The next thing I was aware of was something rough under my cheek. The smell of wet wood and water filled my nose. My limbs ached, but it was still within my level of pain tolerance. The most noticeable thing was a familiar weightless feeling, and a rolling in my stomach as I gently rocked side to side. Like I was floating in a pool.

My eyelids were heavy, but slowly I forced them open. At first, it was hard to make sense of the blurry brown and green object obstructing my vision. Then the picture came into focus. Was that … an evergreen tree branch? Hang on, I recognized the sword cuts and cracks on it. It was the same tree I tried to use as a bridge.

Alarm jolted through me. Where was the mud golem? How did I get out of the mud pit? Where was I?

The tree wobbled and sent up a spray of water as I lifted up from it, and my body naturally shifted to curl around under me. Somehow, I was in a deep pool of water, drifting on the broken tree branch. But how?

I shifted around, trying to make sense of what was going on. The hanger was still attached to my left hip and kept bumping into my legs on one side while my quiver bothered my right leg. The bow was still strapped to my back, but the string had snapped at some point.

I paused when I caught sight of the shore. Shiva stood at the edge, shifting back and forth, staring at me with wide, worried eyes. She tossed her head and shook her reins, then touched the water with her hooves and shifted away. She obviously wanted to come to me, but didn’t dare too. Other than that, everything about her manners were relaxed. The scared repulsion from a strong monster she’d felt earlier was gone.

So the mud golem was … gone? What about that voice?

My attention landed on a stump hiding in the long shadows behind Shiva. It had been cut down by a sword. I did that. Then the pool that I was in was the mud pit, now full of water. And…

I twisted around and looked behind me. Two stones peaked out of the water’s surface, like stepping stones, in front of a large conjoined mess of trees rising up from the water’s depths. In the middle of where the tree joined, was a small figure in a wet white dress. The little girl looked like a marionette with its strings cut, face down on the make-shift nest.

“Crap!” I gasped and pushed the tree trunk away. No matter how stiff and achy I felt, I swam to the little girl as fast as possible. I had years of competition training, so I got to her quickly despite the way my weapons dragged. I grabbed the edge of the conjoined tree and pulled myself up, trying not to rain water down on her. “Hey,” I said and reached for her. “Hey!”

My cold fingers touched her back. For a half second, I couldn’t feel any breathing. Then her chest rose in a slow, but steady manner.

“Not dead,” I breathed in relief. “Thank god.” But she was wet and cold.

Carefully, I turned her over and pushed her dark hair to the side. She didn’t look like she was injured, but I didn’t know why she was unconscious. Or for how long.

Then again, how long was I unconscious? What time was it? The sun was already sinking behind the trees, casting long shadows on the forest floor, and the early summer heat was already starting to chill. Damn. The day was almost over. When night fell, the gates around Mist Haven would close and I’d lose my chance of being a Hunter.

The best course of action for the little girl was to take her to the hospital in Boulder. There wasn’t a hospital in Mist Haven, only healers, and magical healing didn’t work on humans. I didn’t know how hurt the little girl was. What if it was something serious, and that’s why she was still unconscious?

The shield stone was gone, so I couldn’t notify my uncle and if we stayed here overnight, the odds of us surviving were slim to none. The strongest monsters came out at night, that’s why every city had a wall around it.

I opened my small hip satchel and found a mess of muddy water inside. My heart sank as I fished my phone out. It was just a dead hunk of wet metal now — no surprise there. Even if it did work, there wasn't any service out here, anyway. I just wanted to check on the time – maybe I had more time than I thought? But even that was denied me.

I sighed, dumped the water out of my hip satchel and put my phone back in. Maybe another miracle would happen and it would turn on again. You know, after Hell freezes over.

I reached out and gently brushed off some mud specks that clung to the little girl’s neck. My fingers caught on a tiny chain, which jerked with my movements, revealing the corner of a small metal plate. A dog tag. I picked it up to get a better look. There was only a name and a series of numbers under it, obviously not a phone number.

“Una,” I read. Was that her name? “Hey, Una.” I carefully tapped her cheek.

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She didn’t respond. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was breathing, she could have been mistaken for dead.

Since it was the only name I had, it was the one I used. “Hang on, Una. I’ll get you somewhere safe.” I scooped her up into my arms and carefully sank down into the pool. I supported her and swam back to where Shiva paced on the shore.

Now I knew why Shiva didn’t want to step out into the water and come to me. The original mud pit was at the bottom of a twenty-foot deep sinkhole. There was nothing gradual about the pool. It was either water or the rock, so Shiva couldn’t wade out. And I didn’t know if Raindeers could swim.

I pushed Una on the ground next to Shiva and climbed up, sloshing water all over.

Shiva bent down and breathed in my face, smelling me all over like a dog and bumped me with her velvety nose. I could almost hear her asking if I was okay.

A tired smile stretched over my face and I rubbed the flat space between her dark blue eyes. “I’m good.” My limbs felt like jelly, so I grabbed onto her chest strap and pulled myself up. I almost collapsed again when I saw the metal canister attached to Shiva’s saddle. After everything I just went through, the canister was still safe. For some reason, it didn’t seem real. I couldn’t help but laugh softly and patted Shiva. “Good girl.”

She bent her head and rested her chin on my shoulder.

I took a second to pet her cheek then stepped back. The bow on my back was useless for now, since I didn’t have time to restring it, so I took it off and attached it to Shiva’s saddle. I had to dump a small pool of water out the hanger’s metal sheath, but I kept the sword on. Only an idiot would travel through a forest without protection.

I walked to Una. The dirt clung to her wet body as I picked her up and rested her over Shiva’s back like a sack of potatoes. Then I climbed up and shifted the little girl until she was seated and resting against me. I wasn’t a pro at duel riding, but she was tiny enough that I didn’t feel awkward when I grabbed Shiva’s reins. If I had a blanket, I’d wrap it around her to warm her up. Unfortunately, I was just as wet as she was. And growing shadows wouldn’t help dry us off.

My map was a wad of wet paper, since it was kept in my hip satchel. Luckily, when I peeled it apart, I could still make out the lines and colors. There was also a bit of water in my compass, but it didn’t seem to hinder its function.

Time was ticking down to nightfall and soon the forest would be very dangerous. It took me a second to figure out where I was, then I turned Shiva towards the road and tapped her sides. Instantly she took off in a slow, smooth run. If we were on a flat road, we would have gone faster, but I didn’t dare go full speed in a darkening forest. I didn’t know if I was lucky for once, or if we were going fast enough to deter any other monster, but we exited the forest without any more incidents.

Subconsciously, I stopped Shiva as soon as we came to the mount path beside the canyon road. I couldn’t resist looking west, towards Mist Haven. The red tail lights of several small SUVs glowed a mile down the road, but my gaze drifted past them to where the road bent. Without a doubt, I knew that Dad was at the gate, waiting for me to come back. I was sure that Uncle Maveric was doing the same. And I was going to disappoint them. Again.

There was also that weird voice that spoke to me while I was in the mud. Did it save my life? I think it did. I didn’t know what it meant, but there wasn’t time to mull it over.

Una needed a hospital. The fact that she was still unconscious implied that something was very wrong with her. The sooner she got help, the better.

I turned Shiva’s head east and urged her to a full run. Maybe if we hurried, I could drop Una at the hospital and make it back to Mist Haven before the gates closed. I clung to the lie and felt my heart sink as the sky grew darker and darker. At this rate, I might not even make it inside Boulder’s gate.

Shiva seemed to sense my urgency and pounded down the dirt and gravel path. She gave up grace for speed, her movements rocking and rolling me and Una, but I didn’t slow her down. I braced Una against my body and locked an arm around her little chest. As much as I wanted her to wake up so I could figure out what was wrong, right now would be a terrible time. What if she woke and freaked out while we were moving over sixty miles per hour? If either of us fell off Shiva right now, we’d die.

The canyon opened, revealing Boulder City. Fifty plus years ago, it was teeming with life and spread out for miles. A conglomeration of several cities that merged to create the area known as Boulder.

Today, seventy percent of the buildings were still in ruins. Because Mist Haven was developed first, and Boulder became a transition city between Mist Haven and the rest of the Midwest, the part of Boulder that was cleaned up first and became usable was the part closest to the mouth of the canyon. The city lights of the remodeled buildings twinkled under the red, setting sky, surrounded by a twenty foot high wall. On the other side of the wall, in the shadows of the dying sun, was a graveyard of crumbling houses, businesses and schools that stretched for miles.

The city gate was surrounded by flood lights, already lit up. Hunters didn’t need the lighting as much – their sixth sense could pick up movement and the presence of monsters regardless of how bright it was – but if a human was manning the gate, they’d need the help. As I watched, the huge twenty foot tall door panel started to slide across the road. It was metal and reinforced with enough magic that it glowed in my sight. As soon as it shut, it was locked for the night. Strong Hunters could jump over the gate if needed, but that wasn’t an option for me.

“Wait!” I yelled at the top of my lungs and nudged Shiva’s side to push her harder.

She’d been running hard and was breathing hard, but she let out another burst of speed.

I hugged Una tight and leaned down to lessen the drag.

A man on the top of the gate noticed me and waved a hand, yelling to someone behind him.

Miraculously, the gate slowed down. Although it didn’t stop closing, it gave us enough time to dart through the narrow gap just in time.

The gate shut behind us with a rumbling boom followed by several very decisive clicks as multiple locks clamped together. A shimmering curtain of magic rose up from the tops of the wall until it came together to form a dome high over our heads. There was no getting out now.