Chapter Two: Usinar

     Joshua spoke first. "How do you know this?" he questioned.

     Kenzie frowned. "The plants speak of a king; the King of Usinar.

     Damien took a step towards the girl. "The plants?"

     "Isn't that what I said?"

     "I believe her," Rayne announced. "I was swept from my apartment by a tidal wave."

     "A gust of wi-" Joshua stopped and glanced at Damien's tattoo. "Flame," he whispered, walking over to the other boy. "They're written the same." He showed his own tattoo, Air, and placed it close to Damien's. The writing style of both matched perfectly. Rayne and Kenzie gathered close to the two in order to look at the tattoos.

     Both girls looked at each other before showing their own marks. Rayne lifted her skirt slightly with her free hand, allowing the word to show. Kenzie turned, lifting her black hair out of the way to show the three her own distinct mark. She let her hair go and turned to face the three as Rayne let her skirt fall.

     Joshua read them off. "Flame, Wave, Air, and Earth. They sound like-"

     "They sound like the four key elements," finished Kenzie. She was slowly loosing the fight with the effects of the drugs and by the lightening color of Damien's skin, he was exhausted and wouldn't last much longer.

     She voiced her opinion delecately. "I've been drugged and need to lay down. I don't think it's a good idea for us to break up but we need to get out of the sun," she announced, bringing everone's attention to the growing heat of the midmorning sun.

     "Drugged?" whimpered Rayne.

     "I was given four pills from the hospital before the vines came for me. My mom thought I was cra-" the fog won the internal battle as this moment, causing a wave of artificial fatigue to wash over Kenzie. Her violet eyes drifted shut and she swayed, unable to control her movements anymore.

     "Catch her," she heard Damien say. Strong arms caught her as she fell, Joshua's. They placed her carefully on the scented ground as all conciousness faded from the girl.

     "I agree with her," Joshua said. "If we're not-" Three riders burst from the forest, cutting him off.

     "You there!" called out the lead rider, a young teen as old as the four. He sat atop a grey mare. "Where do you come from?"

     Joshua stepped forward, protecting Kenzie's body with his own. His bare chest glistened with a thin shean of sweat from the heat. He noted the old style clothing they all wore, the ornate tack of the lead rider, and the reluctance of the fellow riders toward their leader.

     "We're lost," Joshua admitted. Rayne backed behind Damien, a trembling hand on his uninjured shoulder.

     "Three oddly dressed young adults, two injured, lost in a celestial meadow," the man noticed Kenzie's sleeping form. "No, you number four, not three." He dismounted the mare, noticing the writing on one's chest.

     "Sir," one of the companions whispered. "The writing. It resembles the ink of the prophecy."

     "I'm aware of this, Nethas. Alert for more riders. These four need to be taken to my father."

     "Your father?" Damien asked as Nethas took a hollowed horn and let six short blasts emit from the instrument.

     "Please allow me to help you four. I am the prince of Usinar, Prince Kadin." Kadin bowed before the three standing. "Welcome, Saviors of Usinar."

Reviews

[Snow Globes]

This one too...I think you kind of jumped the gun on the whole this is me and this is what I do. I think you need to spend a little bit more time on the first chapter getting the kids together and wondering what in the world is going on. But good though. I can see this book will go far.