NightTime Roads

Thanks for the review, Falcon. Nice to see your making some time to read. Anyway, I felt like waiting until morning to update this... but the need was just too great. So, I give you the next chapter!

Chapter 15


The wind picked up, blowing dust around Antros and Rekia as they faced each other. Rekia held his spear ready to strike, while Antros positioned himself to either defend or strike depending on the situation. Rekai charged again, jumpping up ready to slam down upon Antros. Antros jumpped back, wondering why Rekia had chosen such an easy attack to dodge, when Rekia threw his spear in midair at him. Antros barely had time to dodge, the spear riping the clothing by his shoulder, when Rekia came running up and tackled Antros down.

Antros felt the wind knocked out of him as Rekia's full weight fell on top of him. Rekia carefully got up and walked to retrieve his spear, while Antros struggled to get up. "Damn it..."

"Give up Antros. You know you can't beat me."

"You don't know that until we have a fair fight." Antros said, getting to his feet. He breathed deeply, trying to get his second wind when Rekias charged foward, and struck with a powerful side strike. Antros pulled back, kicking up some dirt causing Rekia to shield his eyes. In that moment, Antros let loose a kick, but Rekia caught his foot holding him tightly. "What the-"

"Now Antros, you really think I would fall for such a trick?"

"Well, I actually was kind of hoping," Antros said rather dully.

This seemed to hit a nerve within Rekia, for he suddenly dropped his leg and punched Antros down to the ground. "Hpmh. Don't you ever insult me like that." Antros wearily got up. He gazed at Rekia and noticed blood running down his chin. He wiped it away and stared at it, disbelieving.

"Wow, I didn't think you'd actually make me bleed like that. That hasn't happened in awhile." Rekia though that this was strange, Antros seemingly complementing him. Suddenly Antros ran, off in the direction of the east. Rekia chased after him, taking something small out and throwing it. It struck Antros' left arm, but he paid it no mind, as he turned suddenly, catching Rekia off guard. With all his might Antros punched, knocking Rekia off the ground. Without waiting, Antros turned and ran as far as he could.

When Antros stopped running, the new dawn was starting to approach fast. He had hardly realized how much time he had wasted fighting Rekia, and hoped that Ayisa and Evia were far enough. Antros stopped to rest for a bit and felt a stabbing pain in his left arm. Looking at it he noticed a dart embedded in his arm. He pulled it out and tried to raise his arm, but it suddenly felt dead and unreponsive. He reached with his right arm and pinched hard, but he felt nothing in his arm, which meant that there was some poison in the dart. He hadn't noticed it before, when he was running, but now that he had stopped to rest, the poison's effects were working full strength against his body.

"Ayisa, please be ok, wherever you are." With that, he sat and fell asleep.


The warmth that surrounded her was pleasent, and Ayisa didn't want it to go away. She had hoped that everything before was just a dream, just a bad dream that would go away once Antros was with her. He reached out and felt the warmth of another body neaby. [i]Antros... please, let it be Antros...[/i] When she opened her eyes, she saw the back of Evia, and realized painfully that she wasn't dreaming.

She sat up and realized it was daybreak. They had covered alot of ground after being told to flee, but they were unsure of how far it was to the next town and if Antros was anywhere near them. All they knew was that they had to keep moving. Reaching into a pack, Ayisa pulled out some bread which she tore in half and ate. She knew after this was over, she would never appricate more the hard work the chefs at the castle did to prepare meals. It wasn't long before Evia woke as well.

"Rough night?" She asked, and Ayisa shook her head, offering the other half of the bread. Evia took it and started to eat some, looking over the land. "It seems to me we have quite the distance to travel, especially if we are avoiding the main road." Ayisa only nodded at this and finished her bread before pulling out some fruit. "What's the matter Ayisa?"

Ayisa was about to bite into the fruit when she stopped suddenly, and looked at the ground. "I just can't stop worrying about Antros... I miss him." Evia sighed and looked around, wondering if Antros was anywhere nearby.

"You know, I used to know Rekia. He's changed quite alot."

Ayisa looked up at this, amused. "You knew Rekia? How?"

"I never used to live in that forest village before. We knew each other as kids, living in the same town. Rekia was always getting pushed around and I was always there to back him up. The Rekia I knew isn't the same Rekia we saw. I can't believe he changed that much since he left to join the guards."

"Wow, I never knew. Rekia never did like talking about his childhood, but we never thought to press on him why. We just accepted it." Ayisa thought for a moment, before asking, "Did you love him?"

Evia turned away at this, although Ayisa was sure she caught her blushing. When she spoke however, it was with an unusually calm voice. "Well, we never really got together, sort to speak. When he left for the guards, I never heard back from him. I suppose I did have feelings for him, but I never got the chance to try and test if it was really love."

The silence between them streached on, until Ayisa broke it. "When this is all over, and Antros is cleared, why don't you come back to the castle? Maybe you can tell Rekia then."

Evia hesitated before responding slowly, "I'm not sure... he's changed so much, what if he forgot about me? What if he doesn't really like me?"

"You won't know until you try," Ayisa said confidently, remembering how it had been when she had confessed her love to Antros.

"How touching..." came a low voice from nearby. Ayisa looked up fearfully and her gaze fell on the one person she didn't want to see. "Well well, so the princess and her beloved wanderer ared seperated..." Idroa said, a sinister smile forming on his lips. "How lucky for me, and unlucky for you..."