Chapter five

I immediatly sat up and drew my sword. I looked around listening hard. Another tree nymph came out of the tree that the arrow got stuck in. "My arm! My arm is wounded!" Janine ran over to her and hid underneath the bush. "Shhh it's okay. Calanian will beat up the monster who did this and your tree will be fine!"

"My arm!"

"Shhhh, both of you! I can't...." Another arrow. I rolled on the ground and thought of Secilia. "Janine! You have to get Secilia!"

"Do I have to?"

"Don't joke! Just get her!" Another arrow was shot and cut me in the arm. Now I was mad. I tried to guard Janine while she went to Secilia. When she got to her an arrow went right by her head and cut some of her hair. "My hair!"

"Just be happy it wasn't your head!" It was hard not to laugh at that. I looked everywhere, but couldn't see or hear anything. Then I figured, the trees. I pulled out my own bow and launched an arrow. I flung it through and I heard a screech. "OWWWW!!!!!!" I saw some blood drip from the tree. "How is it possible to hit me?!"

"Lucky shot." I honestly don't know how. I had a strong sense come when I pointed right there. So I shot. He started to climb down the tree. His Quill slung over his back with his bow in his hand. He was wearing a shirt with no sleeves and a shoulder was bleeding. He was wearing loose fitted pants with many holes in it. His hair was tangled and long, but he was muscular. He could probably over throw a cyclops. "Ow." He tried to get out of the tree, but kept getting scraped at the hurt shoulder by tree limbs. "Ugh." He just fell to the ground. He tried to land on his good shoulder, but didn't. I thought he deserved that. It was atleast one o'clock in the morning when he shot the first arrow and I wondered what time it was now, because I could see the sun in the distance. "Oh you poor thing!" Janine ran to his side and helped him up. The other nymph was by the bush with her arms crossed and a bandage over her hurt arm. I had my sword in my hand and was ready to just cut at him, but when I stepped forward Janine pushed me back. "We will help him." I couldn't believe she was going to help him, he nearly killed her!

"But he shot one of your nymphs in the shoulder and nearly killed you!"

"He is a good man. Many of my rangers. He had just thought we were tresspassing on his land."

"Yeah whatever." I ran over to Secilia because she was awake and terrified. I still kept my sword in my hand, so she backed away. "I'm not going to slice you. Only incase that "Ranger" tries anything."

"Right, right." I walked over to where the other nymph was standing and held out my hand to her. She didn't take it, she only nodded her head and went back to her tree. She was mumbling some words, possibly cuss words, in a language I didn't know. I walked back to where Janine and the "Ranger" were. "Wow. Nice sword." I didn't talk back. I only turned away and whispered a few cuss words to myself. He pushed Janine away, telling her he was fine. "Look I didn't mean to shoot at ya'll. I just thought you were tresspassing."

"This isn't even your land."

"Oh yes it is. This part of the forrest is mine. No matter who tells me it isn't."

"Well what about princess Calanian." I turned around and faced him. He seem shocked and gasped, but held it together. "Even the princess." I opened my eyes wide enough for everyone to tell that I was shocked. "Well in order for this to be your land, I suppose you have a permit? Hmm, Ranger boy?!" Janine looked at me as if tears were swelling  in her eyes. Secilia was standing beside me. "I happen to have a name." He said while grutting his teeth. "Oh and what is it, perhaps, innocent or devious. How about selfish!"

"None of them are my name! They don't even suit my personality!" He was up close and personnal in my face now. "It happens to be........" He never got to finish because we then heard hooves on the ground. "We have to go." Janine looked terrified now. Almost frozen.

"What is it?"

"The wild Centaurs."

I've only heard about the wild Centaurs in stories and fairy tales. They aren't regular loving Centaurs. The were man-eating beasts. They would be good to have in our mission, but no one has ever tamed them. We ran behind a bush and hid. They didn't come up until after we finally got Janine from where she was standing. Apparently she was afraid of them. They came into our clearing and found a liking to the berries we had found. "MMMMM! BERRIES GOOD!!!!!" Hey we never said they were the smartest animals. "No, no, NOO!" A tall one came into the center and did a hand movement. Then the rest of the Centaurs gathered around him. "Hmmm. I smell blood." I looked over at "Ranger's" shoulder. It wasn't bandaged. Thankfully they walked to the tree. "There must have been a fight here."

"Fight? I don't like fight." The tall Centaur walked over to him. He gave him a peircing look and said, "You will like fights! With what that king did to us! We will soon fight him! Face to Face!" I couldn't help it. I jumped out in front of them and held out my sword. It was a good sword. If you dropped the whole sky  on it, it wouldn't even ship. It was celestial rock. The toughest rock out there. And so rare, people would die just to look at it. "Ahhh, Princess Calanian. What a nice suprise."

"You will fight no one!!!" I ran. I ran as fast as I could. The thought of another war sent pain through me and I knew I couldn't do it. Just as I was about to hit him, I fell. I fell to the ground as wept tears. I heard "Ranger stand up and could feel his eyes on me. What a fool I must look like. What a coward. I felt coldness rush over me and when I opened my eyes, the Centaurs hoof went into my face. It didn't hurt to much, and didn't kill me. "I will not kill you right here. I want it to be a slow and painful death!" He then smacked me right in the stomach. I had to hang on to it and heard Janine yell,"NOOOO! Calanian you must get up! You must!" The Centaur didn't even turn to her and sent a hoove into the other side of my face. "AHHHHHHHH!" The centaur went into a yelling rage. Then fell to one foot, then the other. Arrows were sticking out of his side and he was gushing blood. "You.... will...... hurt..... NO ONE!!!!!!" Just then he struck the Centaur in the back, but still got up. His fur was almost completely red with all the blood. I tried to reach for my sword, but he had only galloped away with the rest behind him. When he was far enough away for the arrows not able to hit him, he turned around and said, "We will meet again, Apollo."

After we got most of our things together and Janine had fixed me up most, I turned to Apollo," Your name is Apollo? Like the great god?"

"Yes. I am named after him. My father was an archer. He had named me after The God of Archery because he loved it so much. That is why I am so fond of archery." I was a little confused, but soon got it. He must have been some part god. He was so well at archery. "I'm sorry of what I said before, but why did you strike at the Centaur when you could have gotten rid of me?" He sighed and I figured he wouldn't tell me. "My father was killed by wild Centaurs. He had killed one of the, so at night while he rested they ame up adn killed him. I couldn't bear to see any one else killed by those beasts." It was truly a heart breaking story and could understand his pain. I would kill the beast that killed my mother. "You know we are on a  mission?"

"Oh you are?" He suddenly got an interesting look on his face.

"Yes and I could expect that you would be a big help. Would you care to join us?" I tried to sound as nice as I could, but it was hard because I was still a little mad at him for shooting in the first place, but then again he did save my life. "What is the mission?"

"My fionce' is missing and we must find him soon or else he will die!" Secilia was on the ground crying and holding the heart that was a dim red now. "Secilia, what is a dim red color?" I was afraid to as, but had to know.

"He's losing so much blood he may not last much longer." She was bursting into sobs. "If the heart goes out, then so does he!" I turned to Janine and nodded my head. Janine walked over to her and tried to sooth her, but she only wept more. I pulled Apollo to the other side of the clearing. "Please, we need all the help we can get. I am very sure you would be a great help. Please make your decision now, like Secilia said, we don't have a lot of time." He turned back to look at Secilia. Then looked at Janine, who was watching us with tear filled eyes too. "I feel that I must go. To save the girl's fionce'." We nodded our heads and got our things packed up again. We let Secilia calm down,as well as Janine. I explained the plan to Apollo, and we set out into the forrest again.

Reviews

[Manda]

wow this was really long, LOL. but thats ok. this was just awesome. it was detailed and creative and fun! it was wonderful. you are a very talented writer! keep on writing! =)