“Stop!” Skylar shouted to Luna, who had pounced on Sebastian and was trying to rip his throat out.
“Luna!” she shouted, and began to drag Luna away from Sebastian.
The wolf was snarling and trying to attack Sebastian again, but Skylar whispered soothing words to Luna until she had calmed down enough that Skylar could set her on the ground without her mauling somebody. The wolf pup was still growling at Sebastian and his father, the hair standing up on the back of her neck.
She checked the poor boy over, who had fainted in fear of Luna attacking him. There were a few scratches and cuts along his neck and chest, but other than that he was okay.
“You…you saved my son?” Sebastian’s father asked, “But why would you-”
Skylar stood, a solemn look on her face as she looked at the man. He had the same black hair, but his eyes had more of a faded look, losing their color after years of stress. He had forehead lines that were pronounced by his surprised expression, but he seemed younger than he looked.
“Yes, I did. Because unlike most of the people you associate yourself with, I do not kill.” Skylar looked Sebastian over again and ordered for his father to get a few herbs for her to make into a paste to heal his wounds, even though Sebastian probably didn’t need it.
Sebastian woke after a while and was confused as Skylar began to mash up the herbs with the hilt of her knife on a rock, beginning to make them into a paste.
“I…I don’t understand…” he said, “Why did you save me? And why are you helping me?”
“Hold still,” Skylar ordered as she began to apply the paste to his neck and chest, hoping the dim light would hide the blush that was rising on her cheeks as she rubbed the paste on a cut on his chest. “And I don’t know why I saved you. I just feel that every person has a chance at life, even you.”
Skylar looked at him through her lashes, then looked back at the paste as she applied some more to his wounds.
“But…why didn’t you just escape?” Sebastian asked.
For this, Skylar didn’t really have an answer. “I don’t know. I was told that I would have to make a choice here soon, that I would have to help someone. I don’t know why, but I believe that someone is you. You said you wanted to get off this rock, right?”
“Who are you?” Sebastian’s father asked. “The poster made it seem like you were a hardened killer, but after the events of tonight, I do not believe so.”
“Skylar,” she replied, “Skylar Verlice. I am a Protector of the Moon, and I lived in the Secret Woods. I and my friends are on the run from the Dueglesteiners because they don’t want us to complete our quest. In fact, I don’t really know what they want to do with us.”
Sebastian’s father grunted, saying, “I am a Dueglesteiner myself, but I do not associate myself with the corruption our government has fallen into. They have become greedier and greedier, falling farther and farther from the government they used to be. They’ve taxed our citizens to the brink of starvation, killing many of them in the process. I have tried all I can, but even in my wealth I could not help as much as I thought.”
“If you do not associate yourself with them, why are you going to hand me over to them?” Skylar asked, trying to keep the bitterness from her voice.
Sebastian’s father sighed. He too had dark circles under his eyes, a sad look on his face. “We have been on this island for almost a year now, and the last time the Dueglesteiners gave us our food and supplies they gave us these wanted posters as well.
“They said that the only way we’d get off this rock was if we handed at least one of you over to them. I am guessing these other children are your friends.” Sebastian’s father held up each of the posters, and Skylar named each of them.
When he held up Luke’s picture, Skylar swallowed a lump in her throat, turning away for a moment. “Luke,” she barely whispered. She didn’t realize how much she missed him until she saw his poster, looking into his eyes.
They got some sleep, even though there were a few hours left in the night.
In the morning, Sebastian asked Skylar what she planned to do.
“Are you still handing me over to the Dueglesteiners?” Skylar asked, raising an eyebrow. They hadn’t tied her up, so she assumed she wasn’t their prisoner anymore.
“No,” Tobias, Sebastian’s father, said. “You’ve made me realize that what we were planning was wrong. I would never hand over an innocent child to those monsters.”
“So how do we get out of here?” Sebastian asked.
“Easy,” Skylar responded, “We steal their ship.”
…
The next few days flew by, Skylar, Sebastian, and Tobias planning how they would attack the Dueglesteiner’s ship.
It wouldn’t be easy, since the Dueglesteiners would severely outnumber them. And Sebastian and Tobias had no weapons.
“Even if we can pull this off, none of us know how to pilot a ship,” Tobias argued. “We were taken here as prisoners, so I don’t even know how to get back to Dueglestein.”
“We can do it,” Skylar assured them, “It’s called learning on the fly.”
“And what will you do?” Sebastian asked her, “Will you come with us to Dueglestein?”
Skylar lowered her eyes, not really sure what she would do.
“My friends are headed to Dueglestein, although I have no idea when they’ll be there. We are still on a timeline, we have to finish this quest by December twenty-first.”
“And if it doesn’t?” Sebastian asked.
Skylar looked at him, knowing he already knew the answer. “Then we lose, and the whole world ends. I still have no idea what we have to claim, or what will happen if we don’t, but it seems pretty bad. If the Dueglesteiners want us so badly, it has to be important.”
“Seems like you have no idea what you’re doing,” Tobias observed.
“Well, we were chosen before we were born, so I’m guessing we’ll be able to do it.” Skylar still had hope, although their situation seemed hopeless.
“Why are you separated from your friends?” Sebastian asked.
Skylar played with her hair, knowing it would be hard to explain.
“I…I sacrificed myself to save my friends. I fell over the edge of the Cliffs of Abdomes, and one of my friends tried to help me. But he would’ve fallen as well if I hadn’t let go.”
Sebastian opened his mouth to say something else, but Skylar stood up and walked away from the camp, walking into the woods.
Spying a tree, Skylar got her bow out.
She notched an arrow, and pulled the string back, aiming at a knot in the bark. She remembered her teachings, breathed in, and breathed out as she left the string go, letting the arrow fly.
It hit the knot perfectly, and Skylar notched another arrow. As she did, her mind wandered and she thought about all that had happened. Did any of her friends believe she was even alive? Would they come for her in Dueglestein if she went with Sebastian and Tobias?
Were they even still alive?
Skylar now knew who she needed to help, and she had an idea of what her decision would be.
Skylar would have to choose if she should go with Sebastian and Tobias to Dueglestein, or search for her friends...
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