Autumn’s leaves trailed flying up behind them as Erika and her comrades sprinted through the forest, leaving behind the rest who did not agree with their tactic, it was only them.
“If this doesn’t work, by the moon lizard I’ll…” Lizbeth grumbled as she followed her, along with Gray, Dust, Tejil and Drun.
“Trust me.” Erika responded, glancing over to meet Lizbeth’s gaze, her own eyes wide and focused.
Lizbeth own eyes widened before she grimaced. “This is our last chance…to prove ourselves.”
“Trust, me.” Erika repeated.
Biting her lip in annoyance, Lizbeth pushed her mind through the previous hour.
Words which rang in her thoughts still.
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Once again, the recruits gathered about the forest beside the training grounds, Celest, Lune and Gerick standing in a group with Lizbeth, then Dust, Tejil and Erika around Gray who messed about with some strange contraptions out of a basket of branches, all the while Drun and Gale sat aside each to their own.
Over two years, they had trained and fought the Trainees together, but over these two years, they had gotten to mistrust one another at this moment…In these weekend trials.
Each knew that amongst them was a traitor. Each so far had their hand in betraying the rest, all for the task of their side winning. Avoiding themselves the embarrassing punishment of dragging that damned rock.
“Is there…a point to this anymore?” Drun mused, to which Gerick spat at his feet.
“You’re one to talk, seems like you get along with the trainees quite well cousin.” Gerick grumbled.
“Oh, you jealous Seiki only has eyes for me?” Drun mocked back with a smirk.
To which Gerick gripped his axe, both of the Snowtail’s eyes fixing upon one another hard.
“How about we just knock you out right now? Going by chance, you have the best one of being it this time. We all know how trainer Kei is, she likes her humour, so if you were the first it only makes sense that you’d be the last.” Gerick claimed.
“Right, maybe you’re just trying to get us to go against one another!” Lune exclaimed, “Wouldn’t that be the easiest way? To seed doubt amongst us!”
Tension only grew at her words, when, suddenly Erika began to laugh.
Resting her back onto a tree, she just chuckled away.
“What’s…so funny?” Lune growled.
“You all, you’re hilarious.” Erika replied, her expression then turn cold and focused as she gazed at the tree tops above. “You speak of being seeded into doubt, yet here we all stand wasting precious time. By my guess, which so far have been right mind you, both teams are on a timer. The winner? The ones who hold the flag by the end, or if we take the flag back to Kei.”
“And what do you want us to do?” Gula grumbled, “We have no plan, we can’t trust anyone to lead us either…”
“There’s your problem.” Erika then said, lowering her gaze. “Trust. There’s something my uncle once told me. Trust has nothing to do in war, on the battlefield you trust your sword and mount alone. Not even your armour, only your weapon and wyvern. Not your underlings, not your superiors, not your comrades. Doubt them all, but follow regulation, follow the line of command.”
“That makes no damn sense. How can you not trust someone but still follow?” Lizbeth replied.
“Because you have no choice left.” Erika continued, “He said, if it means victory, if it means defending your loved ones and defeating the threat. It doesn’t matter what sort of monster you think your commander is. Follow them, force yourself to trust them. Doubt them at home, doubt them on the way. But on the battlefield…” Erika’s gaze settled upon Lizbeth, “Trust them with every fibre of your being. Trust them, to be the stronger monster.”
Erika then pushed off her tree and moved to stand amidst them all, “Which brings me, to my offer. I want you all, to blindly trust me for the entirety of this trial.”
“Blindly trust you? Hah!” Lune laughed, “Are you mad? We’d be giving up our last chance at redemption!”
“I’ll do it.” Gray then said, standing up as he completed his assorted belt of oddities. “I’ll follow you blindly, I mean really, what other choice do we have left?”
Drun shrugged, “If you have a plan, let’s hear it.”
“Well, that’s the thing, that is the plan. I want you all to just follow me headfirst, no questions and no doubt, just do as I say.” Erika added.
“You’re…joking?” Drun managed through coughing out the fruit he had been eating.
“Say we did,” Dust then mused as he also stepped forth. “What will be your first order?”
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“Simply? Charge.” Erika replied, “We’ll charge in headfirst.” She announced, the entire group going momentarily silent after which many broke out into laughter
“You want us to…just charge in headfirst?” Lizbeth asked in disbelief.
“Sure, why not?” Dust said with a chuckle. “Sounds fun, I’m in.”
“Seriously? You’re just gonna waste it all like that? Do you want to join the lowest regiment?” Gula tried to reason.
“Honestly, I guess I don’t see much of another option either.” Drun grumbled, standing up and throwing his half-eaten fruit aside. “Fine, I’m in too.”
“Hah! You’re all bloody crazy.” Lune then exclaimed, “Come on everyone, one of them is obviously the traitor. Let’s leave them behind and figure out a strategy.” She said, putting her arm around Celest and Lizbeth’s arms.
While Celest nodded with agreement and turned with her, Lizbeth remained firmly standing where she was. Glaring intently at Erika.
“Err..Liz?” Lune nudged her.
“Alright then, show me what you’re worth, outsider.” Lizbeth mused, pulling her hand away from Lune, she also stepped forward.
“You can’t be serious, you’re going to follow her? This upstart outsider who doesn’t know their damn place?” Lune exclaimed, turning to look ferociously at Erika, then grabbing hold of her spear.
“Lune, what are you doing.” Lizbeth asked, seeing her movement.
“Taking out the traitor before she messes it all up.” Lune growled.
“Lune, shut up.” A whimper of a voice then called out, all eyes turning to the small and dainty Tejil who had suddenly stood up.
“Uh, what did yu-” Lune tried to say.
But Tejil cut her off, “Shut up. Really, upstart? Have you looked down into the pond lately?” Moving to stand in between Lune and Erika, Tejil’s shaky eyes met Lune’s confused gaze. “Shut your spoiled, bratty, bitchy mouth. I’m tired of hearing you shit out of it. Sick and damn tired of your attention whoring tongue.” Suddenly snatching the spear out of a flustered Lune’s hands, Tejil turned and walked over to Erika, her whole expression collapsing then and there as it filled with terror.
“I-I…stand w-with her.” Tejil stuttered out.
Lune simply stared at her with confused horror, turning only to watch Lizbeth also walk up to them as she glanced over at Lune with a smirk across her face.
“You…You’re all-”
----------------------------------------
“Hah…We’re all insane then.” Lizbeth grumbled, “Fine,” She then said turning away from Erika and looking forward, “I’ll trust you.”
Causing the rest to start chuckling.
“Ohoho, the two princesses have finally put their differences aside?” Gray mused.
“S-Shut up, Silverhide.” Lizbeth snapped back, focusing ahead as the forest of fall blurred past them, she saw them then.
“Traps!” She then exclaimed, seeing the flicker of light reflecting off a few strings.
“It’s Seiki’s traps, don’t touch a single one!” Drun warned.
“No, cut through. Don’t let them slow us down.” Erika then announced, a brief moment of confusion going through them all at her words. “Push through, at full speed!”
“Very well, your wish is my command!” Gray then shouted, picking two spheres of badly cooked clay out of his belt pockets, he threw them both ahead.
The flasks of pottery smashed against the strings, breaking with ease and splashing forth a strange liquid mixture.
Covering many of the strings, Gray pushed ahead draining a waterskin from his belt into his mouth before spinning in midair, turning upside down as he put his hands before his mouth before spitting the liquid out.
A spark of light flashed in between his fingers and as suddenly as he pulled away his hands a bellow of green fire burst out of his lips. The liquid that had showered the strings combusted aflame too, sending blazes down the lines of string at great speed all throughout the forest around them.
Quickly Gray moved out from under the flames, “Don’t let the fire touch your hair or clothing!” He shouted out as his own face lay lit with green blazes, splashing another strange liquid over his face then and quickly extinguishing those flames. “It’s Alik Fire, a selective flame!”
Each pushed amongst the falling strings, dashing forth as the air before them lit up green, and behind them dozens of branches fell off trees, the traps falling apart as their supports burned up.
“Woo! Nice going brainiac.” Drun exclaimed as each made it through the disarmed yard of traps unharmed.
“All of you! Listen up!” Erika then exclaimed, “Whatever happens, do not morph into your lycanthropy! Not until I tell you so!”
“What? We should morph right now! They’ll be ahead!” Lizbeth snapped back.
“Gotcha.” Gray said.
“Alright!” Tejil and Drun acknowledged too.
When Lizbeth’s confused expression met Dust, who simply smirked. “Yes ma’am.”
Grimacing, “A-Alright!” Lizbeth also then acknowledged, begrudgingly putting aside her doubt.
“Then onward!” Erika shouted.
“Then, I guess you won’t mind if, I ignore that order of yours.” Said a voice from above, as out of the tree branches fell Del.
Descending down into their path with a loud crash, the already morphed lycan Del took a defensive stance, ready to crush anyone that tried to pass by him.
“Dust, Drun, buy us time!” Erika ordered and the two rushed ahead.
Dust meeting his brother in hand to hand combat as Drun circled around them, spear in hand swiping at the goliath’s feet.
“Gray, smoke!” Erika said and Gray obliged, taking out a bundle of cloth from his utility belt and suddenly opening it up, several piles of dust within mixing up with one another before suddenly exploding into a quickly spreading smoke-screen.
“Shit-” Del swore in surprise, losing sight of them.
“Tejil, run ahead as fast as you can!” Erika then exclaimed, handing her something bundled up in cloth as they trudged through the smoke.
Tejil nodded with wide somewhat confused eyes, “Got it!” before suddenly springing forth at almost twice their own pace.
Erika, Gray and Lizbeth trying their best to keep up, all they could do was keep Tejil within their sights as she ran far ahead.
Leaving Dust and Drun behind against Del, far enough behind now that they were out of earshot.
The sound of creaking bark then reached their ears, each of them briefly watching Tejil glance back at them just in time, as massive roots surged out of the forest to her left, engulfing her.
“Shit, they got her!” Gray, mused as all three of them came to a stop.
“You thought, we’d really just let you run past each one of us, one by one?” Seiki said as she stepped out of the forest behind them, whilst ahead of them, Thorn also came out raising a wall of thorny branches to cover his back.
Surrounding them from advancing and retreating.
“Any other tricks in those pockets of yours?” Lizbeth whispered to Gray as both his hands lay within his belt.
“Ah…nothing to break this up…” Gray mumbled out as he glanced in between the two.
“Then I guess we fight, three on two. We stand a chance.” Lizbeth added, “You two take on Thorn, try to fre-”
“Oh, I’m afraid your math is quite wrong.” Seiki then mused, a wicked smile across her face as she flicked her dagger from her left hand into her right. “Isn’t that right, lizard princess?”
Both Lizbeth and Gray’s eyes widened then, as they turned to stare at Erika, who’s own eyes narrowed.
“She’s messing with us, tell me she’s messing with us.” Gray said, as Erika took a step back and away from them both. Suddenly then leaping away and coming to stand beside Thorn.
“No, I’m afraid she’s not.” Erika said, her stoic eyes meeting theirs as confusion still wrought Gray’s whilst Lizbeth’s filled with rage.
Lizbeth turned to fully face her, “Blindly…trust you, huh?”