the distance or at least increase. The stitch in her side dulled enough where she was not bothered by it as she pushed herself to her feet. She went to her right and walked fast. She didn’t dare stop in case Ralph or a member of his teammates managed to catch up to her. However, she did fear for her forest friend. She hated the fact she had to leave him behind, but she needed to get away.